Thursday, May 30, 2013

Memorial Weekend in CO:: Part III: Park

One of the elementarty schools in Woodland Park has a very impressive playground complex. We had taken Makenah before, but were anxious to get the kids back and let Logan enjoy it now too. It's completely enclosed, has soft mulch instead of sand, and lots of room to climb.
It was a beautiful CO afternoon for the park. 
I think this park will be requested all the time!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Memorial Weekend in CO:: Part II:: Cousins

I'm sure the highlight of the trip to CO for Makenah and Logan was the time spent with their cousins. Alexa, Jack, and Allie are so sweet and kind to the kids. They play with, teach, and love on both of these kids. Alexa, the oldest was playing basketball  for a good part of the weekend, so I missed getting a picture with her and the kids. Jack and Allie made sure to show the kids a good time. 
 Learning how to throw a frisbee!
Next up: Our favorite park in Woodland Park.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Memorial Weekend in CO:: Part 1:: Lots of fish

We decided to head to Colorado for the long Memorial weekend. We have sure come to love the ease of traveling there. It makes for a great getaway, it allows Bryan a true weekend off, we get to spend time with family, and the drive from western Kansas is so much shorter. 
We got to stay with Bryan's grandparents in Woodland Park, which makes the trip even better. And, the icing on the cake was that his Aunt Cristal, Uncle Steve and their kids were going to be there for the weekend too. 
We decided to fill our first full day in Denver, and we got to spend that with my sister!! Yay! She lives in CO Springs and this is another big bonus to making trips that way. 
We got up early and hit the road. First stop, donuts at the famous Donut Mill in WP. The donuts are gigantic. It's fun to pick a huge one from the display and then try and eat it all. We did pretty good. 
After donuts, we headed towards Denver and stopped for some shopping at the Outlets at Castlerock, CO. Oh, the shopping we crammed in as quick as we could. The kids did well, and we found something for everyone. 
After lunch at a pizza kitchen, we finished the drive into Denver and headed to the Downtown Aquarium, a place we were excited to visit! According to their website they have more than a million gallons of underwater exhibits and over 500 species of animals. We had a great time walking and seeing all kinds of underwater life. 
Admittedly, I wasn't quite sure how to get good pictures in a place like this. One area was jungly, then one would be dark, then one would be lit with blue light, and most things were obviously behind glass. But, I still wanted to try and get some pictures! 
Bryan and Makenah stood by the flash flood simulation. It was totally cool! Loud, fast, and wet. 
Watching the divers.
 Logan rode in the stroller some, and we carried him some too. If he would have had it his way, he would have pushed this the whole time. 
 This tank had a bubble you could stick your head up in. Aunt Jenna and Makenah tried it out. 
 The tiger was the lone non-water living animal I noticed. 
 It was really fun seeing the sharks. 
The jellyfish.
We had a really good time, and it was so fun having Jenna there with us. They have quite a few special attractions and extras you can do also. And, it was neat to get to see some of downtown Denver. There's also a children's museum next door that I wouldn't mind visiting sometime too!
There was some napping on the way back to Woodland Park. Worn out kids. The rest of the family was watching his cousin play basketball that afternoon and evening, so we capped off our family day, just the four of us, with a great meal at one of the local mexican restaurants.