Denver Thanksgiving

With a full week off from school, we drove south to Denver to join up with Oma, Papa, Aunt Loni, and Uncle Lampe. It was already winter in Wyoming; we had to slow down on the highway from the ice and blowing snow in 10 degrees F, but we still made it in about 11 hours. The kids did great on their long car day!

The first day there, we went to the Denver Aquarium to meet our cousins (my aunt, cousin, and her kids) from Colorado Springs. These are the same kids we met at Craters in August, and they all get along great!

The exhibits were pretty good; our favorites were the enormous shark tank and the octopus. It was a little difficult to keep the large group together throughout the aquarium, so it was great to have Papa there to keep an eye on Owen, while I stayed with Hadley!

There was a restaurant on-site, and while we waited for our table, Hadley sorted the gift shop's stuffed animal collection. They were all out of order, so she paired up the same colored animals. I think this may have been her favorite part of the day.

Just as in 2 years ago, we made a stop at the Wings Over the Rockies museum. Owen is very much into all things military and was very happy with this activity.

They still had some Star Wars stuff up, but the new temporary exhibit was about theoretical space travel. It included a simulator for a space vehicle (like a video game), and the kids thought it was pretty fun. Let it be said that they are not the best drivers, however, as their rover went careening off of several cliffs.

November/December are cluttered with family birthdays - 6 now (welcome William!), and we had 3 present in Denver last week. Aunt Loni found a fun cupcake place for everyone to decorate their own cupcakes in honor of the birthdays.

That afternoon a carload of us took advantage of the gorgeous weather (warmest Thanksgiving in Denver in 20 years!) and went to investigate a farm museum in Littleton. Although the reenactors had already checked out for the holiday, we still had a nice walk around the 1860s and 1890s farms. The volunteer at the desk informed us that it was set up that way to illustrate the effect of the railway on farm life in the intervening years.

This is the 1860s original farmhouse. It was basically one room downstairs and a sleeping loft upstairs. Owen said he would like to live there, except for the walk to the outhouse!

There were lots of animals in their pens: oxen, sheep, cow, chickens, goats, enormous pigs. But, I did love the proud strut coming from this handsome turkey the day before Thanksgiving. I guess he felt pretty safe in his enclosure!

There were some glimpses into the life of a child 150 years ago, too. The one room schoolhouse (and its outhouse) was a bit of an eye opener for them.

Thankfully, I don't think this was a use for kids, even back then. (I think it's an oxen-pulled sled for winter transportation?)

We are thankful to have such a nice place to stay in Denver! Thanks Lampes! The kids love the dogs.

They got pretty spoiled in the mornings with smoothies and cartoons!

And there are plenty of fun things to walk to in the neighborhood including a school playground, walking path, park field and playground, and duck/goose pond.

I didn't get a picture of Thanksgiving, but it was delicious! We ate well all week, including a grill-out/fire pit night. Great visit - the kids want to move to Denver! 

Festival of Trees

The kids and I went to the annual Festival of Trees after school this week. It's a fun way to get in the holiday spirit for a good cause. They have tons of trees, wreaths, and mini-trees decorated in creative themes, and we enjoy doing their scavenger hunt amongst the trees for a free pencil. Ha!

After seeing the trees and tasting some fund-raising baked goods, the kids sat on Santa's lap. They were both pretty excited to do this! Hadley told Santa that she didn't know what she wanted for Christmas, but when it was Owen's turn, there was no hesitation in his answer, "an ATV." Santa seemed a little surprised (as was I!), and asked if he meant a toy ATV. "No, a full size ATV." There was some discussion about the logistics of carrying an ATV on a sled, down the chimney, and the appropriate age to drive one, but Santa finally said, "Well, maybe I'll just leave it outside." Thanks a lot, Santa!

Then they wrote their letters to Santa and mailed them off for good measure! Owen stayed true to his original request with the ATV, but added in an RC truck, just in case. With some thought, Hadley decided on a Moana doll and a wooden butterfly (apparently "wooden" was too hard to spell, but she did the rest all on her own!)

On a separate note, I just had to document Hadley's foray into indoor soccer. Her team is pretty new to the whole soccer concept, while their competition has looked fairly well-versed, so it's been a hard start to build confidence in the sport. Hopefully, she can pull some team-building/perseverance skills out of the season. We'll see! At least she looks cute in her shin guards and tiny shorts.

All Saints in the Books

Since Hadley's attending Catholic school this year, they did not observe Halloween, but instead had a big All Saints Day party the following day. Each student was assigned a saint to dress up as, and they had to learn a couple of things about their saint. Hadley was Saint Jane of Valois, who was briefly Queen of France.

The festivities included Saints bingo, Pin the Shamrock on Saint Patrick, snacks, and crafts. It's no giant bag of candy, but the kids had a good time!

After our early snow, we've been enjoying slightly milder weather than usual. Owen's even biked off to school in shorts a few times, against parental advice. Guess he's an Idaho boy now - 50+ degree highs are for shorts , even if he bikes away in the 30s in the morning! We did get a little leaf pile play between windy days, too.

And the low sun has given us some pretty amazing sunsets.

We rearranged Hadley's room, and she is enjoying it a lot more now with her little reading nook. She even made a sign on her door to let us know that she's having 'My Alone Time'. This is a big deal for a girl that struggles to entertain herself! She's quite the reader, too; her teacher informed us that she's already surpassed the end-of-kindergarten reading level goal and knows all 88 of the kindergarten sight words.

Pumpkins, Corn, and Candy

We had some really great weather to end out October, and it even lasted over a weekend finally. To celebrate, the kids and I checked out a new, closer corn maze to maintain our annual fall tradition. 

The maze itself was meh (the corn was thin enough that you could easily see through to the other paths), but the kids loved the extras like the air trampoline and the giant corn pit.

Even better, they got to have their first (I think!) pony rides! The pony was Rooster, and he was very sweet and patient with the kids.

It was still so nice the next day that we decided to carve our pumpkins outside.

Then they found their place on our porch. The kids had such interest in where everything would go this year, very important stuff. And it wasn't scary enough for Owen.

Finally time to go trick-or-treating! Owen was a Halo commander (from a video game he saw at a friend's house), and Hadley was a butterfly. Funny, Owen was dead-set on his and started requesting that I order his costume as soon as October 1 rolled around. Hadley, on the other hand, couldn't decide. We walked around the Target seasonal section after Owen's costume arrived and I saw the butterfly. Okay, sure! 

We also continued our tradition of going around the neighborhood with friends. It was a pretty chilly evening, but we all bundled up and had a good time!