First full week of school in a very long time...

 This week is the first full week of regular school the kids have had since early March 2020.  It is so weird how long ago that feels.  It has been an adjustment for all of us but it has gone smoothly.  And although the school is back to normal, some things are not - like back to school night.  We attended the middle school back to school night via Zoom this week.  It went well and most teachers have Zoom under control and it allowed us to work on things at home while listening which was nice.  We will take the good where we can!  

The weather has been warmer this weekend but not crazy hot.  Today we enjoyed watching the Cal Poly women's soccer team beat Sacrament State!  Nice to enjoy a game and not have to worry about COVID because we could stay away from others easily!

Unfortunately, speaking of COVID, there is a significant increase in cases, hospitalizations, and those being cared for in the ICU.  We are thankful thank we continue to be health and safe but are concerned as more and more around us get sick.  Those that are vaccinated are having much less of an issue recovering but those who are not are getting more ill.  And given the boys are too young to be vaccinated we worry about their safety but continue to take it one day at a time.  

This week we will attend the elementary back to school night, also via Zoom and look forward to a three day weekend next weekend!  

First Day of 8th Grade and 6th Grade!

Well things are still in a very weird place but the kids are back on campus and ready for hopefully a bit more of a normal school year.  So of course I made them humor me and take the first day of school photos!  :-)  

I have to leave this one in, see if you can figure out why!  

Mason has passed up Anna and it is becoming more and more clear, and she had a slight advantage too with standing on the door mat!

I also did individual photos.  Last year these ended up being their school photos!  

They all had a good first day and we enjoyed talking about the new adventures back on campus!  Fingers crossed for a smooth year!
 

First day of school tomorrow

Today we enjoyed a bit of a lazy day after traveling home yesterday.  Thankfully everything went smoothly and we are all happy to be back.  The last couple of days we have been overwhelmed by notices from the schools about returning to school tomorrow and we looking forward to the kids being back in the classroom for a more normal school year, but...you knew there would be a but, the situation with COVID is getting increasingly worrisome.  The new variant called Delta is much more transmissible, and kids are getting it more often.  

We are trying to take it one day at a time but reminding the kids of the importance of their masks for everyones benefit, along with washing hands and physical distancing, as we constantly did during our vacation is still needed at school too.  So hard when all you want is for things to be "normal", but the kids really want to be at school and masks are not a big deal. We will continue to do our part and get the boys vaccinated as soon as possible to try and keep us and those we love safe.  One day at a time...

Last full day of vacation!

Today was our last full day of vacation.  We enjoyed it by being a bit lazy!  One thing that we hadn't done yet (because we didn't know the schedule and had missed it on a prior day) was the splash pad.  Since we now knew the schedule we made sure Olivier got his chance to run through the splash pad.  

After dinner we took a walk to the park down the street and just enjoyed the relaxing day!  
 

Visit to Colorado Springs and the Olympics and Paralympics Museum

This summer we all enjoyed the summer olympic games and we were excited to visit the Olympics and Paralympics Museum.  It is new, less than a year old, and had a lot of very interesting historical information.  Thankfully they were not busy at all and we got to check out a lot of interactive displays including this one on archery.  

The boys raced against a Paralympian (on the screen).  

 We all tried skiing!

And the skeleton!  

They also had the score board from the 1980 Lake Placid arena.  The informational sign explains why 3 seconds are left on the scoreboard.  

We were happy to be inside when we saw the rain come pouring down outside!  

On the drive back we saw lots of rain happening around us but thankfully not on us.  And this cool rock formation (and if I remember correctly this was in a place called Castle Rock).  

 

Red Rock Amphitheater and Dinosaur Ridge

Today was another hot day (although Matt tries to convince us it wasn't as hot as it felt).  We visited the Red Rock Amphitheater.  We did not attend the band performance (Slightly Stoopid) but did hear a bit of the sounds check from their crew while we were there.   

In the smokey area is downtown Denver.  Trust me...

It is really amazing to see the surroundings and the sound!  

Then we headed to dinosaur ridge.  We had lunch and started on the walk.  You can see some of the tracks uncovered in the rocks.  

And the ripple marks.  

Mason, Matt and I left Anna and Olivier in a shady (but still hot) spot and kept going up the hill to the lookout points.  

Proof Mason made it!

Olivier missed seeing the race track!  We think they were doing warm up runs.  

And then we went to the other side and could see the amphitheater in the distance.  

The clouds were very cool in the distance.  

Mason taking in some shade while he could!

We enjoyed dinner back at the house and after dinner we watched night at the museum (seemed fitting after visiting so many!) and we heard thunder and saw lightening but no rain.  
 

Museum of Nature and Science

Today we visited the museum of nature and science.  They had some really cool interactive exhibits and this is one we spent a lot of time testing.  It had an infrared camera and items that were warm and cool in different shapes so you could see how the camera picked up the different temperatures.   At one point Olivier had a rocket shape on his forehead!  It also looked rather interesting with the masks and at the points we took a breath or were exhaling.  

This is what they actually looked like.  

When we were in St. Louis the kids really liked playing this game called Mind Ball.  They also had it and there were some rematches.  

They also had a cool exhibit on health with a lot of interaction.  One piece had this camera that gave you an idea of what your bones or muscles or veins looked liked as you move.  It was decent except when Olivier bent down!  Ha ha!  

Look at the size of those moose antlers!  

And check out the size of those dinosaurs!  

We also saw a show at the planetarium on black holes.  We thought maybe we would understand them a bit more after the show...but nope!  Still super confusing but it was a cool show!  We went back to the house for pizza and movie night.  After dinner we did have a bit of excitement, the handle on the room the boys were sleeping in broke and poor Mason was stuck inside.  Thankfully the window was a decent size and we were able to get him out that way and Matt in to unscrew the handle.  Whew!
 

Colorado State Capital

Today we headed to the Colorado state capital.  Yes, that is gold on the outside of the dome!  

We made our way inside and found a cool briefing room that the kids enjoyed using the podium.  

The boys did well with the tough questions for Anna!

She discovered they had a stool built into the podium which made her feel much more official!

The home we are staying in is located on Carr street and we saw this informational sign about Mr. Carr that we very impressed by.  

We went on a tour of the capital building and saw the old Superior Court chambers.  

With a massive chandelier (it weighs over 2,000 pounds).  There are replicas in the house and senate chambers that are slightly lighter.  

Here is the house chamber.  

The end portion of the tour included 99 steps up to the dome.  It was so worth those steps!

This is the new Superior Court building.  

Pike's Peak is behind this smoke.

This is the transit station at the civic center.  

Information within the dome.  

Fun picture of us in the dome and Olivier outside.  

After the tour we visited the Senate chambers.  

And Olivier wanted to see this phone booth.  There was no phone so he used his iPod.  

For various reasons there are three mile high markers on the capital steps.  Matt was standing on one facing us, the kids are on another, and I am on the third.  

Our view of Matt!

We really enjoyed the visit!