Dog Days of Summer

Now that we're all home from Michigan, FLEA has been trying to get back into a routine and enjoy the dog days of summer. Elisabeth heads back to school in 3.5 weeks, so we're having lots of fun!

Fred's company sponsored a family day at the Denver Zoo. Allison insisted that we ride the carousel and then of course we had to take a train ride too. (And yes, you'll see that Allison is STILL wearing her purple shorts. I think she has worn them every single day since June 30.)
We enjoyed having the zoo to ourselves, as well as dinner, drinks, and an animal show. The kids even got straw hats and binoculars:We were probably the last people on earth to see Toy Story 3, but it was worth the wait. We saw the 3-D version and the girls loved it.

Westminster is a newer suburb so it does not have a charming downtown area....or any real downtown area for that matter. Instead, we have the Westminster Promenade. The Promenade is a neat, walkable place and includes a hotel, ice rink, movie theater, restaurants, stores, bowling alley, and lots of little plazas and benches. They also have a huge pop jet fountain area that is very popular on warm days. We visited the Promenade fountain and the girls had a blast splashing around. At one point, Allison briefly went missing, which sent me into panic mode....until I noticed a pink blob on the bench. At the beginning of the summer, Elisabeth decided that she wanted to read 100 books before she went back to school. She's getting closer to her goal every day, and is enrolled in 3 different summer reading programs. I've even caught her reading Junie B. Jones in bed when she was supposed to be sleeping!

Both girls are signed up for the Bradburn Kids Triathlon in August and will be running, biking, and swimming with the rest of the neighborhood kids. Our neighborhood is partnering with Special Olympics of Colorado to turn the triathlon into a fundraising event. The kids will be collecting pledges, while I've been busy collecting donations from local businesses which will be given to the kids as prizes/awards. The triathlon should be a fantastic event and I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures and updates to share later.

That's about it for now. I'll wrap things up with a picture of a gorgeous mountain sunset, as seen from Westminster: