Paul at...however old he is!

The thing about returning to work is that during maternity leave, I knew exactly how old Paul was.  "He is 9 weeks and 3 days" I told someone one time.  That person cocked their head and noted how precise I was.  yep. 

Since I'm not really tracking a return to work, it gets a little trickier.  I told someone one time that I usually switch from 'weeks' to 'months' after I return to work.  That is true this time as well.  "Oh, he's about 3 and a half months."

Funny how that works.

Paul is cooing - a lot.  He loves being talked too and he loves 'talking' back.  He has this big huge smile that takes up his entire face - and he reserves it only for those times he is being talked too.  Otherwise, he is one serious baby.  And when he is concentrating hard he has what I like to call a 'duck face'.  He focuses intently and pooches his lips out...just enough for a classic duck face.

Paul's current hobbies include intensely examining his feet, talking to people, crying (particularly when he isn't being held), clearing the room with his gas and of course pooping.

In fact, we have renamed the 'bumbo seat' to the 'poop seat'.  He tends to poop while he is in it.  I recall Ruth doing the same thing.  What is it with the "bumble bee" (as Ruth calls it) and pooping?  It tends to blow out too.

Paul is already in size 2 diapers.  However, I think the next diapers we buy will be 3's.  I still have a few 1's laying around...and he really is too big for those.  I'm just trying to use 'em up.  I have some 2's...and judging by how they fit and the fact we buy diapers in bulk...3's might just make the most sense.

I can still squeeze him into 3-6 mo outfits.  He is super long and so it takes some tugs to get the snaps done.  However, I've got 12 mo outfits mixed in his drawer.  Those aren't overly large either.  He's a big boy and is routinely confused for a 6 mo old.

Rebekah loves carrying Paul around.  I let her around the house...but am nervous to let her outside of the house (re: hard cement for example).  She is kinda clumsy and I'd hate for something to happen while she was holding Paul.

Peter showers Paul in squishes and smooshes.  I don't think he knows how to express love differently?  He did the same thing with Ruth.  The kid LOVES babies though.  I try really hard to not yell at him too much or push him away too much.  But sometimes it just overloads MY senses...I can only imagine how Paul feels?  Peter also likes to declare his love for Paul.  "I love Paul more than the carpet!"  Um...ok.  So one time I asked him..."How much do you like [the current thing he was comparing his love for Paul too]?"  He replied "Not very much."  Alrighty then!  Glad we straightened that out. 

Ruth is gentle and sweet with Paul...most of the time.  She will talk to him and sometimes is perplexed that he doesn't answer.  She prefers if I answer for him.  Sometimes I will pretend that Paul is praising her for doing something (for example...getting her PJs on herself).  She will giggle and say "Paul do it again!"  She gives him the sweetest kisses that I hope to never forget...bending over him and ever so gently pooching her lips out and slobbering on his cheek.  She loves sitting in my lap when I'm holding Paul - so I do my best to make sure to never say "I can't hold you, I'm holding Paul."  This is tough.  She isn't usually happy with just sitting NEXT to me like Peter was.  But it is good.  I have even figured out how to nurse holding both of them.  I'll take my cuddles while I can.  When Ruth isn't sweet with Paul...it is absurd really.  Randomly (and with regularity...but I haven't figured out a pattern) she will just walk up and slap Paul.  She hasn't hurt him too badly yet.  But still.  I don't understand it.  It is usually very sudden (as in she is standing there fine one second...even perhaps watching TV or something then turns around and whaps him).

Max is well enough with Paul.  When Paul is crying I will frequently catch Max 'kissing' him...sigh.  Great way to build his immune system right?  I'm all "Max!  Paul is not inviting you!" but Max is Max. 

I'm curious what kind of kid Paul will grow up to be.  I wonder if he will be as verbal as Ruth has been?  Or as ornery as Peter was or Ruth is?  Will he be sweet and crafty like Rebekah? Or do I have a whole new bundle of surprises waiting for me?

Paul, Ruth and Work OH MY!

Friday I had the pleasure of taking both Paul and Ruth in for some checkups.  Paul was there for his 2 mo checkup and Ruth was there for her 2.5 yr checkup.

First Paul - he weighed in at a whopping 17 lbs 9 oz (99%) with a height of 24 1/4 inches (61%) and a head circ of 40 1/2 cm (70%).

