Florida Cousins

Evan's cousin Travis, his wife Wendy and their two girls came to visit us last week. They were going skiing and decided to stay a night with us. Evan's cousin lives in Florida and his girls are 8 and 6 and Elisabeth absolutely adores them. When we went to Florida in January of 2008, we stayed at their house for a night amidst the Disney-ing.

They got to our house around 11:00 AM on Wednesday, so after Julia stared at them meanly for a while, I put her down for a nap and took the girls with me to pick Elisabeth up from school early. I had made a deal with Elisabeth--if she could clean the loft and her bedroom in 45 minutes, then I would pick her up early from school. Otherwise she'd have to wait until 3:30 to see them. Boy, howdy, did that girl clean like a crazy fool. I shall use this strategy again, I tell you.

Well, the girls, being from Florida and all, were most excited to play in the snow piles we still have in our yard. So, we bundled the girls up and let them play.

Julia was not about to be left out. She even decided to snack on the snow.


She wasn't the only one who found the snow yummy.

The two E girls!

This one? Well, she stayed out waaay longer than the other girls and proceeded to roll in the snow as much as possible and rub her face in it. She's a winter girl at heart.


We all just hung out and let the girls play all day long. When Evan came home from work, Travis and Wendy told us they wanted to treat us to dinner, so (knowing they enjoy beer as much as us), we took them to Rock Bottom, one of my absolute places out here. They brew their own beer, and I stinking love it. Not to mention, their food is sooooo delicious. I ordered an ahi tuna salad that Evan had ordered the last time we were there, but wouldn't share with me because he liked it too much. It really is that good.

Well, by the time dinner was done, it was 7:30, and the Floridians were exhausted, so we headed back home to get the girls to bed. All three of the older girls were going to have a slumber party in Elisabeth's room.
Poor Julia. She just wants to hang out with the big girls. Thankfully, they all were very sweet to her.

"What do you mean I'm not sleeping in here too?!"

The girls have so much fun together, mainly because they are all equal in their squirrelyness.





All three girls insisted on sharing the blow-up bed. They giggled for maybe 15 minutes and then they were all asleep like babies.

Here's the girls, January 2010 in Colorado.

Here's the girls, January 2008 in Florida. Love it!


They left the next morning for the ski resort they were going to. Julia had fallen in love with Travis and was very sad to see him leave. They had become buddies. Elisabeth was crestfallen the girls left. She talked about them the rest of the week. Hopefully, it won't be another two years before we see them all again!