United States

Skiing in Purgatory

We promised Lucas and Henry skiing after spending time in the warmer climate of Southeast Asia. Our first ski spot for the 2025 ski season was at the Purgatory Resort in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. We met up with Michael’s mom, his sister, and her family for a fun week of skiing. We stayed in a great…

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United States

Visiting Friends in Colorado

The Watkins don’t sit still for long. After a few weeks in North Carolina, we packed our car and headed west. The first stop was in Colorado. Our friends, the McDougall’s, who we first met in Bulgaria and traveled within Asia, are in Longmont, CO. We spent 10 days with them. Lucas and Henry get along so well with their…

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United States

North Carolina – Christmas and New Year’s

I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. My dad still lives there, so that is where we headed after Atlanta. Lucas and Henry think of my dad’s house as their home base– if we had to say we have one. They got to decorate the “kids” room in the house. The first Friday we were there, we went to the…

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United States

Atlanta

My sister, mom, and youngest brother live in Atlanta. Many of our friends do too. We saw many of our Atlanta friends as well as our worldschool friends, the Crabtrees while they were passing through Atlanta. My friend Jewel also drove from Chattanooga to Atlanta for a visit. It means so much to us when friends take time to meet…

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United States

Thanksgiving in California

We touched back down in the United States for Thanksgiving in Sunnyvale, California. My oldest brother Sam and his wife AC live there. We also saw our niece, Nell, a junior at UC Santa Cruz, and we met our long-lost cousin Dan, also a student at UC Santa Cruz. We enjoyed spending time with them. It was the perfect spot…

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Asia, Central America, South America, United States

The Watkins Family’s Global Pickleball Adventure

We travel the world with carry-on luggage and backpacks, but we have room for pickleball paddles. Our travels have taken us to five continents, and on that journey, we have had a whirlwind pickleball adventure. Our pickleball odyssey began in Costa Rica back in 2020. The owner of our hotel in Tamarindo invited Michael to play pickleball. Soon enough, we…

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United States

We Went to Arizona in the Summer

We try not to visit Arizona in the summer, but this year it was our only chance to visit Michael’s family. We braved the heat and had a fun time. Melissa and Mike have a great house and a pool, and they recently added an RV garage, casita, and pickleball court. We played a lot of pickleball in the morning…

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United States

Our Last Days in North Carolina

We had a wonderful time with my dad and Kay in North Carolina. We have a good rhythm when we are there. Lucas and I often play tennis with my dad and his tennis group. We play pickleball in the driveway. We walk a two-mile loop almost every morning. Vivian spent a few more days with us after the beach.…

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United States

The History of Cousins’ Weekend

The first official Cousins’ weekend took place in Charlotte in 2014. My brother Seth and his family met us in Charlotte, North Carolina at our cousin Josh’s house. We spent a weekend hanging out at their house and swimming at their community pool. At that time Josh and Kristen only had one son. Now they have three kids. Almost ten…

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United States

Seabrook Island

We coordinated a family beach week in Seabrook Island, South Carolina. Not everyone in our large family could make it, but there were twelve of us. We stayed in a beautiful house, steps from the ocean. Seabrook Island is a private community about an hour south of Charleston, South Carolina. The island has golf and tennis. Sea turtles lay eggs…

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