North Pole

So we had this little amusement park about 5 minutes from where we were staying called The North Pole. It's a themed park that has everything to do with what Santas workshop at the North Pole might look like. They are open from mid May to December 24th. Santa is also there everyday. All the rides are made for children. So it was nice because Statton and Cassidy could either ride by themselves or with either Blair or I if they were not quite tall enough to ride alone. Where Blair is standing with the kids in the stroller. That pole that looks white is actually frozen ice. It stays frozen all year long. So below is just some pictures of the kids enjoying themselves on the different rides.

It's been a long time since I've ridden a Ferris Wheel. It was actually a lot of fun. More fun than they look. Supposedly the one we rode is the tallest in the world. So the sign said.

This little candy cane coaster we rode was actually a pretty rough ride. Blair warned me before we got on to tuck Statton's head in my armpit so his head wouldn't bump against the seat. These pictures are a little out of order. Blair rode with Cassidy first while I watched Madison. Then I rode with Statton while Blair watched the baby.

Here's Blair cheesin it up for the camera!

I have to relate the funny experience of the day. Blair's not much for amusement parks because the rides give him motion sickness. Looking at rides will sometimes give him motion sickness. So amusement parks arent' usually his thing. But because I love them he's put up with a lot of years of them. So to ward off sickness he's found that dramamine(motion sickness pill) helps him to endure them. Well considering this whole park is mostly kiddie rides Blair opted to leave his magic pills home thinking he wouldn't need them. Well he did pretty good until I left him to take the kids on the swinging ship ride while I went to find a deserted corner(or less populated one) to nurse the baby. Well lets just say about 15 minutes later here comes my smiling 2 year olds running towards me while their father comes slowly walking behind them rubbing his forehead. Really!? That ride made you sick? He nods his head in response. Well good thing it's time for lunch. Let's go feed the man who's not feeling well a bunch of greasy food. But despite that Blair started feeling better awhile later but he refused to ride any more rides. That's ok though, good thing mom's tough and can handle the rides.
It was another long fun day. You know it was good when the kids pass out in the car before you've even left the parking lot.

So we've been having all sorts of fun this summer. I try to take the kids to a swimming pool atleast once a week when the weather cooperates. The pool doesn't open until 11:00 so we usually hang out at the house all morning have lunch then load up and go and spend the afternoon soaking up sun and getting the kids comfortable in the water. So I decided to get some pictures of all three kids in their swimming gear.

Madison is pretty darn cute in her little swimsuit. This swim suit was given to me by my sister-in-law Andrea. Her girls wore it. This was Cassidy's swim suit when she was little. Now Madison gets to have her turn in it. It's just fun that so many cute little girls have worn this suit.

Statton was so cute and wanted to climb up on the couch by Madison and have their picture taken.

Heres some cute pictures of Statton and Cassidy in their swim suits. Statton looks like he's posing for some sort of gangster picture.

Here we are at the pool. Cassidy and Statton were just happy to play on the stairs. This is really their first time in a pool on their own. Last summer I just bought a little kiddie pool for them to splash around in. I would have liked to put them in swim lessons. Because of their age they only qualify for the parent/child classes. Well lets do the math on that one. Two toddlers, one new baby, and only one mommy. Yeah thats not going to work. Maybe next year. That's ok it's just nice for them to get use to being in the water and getting comfortable. It's a great activity that wears them out and takes up the day. Plus I love to take them to Sonic afterwards and buy us all shakes. You gotta have ice cream after swimming!

The Denver Aquarium

This the final blog entry from our 4th of July weekend. We had gone to the aquarium in Denver that monday. We thought the kids would just love seeing all the fish but Cassidy was in kind of a bad mood and Statton got a little whiny. We must have worn them out from all the other activities that they were just tired.

It was a fun aquarium and all indoors so we weren't out in the heat that day which was nice. Heres Madison doing what she does best. She fell asleep as soon as we got inside. We had her sunhat on her because we were waiting outside for quite awhile to buy tickets.

I caught a great underside picture of this stingray as it swam overhead.

