Tuesday, August 31, 2010

goodbye sunshine ranch, until next summer

We said goodbye to sunshine ranch for the summer and started our drive towards Denver, stopping at the Butterfly Pavilion on our way.

The Butterfly Pavilion was a bit out of our way from the hotel but the kids were pretty excited about going after their cousins said how neat it was.

Evie was happy to hold Rosie, the tarantella

Ethan wanted to but not until he's three. He was a good boy and just looked.

The kids enjoyed watching the busy little bees - if they only knew they are just as busy.

The horseshoe crab was burying itself in the sand to go to sleep. It was cool to watch but Ethan thought it was especially neat it wanted to go night-night. Maybe three or four times Ethan crawled back up to watch the crab.

You can only imagine how stoked Evie was to find these shiny blue butterflies. I wish I could have had her "whoa, mom, look at these" on video.

When we actually got to where the living butterflies were I think Evie was maybe more excited about the flowers than the actual butterflies.

Evie was so gentle when holding the butterflies.

The kids took a nap on our way from the butterfly pavilion to our hotel in downtown Denver. The kids always love looking out the window first. If I have one travel secret to share it's ask for an upgrade and see what they say. We always ask and at least 70% of the time the hotel upgrades us to a suite for no extra charge. If the hotel isn't busy they usually do it. We booked our hotel using Expedia and it was $80 a night. When we checked in I asked if they happen to have a room with a larger bathroom and they put us in a $400 a night suite at no extra charge. Just thought I would mention it. It never hurts to ask.

Evie couldn't wait to play dress up when we got to the hotel. She is queen of wardrobe changes.

We were able to meet up with my cousin Michelle and her family in Edgewater for dinner. She knew of this great Thai place and it was yummy. After dinner the kids enjoyed feeding the ducks and playing by the water until it was past bedtime.


There's that face I want to squeeze!
The kids had fun breaking apart cattails. Evie remembers her grandpa Malcolm doing it in Colorado for her.

The kids busied themselves drawing in the sand with the cattail stems.
Ethan is helping Evie finish her sandcastle.

Heading back to the car; tired and soaked. The car is just past the sign below, across from the restaurant but also near lots of medical marijuana places. Joel and I looked in one and were surprised to see a bank like teller window with Plexiglas and a hole to peak through. We saw totally normal looking people and some not so normal looking people pick up and drive away. Maybe this will be the way of the future and legalizing it?


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