Liv's Loves

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

Saturday we visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Very cool!

2 out of 3 sacked out on the drive back. Nice!

Saturday after the zoo experience (see below post) we drove through garden of the gods. Being Summer and heavy tourist season we didn't park or get out to walk, but it was still very pretty and neat to see. Sean liked the "kissing camels". See if you can spot them...

Apparently they do guided tours on these little scooter thingys. Not really sure what they are called, but it looks like it would take some balance!

How cool would it be to cruise around in this Hummer? Haha!

The bear came over the mountain...

So Saturday we drove from Denver to Colorado Springs to visit the zoo. We had a coupon that allowed us to save $10 at the zoo as a family to get in. However, we did end up spending $10 to rent a double stroller. It was very busy that day at the zoo, so parking was a little difficult, but we managed. Well, first thing we visited the gift shop so we could all use the bathroom before we started looking at all the animals. Oh my word. The bathrooms were tiny! I had trouble getting the little umbrella stroller in there and then I was pretty much blocking the door for other people. I was pretty annoyed and it made me upset for people who visit the zoo that are in a wheelchair! I can't imagine how it would even be possible for them to get in there at all!

OK, so the stroller rental was also annoying. First of all it was ten bucks and they took Chris's i.d. to insure that we would return it. The Wichita zoo has single strollers for $3 and doubles for $5 and they don't take your i.d.. The stroller also had no sun shade/canopy and it was a hot day with no clouds in the sky. The ones in Wichita have a nice large canopy.

So, here is the next complaint ~ It's a zoo on the side of the mountain. We were aware of that and were prepared to do some major walking uphill. We were NOT prepared for the lack of ramps and/or elevators, so we had to carry the strollers up the stairs! There was basically one direction to go and up it was. I don't think any of us had a great time. Chris and I were exhausted from all the carrying and pushing of the kids and strollers in the heat and the kids really couldn't see the animals because the viewing areas were so tiny and there were so many other people there. So then we were miffed that we basically wasted $10 on a stroller rental that we really didn't get to use very well anyway.

OK, so we get to a stopping point and turn back around to head in another direction that we have not yet been at the zoo. We get ready to turn and a zoo worker turns us away and says we can't go that way because it's not safe. Apparently a wild grizzly came down from the mountain and they were trying to get a moose to scare it back up, but the moose was being stubborn. She said they hoped to have it back open in about an hour. Seriously? We decide to sit a while and figure out if we should wait or just go do something else. We finally decided that we were all hungry, so we went to the closest McDonald's we could find. In the end we pretty much missed 1/3 of the zoo, not to mention that there were several exhibits and buildings that were just closed!

I did get to see the okapis. I really like these guys. They are pretty cool looking animals, so that made me happy!

We also saw these little chipmunks scampering around the rocks. Pretty cute!

One of the neat things was this little fawn in the parking lot. So adorable with it's little white spots. He was "crying" for his mommy it sounded like. Almost sounded like a kitten. We saw the doe too, but I don't know where she went. This baby seemed kind of scared out there all alone with all the cars and people.

Here is a video of the kids talking about the bear at the zoo...

Here is a picture of Chloe at McD's after the zoo. She's such a good little burger eater :-)

More Mountains

Mountain views while driving from Denver to Colorado Springs. Do you see Pike's Peak?

While we were driving I was thinking about how these mountains were put there by God so many years ago! We talked about having "faith to move mountains". What an awesome concept!

As much as I enjoyed the beautiful mountains of Colorado it was such a nice feeling to be driving home on Sunday. When we got out of the busy city and away from the mountains I felt like I could breath again. I guess I just feel safer and more comfortable in Kansas where I can see what is ahead of me. And truthfully I don't think the "flat lands" are boring at all! Kansas does have some gorgeous hills and landscape which were also put there by God so many years ago.

Denver Aquarium

Friday evening we went to the Denver Aquarium restaurant. We'd planned on going through the actual aquarium exhibit, but by the time we got there, parked, waited for a seat in the restaurant, and then waited for our food etc., it was getting late and no one seemed too interested in the exhibit. It was still a neat experience though. From our booth we were able to see a huge wall aquarium with fish and sharks and as we sat down the scuba diver was in the water with the fish and even waved to Sean when he waved to him! The atmosphere was pretty cool, but a lot of my pictures didn't turn out great because of the lighting etc. Here are the pictures I did get though...

The shrubs were shaped like seahorses!

Apparently an aquarium isn't complete without Mr. Squarepants!

One of the few pictures of me on the trip :-)

Chloe waiting patiently in her stroller for our seat at the restaurant

Eleanor in our booth in the restaurant

Sean in our booth in the restaurant. The food was pretty good and the kids ate really well which was wonderful!

Since we opted not to go to the aquarium exhibit we let the kids choose one toy in the gift shop on the way out. The girls each got a mermaid and Sean got a clown fish. Then they played in some bubbles outside! I think it was probably wise to forgo the exhibit. Maybe we can go back again in the future when they are all older and can really appreciate it a lot more...