The Denver Burts

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Conversation with Isabelle

Isabelle: "Mom, can I get a zebra?"
Mom: "No, we can't."
Isabelle: "Why not!?"
Mom: "Well, because they are wild animals and they don't belong in a backyard or in our house."
Isabelle: "But I will TRAIN it!! I promise!."
Mom: "Well, we still can't even if you train it because it is against the law which means that police officers will come to our house and take it away and make mommy and daddy pay a lot of money."
Isabelle: "I will train it to chase them away so they don't bother us."
Mom: "No, Isabelle, we aren't getting a zebra. Sorry."
Isabelle: "O.K., mom. I'll just have a grizzly bear then."

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Yep, it's zoo lights time. Our annual tradition of going to see the beautiful lights at the Denver Zoo. I must say this year was the best year yet, despite new, beautiful lights to see, for the first year ever, the kids and the adults all had an amazing time. This means no clothing was lost, nobody was complaining of freezing limbs, no complaining of the smell in the hippo house, and best of all everyone kept a smile the entire time. Best Zoo Lights EVER.

I wish this did the lights justice. They are so much brighter and grander in person.

Isabelle's favorite

Even 20 degrees isn't cold enough to get Tay down

My personal favorite

The Hippo House

A manly-man drinking hot chocolate and checking out the hippos

The gorgeous lanterns in the new Elephant area

Friday, November 1, 2013

Our Walks

One of my favorite family activities... our walks.

Trying to keep up with Taylor...

Finding lots of treasures...

Finding all the "frogs..."

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Zion National Park, the greatest place on Earth.

This is my most favorite National Park on earth. We recently got the chance to visit Zion with my parents and it was for sure one of the greatest family vacations We've ever had. Weather was perfect, the park was gorgeous and we squeaked in right before the government shut down.

It started out a bit rough...

But as soon as we got on the path with Pops and Nana and headed up towards Weeping Rock, all was fine.

This was the gorgeous view from our hotel room. It was amazing!

Friday, September 6, 2013

End of Summer Recap

I'm hoping that by doing this "End of Summer" post, that the weather will finally cool down and we can have a lovely fall. So here's to hoping. A busy but fun summer we had kicked off by Isabelle's birthday, of which I have mostly video and few pics so sorry for that. We did camping, swimming, sunbathing, tea parties, zoo-going, more camping, fair-going and lots of hanging out.

A little bit of Tea Party and a little bit of Birthday

Someone NOT getting wet...

Someone who can't stay out of the water

Saw the best smiles in the world when we went camping

We also threw a thousand and one rocks into the rivers of Colorado

Flamingos... my favorite.

Fun at the beach with cousins...

Fun at the beach with Nana and Pops...

Fun at the beach with MORE cousins!

Awesome Arapahoe County fair!

Monday, August 26, 2013

The Last Camping Trip

So... not the last camping trip forever, just for the year. We went to our old standby, Blue Mountain. The kids had a great time with a little time with friends as well. It was gorgeous and truthfully I'm a bit sad it's our last camping trip of the year.

The kids caught craw-fish this time, two of them! I'm surprised they survived all the "petting."

His face after he caught the first one

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A little nervous watching him climb. Happy he got one soccer lesson in before this to help with coordination.

Every time we go to the campground, Taylor always makes me a bouquet of wildflowers

At the river there were a bunch of hatchling fish. He was thrilled when he caught two of the tiniest ones

Monday, August 19, 2013

Glenwood Springs

We took a short trip to Glenwood Springs this summer for a short getaway. It was interesting and nice to see the mountains. The kids had a great time and the weather was nice. Next time we'll have to go to the Hot Springs there.

This was about 3min after entering the room. They have no problem making themselves right at home.

The river was just behind our hotel and the kids loved it. Who doesn't love to throw rocks into a muddy river?

This is the gondola that takes you up to the top of the mountain for the "Adventure Park." If you ask me, its about a 3 on the Adventure Park 1-10 scale.

Practicing our sluice-box skillz. Taylor was annoyed that I was taking time away from his gold-finding.

