Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

For our Anniversary, Kevin and I decided we wanted to get away for a couple of days.  So we took Friday off of work and headed to Colorado Springs.  We love the Springs area, so much to do there.  You may remember we were there last summer with Nadine (post 1 and post 2)

When we have been there before, we have not been to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  I had been there once a very very long time ago, so we thought it would be fun to spend part of our day there

They have a HUGE exhibit of Giraffe's with a really cool area for you to feed them and I even got to pet one for a few minutes.  They are such large creatures but seem very gentle at the same time.  

Ok, I know I am short especially compared to a Giraffe....

But even Kevin is short....

They had at least 2 dozen Giraffe's in this area and even a baby...

You can see how big the Giraffe area is from up on the hilltop in another area of the zoo

So of course we had to feed them:

There really are other animals at the zoo too....and I love BIG cats so we have lots of those pictures.

Look how sweet they are...I need one at home....  ;-)

Kevin thought this bear was sitting at the dinner table.....waiting to be served. 

The zoo is really laid out well, and it is on a mountain side, so things are all around the side of the mountain, but they also built some really cool walkways like this one below to go see the bears. 

Kevin was afraid this Owl might land on him...it just makes me think of Harry Potter and the very last movie that will be out soon...

This is Justin.  You know Justin right?  Justin Beaver.....

Finally, you know a zoo is a good place when you can find actual wildlife living in the zoo. 

Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun

As part of the zoo entrance, you can drive up to the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun

 It is quite a ways up there, but it is definitely worth the drive.  

This is the view on the way up in the car....

 

You are able to go into the shrine all the way to the top where the views were amazing...

Here is the road on the drive up to the Shrine

Royal Gorge Train

Our big piece of our trip was to ride the Royal Gorge Train.  We did the dinner train and so the trip started around 6:30 pm and we got back to the station around 9:30.  

 We got to stop right at the bottom of the gorge area and look up at the bridge:

 

 You may remember last summer when we walked across the bridge from the top:


Here you can see how swift the water is.  This is the Arkansas River, and it is not yet at the peak from the summer snow melt.  They expect it to rise another 2 feet, and already they have forbidden any rafting.  

 Here we are....the two love birds....

Stormy's new bunny

Like all good parents when we go away for the weekend, we try to bring our "kid" home something.  This time we brought her a toy bunny.  It really is cute, and it has 5 squeakers.  It is (or was before stormy slobbered it up), very soft.  So on the way home I buckled it in with me:

Here is Stormy taking a nap in the sunshine with her bunny.  Usually though she is carrying it around and shaking it about. 

IKEA

Hey Pauline, remember how I said I have never been to IKEA and I really wanted to go?  We are getting one in Colorado.....Kevin and I drove by it on our weekend trip last weekend.  It should open while you are here....I think we may all need to go.  LOL

Shhhh don't tell....

Many of you have had the pleasure of eating my BBQ ribs.  Lately as summer is here, many people are asking me when I am going to be making them again.  Well this weekend my brother, parents, niece and family and friends all went camping.  So I told them all I was making ribs this wekeend when they wouldn't be here to eat them.

Well I didn't lie, I did make ribs, but not my own secret rub, BBQ sauce recipe that takes 3 days, no, these are just some that were on sale at the store....but now I can tell them all we had ribs this weekend while they were off camping.  :-)

They were yummy but not like homemade, I think I am still going to need to do my own thing.

Joslyn is two!

 Joslyn's birthday is this week, so today Desirae and Tim had her birthday party.  Their house is really small, so they moved everything around in the garage so we could all sit out there. 

First of course she opened presents.  She was very excited to see what is inside:

Ohhh a bubble shooting bunny!  Thanks Kevin and Jody

Whats next?  Lets see, big brother Caelum wants to know and help too.....

There were lots of great gifts....but Joslyn loves stickers...so she really loved the scotch tape....can you see it on her nose?

Oh and a new bike from Mom and Dad too!

Riding the new tricycle with tape all over my face. Too Cute

Then of course there was the princess cake.  Great Grandma Jean, found this in a magazine and Desirae made it.  I think Dez did a really great job!

  Blowing out the candle....

And the best part?  Eating it....

 

Joslyn really cracks us up.  She is just so cute with that smile, she melts your heart.  That also means that she gets away with many things....I can foresee some wonderful terrible two's in Desirae and Tim's future....but she can come visit us anytime to make us laugh.  Happy Birthday Joslyn!

Ahhh relaxing....

 First just a couple pictures of Stormy

 Hard to tell here, but she is "sitting up pretty" to hope for a treat.

Sometimes life is just good, and you get to sit out side and relax.  We have these matching lounge chairs and love to sit outside and have lunch, have a drink and just watch out into the open field.  

It is hard to tell here, but things are really green right now....at least for Colorado.  We know the summer heat is coming and it isn't going to last long.

I love the quiet of the open field just sitting outside and relaxing.  Ahhhhhh

Ever tear a finger or toe nail? It hurts....

Yesterday Stormy tore one of her nails on her foot.  Poor puppy, we had to clip it off as it was just hanging (we aren't even sure what she caught it on), and bleeding all over.  So after we got her all fixed up, it was still bleeding a little, so Kevin put a sock on her foot.  It was really funny:

 She is so laid back, she really didn't care and just left it alone.  She is just fine today, but the "trauma" must have really worn her out as she let Kyburz snooze right next to her last night:

 

We have said before how much she loves the kitty, but they don't usually lay so close together. 

Easter at the Ridge

Hello All,

Well Easter was a week ago, but I'm a little slow getting around to posting the pictures from it. Des brought her kids over after church and let them do an Easter Egg hunt it the yard. Caelum and Joslyn had a good time running around and searching for them.

Tim, Joslyn and Stormy looking for eggs

Joslyn "finding" one

Caelum on the hunt

Hope you all had a great Easter

MLT?

Have you ever read Cake Wrecks blog?  My boss shared it with me not too long ago.  It is really a funny blog...ok, so they make fun of cakes people make and the disasters that ensue.  Sometimes they also show really great cakes too, I am always in awe of some of the really great cakes you see people make. 

Yesterday they had this cake: 

Mickey Mouse Club...and as their blog says  "MLT"  Mickey Lettuce and Tomato  :)

I think this is amazing, can you believe that is all cake?  Ok, so they are making a Mickey Sandwich, but this is very well done and brought a smile to my face when I saw the cleverness.