No Vacancy

After spending all of Christmas, New Year's, and a long week vacationing in Mexico with just about all of my family... we totally missed seeing & being with our other half of the family and felt bad about not doing so since we saw each other last during Thanksgiving! So with spring break creeping up, we sent out the invitations... begged, pleaded and twisted arms for the Etheridge/Hightower family to come stay with us for the week here at the prestigious "Etheridge Resort." But when begging and pleading didn't work, we finally had to resort to bribes & threats... and made sure they knew holding and playing with Allen Jess would be at stake! 

Lucky for us, that ended up working and we somehow managed to get Mandi & the Boyz to drive 13 hours down from Colorado... and Mojo & Dado to fly 5 hours across the United States. Gee, they sure must love us... er, uh... I mean our son!

It was mid afternoon when the Hightowers finally made it to our house in sunny Southern California, and somehow Uncle Jason miraculously managed to be the first to get some love from Allen Jess!  I guess Mandi felt bad and let him have first dibs since he was stuck behind the wheel with a 5, an 8, and a 36 year-old for the entirety of their trip!

Mandi, Jason, and the boys had spent all morning in the car trying to get here as fast as they could... so it went without saying that they were starving once they got here, and the boys weren't waiting for anyone!

It was a beautiful sunny day out...
and we all needed sun protection.

Naturally, the afternoon went by in slow motion as we anxiously awaited the arrival of Mojo & Dado later on that evening. Okay, so maybe just the grownups waited anxiously. The little ones were too busy playing in and around the pool and having too much fun to worry about much of anything else! So while the little kids enjoyed the water and the weather, the big kids enjoyed watching Mandi feed Allen Jess his lunch.

"No seriously... does this thing come off?" 

It was definitely heartwarming so see John Hampton give his baby cousin tender love and care... making sure Allen Jess was happy and didn't cry during the few seconds from which he unselfishly decided to put his precious playtime on pause.

Aunt Moo was smart and made sure she got her quality time in with Allen before Mojo arrived and had to share! And when he fell asleep in her lap, it was apparent that our conversation and company just wasn't stimulating enough for her... as she decided to put her nose into a half eaten book.

"You see those two boys playing by the pool? Here's some advice... give the tall one chocolate and he'll love you forever! And give the shorter one anything purple and he'll be your best friend!" 

There sure was lots of love to go around...

amongst these three handsome cousins!

Mojo and Dado finally arrived later that night, but to those that really mattered, they didn't make their grand appearance until the following morning... where Allen was first in line for some sweet nibblins from Mojo!

But Allen wasn't the only little boy excited about seeing their Mojo and Dado! Sammy woke up excited as could be knowing they were finally there and that he got the both of them all to himself for a little playtime!

And Sammy clearly took advantage of Dado's new knee!

I on the other hand, was thrilled with all the extra attention Allen got all of a sudden... as I relished in the fact that I actually got to sit back, relax and drink my coffee while someone else fed him his breakfast for a change!

The boys LOVE when Mojo visits... as she always brings her iPad and Nintendo DS for them to get their sticky little hands on, play, learn, and get their electronic fix in! And as always, she arrives bearing new games and apps for each one to play with... so as much as we all hate it when their little faces are buried & glued to the screens, we sometimes can't help but enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts! 

It wouldn't have been an Etheridge/Hightower family vacation if we had stayed indoors! So after a massive pancake, bacon, sausage and egg breakfast, we headed outside for some much anticipated family fun time, where it was all about being with each other, laying low, and having a good time!