The Denver Museum of Nature & Science

On day 5 we visited the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. I scored a good deal on admission through Groupon, for $50 we got a season pass to the local Fleischmann Planetarium. It just so happens that they are part of a larger network and our passes are good at several locations, Denver being one of them. Our pass is also good at the Exploritorium in San Francisco, the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake City, and a handful of places in the Sacramento area.

Noah had been looking forward to the trip to the museum ever since I told them that they had a huge dinosaur exhibit. Dinosaurs are one of his favorite things at the moment. There was also a large exhibit on Insects, Outer Space, Wildlife, the Human Body, Gems & Minerals, and Mummies. If you wanted to you could pay extra and see a special exhibit about Pirates, choose from a number of IMAX films, as well as planetarium shows. It was a very educational day. I'm so glad the kids loved it. I think it would be fun to go without them sometime as there was a lot of exhibits I would have liked to spend more time at.

Some picture highlights:

There was a large dinosaur to greet you right outside of the parking garage.

Noah and Zoe fit under him...

Comparing feet...Auntie Lori even got close to the dinosaur...

A view from above...
Zoe loved the insect exhibit and insisted that I took some pictures of it. I personally was freaked out about the size of some of these bugs. They were real, you could see the pins holding them in place.

Jackson checking out the polar bear exhibit.

Zoe seeing what it would be to have ears like a deer.Daddy got in on the action too.

As I mentioned there was a special pirate exhibit. We didn't pay to see it, however we enjoyed the pirates they had throughout the museum.

The boys...
Just Jack Jack...

This was Zoe's favorite pirate...Zoe seeing how she measured up to the smallest dinosaur on record...

We decided Jack was more his size. But he actually looks huge compared to it...

Noah loved the Woolly Mammoth skull...

Jack enjoyed the puppets at the reading nook inside the Dinosaur exhibit...

The Downtown Aquarium

Day 3 was spent hanging around the house and getting ready for a family BBQ. Not to mention catching up on some much needed rest.

On Day 4 we took a trip to the Downtown Aquarium. Yes, Denver has an Aquarium. A lot of people are surprised to find that out. What I think is even stranger about the whole thing is that the Aquarium is owned by Landry's. Landry's owns a bunch of seafood restaurants.

Auntie Lori, Uncle Rod, and Grandma Mona joined us on this adventure. Grandpa Kyle decided to sit it out and work on a few projects at home. I was able to find and request a couple of "Buy 1, Get 1" coupons on the Internet which made the trip even sweeter. For some reason we didn't take many pictures of our visit. I think it was too dark and a little too crowded. We were trying our best to keep our group together and not loose a kid. Plus, I was having too much fun watching Jackson's reaction to all the different tanks. I think it is safe to say that this was his favorite activity of our vacation. He kept pointing to all the fish and kept squealing and acting all excited. Noah, Zoe, and Dan got to feed the stingrays. They also got to touch a shark. We wanted to eat at the restaurant but decided it wasn't worth the hour wait.

So, Auntie Lori and Uncle Rod to us to this really cool restaurant downtown called The Wyncoop. They had really good fish, mac and cheese, home brewed root beer, and an amazing vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. After eating we walked around the old Amtrak Train Depot.

They decided to take us home via the scenic route. We got to see a bunch of really tall buildings, old homes, and a group of naked people riding on bikes. Yes, you read that right. At one of the intersections, there was a rather large group of people, probably around 15 to 20. They were dressed or undressed to varying degrees. A couple were completely naked. I was so glad that Zoe was sleeping and Noah was too distracted to notice. I wouldn't have wanted to explain any of it. Mona couldn't understand why they would want to risk being arrested and eventually having to register as a sex offender.

It was another fun, yet exhausting day. Too bad we forgot about taking pictures.

Splish, Splash , and Treasure Hunting

Day 2 we visited this rather large, free to the public, splash park. It was so nice to have Dad run around in the water with them for a change. I got to sit under a nice shade tree and relax. Or at least relax as much as you can with a baby crawling around.

After playing in the water they did a little treasure hunting with Grandpa Kyle. He brought all his metal detecting equipment and let them go at it. The kids had a lot of fun listening for the different beeps and then picking up, or digging for the reward. They managed to gather just under $6 in change, a few ear rings, rings, and a ton of can tabs. Noah thought it was the coolest thing ever and can't wait to buy his own metal detector.

Noah stayed out in the sun a little too long and we weren't good about making sure he drank enough. As a result he managed to get sick and puked all over Grandma Mona and Grandpa Kyle's front steps and lawn. We were so glad he didn't puke all over their car. Grandpa took really good care of him, gave him something to drink and a cool place to sleep it off. With in a couple of hours he was back to his normal self. I tend to forget that he is a little more sensitive to the elements and should be better about having him eat and drink when we are out and about. As it would also help with his mood swings.

Dad and Noah working together...

Zoe was Grandpa Kyle's helper...

The Denver Temple

Did you know that the Denver Temple isn't technically in Denver? It's in Littleton, or should I say Centennial. I guess there was a redrawing of city lines not to long ago. The point is, it doesn't matter. It is known as the Denver Temple. (Just a little discussion I had with a distant cousin of mine.)

Noah and Zoe thought it was really cool to see another Temple and discuss how it is different from the "Castle Temple" (Salt Lake), Grandma's Temple (Sacramento), and where Mommy and Daddy got married (Oakland). We should have planned our visit better and not gone at the end of the day, when we had spent a good portion of it at the Zoo, or the day after traveling. The kids weren't the most cooperative and Noah had a major meltdown. But at the time we didn't know if we'd be down that way again before the end of the week. So, unfortunately we didn't get to do all the exploring I would have liked to do.

