Today we started our day by visiting some souvenir shops, including a couple in downtown Denver. I thought this sticker was funny!
And Anna liked this one! I have a feeling the kids will be getting a few cool water bottle stickers along the way as part of this trip!
Later in the day we went to the wild animal sanctuary. Because of the heat, they advised either visiting first thing in the morning or late afternoon/early evening and we opted for that. It was a huge success! The first animal we saw was a panther, the animal included in their elementary school logo. Then it was onto bears, tiger and lions!
The path through the sanctuary is elevated so we were able to get a really good view of a lot of the animals. And often rather close!
And we (especially me!!) were excited to see white tigers! I was like a little kid seeing the white tigers!
The lions were trying to cool off!
This white tiger was very sleepy (it was still very hot!) and we decided an appropriate name is Birch! We will always remember the white tiger Birch!
This tiger rested on the berm very close to the elevated path.
This gives a good perspective of the path vs where the animals are.
This tiger had just gone for a swim and then made the sound that we were finally able to record!And in this one you can see a tiger and a white tiger playing. We got to see them playing for a good amount of time. I was super excited!
Yesterday we arrived in Denver and noticed a lot of smoke unfortunately. It is coming from the large fires in California and makes the air smokey and the view of the mountains fade and basically impossible to see. We did a bit of exploring today, having lunch at City Park where we heard cicadas for the first time as part of this trip. We then headed to Little Man Ice Cream and waited in the line for some very yummy ice cream, even though it was very warm out! After we had our ice cream we went on a pedestrian bridge over the freeway (see the white structure in this photo).
We then continued and went on a bridge over the river and saw an amusement park in the distance.
And Olivier was desperate to go in the water and we caved. This shows the bridge over the creek that we were on.
And a bit about the area.
We were all hot and not enjoying the smokey air but it was an enjoyable day!
This week was fairly normal. The number of COVID cases in our county have been increasing, as they have in the country. The majority of the cases are the Delta variant which is much more transmissible. Although we never stopped wearing masks, they are becoming key for all to wear to keep the spread down and help keep those who are unable to be vaccinated as safe as possible. With the continued uncertainty we look for the silver lining and this week, Anna saw this beautiful rainbow in the cloud. We stopped the car and took a photo and a moment to amaze in the moment. And sometimes that is the best medicine you can get!
This weekend we visited the newest art exhibition downtown and it was space themed. They had a section that talked about reaching for the stars. Olivier asked me to take his photo reaching for the stars but not showing his feet. This is the result, and I love how the shadows and sunlight change this photo!
On Saturday we had a wonderful time visiting with two of my aunts who were visiting. They enjoyed watching Anna's lesson (unfortunately no jumping, just pole work this week), and then came by the house after lunch. It was beautiful weather!
Barbie and Anna were very photogenic!
Last week Mason attended a basketball camp in the morning and then joined Olivier at the normal day camp which included two trips to the pool this week. He was very tired but really enjoyed the time playing basketball! And when I saw our cat enjoying a sneaky nap it made me think of him being a bit more tired than usual this week! Can you spot the lump?
Yup, she had climbed right in.
This week the are predicting the weather might warm up a bit. We were enjoying the more normal weather this past week, I guess all good things must come to an end. Although I hope they are a bit off in the timing!
This week we have enjoyed comfortable temperatures, the boys going to the pool twice with their day camp, and celebrating national ice cream day! Oh and the beach! Today we headed to the beach not sure what the weather might be like since there is a chance of thunderstorms but we were able to enjoy our time and got to check out some really beautiful clouds!
Olivier and Anna enjoyed some boogie boarding.
And did I mention I was loving the clouds in the sky!
I walked over to the bay with the boys for a bit and they enjoyed the current coming in and the shallow waters which made the water just a slight bit warmer.
We had an early dinner and then enjoyed some ice cream!
This week the heat has returned. It has gotten hotter than projected and we have bee trying hard to keep cool. Anna has been melting a bit while helping with the horses and the boys have been eager to go to the pool during camp. They will finally get to next week, of course when it is supposed to cool a bit. But they won't care they will just be happy to swim!
There is a house in our neighborhood that posts various signs in their yard and when I went by this week I saw what they had posted and I thought it was a good reminder.
On Saturday Anna had an excellent ride on Barbie. The jumps where a bit lower but the turns were tight and the temperature was hot. She did an excellent job! Here is round 1:
And here is round 2:
And here is a couple of cool photos. In this one all of the feet are off the ground!
This week we kept busy with our normal weekday activities with a few bonuses along the way. One of them are these beautiful gladiola blooms in our garden. One of the kids had gotten them at a camp a number of years ago and it gets watered just the tiniest bit from the water line in the garden, and this year we have some amazing blooms this year!
And one day when I got home Olivier raced to meet me at the door to let me know he had a gift for me! They made soap with dinosaurs! As they get older we get a lot less of these types of gifts and I really felt spoiled getting this one!
And Thursday night the kids went to the circus with their Grandpa and Grandma Arnold. They had a blast and we are sure it is a memory they will cherish! On Saturday night we went to see the fireworks after the local baseball game. There was a lot more people this time and we were smarter, we brought bug spray! No bug bites for us!
Today we had a nice day at the house. We played ladder ball, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and enjoyed out time together. We will BBQ for dinner tonight and I think we are all looking forward to a good nights sleep!
