Out in the Wild

Before Maggie and Fisher headed back to Ft. Collins we got in all our Fisher and Maggie love time and also spent a great day at the zoo! 

We woke up last Friday morning to such horrible, awful news of the movie theater shootings. It was so hard to tear myself away from the TV watching the depressing spectacle, but we rallied and headed to the zoo with yummy lunches and our trusty wagon in tow. I'm so happy we went. In the past, our experience at the Denver Zoo has been fun--but always leaves us wanting a little something more somehow. The animals aren't out as much no matter how different we time things, it's hard for the kids to see over the fences they have set up, the train has never been working, one of the kids is in a fussy mood, etc. But last Friday all the stars seemed to align for us! Every animal we walked by was not only out, but active and in clear view for us to see. The crowds were pretty light so we could maneuver ourselves around, between and within the fencing to see better. All the kids were in such happy spirits (probably because Fisher was there!) AND the train was up and running finally!!!

The big highlight was riding the choo choo. It was the first time my kids have ever been on a train and it was so exciting for Cole! He's STILL talking about the choo choo at the zoo to this day. Other highlights were finally seeing more than 1 elephant--and in the actual new Elephant Passage. We saw one right above us about to go over a bridge. The rhinos were out rolling in the mud, penguins were out playing, and Cole got to ride the merry go round TWICE with Fisher!

 Cole held Fisher's hand so well throughout the zoo and was so good about staying with him. At least they listen to Fisher since they certainly are minding me LESS and less these days...

 Despite the drama seen here, Camryn really did like the choo choo. We sat in the caboose and she said over and over "choo choo, choo choo". Then she really perked up with excitement when the train went past the flamingos.

 Fisher's favorite part of the zoo was seeing the komodo dragon AND getting a komodo dragon!

 Cam likes zebras. Even more exciting, the zebra was right up at the fence wagging its tail saying hi to us when we saw it. She calls them "zeh-bras" though. So it was fitting she had the "zeh-bra" plate at lunch.

 She's trying to get under the rope to get up to the "Zeh-bra" even closer...No fear, that girl!

 Later that night Maggie was nice enough to stay home with the kids so Matt and I could have a date night.

 The next morning Maggie and Fisher went back to Ft. Collins and sadness set in for Cole. We all waved bye bye at the front door to them (as our usual ritual), and as the car drove off, Cole started having actual tears. :( Poor Coley. Camryn, on the other hand, said her goodbyes properly then took advantage of Fisher leaving his dino library books for them and immediately sat down with them to have a reading time. After a good 10 minutes or so, Cole got happier and enjoyed Fisher's books with Cam...

 That same day we had Matt's company Carnival Party. It's been SO HOT here and this past weekend, particularly while we were at the party, was no exception. At one point Cole spilled water down his shirt. It should've felt cooler and stuff---but he didn't want to be in a wet shirt, so while it was drying he sported the shirtless look for the party!

 We had a great time there. The kids overloaded on sweets and junk food like big suckers, cotton candy, hard candies, popcorn, etc. They were also excited that there were bowls with a goldfish swimming in them at each of the tables. "Elmo's Dorothy" they kept saying. They got animal balloons and tattoos, which are still fresh and glittery on their arms 4 days later.

 Still hot outside, we took to our own little pool in our backyard Sunday. They stay busy in the pool watering things and filling up their buckets. They also like to run in this little crazy sprinkler we have. They were out there for 2+ hours on Sunday.

Yesterday I had good intentions of joining up with our MOPS friends for an outing. Once I realized it was at a water park though, I had to bow out and go to plan B. I'm just not up physically and in other ways to tackle a water park with these two right now. While they love swimming they have no survival skills with it and adults do all the work when they're in a normal, big pool. I just had images of these two tumbling down a big water slide--and me tumbling after them. Hopefully we'll be better for those kinds of places next year instead. 

So plan B was the mall. We love Flatirons mall. We had success finding some cute stuff at Old Navy and played for a long time in the always fun kids dino area there. To my surprise, they ate really well from Subway. Apples and turkey/cheese sandwiches hit the spot yesterday. Oh, and of course they polished off probably more than half my bag of chips...! I love those little kid sized picnic tables they have in the food court there.