Rocky Mountain National Park

The day before we flew home, we made the 1.5 hour drive to Rocky Mountain  National Park.  It had been about 5 years since the last time we visited.  This time we had Andrew with us and he got to have his first experience at a National Park.

One of Dustin's life goals is to hike to the top of Long's Peak.  So, if we are fortunate enough to relocate to the Denver area, we will be training hardcore for this feat.

We saw lots of critters.  Plenty of magpies, squirrels (but not your typical squirrels, we just aren't sure which species), elk and this guy below.  It's definitely not a pika, but it seems too small to be a prairie dog, but I could be wrong.  It's been awhile since I've been in the field.

Our fantastic view on Andrew's first hike in the Rockies!

Andrew kept getting side tracked on our hike, so I would walk backwards trying to get Andrew to follow us.  Well, I guess he thought it was cool, so he started to walk backwards, too!

Making our way back down.

This kid loves water, so he had to put his little fingers in the FREEZING stream.

We were sad to leave Denver, but excited to see where the future will take us.  Hopefully, it won't be too long before we're back.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Continuing our museum/zoo kick, here we are at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  They had some awesome exhibits.

They had a Discovery Zone area for little ones and Andrew was a little confused by the air machine.

Future paleontologist!

Andrew loves to touch!

Elevator ride up.

Trilobites are cool!  Although the one we have at home is not this big.

Sometimes Dustin looks like this in the morning...Just kidding!  :)

There was a temporary exhibit called Lizards & Snakes which was really cool.

Towards the end of the visit, I think Mommy and Daddy were enjoying the museum a little bit more than Andrew, but we were not disappointed with the exhibits and still had a great time.

Denver Zoo

With such fantastic weather, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the Denver Zoo.  Andrew loves his animals!

Watching a zebra munching away.

This peacock scared the daylights out of Andrew.  You could hear them "calling" all over the zoo to mate. It was so loud that any time Andrew heard it, he would run over to me and make me pick him up.  He sure is pretty though.  :)

Andrew's animal - the tiger!

Those peacocks are everywhere!

This was so awesome!  We just so happened to run across the zookeepers doing a little dental work on their 55 year old hippopotamus named Bert.  He told us that they needed to saw off (yes, saw off!) about two inches of his teeth because in captivity they don't tend to wear down like they do in the wild.  So, we all watched with fascination as he coaxed Bert to open his mouth while he placed a large saw in the hippo's mouth.  Dustin and I were amazed that Bert was okay with this because hippo's are notoriously aggressive animals.  It's times like these that I had almost wished I went into Zoology instead of Museum Education - although while interning at a zoo, I realize that zoos are much dirtier than museums.  :)

I'm going to tell you now, that I am a sucker for those cheesy activities that you do at the zoo.  Yes, I wanted to know how far I could jump and compare myself to that animal.  I did not have that much confidence to start out with and was convinced that I would only jump as far as a spider....

5 feet!  The penguin is my equal!

Andrew loved the primate house.  Here he is getting friendly with a chimpanzee.

He had so much energy that he wanted to push his own stroller.  At least I know I'm in good hands if I ever find myself in a wheelchair.  :)  Then again, Andrew didn't know how to steer.

Family picture - we don't get too many of those.

Daddy showing Andrew the Black Bears!

Goodbye!