Chicago Air & Water Show

A girl Isaac works with invited us to their rooftop to watch the Chicago Air and Water Show. It was just the air part for us but it was fun watching the Thunderbirds fly around. Grant was so into it and he was fun to watch too. This is about how close we were but a couple of times they flew right over us and it was so loud and fast! Evy didn't care one bit, she's like that.

Kite Flying

Back in E-town we wasted no time in getting to the beach with friends. This summer Evy won a kite from the local library and so I thought let's fly it at the beach. It was really cool and all the kids liked it and could do it on their own. I, however, was running around like an idiot trying to get it up and fell. I bet it looked awesome and I wish I could have seen it, LOL!

Crazy Khania and Carrie

Okay while Carrie and I spent so much time together we got a little silly and acted like teenagers, which meant that we have all kinds of silly, random, blurry, arm-holding-the-camera-out-to-photograph-ourselves kind of pictures. It was a GOOD time with us girls, what can I say? This last photo is of Carrie face-timing Sarah S. Were crazy to think we could stay up that late and not feel it the next morning!

NREL

The whole reason the Christensen's moved to Colorado is so Steve could work at a place called National Renewable Energy Lab, NREL. I thought it would be fun to go see the visitor center and show the kids where Steve worked. Outside they have all kinds of parts of those giant windmills you see in the wind farms. That was cool, I love those things. Inside there were all kinds of fun things set up to show how we use energy and make energy. It was really a fun little trip. The one thing I really came away with was how much energy it takes to get a regular light bulb to turn on opposed to the new kind, which I think are ugly and give of yucky yellow/orange glow. But I suppose I'll be using them more to save money ;)

Scales 'N Tails

On our drive to downtown Denver Carrie and I saw a billboard for a place called Scales 'N Tails. I looked it up and found it was close to where Carrie lived so we decided a good last day treat would be fun to go there. The kids loved it! And the staff was so nice and friendly. It was a little bitter sweet for Grant to be there because he wants a reptile pet so badly. We got some great photos though.

16th Street Mall

That night Steve watched all the kids and Carrie and I went to downtown Denver to the 16th Street Mall. We had a yummy treat at The Cheesecake Factory and then Carrie played some of the public pianos sitting out. They must love street performers because they were everywhere. It was good to get out.

The Butterfly Pavilion

When we got back to Colorado from Yellowstone we had 1 and a half days to play before we headed home so one of the things we planned to do was to go to The Butterfly Pavilion. It was lots of fun and while we've been to other butterfly habitats this one had more butterflies it seemed and they were very active. They also had a room with all sorts of insects and I got to hold a tarantula named Rosy. She was very soft like a stuffed animal, really! There was a whole gross motor maze, complete with a spider web and short zip line.

Early Rising, Beautiful Driving

Driving through the park at 5am was a completely different experience than during the day. It was almost spooky at times because there is no cell service and very dark. When the sun started to come up there was a fog that made us have to drive at 10mph at one point. But I did get some cool photos! I actually recommend doing this if you have the option.

Yellowstone: Day 6

This was our last day in Yellowstone so we had to do all the things we hadn't done yet. I got a photo of the kids with the painted fish, some more swimming, the Taco Bus, Artist Point and some church in the park. Grandma and Bumpa had to work so we swam and watched the hail storm. Then we went to a sacrament meeting in the park. It was so nice and the testimonies were great. Grant even bore his testimony for the first time! He talked about how he knew Heavenly Father protected him and Alex when they walked right over the rattle snake. Then we saw the beautiful waterfall at Artist Point and got some great photos. We were all pretty hungry by then so we had to go to the Taco Bus in West Yellowstone. They have authentic Mexican food and you eat it in an old school bus. The food was amazing and hit the spot. After Bumpa and Grandma helped me pack the car we said our goodbyes. Grant and Evy were a mess, as I imagine Grandma and Bumpa were. We had to leave so early in the morning that we said goodbye that night. They eventually calmed down and went to sleep.

Yellowstone: Day 5

Saturday, Grandma and Bumpa had to work again but we had plenty to do. Grant and Evy went to a Smoke Jumpers class and learned all about how the Smoke Jumpers did their job. Barry, a retired Smoke Jumper taught the all about fires and what they need to burn and how the spread with some great demonstrations. We learned how they got out of a tree if they were "caught up" and what they carried around in the forest and how they actually fought the fires. It was really cool and I'm glad we did it. Then we went back to to hotel because across the street there was a car show. We walked around and looked at all the old, bright and funny cars. Grant had fun guessing what type of car they were and he even thinks he found a Flynn McMissle from Cars 2. We thought we'd try the pool out again but it was chilly this time and so we didn't last too long. The kids were excited for dinner and Grant helped Grandma cook and outdoor meal for his scout stuff. Grandma also had a lot of patch sewing to do. Grant and Evy had earned 3 patches each from their Jr. Ranger, Smoke Jumpers and Young Scientist programs and Grant had some scouting badges to put on his uniform. We then had dinner and the campground dog, Marley, came over to visit. You can see how much Grant likes dogs and I thought it was so funny he was up on the bench, he's still in a squat for the family photo I took minutes later. That was a fun time!