At 2 mo, Paul smiles a lot when you talk to him.  He thinks Ruth is hilarious.  (She takes the time to stop and talk to him - the other two are usually too busy...minus the regular squishings from Peter.)  He has also started cooing and giggling.  He's pretty serious - except when he is smiling.  It is funny actually - because it is quite the pendulum swing.  HUGE gigantic grins - or he's so serious he borders on grumpy.  Not too much in the middle.

I was quite pleased that his weight, particularly after being drug in for extra weight checks his first week of life.  I knew he'd grow. :-)  God is faithful.

Ruth is still short with a big head. ;-)  She weighed in at 30.2 lbs (67%) with a height of 35 1/4 inches (43%) and a head circ of 51 cm (greater than 97%).  It is all good - she doesn't look like she has a big head. ;-)

At 2.4 Ruth jumps, can take her clothes off and is borderline potty trained.  She can go.  She knows all the mechanics.  She just hasn't made that leap.  With the other two, it was a very sudden leap. One day, they weren't interested...then BAMO...fully potty trained.  She wants panties pretty bad.  I need to make a search for some mickey ones.  I've checked target/walmart with no luck.  I think that would be a great motivator.  She is onery as all get out.  She gets into everything and is rather good at sneaking off to do things she isn't supposed too.  *sigh*  Goof.  And she is hard to punish - she thinks the corner is fun.  Lastly - she can nearly spell Peter's name, her name and almost counts to 20.  (She regularly skips 4-5-6 for some reason.)  Colors?  Shapes?  Not so much.  Just not interested.  This just fascinates me.  It is almost like "That stuff is trivial...let's jump ahead to calculus please!"

I was particularly worried about this appointment as I thought Ruth was getting shots.  Handling both Paul and Ruth seemed like a daunting task.  (She is not fond of being told that she has to get out of lap to make way for Paul...for instance.)  I had a plan in my head of how I could make it work - but it turned out I didn't need it.  She doesn't need anymore shots until 5.  Whew.

I apparently didn't ever blog Ruth's 2 mo stats, so I have nothing to compare it too...not without digging for the little papers. :)  I've kept every single one!  I'm more interested to see how Paul compares to Peter.  I think that would be more telling.

I told the doctor "So Paul is short and fat and Ruth is short with a big head...how odd!"  She (we are seeing another doc until our reg. ped gets his new practice up and running) looked at me quizzically and said "Well I wouldn't say short exactly...average perhaps!"  Oh dear doctor - when your oldest two are in the 80-90%, with a tall dad and clearly a tall mom...yes...comparatively...they are SHORT. :)  I think Paul will catch up though.  Ruth?  Well - we do have short genes on both sides of the family.  I suppose it is possible for a kid to pick up some random genes. Just look at Rebekah.  Random red head.  :)  I love the fact that each kid has a distinctive physical trait and they aren't simply clone copies.  (They do resemble each other clearly.  I checked out Ruth's 2 mo pictures and yeah...there is a huge resemblance between her and Paul.)

Anyway - so yesterday I was sick.  Not just oh-I-have-a-cold-and-I'm-whiny sick...but sick with fireworks.  I couldn't really sit up, my stomach hurt like no other...and the toilet and I were good pals.  All the while I was home alone with little Paul.  My saving grace?  Paul loves to cuddle.  We hung out and slept all day.  He slept with me or he played (kicked is legs and arms for example) while I slept.  I was just so blessed that he was super easy to take care of.  I guess that is the perk of having a cuddly baby.  He really really likes to cuddle.  (Today he has been less than thrilled being put in the swing while I've tried to get things done...like straighten up and put away the baby shower presents to...well...writing this little post.)

I'd love to share pics, but I'm having a computer crisis.  Well...not crisis.  I need to network my new computer with the computer downstairs.  I haven't found the time to sit down and figure it out (and I asked William to do it but he hasn't either)...so thus...no pictures.  Why is this important?  Because I backup the pics on the downstairs computer and only keep a certain amount on the upstairs.  I don't trust the upstairs laptop (which is rather abused thanks to careless children) to hold such precious information by its lonesome.  So there you have it.  Must. Network.  :)

Hopefully I'll have some cute ones to share soon.

Last but not least - I have just 3 weeks left before returning to work.  Ugh.  Ughity ugh ugh ugh.  I like work and all - but returning is never easy.  I can't imagine what it is like for those moms who dislike their jobs?  I don't think I could do it.  I'd have to quit.

