DMNS

Today we went with a BIG group of people to The Denver Museum of Nature and Science. A lot of exploring - we spent most of our time in Expedition Health.

Owen and Elise made A a chicken for her upcoming birthday - the breed is a Fluff-a-monk-a-peck-a-brown. Today she was named Fluff-a-luff-a-gus.
Here she is:

Close up of the head:

A with Fluff-a-luff-a-gus:

Oh, and here is the model:

Fun in the little kids section - of which all of our kids are too old now (well except for about 3 of them - not pictured here!)

Mom had fun with the cool rainbow lights in the little kids section:

Elise and the cool rainbow lights:

Gratuitous baby shot:

We all enjoyed the lab section of Expedition Health. Here is my motley crew:

Here they are working on what kills bacteria:

Viewing the results - fluorescence!!!!!

A and B:

Ursula and the girls:

Lara with some of hers:

David with some more:

Still more girls: (Really - there were some boys with our group!)

I've gotta tell ya - the museum did something right with this exhibit - all the kids were enthralled. Animated videos of illness and what causes them.

Here is a bunch of our group gathered around:

And here is the catchy little tune that went with it:

The climbing wall was a big hit:

Of course there is the T Rex (Sue?) who is about to step on our darling children!

One big disappointment - the fountains were turned off for maintainence on Mondays :-(

But we found a sweet little creek (mudhole) right behind the museum. The kids loved it.

Finally, I just had to throw in a pic of "Frankendaddy". A board fell on John's head during his renovations. 7 stiches.

Lovely picture, eh?

The rest of this week :-)

Grandma Bertie came to town for a visit! Here we are having lunch on the patio with her and Great Grandma Welty.

Earlier this week, we took a trip to Boulder. First stop was Celestial Seasonings.

Girls having tea before our tour:

Owen and A having tea:

Owen and Elise posing in front of the beautifully orange wall in their matching clothing and shoes:

Kids getting restless:

Hugging the Sleepy Time Bear at the start of the tour:

The required hairnets for the tour:

On the Pearl Street Mall after lunch - kids climbing on the rocks, me encouraging them to all get on the rocks at the same time, right before A slipped and fell off and then O almost getting hurt, slipping on the gravel. Geeze!

The store of many hats:

Playing on the sculpture at the "Monkey Park":

An interesting bug found by Elise. We still aren't sure what it is, let me know if you do. It was probably about an inch long.

Here is a stolen shot of out baby wrens - there are at least 5 chicks.

Creativity

Visited with friend Abbie (aka Miss Abbie the Clown) today. In addition to her clowning, balloon making, face painting, handwriting analysis, and other characters, she has started up as a henna artist. We volunteered to be test models for her - it was also a really good excuse to visit with Abbie, Larry, and their kitties.

Here is some of henna - mendhi (along with embellishments) she did for me:

Here is Owen's lizard/gecko:

Elise got henna as well, but I didn't get a good picture.

Abbie tried out a new face paint design on Owen.

His hair sort of covers the ears, but see the fox?

VERY Owen.

Elise getting face paint:

Fairie Eyes:

Elise got to paint Abbie:

Colorful:

Abbie does parties for all ages: www.MimeTime.com