I really can't blame Noah all that much, he had a very valid point and argument that led to his meltdown. The church has this habit of making the Temple grounds so beautiful and inviting. Full of trees, grass, flowers, fountains, and sometimes statues. Often resembling nice parks, without the play structures. Well this particular Temple has a very nice grassy area. It is large and sloped just right. Very inviting for a child. The perfect area for running around. We tried to explain to him that it was the Temple grounds and we needed to be reverent and not run around. He insisted that it was just grass and not the Temple grounds. However, he is now 6 and thinks he knows everything. He went back and forth with his Dad several times, they even had a private discussion. Nothing seemed to work. We were going to try and walk around really fast before they started locking everything up. Somehow Noah tripped on his own feet, blaming it on his Dad, and the tears and screaming started. Being totally embarrassed at this point we headed back to the car and called it a night.

I have to admit he had a very valid point. The Temple didn't touch the grass in any way. It was on the other side of the fountain, several steps, and a road (driveway). So, how could it be the Temple grounds?

Kids, you gotta love them.

A few more Temple pictures:

The Dever Zoo

Our first outing while in Denver was to the Denver Zoo. It was one of the nicest zoos we've been too. There were a ton of animals to see and a few good shows to watch. Noah's favorite animals were the Flamingos; Zoe's favorite animals were the Giraffes; I'm not sure what Jack's favorite was.

Zoe got spoiled by Grandpa Kyle with 2 Icees, 2 train rides, and 2 carousel rides. She had a hard time waiting to see the Giraffes, so he was more than happy to walk her to the other side of the Zoo and spend some one on one time with her. Noah got to feed juice to the Larakeet birds and couldn't wait to ride the train with his sister. He also had a lot of fun trying to freak his dad out in the reptile house.

Here are a few picture highlights:

The animal show, where the audience had to figure out who would make the best mascot....

A parrot?

The Armadillo?

An African Hornbill?

or the Serville?
The Flamingos. can you see the babies sticking out from under the mom's wings?
Noah in front of his favorite animals...
Some type of monkey with funny white mustaches...

How do Noah's arms measure up to a monkey?Proof that Dan has Monkey Arms...
The Larakeet birds...
I can't remember what this little guy was called. He's pretty cute for being a member of the rodent family.

The train...Noah and Zoe on the train. They were old enough to ride by themselves.

Jackson hanging out before the Wild Animal Show...

Jack loved his first Carousel ride. Not the best picture. We split up to accomplish more before the rain started, so this was my best attempt to document this milestone, while balancing him on his Rhino

More of a happy Jack, enjoying his first Zoo visit...

Denver, Colorado

This year's family vacation was to Denver, Colorado. We decided it was time to visit Grandpa Kyle and Grandma Mona. Plus, the kids and I couldn't wait any longer to meet Auntie Lori and Uncle Rod, or Auntie Jackie and Uncle Jimmy. We also were lucky enough to visit with Auntie Heidi.

Thanks to a fee ticket from Papa Tim, we were able to fly there. We boarded a Southwest flight a little after lunch and made it there just in time for dinner. The flight was a very bumpy one. Turbulence on the way out of Reno and on our dissension into Denver. I hated it and couldn't wait for it to stop. Not to sure what the two older kids thought about it, but Jack loved it and laughed the whole time. Other than that the flight was rather smooth, it was completely full and in order to sit together we sat in the very last row. Noah liked it since he had 2 windows to look at, but hated that it took forever to deplane. Jack fell asleep as we were boarding the plane and slept for most of the flight. Zoe slept for a good chunk of it too.

We had a lot of fun picking out our rental car. We were lucky to find a Chevy Traverse sitting in the lot that we could choose from. It sat 8 without being overly huge. It also got extremely good gas mileage. We didn't fill up the whole week we were there and that was with several trips between Aurora and Denver as well as a few trips between Aurora and Littleton. It is my new dream car at the moment.

We had 6 fun filled days in the Denver area. We went to the Zoo, the Temple, the Aquarium, the Nature and Science Museum, the United States Mint, and a cool free splash park. The kids also watched "Old Yeller" and "Where the Red Fern Grows", or as Noah called them "kill your dog" movies. We got to watch the planes every day at Buckley Air Force Base. They would take off and land and practice all sorts of formations and maneuvers. They even had helicopters flying with guys hanging out of them. That in itself was entertainment enough.

We also were very well fed by Grandpa Kyle. He is an excellent cook. He also introduced us to frozen custard at Freddy's and a cool Fish and Chips place. It was one of the most relaxed vacations we have taken. I think this is the first one that upon returning I didn't feel like I needed another vacation to recover. On the way home we got to fly on Shamu, too bad the camera was packed away the kids would have loved a picture of it.

The kids had a fun time too. Noah is already planning our next trip. He wants to go in June and stay for at least 10 days. We'll have to see if we can make that a reality. There was so much more I would have liked to have done.

The kids got to camp inside the whole week. That is one of their favorite memories from the trip.
Each attraction deserves it's own entry, so stay tuned.

What are you growing?

Here's what our Garden looks like.
We are off to a slow growing season, so haven't had much sucess this year. It took forever for it to get warm, or stay warm around here.

But here is what's growing and will be ready soon:

Watermelon...
Green Zebra Tomatoes...
We've also enjoyed a few strawberries, beets, peas, green beans, and radishes.