all american & atlantan 4th

a few fun pics from our 4th of July celebration in Atlanta.  we watched the Lenox Square fireworks from a highrise condo, and it was awesome!  it rained outside but the show went on and was really cool. 

richard and i also ran the Peachtree Road Race on the morning of the 4th - an Atlanta tradition.  it's the largest 10k in the world with over 65,000 runners.  we knew it was going to be hilly, hot and humid, but we totally underestimated all three.  no amount of training in cool Colorado - even running at 9,000 feet altitude in Crested Butte - could have prepared us for that race!  i'm proud to say we finished but no times will be recorded here!  our next attempt will have to be back home.

first family beach trip

after our wonderful 4th of July weekend in atlanta with the family, we drove to Gulf Shores, AL with nana and papa for a few days at the beach.  richard and i had not been to the beach together since Costa Rica 3 years ago!  the florida white sand was a total treat and with lots of sunscreen and breaks from the heat in the condo, we all had a great time.

brooks liked playing in the sand and "building" sand castles with daddy and papa.  he said that he prefered the pool though and spent time everyday practicing his jumping and climbing the ladder.  brooks also slept in a queen bed (bunk beds) for the first time and really loved it.  he fell out once but didn't seem to mind!

kate proved to be a great traveller again - this picture is from the evening we got to the beach.  she is sound asleep under a make-shift tent, as happy as can be. 

brooks ready to go to the beach - he has become very eager and determined.

brooks's first round of mini-golf.  this was the coolest place to be in the middle of the day because the course had so many shade trees. brooks made a hole in one all by himself on one hole and another with some help.  now he pretends to play mini golf everywhere and shouts "hole in one!" after every pretend shot.

a little bit of heartbreak when the ball disappears after hole 18 - oops, i forgot that happened!  had to whisk him on to something else very quickly.

thanks nana and papa for a great beach trip!

Wild Wild West

End of summer brought us on another great road trip with Nana & Grandpa Phil - this time to Nevada, Utah & Arizona.  Who knew you could get between those three states so many times in just 5 days!?! 
We started in Las Vegas and went to the Hoover Dam & drove around beautiful Lake Mead. 

Day 2:  Zion National Park and a great drive through Utah's rugged terrain.  Richard & I would love to go back to Zion and do some real hiking, but for this trip we just did the scenic drive.  The drive took us through a great tunnel that was the longest in the US at the time it was built in the early 1920s (i think).

    

  Day 3:  Grand Canyon - the North Rim (much less visited than the South Rim).  This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon and it was even more spectacular than I expected.  We walked a few of the rim trails and enjoyed the amazing views from the Grand Canyon Lodge, built in 1927. 

 Day 4:  Richard was only able to join us for the long weekend and we toured the South Rim out of Flagstaff, Arizona on Saturday on our way to Lake Powell.

 Day 5:  Lake Powell, Page, Arizona.  We rented a ski boat on Lake Powell and had an awesome day!  Lake Powell is like nowhere else I have ever seen - it's desert but beautiful and the boys were even able to waterski. 

Brooks, the superstar traveler, even took a 2 hour nap while we were speeding around the lake. 

The Rainbow Bridge - the largest natural bridge in the world.  Richard & Phil took the hike up close, but it was a little far for Brooks! 

We had such a fun time exploring this new part of the country.  Thanks Nana & Grandpa Phil for a great adventure and all of Brooks's new patches for his bag.  

a fuquay tradition

Fuquay Family Vacation 2010 - Breckenridge, Colorado

what a fun week with all the fuquays in colorado - so relaxing.  We watched a movie, played quite a few games of Catan, ate like kings, played golf twice and enjoyed walking in town most days.  the boys also did a 14er (Gray's Peak)!

all the boys with their polo ponies :)

the highest tee box in north america!  we had so much fun playing at Copper Creek again - what a beautiful course!

if you're going to san francisco...

a little late posting these pics, but we had a great weekend away in san francisco last month.  a big thanks to nana and grandpa phil for coming out to denver to stay with little brooks so we could have a weekend away - what a treat!

we celebrated devin and mandi at Half Moon Bay (just southwest of San Fran). This is the view from the outdoor ceremony at the Ritz Carlton - so great!

all the fuquays at the wedding

so fun to spend the weekend with the Browns too!

so many friends to catch up with from dallas (high school and med school)

on Sunday, we stopped in Saucilito and had fun looking at all the boats

we loved driving through san fran - we did the golden gate bridge, lombard street and drove all over the place!