President's Day Weekend

    The kids recently had a four day week for President's Day.  Since we had four days of fun, we decided to go to Denver on Friday.  My sister was working that day, so Ella got to come with us.  We packed so much fun into our day and the kids kept talking the whole way home how much fun they had in Denver.

Some president art Dawson made at school

George Washington I believe?

   We started our day at the museum of Nature and Science.  We are members and like to go as much as possible.  We always have a blast and find something new to do.

That is one big bear!

Dawson always likes building with these blocks

   After the kids played for a few hours at the museum, we had all worked up quite an appetite.  We decided to go to Steuben's for lunch.  It's a really neat and tasty restaurant in downtown Denver.  It is decorated 60s retro and always fun.  The kids were sure hungry!

Dawson devouring his hotdog

      After our lunch, we headed to our next adventure.  Touring a candy factory!  There is a candy factory in Denver that allows you to tour the factory.  The candy factory has been around for a long time and they still use most of the same equipment that they did almost a hundred years ago.  Of course, they have a huge candy story that we allowed the kids to each pick something from.  The tour was short, but it was really neat getting to see how candy is made.  They also gave us each a huge piece of taffy at the end which we all enjoyed.

The old candy truck

Ready for her tour

Watching candy be made

Dawson with his free taffy

  After the tour, we decided to make one more quick stop before heading home.  There is an ice cream place in Denver that makes all of their own ice cream.  I have been wanting to try it for years.  It was a really warm day, so we decided to stop on our way home.  They have really different and unique flavors.  Ashlyn was so excited they had hot coco which is one of her favorite things in the world.  She said hot coco ice cream was really good.  It was excellent ice cream and we will definitely be going there more often when we are in Denver.

Ice cream time!

  On Saturday night, Ella and Jameson spent the night and the kids had a giant sleepover.  Joey took this picture of the kids in bed and I had to share it on the blog since it is so darn sweet!

Our kids love their reading time

Little Gym Show

     The kids continue to take gymnastics classes.  Ashlyn has been doing it for about three years and she is getting really good.  I think it has really helped with her balance and awareness of her body movements.  Dawson decided he wanted to start taking classes this year too.  They both are in the same class and they seem to really have fun each week.  Like I have mentioned before, their gym is non-competitive so they do twice yearly shows where they can show their parents what they have been working on.  It is always neat to go in and see their skills.
   Graceyn and I do a mommy and me gymnastics class once a week as well.  She loves it and they make it really fun for kids her age.  She is absolutely fearless on the balance beam.  She does not hold my hand, and literally runs down it.  That child has no fear just like her sister.  Once she turns three years old, she will be doing a dance/gymnastics class which I think she will really enjoy.  Here are some pictures from their recent show.  It is really hard to capture gymnastics moves in pictures, but here are some shots.

Ashlyn is really good on the uneven bars and I think it is because she is so fearless!

She finally perfected her cartwheel on the balance beam