Summer Adventures - Golden

 For our 3rd week, we drove up to Golden to look around.  I was hoping it would be a bit cooler closer to the mountains.  I can't get the pictures to load in order, so this is a random sampling of our morning. 

 Our 1st stop was the tourist info building.  Their only suggestion for what to do with a 2-year-old was the playground down the street.  Umm, thanks.  I think we'll check out this historical park right across the creek from you instead.

 Chickens!

 I think the orange one was my favorite.  Jack liked them all.  I really need to find a petting zoo for him.

 Veggie garden.

 Chickens again.

 The tiny white "M" on the mountain is for the School of Mines, located in Golden.  (Not for "mountain", which was my 1st guess when we moved here.)

 The creek that runs through Golden.

 Bridge over the creek.

 The bridge is divided into car traffic and pedestrian traffic and is very well-maintained.

 Park just above the creek path.

 There is a really nice path along the creek that we played on.

 Historical (?) farm equipment.

 The main house at the historical park is original, but was moved here from a nearby site.  We looked inside a bit, but a certain someone was getting tired by then, and not interested in just looking and not touching.

 Bridge facts, for those interested.

 This slide was pretty nifty - it goes from the upper creek path down to the lower path.

 The only deer who would stay still long enough for a 2-year-old to pet it.

 Creek path.

Golden overview.

Random pics from this week

Lettuce from our garden.

Coloring - why does the 24 pack of Crayolas come with 5 different shades of orange?

Enjoying a smoothie with crazy bed-head.

 Father's day breakfast - waffles!

 Jack's dentist has the best waiting area!  There is also a large wall-mounted tv that was playing Finding Nemo, plus 4 small tvs with video games on them.  (His checkup went well, too.)

Emma has a thing for flip-flops.

Now if only he would eat it...

 Helping himself to a snack while I make dinner.

Jack likes to wear my shoes.

Smoked salmon salad, using lettuces and spinach from our garden, and a recipe from Rachael Ray.

Summer Adventures - Dino Ridge, Buffalo Bill's grave, and Lookout Mountain

This week, we checked out Dinosaur Ridge, in Morrison.  They have a bus tour that takes you up the ridge to check out dinosaur bones (an excavation site, I guess).  It was a 45 minute narrated bus tour though, which seemed a little beyond our attention span that day.  So we played with the painted stegosaurases, and adjusted our plans.  Luckily, there are lots of other fun things to do near there.

We got back in the car and headed west on I-70, into the mountains. One of the 1st exits leads to Buffalo Bill's grave, which we've passed lots of times but never visited.

So Jack and I checked it out. 

It's a quick path up the mountain to the grave, with a gift shop, restaurant and museum at the base of the path.

 We didn't get any fudge, sadly.

 The museum guide said there wasn't much that would interest a 2-year-old, so we played outside instead.  Jack enjoyed exploring the tall grasses (the same ones he is fascinated with at our garden plot).

And playing in the teepee ("it's this big!").

We also visited Lookout Mountain Nature Center, since we were already at the top of the mountain.

We finished up our outing with a fruit salad snack (yay! cherry season!).

 It was 55 up on the mountain, according to my car's thermometer.  Much better than the 100 we had on Monday.

Catching a quick nap on the car ride home.

Summer adventures - Littleton Museum

 Jack and I visited the Littleton Museum this morning.  In the spirit of adventure, Jack and I are going to visit a new place each week this summer - this was our first stop.  It's fantastic!  It has an 1860's farm and an 1890's farm with buildings, outbuildings, and animals.  I'm a sucker for historical re-creations - I love Colonial Williamsburg, so this is right up my alley.  Plus, it's free, and it's only 20 minutes from our house!

 Jack enjoyed the animals - including these guys (turkeys, I think?).

 And the pigs were very cute, playing in the mud.

 We checked out a barn,

 and the 1860's log cabin.

 The 1890's side,

 complete with windmill.

 Another sweet cow.

And this guy was enjoying the shade up next to the museum building.  They also have an indoor exhibit, but we didn't go through it this time.  We'll definitely be back again though!