Denver Trip

The kids had some time off of school in October. We decided to take a little trip to Denver. It was a quick and easy get-away. We stayed in a motel with a pool, which the kids loved. They swam both nights for 2+ hours. Jackie is getting to be a really good swimmer and was swimming across the whole pool. Dallin did great as well. He would jump in, go

under, and come up all on his own. He could swim from Mom or Dad to the edge of pool. He has gotten a lot more comfortable in the water. Brea jumped in for the first time. It took a bit of time, but once she did it, she loved it. She usually swims with a life jacket, or at least a noodle. But we didn't have anything for her this time, and she did great. Alyssa has always loved the water and she would splash and splash with a huge smile on her face. She even got her face in the water a few times and sputtered a bit. That did not defer her one bit, she loves the water.

We went to a Childrens Discover Center the first day. The kids had a blast. They got to pull each other up with a pulley system, be bankers, bakers, sailors, dancers, artist, musicians, and anything else their imaginations came up with. It had stuff for all four kids to play, learn, and discover. I was amazed at how quiet it was in there. There were a lot of young children together, but they were so enthralled in what they were doing, that they were not loud or wild. It was fun to just play with the kids and watch their imaginations soar.

Brea dressed up as something... having a whole bunch of fun with a huge SMILE!

Dallin "pulling" Brea up and then Jackie pulling herself up. They did this multiple times and it was hard on the arms (I only did a few time and my arms were soar). My kids have some mighty strong arms.

We had planned on going to a farm and doing a corn maze. The weather had been pretty nasty earlier in the week, and we weren't sure how well it would work out. We decided to drive up there and see. When we pulled up all I saw was a lot of MUD. So....Jeff took Jackie and Dallin out while I stayed with Brea and Alyssa in the car to take a NAP. That didn't last too long...Brea wanted to go too. So we all tromped the the mud at the farm. They did have a corn maze but a lot of the stalks had been knocked/blown over, so the kids just cut through and finished fast and easy. It was still fun to see the animals and squish in the mud. Luckily we had brought boots for all the kids (they were for the snow not the mud, but it worked).

The next day we went to the Denver Science Museum. It is huge and amazing. I wasn't sure if our children were old enough to really enjoy it, but they did. They learned about outerspace and saw an astronaut on Mars (hypothetically). They saw a demostration on how a vacuum works and how the air around an obeject makes it hold its form. When the air is removed (vacuum) the object enlarges, it was really amazing. They saw into the human body and how it works. Dallin loved the dinosaur exhibit with full size dinos moving and looking at us. There were beautiful Gems on display. Also we saw all kinds of animals that live on this beautiful earth. We saw how Egyptians and Indians lived and got to be inside an Indian home. We had a great time, but were worn out by that evening.

Dallin and Brea dressed up as astronauts. They flew the spaceship, picked up rocks on Mars, and put the planets in their right orbit - all in a days work!

We of course had to stop at our favorite park in Denver before we headed home. We only had about an hour the last evening and it was kind of cold. But we went and the kids did not even notice the cold, probably because they were running the entire time (in fact they took their coats off because they were so hot - CRAZY). What a great couple of days to just spend time together and have fun together. It is nice to be able to take a quick trip for a couple of days and just spend time together. I love my family so much.