Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Since we were just running through the museum briefly because we had packet pickup and I had a conference in the afternoon, I let Junior lead the way. Well that, and I forgot the stroller. (It was a mile each way to get the packets, and he was done by the time we had to head back.)

The museum is free to military families!  You do have to pay for the IMAX and the special exhibits, but I didn't have time for that this visit.  Here's Junior checking out a movie on dinosaurs.

There are huge exhibits of dinosaurs, which will be right up Abs alley.

We visited with the mummy.  The boy has watched too much Scooby Doo.

They have a discovery section for the kids, so Junior wanted to spend more of the time there.  

Puzzles to do.

They could become paleontologists.  

Take apart a human body.

There is definitely a lot to do, plus it is right next to City Park, so when I take all the kiddos we will pack a picnic lunch.  There are also water jets in the back of the museum that the kids can play in during the "heat" of the summer.  

We did have to swing by the gift shop on the way out and Junior picked out a space helmet.  He said he is using it to go visit his Grandpa.  Sigh.

Hiking in Red Rock Canyon

Every time we leave Garden of the Gods, we always drive by this place that has a bunch of cars parked out front.  We finally went there today, and it was beautiful!

Looking across the way to Garden of the Gods.  

Important features:  1.  It's free.  2.  The trails are wide, and although not paved, you can push a jogging stroller on them  3.  Free parking  4.  Not as busy as Garden of the Gods  5.  It's beautiful  6.  You can scramble no more than 10 feet from the base of the rock formations, which allows you to get some great shots.  You can't scramble at GotG.  7.  Very peaceful  8.  We saw hikers, bikers, runners, rock climbers.  We fell under the category of parents of children obsessed with sticks.

Abs decided she wanted to be in every picture because she wants to be blogged about more.  If the girl only knew she gave me enough material for a lifetime.  

We tried to get pictures of all three of them, but that wasn't so easy.  

Yes, Em was wearing her uggs, not exactly conducive to hiking.  Maybe one day she'll listen?  

It wouldn't be an adventure without at least one unhappy camper.  Upset over.....a stick.

BTW, I have that jacket in every size because it was less than $3, so he better like it!

Em doesn't look so sure about this picture.  She insisted that we already had one picture of the two of them touching, that we didn't need a second.  Sisterly love.

My two favorite boys.

A view of Pikes Peak from the trail.

We'll definitely be back, and I think I will take Junior there sometime soon on a run so we can test how the jogging stroller works out there.  Can't wait to return!

Ab's Birthday

We survived another birthday with Abs.  She only managed to wake up at the crack of dawn, knock something over and give it a little character, and make a mess wherever she went.

We found this cute little outfit at walmart today, and I thought it would make her pictures a little more toned down than what she was originally wearing.  Six dollars too!  


We spent forever trying to pick out a cake.  Abs inspected each one, compared and contrasted, and mentioned that it might be easier with a venn diagram.  Finally she decided on one, and then requested that the cake lady write "happy birthday" and her name in a different color for each letter.  The cake lady looked annoyed, but said she would write each letter of her name in a different color.  


When the cake lady was finished, Abs was absolutely delighted, placed the cake in the buggy, and then threw her arms around the cake lady to thank her for making her birthday so special.  What was the cake lady to do but smile, tell me what a wonderful kiddo I had, and give her free cookies.  Just what she needed, sugar.


We had her open presents before we went to eat, and she was so excited about capri pants.  

She got a dinosaur.

It moves, roars, plays music, is really neat.  She loved her sewing machine.

And she seemed happy with everything else that she got.  We went to dinner at The Airplane Restaurant.  It was so neat!

We made reservations to sit in the plane portion of the restaurant.  Abs was about to jump out of her skin.  We hit the bathrooms and they reminded me of The Mrs.

We came out as Abs was telling everyone that we had reservations for the plane. (one guy thanked her for letting him know, so he could sit elsewhere) When Abs is excited, she gets louder and louder.  Three kids, and they need to be heard, so the sound seemed to be deafening to me.  

The waitress came to our table and introduced herself as our Flight Attendant.  Abs screamed "We are going to take off????".  I assured Abs we were staying put.  They were amazed to be sitting over the wing, that the table was a map, and that they were allowed to go to the cockpit and "fly" the plane.  Don't think that Abs wasn't trying to figure out how they had it stuck to the ground, so she could make it take off.

The food was great, although a tad expensive.  Our flight attendant assured me that we were not even close to being the loudest family that had ever been there.  Whew.  The kids were just so excited and it was pretty cool.  

There were milkshakes to be had.

Cute Soldiers in attendance.

Two piegons that decided to give a facts of life demonstration on the wing of the plane.  This was before those two little lovebirds got carried away.  

The kids' analysis of it was "they are riding each other piggyback like Sammy used to do to Junior".  Thanks kids for telling everyone in the restaurant that Sammy the humping dog lives with us.

The restaurant was filled with memorabilia and history.  I could have walked around all day trying to absorb it all.  

We returned home for cake and ice cream. 

 

Now all three kiddos are tucked into bed and will hopefully be asleep soon.

Happy Birthday Abs!

Guess Where!

Gunner is turning the big 3-9 on Friday! 

I was looking for something special to do and scored big.

Where do you think we are going?

They have a specatcular military special going on right now. 

Weekend Trip--Focus on the Family

The kids and I had already been to Focus on the Family, but since it was raining today, it was a good place to get out, not spend any money, and let the kids have fun.  Everything is entirely free(except for food, but it was on sale today)!  They also had the Sheriff, Army, Fire Department and more with their vehicles for the kids to explore.

They collected sheriff badges, coloring books, stickers, crayons, coupons from Chick-fil-A, and they even made them personalized dog tags!

Inside is decorated like the Adventures in Odyssey type setting.

Junior climbing on the airplane.  He was too small to go down the several story slide with the girls.  (We thought that the climb to get to the top of the slide would wear them out--they are still going strong)

 

 Junior loved the touch screen coloring game.  (BTW I put that jacket to the side for my nephew since Junior has outgrown it, but he was fixated on it today.  At least he took the hood off inside.)

 

 Family pictures...

 There's a stage with costumes so Junior and Em put on a short play.  Abs was not into pictures today.

A puppet stage...

Toddler playground.  This is going to be great in the winter!

A frog on the log in the bog...

They also have a radio station where the older kids can sign up to do their own radio show.  They have a script, practice, and record the show with some of the parts taped already so it is just like an Adventure in Odyssey radio show.  They had a great time, and they gave us a copy of the show too.  It's a really cute story and the girls did a great job!

Hot dogs and ice cream to finish it off. 

They gave Gunner a freebie too.  I can't wait to read it!

 

Tomorrow there's a free kid friendly moving showing with popcorn and drinks.

I better search the paper tomorrow for next week's activities.