Home Again

A few photos from our last evening in Colorado:

Grandpa worked his magic on Brayden, and got him to fall asleep on him.

One very proud papa:

It's hard to see from this angle, but they're BOTH asleep here...Joe has no idea I took this (well, I guess he does now!!)

It was rainy when we arrived home, and our little airplane got tossed all over the place by the winds. For those of you who know what a bad flyer I am, you can imagine how much of an effort it took for me to not let my 4-year old see how badly his mommy was panicking. I honestly have no idea how I held my composure together. As soon as we got the kids home and safely tucked into bed, I burst into tears...just finally letting go of all that tension.

Everything is finally beginning to bloom here. I am always surprised at how happy seeing all the greenery makes me feel.

Aidan had his first t-ball game on Sunday. Here he is having some fun in the dugout:

Dinosaur Ridge / Morrison Natural History Museum

Today began with a surprise this morning: Grandpa Jim showed up at Joe's house! Aidan and Colin were very excited! He came with us on our trek to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, CO.

Grandpa Jim, Colin and Aidan in front of a colorful stegosaurus sculpture

Grandpa Jim pointing out fossilized footprints to Colin


Colin checking out an interesting rock formation



Some of the local flora of Morrison:

A pretty little bridge in Morrison:

We had to decide where to eat lunch, and I couldn't resist eating at a restaurant
called the Blue Cow



Our next stop was the Morrison Natural History Museum, which is refreshingly hands-on. Aidan even got to talk to a REAL paleontologist and ask him questions about what he does. He also got to explore many exciting artifacts. Here he is determining how much T-Rex could eat of him in one bite!

They also have live reptiles at this museum.

The boys and I all got to touch this beautiful rat snake.

We did NOT touch the Monitor Lizard, though.

There was a cool-looking bull snake, too, but she's expected to lay eggs pretty soon, so we didn't get to touch her.

Aidan thought the Utahraptor replica was amazing.

Aidan was extremely excited to live out his lifelong fantasy...here he is working on a fossil with all the REAL equipment that paleontologists use.

Colin got to try it, too!
We finished our day by going out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The boys initially threw a fit about going someplace that doesn't serve chicken and fries or macaroni and cheese, but pulled themselves together before we were seated at a table. Thankfully, they were really good at the restaurant for dinner. I think the highlight of their dinner was when Liz took them to a store across the street to pick out cookies for dessert. The sugar crash put them right out as soon as we got home!

Garden of the Gods

The boys and I drove to Colorado Springs today to pick Fred up from his meeting. We decided to stop at Garden of the Gods on the way back and see what that was like. We were NOT disappointed! Breathtaking views were everywhere, as were interesting rock formations.

Here are Fred and the boys on what looked like a natural staircase.

Some very cool rock formations:

The boys thought it was cool to sit under this gigantic rock.

More flowers and bugs...my favorite!

Colin seemed to have trouble believing we were actually letting him HOLD Brayden!

Aidan, Brayden and Joe

My darling nephew

Colin having one of his many timeouts that he's had this week. He's been testing us ALL WEEK, I guess to see if he can get away with stuff on vacation that he can't get away with at home. I won't go into details about all of that...we want to remember the fun stuff!

Tomorrow's big plans are to visit Dinosaur Ridge, where there are fossilized footprints along a walking trail, and also the Morrison Natural History Museum, which is geared toward children with tons of hands-on exhibits, and whose focus is dinosaurs, reptiles and the Ice Age. It should be the best day of Aidan's life so far!

Today we visited the Butterfly Pavillion in Westminster, CO. What an amazing place!

Inside the butterfly sanctuary, we were not supposed to touch anything, but what can you do when a butterfly LANDS on you? This was Colin's predicament here:

The boys had fun climbing on the giant spider web.

Aidan enjoyed investigating how a mosquito bites its victim...

...while Colin enjoyed seeing how a grasshopper eats.

Both boys loved climbing around on and in the giant honeycomb.

Aidan got a kick out of getting a "bug's eye view" of things.

The highlight for both boys was getting to hold "Rosie" the tarantula.

Here's a closeup of Rosie:

Among other miscellaneous things, here is Colin paying homage to his hero, Uncle Joe:

Aidan was SO EXCITED to hold his baby cousin!

Denver Vacation

Well, here we are, in Denver, visiting my brother, Joe, his wife, Liz, and their new baby, Brayden. We arrived yesterday morning, exhausted after a night of only 3-1/2 hours of sleep. The boys were merciful, and were VERY good on the flights here.

Landing in Denver was quite an adventure. The winds are very strong out here, and you could feel the winds knocking the plane sideways. Not reassuring for a nervous flyer like me! But we made it, safe and sound!

Yesterday, we went out for lunch and had some good Mexican food, which is nearly impossible to find where we live now. Then, we tried to get the kids to take naps, so we could nap, too, but no luck. I ended up taking them to the park so I could run them around and wear them out a bit. Joe came along with Brayden and his dog, Kona. Everyone had fun except Brayden, who apparently REALLY dislikes the wind.

Joe & Brayden at the park

Colin throwing the ball for Kona

Here comes Kona, bringing the ball back for more!

Aidan on the twisty slide

Colin on the twisty slide.

Brayden smiling at his cousin Colin.

Liz with Brayden

Today we had to drive Fred to Colorado Springs for a sales meeting. We'll miss him until we pick him up on Thursday morning!