Denver Zoo

Slowly by surly I am getting my blog caught up from our vacation!  I have one more post after this one & I think I will have the trip all blogged about! 

Thursday morning we got up early to head to the zoo to try to beat the heat.  It was a really nice zoo & it had a wide variety of animals.  It was warm, but not a miserable heat.  If we stayed in the shade it was just not too bad.  The zoo had most of the walk ways shaded, it was a nice.

When we got done at zoo, we grabbed a quick dinner at Arby's then headed to the hotel to get some rest! 
That evening we met up with Marilyn's sister & niece for supper & did some shopping at a Whole Foods Store.  I enjoy any time I get to the "city" and can do some shopping in different stores.  I would not trade where I live for all the money in the world, but it is fun to get to a more populated area from time to time! 

Aubree & Jenae in front of the Zebra's a the Zoo.

Aubree was most excited to see Giraffes at the zoo.



Jenae was super excited to see that they had Przewalsik's Horses at the zoo.



The camels were laying down. We thought that was pretty cool!

Jenae thought this animal was really neat.  It looked like part Zebra & part something else.  I think it was call an Okapi.

We had to stop for an frozen lemonade & to rest our legs!  I think Whitney ate more than anyone else did!
 She loved it!

Strollers were not allowed in Bird World, so Whitney & I hung out outside.  Marilyn took this picture of the girls.

Me & the girls at the zoo/

Jenae seeing how she measures up!

Aubree seeing how long her arms are.

Marilyn & the girls at the zoo.

Whitney LOVED the zoo.  She was so happy to watch all the animals.  She would make this really cute sound when she would spot the animal in its cage.  She was a real trooper, but I knew she was getting tired.  She was not happy in her stroller as she was to low to see much so I carried her around for most of the day.  I could tell she was getting really tired & I put her in her stroller for a few minutes & she was sound to sleep with in minutes!!

Jenae thought this was a nice place to take a picture!

Whitney only slept maybe 1/2 hr then she was up ready to see the animals again.  We were all getting tired, but had not yet seen the lions.  Aubree REALLY wanted to see them, so we made our way over to the lions den.  This Lion was lying right up close to the glass.  It is the closest I ever care to get to a lion!

We went to Whole Foods for supper that night & met Marilyn's sister Sandy & niece, Jonnye

Casa Bonita

After we left the Aquarium we took Sandy back home & then went to Casa Bonita for dinner/supper.  It was about 1:30 & we had not ate anything since we left Colorado Springs & we were hungry!  For those of you who have never been to Casa Bonita, it is something really fun to do with kids.  They have divers & actors doing shows while you are there & lots of other fun things to look at.  Jenae spiked a fever while we were there.  Marilyn suggested that I give her something for her fever right away & by the time we were done eating & ready to go look around she was feeling good.  She was fine until Saturday when she ran another fever.  Not sure what that was all about.  We ended up leaving Casa Bonita around 4:30, so we spend quite a bit of of time there.  Right in time for rush hour traffic!  Once we finally made it to our hotel, we just stayed in the rest of the night.  

Marilyn & the girls by the fountain in front of Casa Bonita.



One of the divers. 

Me & Jenae enjoying some fried ice cream.  I think that is her new fave dessert!

Whitney was a fan of the ice cream as well.  Shocking that she would love it!

We had so much food!  Marilyn had a coupon for 2 adult meal,s 2 kids meals, 4 drinks & 2 fried ice creams.  They were running a special if you bought 2 fried ice creams you got the 3rd for free.  We ended up with 3 of them!  Aubree thought the whipped cream was the best!  Aubree & Marilyn on working on their 2nd fried ice cream. 

The girls did not know what to think of Casa Bonita.  They loved it, but they were kind of in awe of the divers & the skits that were going on.  I love the looks o their faces.



The gorilla show.



Aubree watching a skit.

A happy girl!

The puppet show.



 The girls got a character done.  I wish she would have made it look like Jenae's hair was in a ponytail like Aubree's but I think Marilyn can fix it for us!



Denver Aquarium

We got up early Thursday morning & made our way to Denver.  Jenae & Aubree were so excited to see where Sandy lives.  She live on the 21st floor in downtown Denver in a condo.  They thought it was neat to go out on her balcony to look out at the city.  So different from where we live!! 
We all loaded up in our van & headed to to find something fun.  We were going to try to go to a children's museum, but had a hard time finding it so we opted to go the Aquarium.  I am glad we did!  It was so nice &  cool & there were so many different kinds of fish & aquatic life! 

Jenae & Aubree at the aquarium



Jenae checking out some of the fish.

