Denver Botanic Gardens in Chatfield

Last Friday was a free day at the Denver Botanic Gardens in Chatfield. These gardens are different than the ones we went to with Grandmother. These gardens are in, well, they are in Chatfield CO, hence their name.

Elianna and I went with a friend, Lisa and her 3 kiddos, Gillian, Josh and Jack. We were all a bit disappointed by the lack of garden. It was more of a farm / wilderness that you could wander around while in the heat of Summer. At one point, we were looking for some lakes and the kids were getting hyper saying this (the walking) was never ending, etc etc. We stopped to rest and began messing with the kids saying we were going to have to camp here and hunt for food and hopefully we had enough water and on and on. Her kids are so funny and were totally into that so Josh began collecting wood for a fire and Gillian started hunting for big logs to make a "tent" out of. They were too much! We pretty much called it a day after that and we never found the lakes.

Lisa is a phenomenal photographer! You will definitely be able to tell the difference between our pictures, but will still let you know which ones I snagged from her FB.

Fun tree house

Tree house

Gillian showing off some slime (or algae as she demanded it be called) in the "pond"

Checking out the goat

Photos below courtesy of Lisa

Gillian, Josh and Jack

Josh building our fire

Josh was tired and laid down so Elianna went to rub his back and comfort him

See didn't I tell you she is an amazing photographer?!  I'm hoping to have her take Elianna's birthday pictures this year!

New Bed

In New Jersey, Elianna slept in her crib. In Pennsylvania, Elianna slept in her pack and play. When we moved here, she was too big for either of those but neither did we have a "big girl bed" for her. So her crib mattress simply went down on the ground and that was her "bed". 

Last week, a friend from church sent out an email saying that they had gotten their kids bunk beds which left a "big girl bed" for anyone who would want it. For some reason I paused to think about it. After about an hour, I emailed her back saying if it was still available, we could make good use out of it. Thankfully, it was still available and she dropped it by one evening while we were out. While Elianna got a bath, Chris put the bed together to surprise her. Here is her reaction to seeing her new "big girl bed" (which she absolutely loves!):

Praise God for answers to prayers that were never even prayed! So thankful He knows our needs!

Boulder County Fair Prelude

The Boulder County Fair is taking place this week. This is not our county but is the county that Chris' aunt and uncle live in. I like to scour around to find things to do that are fun and free or at least very close to it.

To celebrate the beginning of the Boulder County Fair, the Twin Peaks Rotary Club hosted a "chuck wagon" breakfast last Saturday. There was a bit of confusion on the price for the breakfast but Grandmother was gracious and paid for the breakfast anyway. There were pancakes, eggs and sausage. Because we got there right at the end, it ended up as an "all you can eat" breakfast.

After breakfast we headed up to Main Street to watch the parade. It was Elianna's first parade. She was a little unsure at the beginning but at the end she knew enough to grab that candy. In fact, if you ask her what her favorite part of the parade is, she will hands down say the "candy".  In addition to grabbing candy, she made sure to waive at each "float" as it went by.

It was your typical small town parade with horses, goats, cars, motorcycles and the local restaurant. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our time in Longmont watching the parade.

Denver Botanic Gardens

Grandmother is here visiting so we decided to take advantage of the free day at the Denver Botanic Gardens since I figured she would enjoy something like that. That place is humongous! We saw maybe 1/4 of it. We only got to the Mesa Desert and Chinese Gardens. I wish we would have gone the other way on the path to see something a bit more exciting. The parts that we saw were pretty though.

Like the zoo, you are "encouraged" (per their website) to bring a picnic dinner with you. So since we were encouraged, we did. I love being able to take food into places like that instead of having to buy their overpriced meals.

For some strange reason there was a huge display of weird bamboo type material everywhere. While weird, it did make for some interesting displays. At one of the bamboo displays, there is a big hill that Elianna asked to run and play on. She had a blast running up and down and I even taught her how to roll down the hill which was a huge hit!

Next free day, a friend from church (Lisa is an awesome photographer) and I are planning on taking our kids there. Hoping for some cutie pictures taken by Lisa ... the "other" Lisa that is.