You can pay extra to go scuba diving in the tanks with the fish. One of the instructors came over to the glass to play with the kids. It was funny to watch him interact with Statton.

They had these big glass circles on the floor so you could see the fish and sharks swimming underneath you. Blair's trying to show the kids the sharks swimming in them. The kids were a little unsure at first about walking on them. Soon they were running and jumping on them.

This was probably the highlight of the whole trip. The stingray pool. Where you can feed and pet the stingray. So blair went and bought some food so the kids could feed them. Well they each took a turn but of course they don't understand the concept of holding the food between your fingers they just wanted to chuck it into the water. Well Statton didn't like the feel of them very much it kind of freaked him out so he was just happy to stand and watch. Cassidy on the other hand absolutely loved them. She couldn't get enough of touching them. She probably would have climbed into the pool with them if I didn't keep a good hold of her. She was so sad when we finally had to pull her away from the stingrays.

Well it was another long day and we wore those poor kids out. They slept the whole way home from Denver. So it was a good time for Blair and I to talk without any distractions. It's certainly been fun living in a bigger area with a little more entertainment options. It was good to have Blair off for 4 days to spend some time with the family.

Seven Falls

So they have this place called Seven Falls. It's a big waterfall that hits the rocks seven different times on it's way down before it pools at the bottom. They also have a Teepee set up there and a stage where the local indian tribe does shows. It's pretty neat. We ended up going on an evening when it was pretty windy.

This is me and and the kids at the bottom of the falls. Back in the day it use to be a favorite place for people to come swim and bathe under the falls. Now they have built a rock foundation around it and made it a tourist attraction.

They have two different areas to view the falls from. One is you walk through a long tunnel and take an elevator to the top to get a faraway view. The second, if you can see from the picture, is a long set of stairs that you can walk up right by the falls itself. Since it was pretty windy and the kids being so little we decided not to walk up the stairs by the falls. We took the elevator up and these are the shots that I took. Inside the elevatore they have all sorts of history about the falls. They also have pictures and signatures of all these famous people that have visited the falls. The one I recall was Babe Ruth.

Just pictures of the kids at the bottom of the falls.

Fun at the Zoo!

Blair had 4 days off over the 4th of July weekend so we thought we would take advantage of the nice weather and take the kids to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. They certainly enjoyed the animals. Madison slept through most of it.

They had this little train for the younger kids to ride. Statton and Cassidy just thought that was great and even cried when we tried to leave.

They had a cute baby albino wallabee that the kids could touch. They were a little unsure of it but we eventually got them to quickly pat it on the belly.

You could buy birdseed on a stick so the birds will come up and eat. Blair was able to coax one on and bring it down so the kids could look at it. Statton and Cassidy thought that was pretty neat. There was also some tiny birds that would land on the ground. The kids thought it was fun to try and chase them.

Even baby Madison got to see some of the animals. Don't ask me why but Cassidy wanted so badly to wear her brother's hat and she insisted on having it put on backwards.

I loved this picture of Statton. We are at the Grizzly bears and they were playing with each other in the water. Blair held Statton up to the glass for a better view and he just laid his head up against the glass and just let his arms dangle.

This was also another funny picture. Statton was excited to go over and look at the gorilla but as soon as that gorilla turned and looked at Statton he got scared and started running back toward Blair and I.

This was probably the highlight of our trip. Cassidy and Statton got to feed the Giraffes crackers. We had seen them at the start of our day but there was so many people feeding them that they weren't even hungry. So when we were finishing up our day we happened to walk by the Giraffes exhibit again and saw that no one was hardly there.
So we decided to head over and buy some crackers and see if they would eat. Oh Boy! We got a hungry one and the kids loved it. They thought it was so neat to have those Giraffes stick out their long tongues and take their crackers.

I had to take my turn to feed the giraffes. I can't let Blair have all the fun. Besides I told him that I wanted some pictures with my kids so they knew that mom did exist. (I'm always the one behind the camera.) So Blair was nice enough to snap some pictures of me with the kids.

We had such a fun day. The kids enjoyed the animals and that's what it's really all about.