While stay at home isn't in my future anytime soon - or perhaps ever (can't picture it - I think I'd be a maniac) - I still do wish I had more time to hang out with my baby.  They really are little for such a short period of time.  *sigh*  I wish we had longer (paid) maternity leaves.  Yes paid.  Without it, extending maternity leave is in gesture only - who would be able to afford the time off?  I barely have enough time off to pay for this maternity leave, let alone something longer.  I could rant all day about maternity leaves. :)  But I won't.  That and nursing are probably two subject I'm rather passionate about.

So...3 weeks.  Tick tock.

Symmetries of four

I'm pretty goofy - I sit around and think about commonalities, differences and meanings behind overly simple things.  And I've been thinking about the kids a lot.  Here are some things I've come up with.

Rebekah and Peter have the same number of syllables in their full name.
Ruth and Paul have the same number in theirs.

Of course, the girls' names both start with R and boys' start with P.

None of the name stuff was intentional.  It just worked out that way.

Rebekah and Ruth were both induced.
Peter and Paul both came on their own.

Rebekah and Ruth were both super easy babies.
Peter and Paul...well, Paul isn't as difficult as Peter but it certainly more difficult than Ruth.

Rebekah and Peter are 2 yrs 4 mo apart.
Ruth and Paul are 2 yrs 4 mo apart.
(Peter and Ruth are 2 yrs 10 mo apart.  I told you, he was more difficult of a baby than Rebekah. :-) )

These are just a few things that have crossed my mind.  I find it fascinating how there are commonalities between the first two and last two...and boys vs. girls.  I'm sure I'll come up with more. :-)

Never too tired to be a smart alec

William has been taking the kids to Awanas recently.  Frequently Ruth likes to go.  This particular night, William looked in the rear view mirror and saw that she looked wilty.

"Hey Ruthie?  You look tired!  Are you ready for bed?" he asked.

Without missing  a beat she replied "We don't go to bed in the car silly goose!"

Touche!

Peter's snuggles

Peter is very...loving.  Of the oldest 3, he is definitely the most affectionate.  I find this ironic - I guess because men tend to not be so lovey dovey?  I'll take it though.  I cherish each of his smothers cuddles because I figure that one day they will stop.

Last week everyone was sitting around the table.  I was sitting on the couch, nursing Paul.  So I observed this from the other room.  They were all eating dinner, talking about events in the day or whatever was generally on their mind.  I heard William tell Peter that he thought Ruth might be feeling a bit left out - since most of his affection has gone to Paul.

Peter couldn't have this, so he immediately got up and went over to Ruth and began giving her big huge squishy hugs.  Whatever it was that William observed to cause him to make this comment - he was spot on.  Ruth giggled her high pitched delighted squeal she does when she is absolutely ecstatic.  Peter hugged and hugged her.  Normally - after a moment she shoves him away.  But this time she just giggled as he hugged her.  It was so incredibly sweet - those kind of moments that makes a Mama Heart melt.

We've had a lot of snow lately.  In fact, this has been a record breaking amount of snow within a month...ever.  And we received it all over a total of 4 days.  14 inch over 2 of those days with a break, then another 6 or so over another 2 days.  The kids were going stir crazy.  Monday the roads weren't really bad and so I sent all the kids to the daycare.  (School had been cancelled for Rebekah.)  After a week of mostly being at home - I felt getting out of the house was something they needed and I couldn't really provide them by myself.

When they walked in the door that afternoon I asked Rebekah how her day was.  "GREAT!" she exclaimed.  She went on to tell me that she had to be in Peter's class.  (Normally school agers are in a separate class.  However, attendance was pretty low for the center overall.)  I asked if she got to be a helper - and she said she did.  "The only bad thing was that Peter kept hugging me ALL DAY LONG!  It was SOOOO annoying!!!" she exclaimed as she waived her hands around for emphasis.

I chuckled a bit and replied "Oh - you loved it.  Admit it!"

She smiled and looked down at her feet a moment.  "Well yeah..."

My kids not only love each other, but they have a strong desire to BE loved by one another.  I find this fascinating, as it isn't something I experienced in my family.  I know Ruth and Rebekah have a pretty good relationship right now, but I often worry about Peter and Rebekah's.  Peter is so focused on his younger siblings, that he simply knows Rebekah is there.  He looks to her for guidance and as a role model - but she doesn't see it.  She just sees him smothering the other two.  And I think she feels left out sometimes.

