Denver Zoo
Pueblo Zoo
Renaissance Festival
Denver Kids Museum
Pueblo Kids Museum
State Fair (but doesn't happen till late Aug)El Paso County fairand as of today I wish to add: Pirates Cove and the Natural Museum of History in Denver
We did manage to get to the Denver Zoo, the Renaissance Festival, the Denver Kids Museum, and the County Fair. Not too bad! Almost 50% done. And it looks like I can check the Natural History Museum off my list as of Monday Aug 16. It's Zak's birthday, his family will be in town so we are all going to meet up there and possibly head to Casa Bonita afterward for dinner. I may need to save the other stuff for next summer. Although the State Fair hasn't started yet, so we may be able to do that one too. And the Pueblo kids museum isn't an outside activity, so we may be able to do that one over the winter. Pirates Cove is the one that will probably have to wait for next summer. And I am sure by then I will have a new huge list of things I want to do with the kids.
Let's see, what has happened over the past week? Well, Thursday was zoo preschool of course. We are doing "hoofed" animals this month as the theme. So Thursday's animal was the pony. Except we didn't ride the ponies as I had expected. Instead we got to see one of the ponies paint! Who knew ponies could paint?! And it just happened to also be Courtney's favorite horse, Amiga. It was so cute! We really enjoyed watching her paint.
After she was done painting the girls got to pet her:
After preschool was over we ate lunch and then walked around the zoo as normal. They did the standard things: rode the merry-go-round, a pony ride, and rode the train. They also played in the sprinklers they have at the zoo. It looks like a old leaky hose that sprays water. It's quite cute, and very nice on a hot day. We run the babies through it in their strollers. The girls usually walk away soaked. Good thing about Colorado though, they are mostly dry by the time we get to the cars.
Here is the girls being silly. 
That night we had a special event to attend at the zoo. They were hosting their annual Moonlight on the Mountain. They call it an adult party at the zoo. Mostly because they have a wine shop and a local brewery serving beer. You get 4 drinks for free! Plus they have other fun activities and animal demonstrations. Here we are going to feed the giraffes lettuce (note the giraffe dress, I was trying to blend in):
After a lettuce feeding for the giraffes, a salad feeding for us and a beer, we headed up the mountian. They had a few of their different areas open and handing out food. The first stop, the salad stop, was at the Safari Lodge near the giraffes. They had music at every stop as well. There was a singer/songwriter guy singing and playing his guitar in there. The next stop was the Grizzly Grill. They were serving ribs, chicken wings and Parmesan garlic fries. And of course, time for another beer. They had some band set up playing music. They were too loud if you ask me. From there we went up to the grizzly bears. They held a demonstration. I LOVE that one. They open the door in the little hut you are in, and the bear is RIGHT THERE! I was seriously 2 feet away from a bear! I would put a picture here, but it's really had to get a good clear picture because of the bars. But he is sooo cute! Here are our friends the P's while waiting for the bear demo:
We also saw a hippo demo, kind of. There were too many people for us really to see what was happening. The last stop they had some ice cream samples, and tacos and nachos. Plus more beer. And they had a band called Martini Shot. They were really good. At least I really enjoyed them, they were an 80's cover band, so ya know they were right up my alley. We headed out about 10pm, so kind of a late night (for us parents, that late!)The next day I was out in the backyard with the kids. I was bored and thinking, it would really be nice to have some kids over to play. So I posted to Facebook that we were looking for a play date! I had 2 friends bring their kids over. So, pretty soon there were 4 little girls running around the backyard in swimsuits playing in the baby pool, the sprinklers, and on the play stuff in the back yard. Hubby was kind and picked us up Wendy's for lunch and brought it to us. After lunch, everyone headed out and it was nap time for all of us! It was a great morning.
That evening we had a wedding rehearsal. Courtney was the flower girl, and I was a bridesmaid, in my friend Dana's wedding. She got married up at the Sunbird restaurant here in town. After the rehearsal, I dropped Courtney at home for Daddy to put her to bed, and I went to the grocery store. Besides being out of a lot of stuff, I also needed to stock up for the next day.
The next morning was finally Doolie Day Out! They changed it this year, we didn't get the kids until after they were already done with basic, and have started classes! Usually we get them half way though basic, or 3 weeks after they arrive. So, a big change this year. We have 2 new boys, Andrew and Grant. Andrew is from Minnesota and Grant is from South Carolina. They seem like 2 very nice kids.
Anyway, they also changed the times the kids were allowed off base. It used to be 9am-5pm. This year it was 8am-10pm! So, Hubby was up and out the door at 7:15am to go get them. After they made it home, he made homemade pancakes. Then he made cheesesteaks for lunch, and we had turkey breasts and baked potatoes on the smoker for dinner. I left about 12:15pm to go get my hair done. We ran into issues with timing due to the wedding and such. So, my mom came up to our house to babysit Kasey and the Cadets. Her friend Syl joined her because she doesn't live far from us and it was her birthday. So, we had the whole dinner ready to go, my mom just had to take it off the smoker and serve it. It worked out well since the rest of us had to be at the wedding. But to get the kids back on time, we did have to leave the wedding early. But it was getting late for Courtney anyway. So, it worked out well all around.
Now on to the wedding! Courtney did a great job! Here's the bridal party prior to the wedding:
Here's Courtney in action (she did so good!):
Here's the bridal party after the ceremony:
Here's Mommy and Courtney! (I was a bridesmaid):
Here's Courtney and Hannah dancing with the bride!
Yes, the bride was wearing red. The whole wedding was black and red and it was beautiful!
On the way to pick up Dana (the bride, my job was to pick her and the bridal party up) I was stuck in traffic. I was trying to figure out what on earth was causing the backup I was in. I finally caught up to the backup. It was a momma duck and her ducklings (about 15 of them) waddling down the road! The road they chose to waddle down is under construction and the jersey walls were keeping them from getting off the main road. So, there was a car that was kind enough to put on it's hazards and drive slow keeping them safe. It was so cute! Then after picking up everyone, on the way to The Sunbird, we saw a mommy dear and her 2 fawns on the side of the road! Ok, everyone all together now: awwwwww!!!!
The monsoon flow is still overhead so the rain has been plenty, and every day. As I am sitting here there is a TON of lighting outside. It's been raining off and on all afternoon today and just about every day for the last 2 weeks.
I have to share this super cute Courtney story. So, today at church, Courtney went up to the front for the childrens' sermon. There we about 40 kids up at the front of the church. After the sermon the kids all go off together to a room upstairs for snack and praise time (they watch some little movies). Anyway, Courtney didn't go with the mass exodus of kids. Instead she moved over and sat next to the pastor. Then she grabbed his hand and was trying to take him with her. It was cute, and the congregation chuckled. The pastor said "does anyone want to claim this child?" I was already on my way up front. I was over on the side, about 30 feet away. The pastor saw me and sent Courtney my way. She comes running over to me, but stops about 2 feet away. She then turns around and runs back about 10 feet and waves at the pastor until he waved back. The congregation was laughing pretty good at this point. She finally ran back to me and I got her off to be with the other kids.
At the of the service I had several strangers and several friends say "oh your daughter is so cute!" Yea, she is!
1 comment:
I love the giraffe dress and PLEASE quit hogging the rain!!
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