We Love Our Visitors!

Returning from vacation is usually hard for me, but it was great this time because we came home to lots of fun visitors (we love visitors, if you haven't noticed :).  First, the Grays came into town and stayed with us for a night.  We have missed these guys so much since they moved to Austin and it was so nice to get some quality time with them.  George, Charlie, Evie, and Maggie had so much fun together.  I think Charlie may have invaded George's personal space a little more than George would have liked, but he was such a good sport about it. :)

Here's George posing with the ladies.  Evie looks mad here--maybe because George can't seem to remember her name (he refers to her as "little Charlie Burrus" :).

Big Charlie Burrus joins the group...

Sweet Maggie.  This girl is adorable!

These two had so much fun together.  Charlie asked me "when's that boy coming back?"  (Apparently he and George both need to work on name recognition).

After the Grays left, Megan and Elec came in town from LA and stayed with us for two nights.  We had SO much fun.  Charlie and Elec played so well together, but they are going to be trouble in a few years.  We packed a lot of fun into their short stay, but our favorites were probably the zoo and a fun trip to the park/lake.  I think my favorite memory is the boys walking back from the lake with walking sticks, and then laying in the grass laughing hysterically when Elec accidentally broke his.  I loved getting this time alone with them, and so loved all the laughing and playing!

Here are our pics from the zoo...Charlie's favorite, of course, is the safari jeep (the "bakkie").

Elec helped Charlie navigate the wilderness...

Shockingly, Charlie even let Elec drive (I may have had something to do with that :).

Elephant rides are always a big hit.  Charlie doesn't seem to mind that they aren't real elephants. :)

We also sprung for the alligator ride.

Evie loved having Elec as well.  The extra distraction suited her just fine--gave her more opportunity to get into Charlie's toys without him noticing!

Elec is getting TWO babies at his house in the spring.  Looks like he will make a very sweet big brother!

Our highlight of the trip was feeding the giraffes.  They are so amazing to watch, and the boys thought their long, crazy tongues were hysterical.

Thanks to all of our awesome guests for making the trip.  We miss you guys already and want you to come again!!

Beaver Creek, Day 4

Our last day in Beaver Creek was bittersweet.  Bitter because it was sad to leave after so much wonderful time together as a family; sweet because it was so nice to get the kids back in their beds and back on a regular schedule.  Rested kids = better sleepers, fewer meltdowns, more energetic parents (amazing how that works :).

Our last day was Charlie's most anticipated, as it started with a Jeep Tour up in the mountains.  He was SO excited about this and asked every morning if it was our Jeep day.  The place where we met the Jeep was Charlie paradise.  It was a beautiful ranch in the mountains filled with Jeeps, Razors (like Rangers), 4-wheelers, and other fun vehicles.  I am afraid that we just introduced Charlie to his dream job. :)

Here is our Jeep (there was a lot of discussion on the way about what color the Jeep would be.  Charlie was hoping for yellow or red, but wasn't too upset when it turned out to be silver.).

SO excited.

Annoyed that she had to skip her morning nap for this foolishness...but a good sport nonetheless!

We headed up in the mountains and saw all kinds of stunning sights.  It quickly became apparent, however, that Charlie was much more excited about vehicle sightings (logging trucks, 4-wheelers, dirt bikes, campers, and other Jeeps) that anything else.  Big surprise!

There was a herd of sheep in one of the valleys we drove past.  Apparently this is where the shepherd lives.  Hard to imagine such a solitary existence!

More beautiful trees...

The view from the top of the summit.

It was FREEZING on the tour and Clint, Evie, and I were all wrapped up in blankets trying to stay warm.  Charlie refused to wear a jacket or be covered with a blanket.  We kept trying to convince him to cover up with something, but he stayed tough.  We finally noticed his lips turning blue and his teeth chattering and we tried one more time, and he finally relented.  He looked so relieved to be warm. :)

Evie got a pretty good nap during our tour.  It wasn't her ideal day, but she hung in there!

Bear claw marks on the tree--so cool!

We found this beaver dam...

...and then saw 2 beavers!  We stayed and watched them for a while and it was so cool watching them work.