As a mom, I have been attempting to teach Peter how to LOVE his sisters...even his older one.  I hope the lessons stick well enough that someday when he grows up, he will understand how to make his wife feel loved and cherished.  :-)

(By the same token, I am trying to teach the girls how to respect Peter - since that is the language that speaks to men.)

And in the meantime - Peter continues to hug Paul every 2 minutes.  The other day William asked Peter to go 30 min without squashing Paul.  He lasted about 3.5 minutes.

Ms. Sassy Ruthie

Ruth has excellent verbal skills.  She has been speaking full sentences for awhile now and she is pretty understandable.  There are still times where it is hard to tell what she is saying - but she is pretty patient in guiding you through it.

William often says he wonders if she thinks were twits or something.  Because sometimes when you don't understand something she stares at you blankly...nonverbally communicating "I have no idea why you aren't getting this."  :-P

So I have a few funny stories that have made me giggle lately.

Ruth likes to run around and/or play musical chairs at the dinner table.  We are really trying hard to put a stop to it.  It leads to her being hungry later on because she is too busy playing to eat.  So a few days ago William looked at her and said "Ruth, I need you to go sit down and eat please!"  She thoughtfully looked at him, cocked her head and looked at the ceiling (clearing thinking) and then said..."Uhhhh...NO!" and ran off.  William grabbed her, put her in the corner where she stayed there entirely too happy.  "Ok, you can come out now!" he said.  She replied "No thanks.  I not done!"

Yesterday morning she pulled out half the diapers looking for the perfect diaper to wear.  She does this nearly every morning.  William sighed and said "Ruthie, I need you to clean up your diapers please!"  Ruth looked at the mess, looked at William then said "Nah.  You do it!"  It is so hard to NOT laugh when a 2 yo is talking back.  Really.  I was later retelling this story to her daycare teacher and she laughed and said Ruth did the same thing to her earlier that day.  I suppose Ruth is seeing how much she can get away with it. ;-)  (In both instances she was made to clean up her messes!)

Last night in the bath William picked up a bath toy.  Ruth said "That's mine!"  William pointed to her and said "HEY!"  She pointed right back and said "Leave it alone!"

And lastly...last night we were cuddled up on the couch. William asked what time it was - strangely we don't have a clock in our living room.  I have one on my kindle, we have them on our phones...if you press a button on the TV you can see what time it is...but there isn't a clock 'just there'.  Anyway!  I reached over for my phone and told him.  "Alright kids - you have about 5 more minutes and then it is bedtime!"  We all went back to watching TV.  A few minutes later Ruth looks up at me and says "What time is it?"  "7:43" I replied.  She said "Oh ok."  It actually wasn't bed time just yet - and she behaved as if she knew it.

Sometimes I forget that Ruth is really just 2.

Post Denver Fun: Off to the lake

For 4th of July, one of William's friends (who has kids similar in age to Rebekah and Peter) invited us down to his cabin by the lake.  Because William ONLY got 4th of July off, we were planning to drive up the night before and leave the next evening.  But first - I had to get home.

The drive home looked a lot like the drive out to Denver...only...ya know...in reverse.  First we had the gouge-your-eyes-out flatness.

And then some windmills - which seemed like almost home for me for some reason.

I made it home about an hour later than I intended (shooting for 5, arrived around 6).  We packed like crazy and then headed out the door around 6:30 or so.  Not bad!

Ruth by the way, was perfectly fine.  She wasn't running a fever at all.  I was prepared to stay home with her if she continued.  I think the heat from being out in the triple digit heat combined with being overtired just plain got to her.  Throw in a little teething - and honestly there are a lot of reasons for toddlers to be running fevers. :)

So this trip to the lake was SO. MUCH. FUN.  It was with a bunch of family (Williaim's friend's extended family) and no one was afraid to tell the kids what to do.  It was WONDERFUL.

The kids were spoiled - but not overly.  They were allowed to BE kids - but safely.  It was the perfect mix really and I loved every single bit of it.  It was probably the first situation I was in where I felt it was ok to relax as a parent a little bit.  I know I tend to be anal, but usually there is a root reason.  Those reasons vary from sense of responsibility, protection or fundamental philosophy differences.  But HERE...here I could see that clearly not only were most folks reasonable, but I had a duty and responsibility too.  It was MY job to throw in 2 cents on the kids when I was around.

