Denver Zoo!

Today we visited the Denver Zoo!  It was another hot and smokey day (a daily issue unfortunately) but we took our time and took advantage of the shade.  They had a really cool spider monkey area.  

They are working on building a new penguin enclosure and this penguin was trying to get there right now!

And here are some of the other cool animals we saw!  Check out that tail!

This orangutan was very active swinging around!

And we got to see the elephants moving around!

The capybara was happily checking out it's new home.  

The sloths were...well...being sloths!  

We enjoyed the zoo until the mid afternoon then went back to the house to cool off.  After dinner we checked out the local ice cream shop in Old Town Arvada.  More yummy ice cream!  And we walked around town and they had a ski lift bench.  

This view of the water tower was so nice but also shows the smoke hiding the mountains.  

 

Downtown Aquarium and Hammond's Candy

Today we started the day by visiting the Denver aquarium.  They had a shark cage at the start of the path through the aquarium.  I am not sure I would trust it if great whites were in the surrounding water with the large gaps.  Maybe if this diver was with me I would though!  :-)

We went through a tunnel and had this cool underbelly view!  (the light is weird, no my doing, just he light in the tunnel)

The kids all pointed out this shape!  

And in stark contrast with the wild animal sanctuary, we saw a tiger at the aquarium.  He seemed agitated and it made me sad knowing he needs more space!  

They had a large tank with various fish and a few types of sharks.  There were also holes in the floor and you could see them swim under you.  It was crazy to see this under you!  

We then enjoyed lunch outside while watching various riders at the amusement park.  After a bit of exploring around the aquarium and checking for other souvenir locations, we did a tour of Hammond's candy!  Just walking in the door you can tell they make a lot of peppermint candies!!  It takes 1 oz of flavor for 70 lbs of candy!  It was very interesting and we all got a candy cane at the end of the tour.  

Enjoy some Hammond's candy!

 

Wild Animal Sanctuary

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!  

This was a great place to visit!  

Travel to Denver and day around downtown!

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!
 

Unexpected rainbow

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! 

 

Reach for the stars!

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!