Spring Break, part 1

Our kids get two weeks for Spring Break every year, which seems kind of crazy and wasteful to me, since we start so dang early in August! Quite frankly, I'd take one more week of summer, and give up one of these weeks of spring break. The weather generally isn't very nice in March but it is in August, but with that being said, our first week of spring break was actually really lovely!

We went hiking up around Evergreen, CO to a park with a trail called the "Three Sisters." It was a gorgeous day-- nearly 80 degrees and sunny, and just perfect for a picnic. There was a really nice trail perfect for the kids, with lots of easy rock climbing for them to do. It looks like we made it to the top of the world on this one, the first of the three sisters!

Even Lizzie made it up to the top of Sister #2 thanks to Jonathan. He is a true mountain goat, and Lizzie hates to be left out of the action.

Zach really wanted to hike under those rocks but they were making me just a little nervous.

Family hiking selfie! Lucy refused to participate because she was mad at Zach about something (surprise, surprise). But we did catch Cowboy Jon in action!

Spectacular views of the gorgeous front range on Sister #3!

I loved this picture because it was all my little ducklings following their dad down the trail, nobody was complaining, and even Leah was hiking all by herself just happy to be outside in nature. We had a great time.

We got back just in time for me to take the girls out for a night on the town. We started with dinner at our local favorite, Casa Mariachi. 

Then we headed over to the movie theater to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie. The girls LOVED it-- especially Lucy, who is a huge Emma Watson fan. 

Monday, March 20th was the official First Day of Spring, which meant free Rita's ice for everyone! It's been a tradition since Lucy was a baby and we lived in Philadelphia to go every single year-- and we've succeeded except for the one year we lived in Vegas. I had to teach that night, so right after my class finished we hurried over to the only Rita's in Denver and the line was so long it was out the door! 

But boy were we sure glad we waited! Yum! A little taste of spring in a green paper cup. Jon met us from work and got to enjoy some free water ice too.

The next morning I was feeling adventurous and brave, so I loaded the kids up in the van and headed down to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The weather was promising, and we always have such a great time whenever we go. First up was feeding the giraffes. Lizzie tried feeding them too, and I'm not joking, that giraffe sucked her entire little hand into his mouth with his blue tongue-- it was disgusting. But the best was her reaction! She looked kind of startled at first, but then she started laughing hysterically and thought it was so funny she'd fed that big huge giraffe all by herself.

So, feeding animals became the theme of the day for her. She'd crouch down real low by every single animal and get right in their face, and say, "Hi! Hi!" in her cute little voice. Then she'd try to feed them. Sometimes with food, sometimes with rocks or sticks, but she had a grand time pretending to be a zoo keeper.

Here she is petting the little goats and being a goat whisperer. She could have stayed in the goat pen all day.

After washing our hands really good, we headed over to have our picnic lunch. I don't know why, but food always tastes better outside.

We found the baby chickens next, and got to feed them as well. You can see Leah in the background who loved feeding the chickens, which reminded her of Moana's rooster Hei Hei.

Zach-O couldn't resist feeding them either.

Lizzie is trying to make chicken noises to talk to her little birdies. We had so much fun!

Last but not least were the gorillas and orangutans. I love how these two are just staring at each other--mommy gorilla and baby Lizzie. She was so worn out after all that animal exploring she took a good nap on the way home from the zoo. I'm so thankful we have such an amazing place to visit so close by. Our first few days of spring break have been off to a fantastic start!