The Last Weekend of Summer

With Kai starting Kindergarten this year and the summer coming to an end, we tried our best to get in some last minute activities.  On Friday we made a spontaneous decision to go to the zoo right after lunch.  We had a good time with no real agenda except to have fun together.  I let the boys pick which animals we were going to see, so instead of following a normal pattern around the zoo, we skipped around picking and choosing.  We were excited to see the 3-day old baby gorilla, and we walked in right at the end of a bird show.  After nearly a dozen trips to this zoo, I had NO idea the birds were there!  So, that was neat.  It was a fun afternoon that we topped off with some yummy gelato (cantaloupe flavor!) before heading home.

The baby giraffe was released into the exhibit.  We had seen a couple of times before
but were excited to see him out with the others.  He's only a month old.

The baby gorilla.  Sorry for the blur, but there was a huge crowd, so I had to zoom a bit.
And then, of course, there's the glass between us and the gorillas.

No trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the train.

On Saturday we headed up to Denver after lunch to check out the children's museum.  The kids had a great time, although we did end up splitting up a bit.  There were several exhibits geared toward older age-ranges and so Reid and Kai tackled those together while Finn and I enjoyed the younger crowd.  It was also fun to see a nice park right next to the museum as well as a trolley ride.  We didn't get to ride it, but I'm sure we'll have to make time for that on a return trip.

Finn fell asleep right before we got to the museum.  He was "borrowing" Daddy's sunglasses.

Building a rocket with his dad at the rocket launch station

Finn liked watching these scarves fly up in the air.

Using real tools at the building station with dad.
This is where Finn and I took off.  Finn does not need any encouragement with a saw and hammer!

Finn loves to get behind a cash register no matter what store we are at.
So, instead of shopping in the grocery store he assigned himself the cashier position.
All of the girls were so excited that he ended up with quite a long line.

Crawling around

Trying to catch a bubble in the bubble room

Do you see the bubble Reid and Kai are standing in?

More fun with bubbles

Big bubbles!

The train room

The outdoor water exhibit

Kai got soaked!  Good thing I planned ahead and brought both boys a change of clothing.

We ended our visit in the under 4 year-old room.  Kai got to wear this really cute vest.

Going fishing

This only lasted a second.....

and then it was this!  :)

We topped off the night with a trip to The Old Spaghetti Factory.  Kai has now declared that it is his new favorite restaurant, and I can't blame him.  We were visited at our table by one of the best balloon men I have ever seen and the kids were quite entertained.  The food was good, too.  I'm glad that we discovered it and ventured into downtown Denver a bit more.  I still think we have some more exploring to do up there.

Waiting for a table

Kai requested a snake

Finn wanted a giraffe

It was a good and busy two days, and a great way to end the summer.