This is about as "adventurous" as we were allowed to get with our little ones. I must say, I prefer this height and speed to the Arapahoe County Fair ferris wheel.

The amazing view from the top of the mountain.

This was the souvinier the kids chose... Magic Wiggles. You can imagine the disappointment they felt after they realized the Magic Wiggles didn't really wiggle magically.

Taylor Talk

Taylor: "That's one fine frog and I'm gonna catch him!"

Taylor: "Dad, can you make me invisible and tiny so that I can jump into the TV and live in Ponyville?"

Taylor: "Umm, I forgot what I was doing, hmm. OH WAIT! I unforgot, nevermind."

Taylor: "My name isn't Taylor anymore. Just call me Ninja, only Ninja."

Taylor: "Isabelle, I'm pretty sure you're ruining my life."

After hearing some loud thunder Tay runs upstairs and says:
"Hey guys! That was some thunder. The bad news is there's a tornado coming. The good news is everything is going to be a huge mess."

After being "asleep" for an hour, Tay comes downstairs and says:
"Mom, Dad, I kindof accidentally played with some toys in my bed and dropped one behind it. Could you come find it for me so I can put it away."

"Mom, who glued my bones together?"

Dad: "Hey Tay, I think I saw some dinosaur tracks outside this morning..."
Tay: "Next time we see the dinosaur I think we should shoot it and eat it."

"Hey Tay, who do you think ruined all your Lego Transformers?"
"Isabelle did, because I call her Isabelle the Destroyer."

"What do you want to get daddy for Christmas, Tay?"
"Lets get him a purse so he can keep all his stuff in it and some cords that he can plug some other stuff into."

"My shirt says Wild to be Born, Bells." Actually it says Born to be Wild. I thought it more entertaining not to correct him the whole day.

"Mommy, can we get another baby from the pet shop?"

"Daddy, I need a cell phone."
"Why do you need a cell phone, Tay?"
"So I can pretend to make a call."

I hear Taylor talking at the top of the stairs after I put him to bed about 15 minutes earlier, talking in his doorway.
"Tay, what are you doing? Get back into bed."
"Its o.k. mom, I'm just telling myself a story."

"Really Mom, really. We're picking up Transformers and you put a blue block in with them? Really, mom?" (All this said with an extremely patronizing look in his eye that I can only guess comes from his father.)

Taylor: "What are we doing today mommy?"
Mom: "We're going swimming with Jake and Jamie."
Taylor: "Oh, um, actually I meant to tell you, I already have some other plan, mom. Sorry."

Hearing Tay calling for me after bed I head up to his room where he promptly tells me his tummy hurts. I say, "How come it hurts, honey?" Tay's response is, "Because I hit myself in the tummy. Can you kiss it better?"

Trying to summarize one of the 15 transformer stories we have I say, "Megatron needed the map to get the spark." Taylor interrupts with, "Mommy, don't you mean Megatron needed the ancient code?"

#48) "Mommy, my bum hurts because I ate too many jelly beans." Totally random, right?

#47) "Don't say I'm your bestfriend mom."
"Why not, Tay?"
"Because I'm dangerous. I'm dangerous because I have a snake on my shirt."

#46) "Oh, mom, if you're going to Target can you pick me up a lightsaber. thanks."

#45) Taylor: "Daddy, can you put my Transformer's leg back on?"
Chris: "Sure. What happened to his leg, anyway?"
Taylor: "Megatron broke it off."

#44) "Isabelle, you are the prettiest girl in the whole world."

#43) "That was one gorgeous poop I made."

#42) As Taylor woke up from his nap and headed downstairs, Isabelle and myself were watching him. To this he said, "Don't look at me, I'm too special."

#41) "What are you drawing there, Tay?"
" A Masterpiece."

#40) "Mom, can I go live on the moon?"

#39) "Mom, can I have a warm dog and a hot dog for lunch?"

#38) I had asked Taylor to wait for me upstairs while I finished some things in the kitchen before nap. He waited for a bit and then yelled down the stairs, "HEY LADY! come read me a story!"

#37) "This aspargagas is bad. Send it back to the kitchen!"