On the road again (part 2)

I'm finally getting around to recapping our super fun spring break trip to Colorado. Here are the highlights:

Saturday: Looooong day in the car. Perfect traveling weather. Kids did great. I read nearly an entire book while Allen listened to one on his iPod.

Sunday: My dad took Allen to the airport at 4:00 a.m. We attended church at my parents ward where my kids are virtually the only kids in the congregation. After lunch and naps, we took a nice leisurely walk down the nature trail behind my parents house and played at the park for quite awhile.

Monday: Spent the morning visiting my friend Kayla {how did we fail to take a picture, yet again?!} and letting our kids play together. Always so fun to hang out and wondeful to meet baby Finley! Met up with my parents at the LDS Employment Center where they are serving their mission. Got a tour of the facilities, met all those they work with. Very cool and made me so proud of them to see all the work they are doing and all those they are helping {you can imagine that in this economy they have a very big job!} Went to lunch with my parents and then stopped for a little shopping on the way home.

Tuesday: St. Patty's day! Lucky the Leprechaun visited and left a treasure hunt for the kids along with chocolate "coins" {rolo's} along the path. The kids loved it {though I was mad because I'd left the fun surprises at home and had to improvise and spend more money - ugh}. We had our traditional green breakfast. We spent the morning at the Littleton Historical Museum - a staple for us when we visit Denver. It's such a fun place and I have such fond memories of visiting there from my childhood. We saw the 13 newborn sheep, got to observe and help the blacksmith.

Visited the animals:

Played at all the indoor and outdoor exhibits:

We literally had to tear the kids away, they were having so much fun!

We hurried and had our picnic lunch and then went off to see "Bedtime Stories" at the movie theater. Cute movie. My kids thought it was really fun! My mom made the yummiest Irish dinner to finish off our fun day!

Wednesday: My dad stayed home with my kids so my mom and I could enjoy shopping and lunch together. What a treat. I wish we could do it more often! It was a very low key day for the kids and they played and played in my parents backyard {did I mention that the weather was GORGEOUS last week - 60s and 70s all week which is phenomenal for Denver this time of year!} We all went to the park and hung out. My dad introduced Carter to Sudoku this week and he is now obsessed. He has also decided he wants to learn how to write in cursive and spent hours practicing his letters! He's such a funny kid!

Thursday: Spent most of the day at the Denver Zoo! Let me tell you, we usually do these kinds of activities in the dead of summer when we're visiting so it was DREAMY to be doing them in the more mild temps. It was a lovely day and we had so much fun. Addie was dreamy and so agreeable and the big kids wanted to see everything. Our favorites were the polar bears, monkeys and giraffe's. We rode the train, got treats, got really dirty and generally had a great time.

Friday: Spent most of the day with my dear friend Melissa, who I sadly had not seen in about 2 years. It was so fun to get our kids together and let them play {very similar ages} and get to gab and catch up. I so wish we could do it more often. Thanks for such a fun day Melissa! That night my parents had signed up for the missionaries so we had fun making dinner and feeding them.

Saturday: Another gorgeous day so the kids were in the yard for most of the morning with my dad while my mom and I snuck away for wee bit more shopping. Have you ever been to Lakeshore Learning? Oh my gosh, most fun store ever! Check it out if you have one near you. I spent waaaaaay too much money there! Right after lunch we went out to the airport to pick up Allen {angels singing!!} and went straight to White Fence Farm for a fun afternoon and dinner. This is a restaurant that has a ton of fun things for kids: playground, huge indoor slide and play area, arcade, candy shop, petting zoo area, little shops, etc. We all really had so much fun!

Sunday: Another long car ride home. We hit a horrible, horrible wind storm that lasted for about 200 miles. Truck trailers were tipped over and we were basically driving in white out conditions because of the dust! It was nuts but we made it home safely.

Of course the week went way too fast. It was so nice to get so much one on one time with my parents. We're often sharing my parents with lots of grandkids/kids so having so much time with them was a treat. I think we were a pretty good distraction for my mom and I even helped get a few little projects done around there house. It was a great week! Thanks so much mom and dad!