The beavers were cool, but this logging truck?  Even better. :)

When we got back to the ranch, Charlie insisted on a photo in front of the Jeep he wished we had gotten to tour in (unfortunately, it belongs to the owner and doesn't get to tour :(.

Trailers are another of Charlie's random vehicle-related obsessions.  We spent some time watching the guys drive Razors and 4-wheelers up onto a trailer.  Charlie was in heaven!

After naps, we decided to try out the swimming pools at the hotel.  It was pretty cold, but the pool was heated, so it was tolerable (but still pretty chilly!).

Evie struck a pose in her suit...

Charlie LOVED swimming here.  He was getting pretty daring--makes me sad our summer of swimming is over!

More posing from the mouse... (she also swam, but not too long, as she was very chilly).

SO cold after the swim.

One last family picture...

After our swim, we had a wonderful dinner at a local cafe.  It was a perfect end to a perfect trip.  The flights home were a little trying, but it was fun seeing Evie playing on the plane (she loved the flight home) and hearing Charlie recount all of his favorite experiences.  He regaled our fellow passengers with tales of our trip (he was especially excited to tell about the Jeep Tour--he told them that "Evan drives a Jeep" (Evan was our tour guide), that we drove in the mountains, and that "it was called a Jeep tour").  I loved getting this time with my family.  It was really nice getting so much time with Clint and the kids loved getting him all to themselves for a few days.  Evie was walking up a storm on the trip (when she wasn't being carted along on a hike :), and Charlie was really into pretending and story-telling (we had pretend mice, raccoons, skunks, and fish that we took care of all week).  I am still amazed at how much these two are changing right now, and it was fun to experience these changes and developments as a family.  As fun as it was, it was also exhausting (thanks to Miss-I-Don't-Sleep-In-Hotel-Rooms), so we were glad to get home.  But I am already excited about our next get-away!

Beaver Creek, Day 3

We were pretty exhausted from a packed day and late night on Tuesday, so we vowed to make Wednesday a more relaxed day.  We started out ok, but ended up with another late night and four exhausted Burri.  But it was a fun day, so worth the exhaustion. :)

Starting out slow and letting Charlie watch some football in the morning...as you can tell, the little guy takes his football-watching very seriously!

 We tore him away from Sportscenter and Clint took him out to explore while Evie snoozed.  Apparently they pretend-fished and caught worms.  Charlie is very pleased with his worm here.

 After Evie woke up, we headed to the park to play and have a picnic lunch.  Here are the kids on the way to the park.  Note my new love--our new double umbrella stroller.  It was a life-saver on this trip!!

 The park was so picturesque.  We loved this little stream that went through the middle.

 Evie loves swinging.  She tries to smile bigger and bigger to make sure we know she enjoying herself so we don't get any ideas about cutting her swinging time short. :)

 Clint made Charlie a fishing pole and it was a huge hit.  Luckily, the fish were biting that day!

 After a long nap back in the room, Clint and I decided we'd had enough of our relaxing day and decided to try another hike.  We picked the Shrine Ridge Trail, which turned out to be a great find.  It had beautiful views and was a lot of fun to explore.

 Here are the boys at the beginning of the hike.

 Me & my little hiking companion.  Eves and I got some serious quality time on our hikes!

 Charlie loves climbing rocks and trees!

 We were amazed at Charlie's endurance on this hike.  He started out on Clint's shoulders, but ended up doing the majority of the 4.2-mile hike on his own.  He climbed rocks, ran up the trails, and entertained us with stories and songs the entire time.  I still can't believe how far (and fast) he walked!

 Charlie's favorite part was climbing up the mountain.  He would not let Clint even think about carrying him up.

  We climbed around 760 feet to an ultimate height of 11,800 at the Shrine Mountain Summit.  Charlie was SO proud of himself at the top. :)

 The hike took longer than we expected, so it was LATE when we finally got back to the room.  The kids were wired and WILD every night in our room.  It is hard to capture their craziness in photographs, but I attempted here.  

Charlie was diving off the furniture while Evie screeched and screamed with excitement. :)

 They loved crawling around the room together.  Their favorite game is to hide under or behind furniture and pop out and surprise each other.  I loved hearing their happy little shrieks and laughs. :)

After getting the two crazies to bed, Clint and I treated ourselves to a room-service dinner and a movie. Room service has never tasted so good. :)