Playground Fun

Summer is in full swing, which means it's time to hit all the local playgrounds! Here is a cute little park in Kitteredge. Next time we go we'll bring the girls' bikes to ride on the path that circles the playground.

Lunch under a shady tree:

On the way home we stopped at a Buffalo/Deer/Elk reserve in Evergreen. The Buffalo are further away, but we got a good look at the deer and majestic elk!

Sundress Sisters

Shilah & Serena have been having a great time enjoying the nice summer weather and playing around our house. Thank you to Grama Sho Sho for sending these cute dresses!

Serena recently learned to swing by herself, pumping her legs. It helps to have an older sibling!

Dinosaur Museum!

I took the girls to the Morrison Natural History Museum recently. It's pretty small, but very neat! Shilah had fun posing with the bones, whereas Serena was a little timid.

Serena warmed up to the bones once she realized one of the displays was of a mammoth (AKA Manny from Ice Age).

Serena was also excited about the live turtles & snakes:

Outside the museum there is an "archaeological digging area," a sandbox where kids can dig up fossils and bring them inside for identification. Shilah found fossilized wood from 40 million years ago, and Serena found fossilized clams from 80 million years ago.

Evergreen Rodeo Parade

On Saturday Shanti took the girls to the Evergreen Rodeo Parade, while I taught a Jazzercise class and did some work at the studio. They had a lot of fun with their daddy!
Serena had fun watching the real animals, and setting up her audience of animal figures:



We've been keeping very busy this summer! Here is a picture of Shilah & Serena at Splash, a water park in Golden:

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Rick and Grandpa Ed, and to all our other family & friends who are dads. We had a fun-filled day today celebrating Shanti! We started the day with a homemade breakfast, then we went to Flying J Open Space Park in Conifer for a picnic lunch by the stream.

Shilah & Serena had a fun time playing in the stream!

Mama and her girls:

Some nice views from our spot:

Serena is so wonderful and carefree! Even better... she's potty trained during the day!

After this we went to a small Blue Grass fest in Conifer and listened to some fun music. Then we met Gabe & family downtown at our favorite vegetarian restaurant, the Water Course. Thank you to Shanti for being the best dad our little girls could ever have!

Random Pics

Shanti got home tonight from a work trip to Cincinnati. Here is a link to a video on the new NREL building that's getting a lot of attention. Because of this, Shanti has a few more trips! If you stick with it, you'll see Shanti talking about the building a few times:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAdm3lxZSNw
Shilah & Serena playing bus driver on our playset:

Not sure why Serena is wearing sunglasses for breakfast here, but she looks pretty grumpy:

Cosmo cooling off in the sandbox:

Uncle Keith's New Place!

After Shilah's recital we went to visit Uncle Keith and Aunt Lauren at their new place in Denver. The girls had a great time trying out the pool!
Aunt Lauren and the girls:

Uncle Keith making tooting noises:

Shilah's Dance Rehearsal

Here is a video of a dress rehearsal for Shilah's recent dance recital. The video was too long for one post, so we divided it into 3 sections. The theme for the young dancers at this recital was Shirley Temple, and Shilah's class performed the song "At the Codfish Ball." Their teacher performs it with them out in front, so the kids are all looking that way. Adorable!

Shilah's Dance Recital!

Shilah had her first dance recital on Sunday. Despite my Jazzercise background, I have never had experience with formal dance recitals, so this was new for all of us!

Here is Shilah with her dance class... it is a year long class, and she was only in it for half a semester (the youngest one), mainly because her friend Autumn was in it and we could carpool together. I finally realized that it would be worth the money to put her in something she loves so much :-)

Super Busy Weekend!

On Friday we met Cousin Tiffany and Sam at the zoo. What a fun time!

Serena enjoyed all the animals... here she is with a Lorakeet bird:
Shilah likes flamingos since they're pink:

Keeping up with the kids is a workout!

Shanti was happy about this sign:

There were lots of baby animals, including a giraffe (born on Shilah's birthday) and a zebra. Here is a baby bighorn sheep with its mama:

Baby mountain goats:

Some bears having a little fun:

After the zoo we went to our friend Deb's house for dinner. Good food & good times!

Shilah with Deb's daughter Maggie:

Ice cream cone clowns for dessert!

Uncle Gabe & cousin Lily:
Stay tuned for pictures from the rest of our busy weekend, including Shilah's first dance recital!