Gibbs Family Vacation 2010

As we've gotten older and we've started families of our own, my siblings and I have found that it is really hard to get us all in the same place at the same time.  Even during holidays, there is usually only a brief period of time (if there is one at all) when the last person (or family) arrives and we are all together before someone has to leave to get back to work or needs to move on to see other parts of THEIR family.  So, a few years ago, we started doing a summer family vacation where we could ALL be together for an ENTIRE WEEKEND.  With just my Mom and Dad, siblings, their spouses and children, Eddie, Brooklyn and me...their are 16 of us.  This year, my Dad's parents were able to come, too, which was a very rare and special treat!  We went to Hot Springs and ALL 18 of us stayed 1 lakehouse that my sister-in-law's parents were brave/nice enought to let us borrow for the weekend.

So, to break it down...this year's vacation included my parents and grandparents.  My older sister, Natalie, her husband, Robbie and there 2 kids Lawson (6) and Hudson (3).

Then, of course, there's us:

My brother Landry, his wife, Ashley and there 4 kids:

Reese (3), their 1-year-old triplets, Cannon, Palmer and Griffin

And our baby brother, Brady (seen in this picture seranading Brooklyn...melt my heart!!)

So there were 7 grandkids there total and 4 of them were under the age of 2!!

What we did:

We played inside in a cage...

We played outside in the sprinkler

Relaxed by the pool

Played hard in the pool!

Loaded EVERYONE up for a boat ride on the party barge!

Enjoyed time on the boat

Water sports!

swam in the lake

and ate

and ate..

and ate...

and ATE!

All of the ingredients we needed for a PERFECT family vacation...a place with plenty of room for us all to sleep, a house full of toys, a sprinkler, a pool, a boat, the lake, tons of food and most importantly...FAMILY!! 

Eddie even said on the way home that he wasn't ready for it to be over!!  I want to definitely say a HUGE thank you to Ashley's parents for being gracious enough to let us have the place for the weekend.  Thank you to Ashley for all of the setting up you did ahead of time to prepare for us all to stay there and all of the work you had to do after we left to restore the place to order!  AND also, A HUGE thank you to my father-in-law, Big Lou Nalley, for letting us borrow his boat!  It was really a crazy weekend and such fun memories were made that will last forever.  I will leave you with this picture which was the view we had from the house every night after the kids were all worn out and sound asleep for the evening.