Doors Open Denver

There are some really great things about Denver and Doors Open Denver is one of them. I have known about it for years but have never been. Basically, around 55 buildings are open to the public to tour/visit on this weekend. Most of them are not open to the public normally and most of them have interesting architectural elements.

We chose three buildings to go to for this our first time. The girls are always tired on Saturdays after going to school all day on Fridays so we didn't want to overdo it.

Our first stop was the Perrenoud Condominiums. They were built in the 1800's and have been high-end apartments as well as a hotel.

The atrium ceiling in the lobby was amazing.

We learned about bird cage elevators even though we weren't allowed to go in this one.

The fireplace was not real, but it was beautiful.

It was difficult to explain a switchboard desk to the girls.

The dumb waiter was a bit easier to define.

We visited the ballroom which is now the condo gym to see the beautiful wood carvings.

The original safe still exists.

I loved the stained glass windows in the dining room. This room was in the dark basement which I found a bit odd.

Also in the basement was the laundry room with lines strung from end to end for clothes drying and this clothes dryer from the 1800's! There were racks inside for hanging your clothes and the heat from the washing machine was the fuel.

After the condos, we headed to Union Station. Not a lot to see there, but we had a bite to eat and the adults enjoyed the architecture. There was a tour available but I think the girls would have been too restless.

Our last stop was to be the new DaVita World Headquarters building but I did not notice it closed earlier than most of the other buildings so we were not let in. There's always next year! Instead we had a good time walking around downtown.

I hope to make this an annual event for our family!

Arbor Day

I took the kids to the tree planting at the local park again for Arbor Day. But this time I brought the reinforcement!

Last year I was by myself with three kids and no shovel so we didn't get a whole lot done. This year the girls actually helped for a little while.

Here is our oak tree before planting. They loosen up the ground for you beforehand which is nice crucial.

And before long we were done!

We can visit our tree anytime we want!

Charlie

Meet the newest member of the family: Charlie!

He is a King Charles Cavalier.

He loves to cuddle and to play.

We know we have our work cut out for us with a puppy!

On May 8th he will come home with us!

Next weekend we will be busy busy busy getting ready for Charlie!

Mythical Creatures

This past week we went to the Mythical Creatures exhibit at the Science and Nature Museum. We went as a coop but everyone split up to see other parts of the museum after the exhibit. As for us, we spent time at the geology and mineral section and the Discovery Zone.

At the Mythical Creatures exhibit they saw stories and histories of mermaids, unicorns and sea serpents. There was also sections on Chinese dragons and Bigfoot. I'm sure there were other sections but those are the ones I remember.

We love this museum and will be back again soon!

Kickball Coop

Last week the girls went to a kickball coop. It was perfect weather for it. Anna lasted a whole inning but then she got bored and decided to go eat her lunch.

Mia lasted several innings. She loved kicking the ball. Playing outfield, not so much. They remind me of Joey picking grass when he was in the outfield for baseball.

She eventually got a turn pitching the ball. I must say the mom running the coop was great at making sure all the kids, no matter what age, got to participate.

After an hour or so the younger kids made their way to the playground and let the older kids finally play kickball by the "real rules".

I remember playing a lot of kickball as a child and I'm glad my kids got the opportunity to learn a little bit about it.

Mia Turns Six!

Mia has been asking for a surprise birthday for about a month now. She knows we don't do kiddie parties every year. This year would be some sort of family celebration and she wanted it to be a surprise.

We have a calendar in the office and she took the tag off of April 16th that said Mia's birthday, changed it to April 30th, and said now she would be surprised on the 16th.

But on the 15th she "couldn't pretend anymore". She "knew her birthday was tomorrow". But she didn't know what the surprise was and she really didn't know I had three surprises planned!

Surprise #1: When she woke up I brought her breakfast in bed, blueberry pancakes. She asked if Anna could have them too. Of course!

Since it was Friday we took them both to school next. Paul and Maureen were visiting from California. Paul and Dan were supposed to golf but we woke to this.

So they spent the day with us. After school, Maureen and I took the girls to Build-a-Bear for Surprise #2! Mia is a stuffed animal lover, big time. They loved it.

On our way home we stopped at a hibachi restaurant and these special people were there for Surprise #3! Mia. Was. Shocked.

Happy Happy Birthday to our very exuberant fun-loving Mia!

Impasto Painting Coop

This past week we went to an Impasto painting coop. Think Vincent Van Gogh. It is painting with thick paint using instruments other than brushes.

Since we had a doctor visit in the morning not too far from the coop we brought our lunch and stopped at the park before the coop. No sense in driving all the way home for lunch and back!

At the coop we first learned about Impressionists and we looked at lots of examples. Then the girls loaded their plates with paint and added corn starch to the paint to thicken it. They picked which instruments they wanted to paint with and headed outside to create their masterpieces.

The finished products!

We love our homeschool group coops!

Easter 2015

Easter has come and gone over two weeks ago and I am now only blogging about it! We had a nice Easter. The day before we dyed eggs.

We had several hunts with real eggs in the house that day. Mia closed her eyes while hiding them so that she would be able to find them too. She sometimes stretches logic just a bit!

Easter Sunday was pretty low key as I was not feeling great. The girls behaved in church so the Easter Bunny hid baskets while we were gone! They got a new bathing suit, cover-up and book along with a little bit of candy.

Bill, Dawn, Wade, Arek, Becky and Maks came over for brunch. Make loves the sand box!

It was a gorgeous day to be outside!

Ecological Preserve

I am really really behind in blogging. Even before Charlotte's Web we went to an ecological preserve with our homeschool group.

It was a beautiful day to be a nature girl.

Even the not-nature girl got her feet wet.

They hunted and hunted for fish and tadpoles.

Someone found these snakes that looked like threads or plants.

Finally a group of older boys caught some crawdads. Mia wanted to bring them home but I had to say, "No." After all, it was a preserve. Good excuse!

We came home way dirtier than we left but it was fun!