Fountain Creek Nature Center

On Wednesday we once again adventured out to explore more of Colorado. Our friends that accompanied us to Belleview Park joined us again. So fun! This time our trip was to Fountain Creek Nature Center. It seriously was one of the most perfect days I have had in a while. It started with Finn sleeping from about 7:45pm to 5:15am. He took a bottle and was back in bed at 5:45am. I climbed back into bed for a half hour and then decided to do something that I didn't know I missed until I did it--I took a shower first thing in the morning. There were no kids beating on the shower door, no loads of laundry or dishes to think about. I was just able to stand in a hot shower, rub my bleary eyes and relax. It felt so good. After my shower I was relived to find the kids were still asleep, so I grabbed a bowl of cereal and my scriptures and sat at the table and enjoyed the peaceful morning, my scriptures, and the beautiful mountain view. Seriously one of the best mornings ever. I even managed to get a load of laundry in, check all the blogs, Facebook, and email before Kai woke up. Finn didn't wake up until after 7:30am. So nice. On our way out the door to the Nature Center, our long lost friend Nancy called. She was in town and wanted to get together for lunch. We made our plans and headed out.

The nature center was off of a dirt road that I missed the first time we drove by. The center was very small, but had a lot of interesting stuff for the kids. Kai enjoyed looking through the binoculars at the beautiful scene below. There were also telephones that played animal noises, a small sand box with wood cutouts that made various animal tracks in the sand, furs to feel, and many other things to touch and explore. After a short time in the center we decided to venture out onto the trail. The nature center trail links up to a trail that runs through a regional park. But unlike the larger trail, no bikes or dogs are allowed on the nature center trail. It's a very low-trafficked area and so the wildlife can be found pretty easily. We saw lots of trees, a bunny, butterflies (including monarchs), a blue heron, and several roly-polys. We even heard the croaking of what we were told is a very large bullfrog. But he decided he didn't want to come out. The kids enjoyed chasing the bunny down the trail and just running and exploring in general. Our longest stop was at a bridge over a small waterfall where the kids spend time throwing rocks into the water and my friend and I tried hard to figure out just where that darn bullfrog was. It was a good outing. Kai wore himself out, which is always a good thing!!
After the center, we had a good time chatting with Nancy over lunch and ice cream. We even made a quick stop at Gymboree where I "didn't need anything", but spent money anyway. It really was a very good day!