(I'm frequently the only one with kids...thus the 'responsibility' bit.)

I enjoyed every moment of it and hope I was a good guest and get invited back! :)

So on this trip, the kids experienced their first lake trip and beach.

The kids spent a little bit on the beach before they ventured out into the water.  Once they finally did venture out - that was it.  I don't think they hung out on the beach proper again.

A view.  Ahhhhh.

Rebekah with the little girl that was her age.  They have met before and instantly hit it off then.  So this was completely heaven for them.

Awwww...can we say "Awwww"???  :-)  I love Daddy-daughter...or...Daddy-son...I guess Daddy-Kid pictures! :)  They always make my heart melt!

Peter got a hold of this squirt gun and fell in love.  I think it was glued to his arm the entire day.

My view...beautiful scenery (above) and kids having a ton of fun (below).

So - the kids swam and swam.  I had to call them in to eat some lunch and convince them to take a bit of a break to get a bite to eat.  Then they were right back in the water swimming around again.  In fact, at  one point they swam out too far.  Luckily and adult was out there and brought them back in.  Whew.  This by the way, is the EXACT thing I'm talking about.

I spent much of the afternoon on the boat with Ruth.  She was pretty tired but there was simply too much going on for her to fall asleep.

I don't wanna nap!

 So I hung out with a fussy baby.  (William kept me company. :-) )  I'd get in the water with her, but she'd be cranky.  So I'd get back on the boat and she would be less cranky...but still not sleeping.  If I could have even gotten a 30 min rest in her, I think she would have felt so much better.

The beach

 We returned after awhile and hung around for fireworks and other evening activities.  The kids had a blast and quite frankly - it was really refreshing.  I can't say enough good things about the time I had.  (I tried to convey this to the hosts too...because often when I'm around a lot of new people, I tend to be very quiet.  When you are quiet, misconceptions occur!)

We drove home that night and arrived home around midnight or so.  I tried to stay up to help William stay awake - but I really just lost it.  (The drive was only about an hour too!)  The next day I didn't have to work so I let the kids sleep in as late as they wanted - with the intention of getting them to the daycare by lunch.  This would give me time to do laundry and pack for our last trip.

The kids didn't get out of bed (and I must confess...I didn't either!) until around 10:30.  We arrived just in time for lunch!  AND I was told the kids napped like champs that day too! I told William we clearly need a LAKE in our backyard!

So in our trip to the lake - I told the kids that their grandparents (William's parents) actually live minutes away from a lake.  They were completely shocked and didn't believe me.  (I wish I were kidding.)  As luck...errr...planning?...would have it, we were headed there on Friday.  This wrapped up our week of fun.

ILs had to work Sat so we hung out at the house.  The kids learned a few things on this trip.

First, William taught them how to unsuccessfully hunt for crawdads.  Well first - they learned what a crawdad was.  Then William told them he knew how to catch them...but his fishing endeavors were failures on this day.  They all had fun anyway.

Bacon on the end of a string...

Tried another hole after a failure with the first

William did take the kids to drive across the lake on the large bridge.  (Dunno the name of it.)  They simply were in shock that such a place existed to closely.  I couldn't help but giggle.

The kids also did a little bit of gardening!  They enjoyed picking Papa's veggies!

It was a completely awesome week.  I wouldn't have taken it if I wasn't forced (company shutdown).  And while I do wish I could have used that time off for other things - I am glad I made the best of the situation and created these memories with the kids.  Rebekah STILL talks about our girl trip and Peter STILL talks about the awesome time he had at the beach.  :)

Denver: Day 3 - Chillaxin at the homefront

After hitting up Dinosaur road and then the Denver Aquarium - it was time to go back to C's place.  She had gotten off of work early (YAY!) and I certainly didn't want to miss a moment hanging with her and her beautiful family!

Ruth FINALLY fell asleep (it was about a 45 min drive).  And when we got home, she slept more.  It was much later that evening that I discovered she was actually running a low grade fever.  So I ran to Wal-Mart and grabbed a thermometer and some infant Tylenol (C only had Children's on hand - which I didn't know the dosage for Ruth).

I do have a funny Wal-Mart story - which I will tell in a minute.

I should back up and mention that Rebekah was a bit obsessed with this cook book C had.  It was a Cheerio cook book and for some reason she really wanted to make something out of it.  Top it off, but Miss A and Rebekah spent A LOT of time talking about 'a party'.  They made hats AND invitations and she was insisting we needed some snacks.  (Well...honestly a party is only as good as its snacks...we ALL know that!)

