day 2! don't worry- there are only 4 :)

kids wake up and are dying for chocolate milk :) lovely 

9 a.m. pickup for white water rafting trip!  i still remember doing this as a kid so i was dying for ellis to do it!  bonus:  emery and beckett could be picked up halfway down the river past the BIG rapids...

hilarious

i volunteered to stay back with crazy and crazier so that brandon could do the "real" rapids with ellis and his brother...they will pick us up about an hour into the trip along the river

she was literally IN the water before it was all over with...

she spies dogs

she looks so "colorado"

here comes ellis!!  helmet and wetsuit!

let the fun begin!

they all jumped in the river!

and then she decided to go in just panties...party on girl

s'more shot that i forgot to post from the first night

doesn't ellis look cozy? from the first morning.  she basically got her own room (and more importantly her own mini fridge...she is obsessed with mini fridges!)

colorado! ~day 1

brandon's parents spend most of august in colorado every year :)  this year was extra special though because they invited us to tag along for part of it!!!  yee haw!  we flew into eagle and 20 minutes later we were having a glass of wine on the patio in the amazingly perfect weather...

we stayed in bachelor gulch...5 minutes from beaver creek, 10 minutes from vail.  EVERYONE we met was from dallas or houston...longhorns all over the place!

 enjoying the weather...so strange to need a jacket!

ice cream immediately!  ellis went to the ritz kids club for the night and had a BLAST.  met lots of fun girls...got to go swimming in the grotto of the spa and do a scavenger hunt on the property...she got out at 10 p.m.

they have so many games for kids (and adults)...horseshoes, ladder ball, ping pong, etc

emery made herself lots of friends...just look for the stroller and you will find her

all of the nannies knew her too...

beckett and nish!

the kids were taking turns with my camera

 cousin elizabeth

we did patio, hot tub, s'mores in the huge fire pit, and then inside for an awesome guy with a guitar until ellis was out of kids club...fun first day getting the lay of the land!  

and hamsters make 9!

if you are keeping up, we have 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 hermit crabs (how are they still alive?!?) and now 2 hamsters in our house.  9 living things.  i am running a small pet shop.  it's all still a blur but somehow we came home from the woodlands mall with 2 hamsters and 2 cages (i only went for a shirt at anthropologie)...because of course ellis would rather die than let beckett's hamster associate with hers.  emery is now the proud owner of both hermit crabs (ellis and beckett kicked them to the curb when the hamsters came home).  she renamed both of them bevo, and she is just thrilled.  she carries those cages around from room to room...one in each hand...banging them into walls and the sides of her legs as she walks.  as for the hamsters, beckett's is named "hamster fast", and ellis named hers "crystal diamond".  brandon is trying to figure out the possible installation of a stripper pole for crystal's cage.  

they have provided hours and hours of entertainment...all of the neighborhood kids have come over for show and tell.  i gotta say they are pretty dang cute :)