The Duck Pond

We've been working on painting our new laundry cabinets (see here), and with all those paint particles in the air, I decided to take Will on a walk to the duck pond.  

On our last visit to the pond, he tried to feed the bird milk with his sippy cup...

But mostly he just chases them around...



And climbs rocks...

And looks irresistibly adorable...

And no duck pond visit is complete without a visit to every mailbox along the way.

Will's got his system down.  Find a rock, open the door, place the rock inside, close the door.  Repeat.

It must be very therapeutic...

I'm so so happy that the weather is finally warming up.  We're excited for all the biking, hiking, playing outside, and lots of home projects.

Wildlife Experience

Last week we headed to the Wildlife Experience with a few friends.   It's basically a hands-on nature museum for kids.  Will was in heaven because 1: he got to play with "the kids" (what we call any other children), and 2: He got to run around like a wild goose.

The biggest exhibit at the Wildlife Experience is Globeology, where you walk through all the biomes on earth (rainforest, tundra, etc.).  There are lots of animatronic animals as well as animatronic people who tell you about the different areas.  The kids can do a scavenger hunt and look for various things along the way.

Here are the girls getting ready to start the Globeology self-tour.

The have lots of little interactive sections of the museum: blocks like this, lots of touch screens with information and videos about the animals, and a bunch of fish tanks (Will's favorite).

It was a fun outing with friends!  And we can't wait because Grant's sister Rachel, and her husband Matt are moving to Colorado (yay!), not far from the Wildlife Experience.  When they live so close, it just might be worth the year-long passes.

A Perfect Saturday Afternoon

Picnic and swimming with my two favorite guys.  (And minimal tears from the little one). Perfect.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Once we lathered up with sunscreen, we set out to meet the animals at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  

We fed giraffes.

 A select few kissed the giraffes...

Petted a pancake turtle:

As well as attempting to amputate the leg of that same pancake turtle...

Made friends with a wallaby:

And played with the river otters:

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was incredible.  We really did feel like we met some of the animals instead of just searching for them while they hid in big cages.

Denver Date Night

The weekend before my surgery, Grant & I headed out for an extended date night.  Bma watched the babe overnight and we stayed in downtown Denver.  

We wandered around downtown for a few hours: checked out the Capitol Building, the Denver Public Library, Civic Center Park, the Denver Art Museum, and the 16th Street Mall. 

We had dinner at Tokyo Joes, a Colorado and family favorite, and saw a great show at the Buntport Theater.  

Then we settled in at a high-rise hotel and slept long and hard.  (I mean, I slept in until at least 8:30 hah). 

I love living in Denver.  It's full of new adventures, yet still feels so much like Boise, my always and true home.

First Annual 5Kidney Run

This morning we ran our first 5Kidney.  5 kidneys is the total number of kidneys that me (1), my mom (1), and my nana (3) will have as of next Thursday!

Yesterday marked 6 weeks for my mom's kidney donation.  She was excited to get back out and run.  It was her first race ever!

I started running a month or two ago.  The farthest I have run without stopping before today was about 2.5 miles.  I refused to push Will in the stroller and try to finish a 5K without stopping.  Grantie was a good sport and offered to push him instead.

A Little Saturday Jaunt

The day before Grant's birthday we headed out for a little bike ride. 

We headed along to Mary Carter Greenway Trail.  We followed it up the Platte River for a few miles where we found lunch in downtown Littleton.

We had lunch at a little place called Merle's.  It was super tasty.

Will had a tasty lunch as well.

He doesn't quite understand the bottle-tipping process yet so we have to help him out.

It was a perfect day. 

Miners and BBQ

For the long President's Day weekend, we took a little trip down to Colorado Springs.  One of our favorite BBQ joints has a restaurant down there and we have been dying to get back to some Texas BBQ.

But first we stopped at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry.

We tagged along with a boy scout tour and learned all about mining.  Here they had a replica of an actual mine.  The tour guide had a working drill that she used to demonstrate how incredibly loud it was.  Will's sensitive baby ears decided that he wasn't cut out to be a miner.

Poolside meltdown

Last Saturday we headed to the rec center by our house to take Will swimming.  Of course, when we showed up, I had a swim suit top but no bottoms...  While I was bummed I couldn't swim, (at least without causing quite a ruckus), it allowed me to take lots of pictures.

Will was not so excited to go swimming.  It was really loud with kids running everywhere and he was not digging it.

We headed into the room with the fitness pool.  It was a bit quieter but Will was still upset.  Grant let him kick his feet: no luck.  Backfloats: no luck.  Swimming on his tummy: no luck. 

But finally after twenty minutes or so, Will found his hand and all was well.