She finally found a recipe that C actually had everything already.  So we agreed to go ahead and make them with the girls.  They were frozen yogurt covered bananas on a stick.

We gathered up all the ingredients only find that she couldn't find the straws (which is what we originally intended to use).  But no worries - improvisation to the rescue!

Getting all those ingredients set out!

Isn't that the cutest belly ever?

So we improvised with some spoons.  They actually worked pretty darn well.

This bananna is looking awfully good...perhaps I should make sure it tastes good?

Mmmmmm!

Cooking is messy business!

While the girls were waiting on their snack, they went back to art.  I tell you - these two were certain two peas in a pod!  They both loved creating!  They made ALL KINDS of stuff.  I think here they discovered the paper purse...

 Ruth was a big fan of the kiddo kitchen and the kid-sized table.  She enjoyed coloring there...or just sitting there.  We had a bath here...

When the Cheerio yogurt covered frozen bananas were done the girls eagerly gave them a try.  I don't recall whether Miss A enjoyed them or not - but Rebekah wasn't a huge fan.  I found it pretty hilarious actually.  I think she talked them up too much in her head.

After all that fun, C read to the girls.  I just love the expression on her face here...she gets into her books. :)

So - funny Walmart story.  (BTW - this isn't censored.  If you are male, you might want to just skip to the end.  Hey - don't say I didn't warn you!) 

I bought a thermometer (for the drive home), infant Tylenol and I also bought some tampons.  I had expected AF to show up the next day, and realized I didn't bring supplies.  I'm checking out and there is a youngish girl there.  I'd say teen, but I'm getting old.  The teens these days look like little kids to me and college kids look like teens. :-P  (Shoot, some of the new college graduates we have been getting at work seem like kids! Creeeeeek...yep, that was my bones!)

She looks at my purchases and says "Fun night planned?"  I just starred at her.  Looked at my purchases.  Looked at her again...and said "Uh no."  I really was speechless and kind of wondered what kind of fun they have in Co! :-)

That wraps up our Denver trip.  It was entirely TOO SHORT but certainly packed with fun.  We headed out early the next morning - to make it home just in time to repack and head off to the lake for a night.  Why yes - while our Denver trip was done our traveling was not!

Denver: Day 3 - Downtown Aquarium

After checking out the dino fossils, we were hungry.  Ruth fell asleep in the car nearly immediately - and so I didn't really want to wake her.  I told Rebekah if we found a place along the way with drive through, we'd stop and get some and eat in the car.  (This was to let Ruth nap a bit.)  I actually didn't see any places with a drive through...but to be honest it was hard enough figuring out where I was going (thank you Droid GPS!) and paying attention to traffic to also pile on "look out for eats" in the middle of that.

We found the aquarium and so I drove around downtown Denver a little bit looking for some place to eat.  I think I drove around about 20 minutes in a HUGE circle...and never saw a place.  The aquarium also had a restaurant in it so I decided we would just check it out instead.  Back I went.

 

We headed in to the restaurant portion and found it was a 2 hr wait.  Our tummies were quite clear this was not acceptable.  It only would take approximately an hour to make our way through the aquarium, so we figured we would again look for an eats place after the aquarium.  The girls and I headed BACK to the car and had a bunch of snacks.  (The nice thing about road trips?  There is usually food in the car...starving is simply not an option!)

Back in again we went and as I was standing in line I noticed that the aquarium was part of the nation zoo association.  Many of these places will give a discount to members of sister zoos...so we headed BACK to the car again to get my zoo card. :-)  Yes...anything to save a buck.  In this case it turned out to be for nothing.  I was told that the aquarium was recently purchased by new owners and they were choosing to not honor any discounts.  Well BOO on them!

We headed in the building and I was immediately greeted by stairs.  I had a stroller.  So I had to wait for the ONE super popular elevator.  (There were A LOT of strollers there that day...and about 1 stroller could fit on the elevator at a time.  Poor planning says I!)

While we waited, Rebekah posed as a deep sea diver.

The tanks were pretty neat.  They had both freshwater and saltwater fish tanks.

This fish was large enough it could probably have eaten Rebekah for a snack.

The sea horses were pretty darn neat!

I love the wonderment on her face!

An attempt at a group shot...

