First Dentist Visit

Today's excitement was the kids first dental visit. I have been having sensitivity in one of my teeth lately that it prompted me to finally find a dentist for us here. I found a lady who is really nice and she does dentistry for the whole family. I went to have my teeth cleaned and get the initial exams out of the way yesterday and after talking to her she said we could bring the kids in anytime to get them started on their oral health. This is so important to me because I never went to the dentist as a child unless it was an emergency and I can sure tell now. I am constantly having teeth trouble. So I made an appointment and had them both go in today. Sam had been to a dentist once before but it was mostly just to ride the chair and have the dentist put his fingers in his mouth etc. to get used to the dentist office. That is what I was expecting this visit but she actually took the time to polish their teeth and give them some flouride. I wasn't sure how they were going to do but Sam went first and he did great! He didn't fuss at all and was pretty excited that they had a TV he could watch while she was poking around in his mouth. Evie watched the whole thing and realized it was no big deal. She sat back and let the dentist polish and scrub her teeth too. I couldn't believe it. They listened so well and we didn't have a single tear the whole time. I think Sam was just happy to be visiting a doctor that wasn't going to give him a shot. I am so proud of them and how well they listened and followed directions. And now they will also have nice pearly white teeth.

New Adventures

The last couple of weekends have been pretty busy with us traveling to new sights in and around Denver. Last weekend we decided to drive down to Colorado Springs to visit another zoo we discovered was down there. It is called the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was a lot of fun to visit a new place but of the two zoos we decided we prefer the Denver zoo. Cheyenne Mountain is famous for its giraffe herd, which I admit was very large, and the exhibit is very cool because you can pay $1 for 3 crackers and you can hand feed the giraffes. Evie and I were all for doing that and got right in. Sam wasn't too sure about it and decided to hang back and just watch us do it. I decided not to force him too if he didn't want to. There will be plenty of more opportunities I'm sure.


You can't see it well, but Evie is feeding a giraffe through the bars. I also finally decided to invest in a hat. With all this sunshine around here I got tired of squinting all the time. LOL

It was amazing to be within touching distance of the giraffes. I caught a picture of one tasting other things. LOL

Part of the zoo's attraction is that it is located on the side of a mountain. They offer a ski lift which takes you up to a viewpoint to take pictures, etc. I have to admit the views were amazing but I don't know if we will pay the money for the lift next time we visit. Especially since you can get better views by driving up to a shrine on the top of the mountain.

This is one of the views from the top of the memorial for Will Rogers called Shrine of the Sun. It was kind of strange to see such a monument built for an actor but the building was really neat and you got to see out over Colorado Springs and surrounding valleys.

Entrance to the shrine of the sun. They have a small cathedral inside and several rooms with various photographs of the life and history of Will Rogers. We mostly went to take a peak at the views which were pretty incredible. You can climb all the way to the top of the tower.

This weekend we decided to drive around some more checking out areas around the Denver area. We especially wanted to make a trip to the mountains since we are so close. Melody is interested in going camping when she comes to visit and so it was a good opportunity to scout the area and see what kind of campgrounds we could find. I made a list of all the state parks in the area, packed a picnic lunch, made sure I had my maps in order and off we went. Of course, I forgot the camera. We found a park that was nearby, had camping, but was still close enough to Denver to not really have any trees. It was pretty open and not our ideal setting. We then managed to find the right highway to head up into the mountains and found a beautiful drive, rocky cliffs, bubbling creeks, and Finally.... loads of trees. I'm pretty excited because I think we have found a campground that will suit us. Now to do some research because we are high enough into the wild areas that we have to be cautious of bears, cougars, and the occasional moose. One of the park rangers said that if we go back in a month or so, all the spruce trees will finally be in leaf and the wildflowers will be blooming. The campground was closed when we drove by but they expect to be open next month. I think we are planning on going back then to double check that yes we like the campground and to go ahead and make reservations for camping this summer. Being a state park, we need to plan ahead if we hope to get a decent place. I'm so excited. It was so beautiful and only took about an hour to hour and a half to get there.

Easter

Saturday we woke up with plans to visit the local city park to attend an Easter egg hunt that our church in partnership with other churches was hosting. The day was sunny but a little chilly in the morning. It was also extremely windy. Evie was so excited and wanted to go pick up all the pretty eggs that she started to get extremely upset when she couldn't just go out and get them. They were about 20 minutes late getting started and I think all the eggs were found and claimed within 5 minutes. It was pretty well organized despite all the people though. I think the volunteers did a good job. We sat down to open all the eggs and see if we got some golden tickets for extra special prizes. We then waited in another long line to take our turn to claim a couple of cheap toys. The kids had so much fun though and all the eggs are now their newest bathtub toys. I didn't get very good pictures because I was so busy just trying to keep an eye on where the kids were at with all the people.

Saturday evening we went to church and had the kids dress up in their new Easter clothes. Pretty handsome if I say so myself. Sunday, Dwayne and I volunteered to help again because the church was expecting so many extra people and just didn't have enough hands. Sunday afternoon we just lazed around the house a bit and then I set to work making an Easter dinner. Since I wasn't hosting anybody this year I decided to keep it simple. I made cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. Even though I decided to take it easy, it was still way too much food and we have had plenty of leftovers. The only downside? Our microwave has broken and we are waiting for the landlords to replace it. I never realized how much I use the microwave until it has become unavailable to me. I also decided to surprise Dwayne and try my hand at making a lava cake for dessert. Every time we are in a restaurant and he sees one he drools and wants to have it for dessert. I found a recipe that just uses muffin tins to make small individual servings and it didn't look too difficult. Let me say, they turned out great! And they were so easy. I think I have found Dwayne's new favorite dessert.

My birthday was fine. I didn't do anything exciting. It was just a normal day. I also wasn't feeling too great so I moped around the house a bit. I refused to do chores and I cheered up by the end of the day from all the phone calls and well wishes I received from family and friends. I think this weekend we are going to drive down to Colorado Springs (about an hour away) and check out the zoo they have there. It is supposed to be nice weather and that is an area of Colorado we haven't visited yet. I'm looking forward to it since I've been such a grump this week.