Denver Zoo

   Our lives have been just way too hectic for me to get to blogging.  I also blame the fact that our poor camera had a bad run in with some water.  It is kind of working now, but was out of commission for a few days.  Of course, this was during our fun trip to Denver.  I had to use my phone for pictures and I just now got around to having Joey post them.
     Moving on...  I posted a while ago about our fun end of summer overnight trip to Denver.  We spent the second day at the Denver zoo.  I had not be in over ten years and most of the kids had never been.  The Denver zoo is incredible and we really enjoyed it.  There are all sorts of different animals that our zoo doesn't have.  They also had a really neat Lego exhibit going on with different animals made of Legos.  The kids thought that was pretty cool.   The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful day exploring a new zoo.  We definitely would like to make it a yearly trip!

Wildlife in the parking lot

Our attempt at a group shot

This lion is entirely made of  Legos

Not a real lizard, but neat none the less

Jameson checking out the rhinos

Big girl Ella

Gracie really liked the animals

Ashlyn checking out her favorite the hippo

Fun climbing the hippo

Ashlyn loves the penguins

Even this lily pad is made of Legos

Lego Koi

Going for a quick ride

Dawson's turn to drive

Another rhino shot

A neat log to crawl through

They had some really neat play areas for kids.  This was a giant sand box that the kids loved.

This was the neatest water area that was basically a shallow little river kids could walk in.  The kids LOVED it.  

Moving water

So fun!

Gracie loves getting wet

Busy at work

Checking out the giraffes

Incredible Lego sculpure

First Day of 2nd Grade

    Somehow, our sweet precious girl went off to 2nd grade!!! I'm pretty sure we were just sending her off to kindergarten yesterday.  You seriously can't blink because the years just fly by.  I don't even want to think about how hard next year will be when Dawson goes to school.  Anyways, it is always a hard transition.  Summer is so carefree and fun and it's a bit hard to be back to a school schedule which involves waking up early, drop offs, pick-ups, homework, etc.
    Ashlyn's school always does an ice cream social a few days before school starts so students can see their classroom and meet their teacher.  Her school is fairly new, and it has two stories.  She was so excited to discover her classroom is now on the second story.  I was a little sad to see she has already moved upstairs.  She's growing up to quickly.  She had fun exploring her new classroom.  There are quite a few students in her class this year that were also in her class last year.  Her teacher was very friendly and I think she is going to have another terrific year.
      The night before school started, we went to the pizza place that we go to every year.  I did it as a kid and it's a fun way to get ready for such a big day the next day.  Ashlyn really enjoyed it and it's a tradition we all enjoy.
     Her first day back was a great one. I missed her so much while she was gone, but she had such a good day. The entire school lined up outside and then it's inside for a day of learning.  Each day we picked her up she said she had "great" days. so I think you could say this year is off to a great start.  I can't wait to watch our baby grow and see all the things she learns in 2nd grade.

Pizza time

Yum!

Dawson had to try out the pinball Transformers game

Photobooth time

Pretty girl all ready for her first day as a second grader

The new backpack she picked out

Our beautiful daughter

Her brother didn't want her to go

Quick pic on the playground

Ready for school

The whole lineup is chaos, but a neat tradition

Dawson needed a quick rest

Heading inside 

Drive-In and Cabin

      Our cabin trip started a little differently last weekend.  Joey headed up with the kids for an extra special treat.  They got to go to a drive-in!  In the past, we have made a yearly trip to the drive-in down in Pueblo.  Our last trip two years ago wasn't the best and we found it to be very crowded so we haven't been back.  There is a drive-in in Buena Vista so Joey figured it would be a good one to try.  They were playing the movie "Inside Out" which the kids were dying to see.  Joey said the weather was perfect and the had such a fun time watching a movie outside.  They ate popcorn and laughed and had a wonderful time.
    My sister and I headed up to the cabin bright and early Saturday morning.  Last weekend at the cabin, the weather was quite cool.  We were so pleased to see it was already in the 70s when we got there around 9:30. For the first time all summer, we were able to break out our shorts at the cabin.          There is a small river or or tributary that runs behind my dad's cabin.  In the beginning of summer it was flowing like crazy and the water was very high from all of the snow melt off.  We discovered this weekend that it was flowing very slowly.  It was also not deep at all.  We took the kids down there and they had an incredible time running around in the water.  It only went past their ankles so they were completely safe.  The girls especially loved it.  We sat down there all day as they built mudpies, played house, and went hunting for "rare" rocks.  It was such fun and something we have never gotten the chance to do before.  I'm really hoping for one more really nice weekend to play in the water.

The Buena Vista drive-in

They were the first ones there.  Can't beat that backdrop.  

Ella ready for the movie to start

Crazy kids

Feeding chipmunks

This is a different part of the river that they like to throw rocks in

Gracie going for a walk

Water time!

SO much to explore

They discovered that sticks were fun

Alli really likes the water

Gracie LOVED the water

Dawson got a little dirty

Fun times

This swing gets constant use I think

I tried to take a picture to capture how dirty Ashlyn was

Gracie pretending she was going for a ride

The weather was gorgeous during the day, but it poured rain almost all night.  

Time to go feed the chipmunks again

We love it when we have the place to ourselves