In one of the tanks, a show went off every hour with mermaids swimming around telling kids to keep the water clean.  One of the mermaids blew Rebekah a kiss.  (Yes - it was directed at HER...)  Made Rebekah's day.

"Hey turn around and smile!  Let me get a picture of your face"
"Awwww Mom...do I HAVE too?"

I've always had a soft spot for jellies...

At the end of the aquarium I found a hot dog stand.  I've never been SO HAPPY to see a hot dog!  I fed the girls and immediately felt less of a failure as a mom.  (Who doesn't feed their kids?)  It was like 3:00 PM by this time...

There was also a tank with manta rays that you could pet.  Rebekah loved it.  You could feed them for a price but I was stingy.  In hindsight, I do wish I had let her feed them.  I mean - how often do you get to do that?  I usually spring for stuff like that, but for some reason this time I didn't.  (I don't recall the price either.  Perhaps that is why... :-P ) 

You also got go meet the mermaids and pose with them.  They had some kid there that would take pictures for you...no idea on cost but everyone had their own camera.  He even moved for me to get the best angle... :-P

We also ran across a photo-booth.  Rebekah wanted to do it and I thought it would make a great keepsake.

Yeah...Ruth wasn't really cooperating...which I think adds to the hilariousness of these photos.

When we left it was still super hot.  They had a sprinkler thing out front.  Rebekah had wanted to play on the way in but I wouldn't let her.  (I had no way of knowing how cold it would be inside.)  So we played in it on the way out.

Ruth watched from the stroller for awhile.  She was still pretty wilty.  But then she decided she needed to join in on the fun too.

Soon after we got a phone call that C was off work.  HOORAY!  Time to head to their house to hang out.  More fun was to be had there... :-)  STAY TUNED...

Denver: Day 3 - Dinasour Road

Whew...yes I intend to finish posting about my Denver trip.  It was just THAT amazing.  And I intend to post about my SC trip too. :)

Poor C had to work so the girls and I headed out.  C suggested checking out a dinosaur track park that was by the road.  I gave Rebekah some options and she chose that (over the zoo).  So we headed out.

It was SUPER hot.  Denver had wild fires the week before thanks to the sweltering heat.  That day was no different with triple digits.  I kept water handy for everyone.  The website said you could take a tram to the top, but had to walk back down.  But then it turned out they changed - you got to ride the "tram" (it turned out to be more like a mini bus) back down too.

I actually don't recall the name of our tour guide - but I want to say 'Mike'.  So we shall henceforth call him MIKE!  He was pretty into his job actually and I enjoyed his talk.  I really liked the fact that he was so animated.  

He gave us a lot of information - including how to tell the difference
between a rust deposit and a fossil.  (Lick it is ONE way...)

I held Ruth the entire time - so there aren't a ton of good pictures of her. LOL

Mike even had photography suggestions.  The biggest was
to be sure to have something in the picture to show size...
this is a cross section of a spine I believe.

Mike pointing out a foot print.

Another foot print.  This dino was so heavy it stepped through sediment.

There were two types of foot prints pointed out.  The first was an inverse footprint (below). It looked like a paw print basically...like if the dino stepped in some water and you were looking at it from below the surface.

The other type was a dino that was walking across some already established sediment.  This dino was so heavy it crushed through a bunch of layers.  That is definitely a large foot...and a heavy body!  (This is what is being demonstrated above.)

I'm shaking hands with a dinosaur paw!

OH NO!  A dino is stepping on me!

One of the few I've got of the girls together.

 Ruth was pretty wilty.  I was sure it was the heat and tried to get her to drink up her water.

Mom - what ARE you doing?  HOW EMBARRASSING!
SMILE CHILD!  :-P

Checking out paw prints

I thought it was pretty neat how you could crawl on, touch, pretty much do whatever you wanted to the fossils.  So many places are DON'T TOUCH - that this was really a breath of fresh air.  I think it was one of the reasons Rebekah enjoyed this so much too!  (This was her second favorite part of the trip...first being the mountains!)

Tour Guide Mike took this picture for us! :-)

 

Back at the base...

The whole thing took a couple hours.  But it was absolutely completely awesome.  I highly recommend this place to anyone who find dinosaurs remotely interesting. 

I did let Rebekah pick out a gift at the gift shop.  She chose a necklace with a dino on it and for Peter we got a little toy dino thing. 

Next up, we headed to the aquarium and starved to death.  :-P