Friday, August 27, 2010

Denver Aquarium

We took a family trip up to the aquarium in Denver, we had never been there before, but I have to say, it was totally worth it and the kids both loved it!  The Downtown Aquarium was formerly called 'Ocean Journey' and as you walk through the exhibits, it shows the different stages of the journey of water and life from the Rocky Mountains to the ocean (kinda... if I hadn't read that description before we left, I would not have been able to put it together on my own).  It didn't really matter anyway, it was fun to see different types of water habitats and lots of different types of fish and animals.

Kyla checking out some rainbow trout

Sea Otters!

ducks


Kyla spies a tea turtle...

and a sting ray!



Sharks!
Colby high fives a sea turtle!



Dori!
and Nemo!
yikes!  a scuba diver!
We could stay here forever and just watch everything


Afterwards, we took a walk over to 16th St. for some dinner...
and Pinkberry!  My new obsession, and I do mean obsession!
and a little walk
and a little ride.





Friday, August 20, 2010

Minnesota Trip

Two weeks ago Stephen and I dropped the kids off with my parents and headed off to the airport, alone!  It  was the first time we left both kids and only the second time we had left Kyla.  It doesn't sound like a big deal, and actually probably isn't , but it feels a little crazy at the time... um, do we need to get out alone more or what?  From the minute we arrived in Minneapolis (flying right past the Mall of America!) to the airport drop off as we were leaving, it was a jam packed weekend full of fun and FRIENDS!  I hadn't seen this group of friends, some of my besties from college, in over two years!  It's WRONG I tell ya!  I loved every second of being with them and we all know we can't wait another two years to be face to face again.  

I'm not sure where to start, so I'll leave you with this compilation, maybe you'll get an idea of the crazy fun we had...  Tahoe pimping, Shelby driving, Michael surprising, road tripping, gigantic marshmallow chomping, Big… Fat… Hissing Fitting, Mc Donald’s beef jerkying, Laughing ‘till Liz crying, Glee singing, Paul Bunyan and Babe spotting, Pickle stopping, tab pulling, 722-ing, sauna living, in-room bathtubbing, Weed drinking, Matty’s dining, friend meeting, Drink Pepsi Who-Yaing, grandma speedwalking, morning routine run-throughing, dirt roading, Meghan coffee through a straw sipping, Tent pitching, sign language learning, Jean fit throwing, Jean smoking, Jean thanking, boys stripping, trampoline jumping, Jeremey’s boxer briefs sticking, mini donut eating, Stephen sugar not allowed in the store leaving, Baked Potato Pizza loving, 7 switch blade seeing, Pontoon Boating, Adam DJ’ing, ‘I’m on a Boat’ Singing, Song dedicating, Meghan’s first time tubing, Becca Pop-up potty gaging, Groom’s dining, Michael and Stephen unlimited Fish frying, Bad Band singing, TV screening, Parents Dancing, Bar Hoping, Jeremy glass crashing, Shot shot shot shot shot shooting, Stephen #2 threatening, Zorbaz drunk nail pounding, too late staying, early waking, donut eating, lantern popping, light hanging, decorating, iphone bumping, trail mix eating, bartender training, anticipating, ceremony beer toting, Adam big beer hoisting, vow saying, Chris crying, I do’ing, seal kissing, crowd cheering, party starting, fun dining, SO. MUCH. drinking, portopottying, Matthew Firework lighting, Meghan vibe putting, Freytag Family dancing, Micheal and Pam spinning, party shuttle cussing, Dockside hanging, old man dodging, more tab pulling, drink buying, Danae swaying, Michael helping, Pass outing, tricking, booting, panty kicking, oh. My’ing. Fun time having, not ending, Shelby dress knotting, late bedtiming. Quick packing, Aleve swallowing, kettlecorn inhaling,Dan cussing, side road tripping, corn/potato/sod/soy/sunflower spotting, Buick passing, double line riding, Hayes’ household chilling, airport dropping, good-byeing. 



























































   

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Baby Gate?

Poor Colby is terrified of these two happy meal toys we have collected over the years. 



Understandable, I guess.

Mmmmm... I got nothin'

Well, I was getting tired of chasing Colby up the stairs and bringing him back down.  He loves going up and looking down on everyone (must be a baby thing... and a dog thing).  The only problem is our home was built in 1984 and is not up to code on the spacing of our banisters, translation:  babies and small children can squeeze through... and it's a long fall down.  Wow, that's a downer.

I had heard of a trick used with babies afraid of Tickle Me Elmo and I decided to try it with Colby ; )


Step One:  locate scary duo in toy box



Step Two:  create barricade

Check.

And it worked! (and it's only a two step process!)  Colby was deterred from going up the stairs.  I couldn't get a picture of him near them, because he wouldn't go near them!

So I had to bring them to him, you know, to prove it.


It took me awhile to realize that he was afraid of them.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.


He would be playing with the toys, just fine.  Then he would start whining, and squinting his eyes, and scrunching his nose, and showing his teeth.


Day after day!
I finally figured out he was doing it every time he came across the monster or the giraffe in the toy box!


But with the continued shoving in face exposure, he started to become okay with them... see?  It's okay!




(don't mind the bed head ; )






Warning!!  Plastic toys can not actually replace baby gates!  Use under adult supervision!  Do not put baby gate at the top of the stairs!!

Thank you.