#1: Take a Vacation with Duffy Family

My family has had this trip planned to meet up together at a cabin near Branson for quite some time and we've all been looking forward to it so much!  We had a wonderful time and when the weekend was over, it felt way too short.  I can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas.  I just don't get to see everyone enough (especially Rachel, Ryan, and Caroline!).

Here are tons of pictures of the weekend:

We rode down on Friday afternoon with Mom & Dad.  The rest of the family arrived later that night.  I convinced Mom & Dad to stop at Lambert's, the  "Home of the Throwed Rolls".    Mmmmm!  If you haven't ever been here...you have to go.  It's an experience.  Although the guy throwing the rolls this time was a little off.  For one, he didn't get the rolls right to you.  He also threw one at Dad and when Dad reached for it, he hurt his bad shoulder and pulled his arm and head down quickly because of the pain.  The guy then immediately threw another one when Dad wasn't looking and nailed him in the head.  After we made sure he was ok, we all had a good laugh about it!

Our Cabin

Or should I say our "Cottage"...

Branson was all Christmas-ey already.  Lots of places were decorated, including our cabin!

Our screened-in porch.  We had a great weekend weather-wise...which made it feel even weirder that Christmas decorations were everywhere!

We were all in charge of bringing meals and any snacks we wanted.  Keep in mind that our trip was only from Friday evening until Monday morning.  Can you tell that us Duffy's like to eat?!?

We spent a lot of the weekend loving on my beautiful nieces....This was Alexandra's favorite place in the cabin.  If we couldn't find her she was often in Mom & Dad's room on this rocker.  She would stand up on it and "surf" while it rocked.  Quite a change since the last time I saw her she wasn't even walking!

 This was when we were measuring to see how much taller/longer Alexandra was.  You can't tell in this picture, but she's quite a bit bigger than Caroline and there's only a 3 month difference.  Caroline is just a little peanut!

Here's a funny video of these two interacting.  Caroline is so calm and collected and just keeps taking the book away while Alexandra is about to lose it.  Hopefully they'll think it's funny someday!

We went on walks....

We played some football....

  And, of course, we watched some football!Grandma got Caroline this shirt.  (Her daddy is a big Oklahoma fan, but Rachel has stayed true to her Nebraska roots.  We're hoping Caroline follows in her footsteps!) 

There had been a lot of e-mail trash talking before the NU-OU game, and even though I took part, I really didn't think there was any way Nebraska would pull it out....but we did!  Ryan was a good sport about watching a tough loss with a bunch of Nebraska fans.

We also got to celebrate Caroline's 1st birthday (a little early!).  She'll be one on the 25th.  Trevor and I got her some maracas.

Aunt Kathy...I thought you might want to see Caroline on the horse you gave her.  It looks just the right size for her to ride!

This was such a fun weekend and it makes me appreciate what a great family I have.  Whaddya say family?  Any chance we could make it an annual event!?!