Cousin Olivia. . .

At the end of March, we drove out to Ft. Collins to spend a few days visiting my sisters on the front range. Since we were going to be seeing my niece Olivia on her birthday, I decided to get another fun cookie.

The girls had a blast together. As fun as it was watching them play and giggle, I got a little sappy. There are so many days I wish we lived closer to family. Emma has some amazingly fun cousins and several of them are close to her age! It's just awesome to see her excitement when she knows we're going to see cousins!

One afternoon we made a quick trip to an eagle refuge. It was like a miniature zoo. Most of the birds had been injured or maimed in some way and were not able to live in the wild.

It took about a day for Emma and Olivia to get to know each other again. After that, they were pretty much inseparable! They wanted to dress alike, eat the same food, and sit by each other wherever we went!

My sister bought Emma the Frog and Toad books for her birthday. She loves them! I vaguely remember reading them when I was little. Shortly after the girls woke up, they were ready for story time!

Emma went to dance class with Olivia one morning and they spent many hours playing outside. The day we left, the girls decided they needed to wear similar outfits. They both have their headbands, long-sleeved ribbed shirts, skirts, and leggings. What a pair!

I hope as they get older, they (and other cousins, too) can see more of each other. I guess that means there will have to be many more road trips in the future!!

While we were near the Front Range, I was able to see four of my sisters. Lori, Jane and Chris all live within 15 minutes of each other and Lianne and her girls drove up from Denver one day. I love driving around to see family, but it was nice to have everyone in one place so I didn't have to do that. I think Emma saw nine of her cousins and four of her aunts. What she remembers most, besides playing with Olivia, is that she found a giant snail shell at Aunt Chris's house, played on a zip line at Aunt Jane's house, and played "Where's Your Food?" with Aunt Lori. I remember just enjoying being with my sisters, laughing and "getting" each other in some of our humor. I was glad we extended our trip by a few days so we could spend more time with my family.