Hot Air Balloon Festival

On Saturday, our energizer bunny leader, Eric (yes those are energizer bunny ears he is wearing) drove us to South Denver at 5:15 am to see the balloons take off at the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival. Just as the sun was coming up, the first balloon (the sponsor RE/MAX balloon) took off with the American Flag. We got up close to the balloons as they were filling up with air, which scared Alexis (the noise of the hot air flame). So we started to walk further away as some of the balloons took off, which Faith liked so she could play with her fancy camera more and get some better pictures of the balloons against the Rockies. Once we got further away, Alexis liked the balloons. She waved at them when they took off - her favorite were the red, white and blue ones. The Energizer Bunny was one of the last balloons to take off - this was one of the most odd shaped balloons there besides Tony the Tiger, which you can see in the 16th picture down along side one of the red, white and blue balloons. After all of the balloons took off, Alexis got to go on one of the moonwalk jumpers. Then she got a balloon of her own - she said "it has a lot of hot air" and "it can go real high."

Denver Zoo

Mommy and Alexis ventured to the Denver Zoo on Friday. What an awesome zoo - we spent 5 hours there and did not even get to see all of the animals. Alexis' favorite was the zebra although she kept getting the zebra and the giraffe confused. We went up to the giraffe and she screamed - "Mama...look the zebra!!!!" We watched one show where we saw a huge cockroach, a crocodile, and a snake. She told the zookeeper that she has sees cockroaches in her house...I pointed out to the zookeeper that we just moved from Texas and then he understood. At the end of the show, we were allowed to pet the snake and Alexis walked right up, no fear and pet the snake...I was stunned. We also saw a sea lion show and afterwards she posed with the sea lion statue. The last show we saw was the elephants getting a bath - boy were they dirty - they liked to play with a rubber ducky, which was a wooden ball. Alexis also got to ride the Conservation Carousel - she rode a panda bear and a boar. At the gift shop, she picked out zoo pops - so now we get to make bear, monkey, elephant, and lion freeze pops with any kind of juice.

New Addition to the Family - Goldie

Goldie is the new addition to our family - he/she is a beta fish. Long story as to how we got the bowl (short story is that daddy won 3 goldfish at a fair in Texas, but we didn't know how to take care of them so they didn't even last 12 hours). Alexis really wanted a gold fish but after learning how hard they are to take care of without a filter, etc., mommy convinced her to get a beta fish. When we got settled into our house in Denver, we said she could get another fish. She really wanted a gold fish so Alexis found a gold beta fish. She decided to name him (although she calls him a her) Goldie. Alexis is pretty good about feeding Goldie but guess who gets to do the cleaning...

Faith's 34th Birthday

On August 17th, mommy turned 34. We went to Texas de Brazil for dinner on the 16th, which was just fabulous - awesome salad bar and they just kept bringing great cuts of meat. Alexis loved the pork and mommy and daddy loved the filet mignon and lamb. Mommy made a molassses cake for her birthday cake. Alexis enjoyed licking the bowl after mommy poured the cake batter. Alexis decided that mommy needed some princesses on her cake (left over from her birthday cakes). She matched them up and circled them around her cake while she was eating. The picture below is of "daddy's girls" before we went out for dinner - yes, it is August here in Denver - it was in the 60's and raining on Saturday.

Playing Around In Denver

Alexis enjoys playing in the fountain at the Northfield Shopping Mall - sometimes they sneak up on her and she gets pretty wet. She also enjoys playing in the fountain at the Town Center - this one she gets to climb up and down and scare mommy and daddy... Mommy and daddy prefer the smaller fountain next to the tower where she can just run around in a circle. Alexis is definitely a true Texan - it was 90 degrees the other day and she wanted to go swimming but with little humidity here, it was just a little too cold for her (doesn't sound too cold at 90 degrees but it has to be closer to 100 degrees and much higher humidity for our little Texan to swim). So she wrapped up in a towel and ate her string cheese and we headed home. Oh well. We also ventured to the Arapahoe County Fair where Alexis can finally go on the rides now that she has reached 36 inches. She really liked the Rock Town train ride (although it was second to the carousel). The last picture is on the carousel at Colorado Mills - a great outlet mall not far from Denver.

Dollies

Alexis with all of her dollies, well maybe not all of them, but most of them. Grandmom Fillman made the large Raggedy Ann and Andy and some of the Cabbage Patch dolls were mommy's when she was little. Alexis is really into taking care of them. She now has a tub, bunk beds, two strollers, and many bottles, blankets, bibs, toys, diapers etc. for them. She tells us she is the "mommy."

Central Park

Alexis just loves Central Park near our house - her favorite is the swings but this playground has mountains and rivers and a sandbox and many things to climb. This park also has a fountain, which seem pretty popular here in Denver. She usually spends 2 hours here when we go... The last park picture where Alexis is on the roof is at a park about 2 blocks from our house...Alexis loves to climb and decided that she wanted to climb over the roof. We thought she just wanted to climb to the top of the green part but she insisted that she could climb over and she did. Mommy did meet her at the other end...

Oh, and after a long play at the park, Bailey is always willing to take a nap with Alexis.