Colorado Day 3,4, and 5

Sunday we sat around all day and just read, played on the computer and tried to ignore the children as best we could. Monday, after all were up and ready, we headed to Shawn's office. He gave us all free eye exams, just to make sure we were all okay. It is so much fun to see Shawn as Dr. Cottrell because you can really tell he just enjoys what he does. After a long time at the office we finally took the kids to the zoo. We had to promise them something so they would attempt to be good in the office. The Denver zoo was great. The weather was warm and since it was 2 hours before closing, there were hardly any people there.

The penguins were feed while we were there. They had anchovies for dinner which is apparently not their favorite. It was really cute because all the penguins have bands on their arms. All are different colors except those who are a couple. There was a male and female with blue bands and they had 2 children that also had two bands. I just love the affirmation that penguins really do mate for life.

The first animal we went and saw were the Lions. They are at the very front of the zoo. As we were standing there this lion walked right up to us, stopped and just stood there. Although there was glass between us it was still unnerving. You do not realize how big those cats are until they are standing right next to you. After the zoo closed we went out to PF Changs. The food was fabulous and we had fun. Poor Austin was beside himself the entire time. It just made me laugh to hear him crying "No, mama, no!" over and over again. Poor guy had been run ragged that day with no nap.

We left to go home on Tuesday. We had to remind the girls that Grandma Jana and Grandpa Robert were coming on Friday to get them out the door. They just did not want to leave their new friends. On the way to and from Denver we passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel. It is a tunnel through the mountain that passes through the Continental Divide. The tunnel is over 1 and half miles long. It wasn't the only tunnel we passed through but because of its length it was by far the funnest. There were a lot of mountains which made my ears pop constantly. When we reached Vail Pass a sign showed the height was over 10,600 feet. No wonder it was 4 degrees outside.

Although we didn't do a whole lot on our trip, we had great fun. I love just being with my family and not having to worry about all of life's responsibilities, at least for a little while.

Colorado Day 1 and 2

For the first time in over 3 years the Martin Webb family took a vacation. (extremely long over due) We left Friday after school and drove to Henderson, Colorado. Shawn and Stephanie moved to Colorado shortly after Shawn graduated from Optometry School. We hadn't seen them since their youngest was born about 2 years ago so it was great to visit and catch up with them. We didn't get to their house until about 11:30 that night and then proceeded to stay up until about 1:00am talking. I think I might need a sleeping vacation from my vacation:)

Saturday night we went out to eat at Casa Bonita's. In the travel guide it sounded very family fun filled. If any of you have been to the Mayan restaurant up in Sandy it is pretty similar. Their was cliff diving, juggling, a Mariachi band(which we were seated right next to), arcades, and so much more. The food was okay but I suppose you really pay for the entertainment. Apparently Casa Bonita is the largest restaurant in the United States and the second largest in the world. It was a bit loud and extremely crowded but I think the kids had fun.

After eating we all went to the arcades so the kids could play games. It was crazy crowded and hard to find games that the little kids could do. One of the favorites was this squish the spider game. The picture is somewhat blurry because Ashlynn had to move to squish the spider!

Halloween 2008

The Monday before Halloween we carved our pumpkin for Family Home Evening. If you can't tell it is two spooky trees with an owl sitting on one of the branches and the moon above. Both of the girls also had pumpkins but once we started Martin only wanted to carve one. I had the girls paint theirs with washable paint. Alex painted a vampire and Ashlynn painted hers with rainbow colors. After we were done we put them outside on the bench. They were fine until yesterday when it rained. Alex and Ashlynn's pumpkin do not look as if anything was ever on there. Oh, well.

Halloween day was so crazy. Alex went to school at 8:00. Ashlynn went to school at 9:15. I went back to Alex's school at 11:00 to do her Halloween party (I am crazy and signed up to be her room parent this year... what was I thinking?) Straight from Alex's party I went to pick up Ashlynn from school. Then at 1:00 Ashlynn and I went back to Alex's school to see the Halloween Parade. Her class was the very last class and didn't return to the classroom until after the bell had rung releasing Alex's track from school. We walked home in the impending rain. Then the girls had to wait until 6:00 to do any more Halloween stuff. (It was a very long 4 hours) After dinner we went over to the church for our trunk or treat. We were there about 45 minutes and handing candy out by the handfuls in order to get rid of it before we left to go to Katie's. Then the girls and Andrew got to go door to door for the real trick or treating fun. We only went up and down Katie's street but by the end the girls were complaining that their bags were too heavy and hurting their hands. Needless to say we have more candy than we should ever eat in one year. If the amount of candy indicates directly the amount of happiness, the girls are definitely giddy. All in all the girls had fun for Halloween.

Blond Crayons?

I will post Halloween a little bit later but I just wanted to tell a quick story. I am in charge of sharing time for the month of November. So, yesterday during sharing time we made hand puppets out of lunch sacks in the junior primary. I was helping the Sunbeams. The primary secretary's daughter is in that class with Ashlynn, so I was helping the two of them. Hallie said she needed blond hair.
Me: Here is a yellow crayon.
Hallie: No, I need blond.
Me: Umm...they don't make blond crayons so we just use yellow instead.
She finally used the yellow crayon but it just sounded so funny coming from a four year old. Ashlynn probably wouldn't even know what blond was, let alone insist that she have a blond crayon.