North Pole

    A few days before school started, we had to make our yearly trip to the North Pole.  Ashlyn still enjoys it, so we wanted to go on a day she didn't have school.  The North Pole is perfect for kids our age.  The rides are very tame and great for the younger ones.  They love getting to try all the different rides.  This was the first year that Gracie really could ride anything.  She seemed to enjoy riding the rides she could go on.  Her favorite was definitely the big slide.  The slide has several flights of steep stairs you have to walk up.  She insisted on walking herself and I could not believe how many times that child walked up those stairs.  I was exhausted so she had to be tired!  Here are the pictures from our day:

Loading up

They even have a real ice pole

I believe this bear is new which is rare for anything to be new at the North Pole

These mirrors are always fun

This roller coaster is awful.  All it basically does it jerk you around in a circle.  It almost gives you whiplash.  Unfortunately, the girls love it so my sister and I have to ride it every time.  

Motorcycle girls

Best sisters in the world

Such an independent girl

This was us on the sky ride

   We couldn't end our trip without a visit to Santa.  We didn't realize that Santa took a 2 hour lunch break.  We had to wait for him to return before we could leave.  The girls were adamant on seeing him.  Ella was so funny.  She planned ahead and circled everything in the American Girl catalog that she wanted (basically everything) and brought the catalog along with her to show Santa.  Santa seemed pretty impressed that she thought to bring it.  It was so funny.

Ella showing Santa her Christmas list

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