Aubree & some of the pretty fish.  At one point Aubree said to me "Mom, will you stop taking our pictures so we can do fun things!"  I guess she did not appreciate me tell her to go stand certain places for a picture :-)

Jenae with some different fishes.

Marilyn, Sandy, Jenae & Aubree standing in front of the world's largest flower.

I thought this white fish was so cool!  I had the girls stand by it for a picture!



Jenae with some coral reefs.



Jenae & Aubree with the one of the mermaids.  Whitney was being a little bit fussy when we got there so I went off by myself to tend to her & I miss the mermaid show.  From the sounds of it the girls really thought it was neat.



Jenae



Aubree

Pikes Peak Or Bust

We had a great time on a trip we took to Colorado.  Kyle was able to come home for a few days before needing to be at Colorado Springs.  Marilyn was wanting to make a trip to Denver to visit her sister, Sandy.  We all loaded up in the van on Tuesday morning & made our way west.  When we got to Colorado Springs we checked into our hotel room & the girls were excited to go swimming.  Kyle was not feeling well & ended up back at the room.  The girls & I had a great time swimming.  After an hour of swimming we got ready & went to Apple bee's for supper.  It was kids night & the girls got balloon animals made.    We were all exhausted after supper & called it a night early.

Wednesday morning Kyle ran his steers in slack. Slack stated at 8:00, it made for an early morning.  We were there until almost noon. Kyle did not have any luck but we still made the most of our day.  After slack we headed up to the mountains.  We wanted to take the girls to Pikes Peak.  I had went there when I was probably close to Jenae's age & we thought it would be fun for our flat land daughters to see the mountains.  Where we live, it you not be more flat!  After our time in the mountains, we all are thinking that the flat lands of Nebraska are a great place to live!!!  While the mountains are beautiful, the altitude & thin air took its toll on our family. 

It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the top of Pikes Peak and only a couple of minutes up there we were all ready to leave!  Kyle, Jenae & Aubree got to really feeling sick.  It did not take long once we started back down the mountain to get them feeling better.  It was something about being that high that just did not sit well with them.  We stopped a couple places on our way down & everyone seemed to be feeling fine.  As we got to about the bottom 1/3 of the mountain, Aubree started getting really whinny & complaining that she did not feel good.  We just thought she was tired & tired of riding in the van.  Well we should have taken her complaints seriously as she ended up getting sick in the van.  What a mess!!!!  After lots of cleaning & Fabreezing the van is finally smelling OK!   

Kyle left us that evening to get in with his crew of guys to head to Utah.  Marilyn, Me & the girls stayed the night in Colorado Springs & got up early to make our way to Denver. 

Leaving on our trip to Colorado.  Whitney was even waving bye bye.

Kyle taking the girls to the pool in the hotel.

Kyle ended up not feeling well, so I took the girls swimming.

The pool was not very warm so I was not sure if I should even take Whitney in the pool.  She ended up loving it!

The pool time wore Whitney out!  Little did I know this would be a rare sight to see Whitney sleeping on our trip!  Sleep was one thing she did not do much of!



Whitney chillin in her new stroller at slack Wednesday morning.



Jenae & Aubree on a bear near the Cave of the winds.

The girls pretending the bear was after them.

Aubree being her silly self.  She was really into posing for pictures.

Jenae trying to look like the Indian.

Marilyn & the girls in the mountains.

The girls with me & Kyle in the mountains.

On our way to Pikes Peak Jenae was really wanting to see some big horn sheep.  Wildlife was not very prevalent & I never dreamt that we would see any thing like this.  Marilyn happened to look out & spot them. 

This is a picture I took looking down as we were going up the mountain.  It looks really hazy because we were up as high as the clouds.  I do not do well with heights.  It was pretty scary to look down!

After spending 1 1/2 hours to get to the top of Pikes Peak, we ended up only spending about 10 minutes on at the summit.  Kyle & the girls did not do well with the thin air.  They felt sick.  I had a slight head ache when I got up there, but poor Bree was so pale she was almost green. 

Our Family Picture at the Summit of Pikes Peak.  As you can see from the picture it was a fun time!!




Coming down off the mountain.

 


Me & Kyle a little ways down the mountain.



A Marmot on the mountain.



Marilyn & Whitney in the mountains.





We had to stop on our way down the mountain since our breaks were getting a little warm.  It was a nice place to stop.  The girls & Kyle did some exploring.  Aubree was really brave & made her way down the mountain really well.  Jenae was not as brave & it took her a little longer :-)

 



Me & Whitney




A family picture on a rock.





A long story, but Aubree is sure Big Foot is real.  On the way up to the top of Pikes Peak there was a place that was called "Big Foot Crossing"  Here she is with a Big Food Statue.