Visiting the Colorado State Capitol Building

On Wednesday morning Sofia and I walked down the 16th Street Promenade before jumping on the free bus that goes down the street (it's tough work walking seven blocks with a toddler!) Once we were at the end of 16th Street we walked to the Colorado State Capitol Building and Civic Center Park. It was a beautiful day and we had fun exploring the area, while conserving our energy for the hike in the afternoon.

Sofia with County Building in the background (I thought it was something more impressive, but it isn't according to my map). The Civic Center Park is in front of the building.


The Colorado State Capitol Building


Girl on a mission - marching up the steps to the Capitol!


The view from the Capitol Building - wow!


At the "Mile High" marker


Enjoying the flowers in Civic Center Park

Hiking Red Rocks

On Wednesday afternoon we joined approximately 60 colleagues of CK's on a bus out to Red Rocks for a 6 mile "easy" hike....which ended up being one of the hardest hikes we've ever done! CK started out with Sofia in the backpack and we switched off throughout the hike (he'd take her on the uphills and I'd have her on the flat and declines). It was pretty scenery and fun to get out and stretch our legs a bit, but by the end we were exhausted! It wasn't the best hike for Sofia either since she only got about a 45-minute nap on the bus and wanted to "get down and walk" which was impossible given the terrain and the fact that she started saying this over and over about three miles into the hike! Luckily we had a bag of gummy bears that literally saved the day (and our sanity). Ironically we ended up missing six of CK's colleagues and only thought four were missing - oops! We did locate everyone though before heading back to Denver.

Napping on Papa during the bus ride out to Red Rocks. Julie, the coordinator of the hike, handed out these colorful bandanas to everyone.


Starting out



Mommy


Red Rocks Amphitheater is in the middle of the top two rocks


The first mile - Papa is talking business with someone walking behind him, Sofia looks on


Some of CK's colleagues ahead on the trail


Mommy and Sofia


All three of us - not quite halfway through


At the top of the ridge on the last half - it was also very windy up there!


The rocky terrain made it difficult to walk down too, especially with Sofia on your back!


Dinosaur bones in the rock - this was at the very end of the hike (and not as interesting as we expected, but Sofia loved running around at that point!)

Take me out to the ball game.....

Tuesday night we went to a Colorado Rockies game which was really great fun! The last baseball game we attended was just before leaving Washington DC with Aunt, Uncle, Alice, Joe and Grayden and Sofia wasn't yet walking, so it was a very different experience this time. She really seemed to enjoy the game, especially the cheering and clapping when the Rockies did something good. She also enjoyed the food (pizza for her, hot dogs for CK and me, followed by Cracker Jacks) and drinks (lemonade, and later water inside the lemonade container) and walking down the aisle to visit Miss Yessica, CK's assistant. Sofia adores Miss Yessica and loves spending time with her. Luckily all the folks between CK and I and Yessica were from the conference, so they didn't mind moving their legs 100 times to allow her to walk back and forth. We stayed through the start of the eighth inning and decided to head back to the hotel then since it was already 9pm. The Rockies went on to win, but not until the twelfth inning! That would have made for a very late night!

With Miss Yessica before heading out to the baseball stadium.


Traveling by way of Papa's shoulders to the game


Entering Coors Field


Our view of the game - it was probably one of the most exciting baseball games I've ever attended!


Watching the game


Clapping!


Mommy and Sofia, who looks ready to go!


Our 'ride' home!

The Denver Aquarium

After breakfast on Monday, CK returned to the hotel room to work on the speech he had to give to kick off the conference, so Sofia and I drove over to the Denver Aquarium which was amazing! We spent about two hours walking throughout the different exhibits and then played on the outdoor playground for a while, which was a great pre-nap excursion. The aquarium had many huge tanks that showcased the sharks and other fish really well and it was also not very crowded which was perfect. The aquarium also has tigers, and we saw one that really had her eye on Sofia while she ran around, but I couldn't get any good pictures of Sofia and the tiger in the background. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Chasing bubbles at the Aquarium's entrance


Looking at the rainbow trout exhibit


Watching the Moray Eel


Watching the fish swim - there was also a huge turtle at the top which Sofia liked to watch


Probably her favorite exhibit - frogs! They are hard to see in this picture but there were maybe ten red-bellied frogs.


The huge shark aquarium


Shark Attack! The sharks kept swimming right toward Sofia then would turn away at the last second. One of the volunteers said that sharks are able to detect electrical activity (one's heart beat) 16" away!


The sting ray petting area - one never got close enough unfortunately.


Playing at the playground


Denver in the background - the Aquarium is just across the river from downtown Denver.


Papa waking Sofia up from her four-plus hour nap! She loves her big, big girl bed at the hotel!


CK's conference that evening had a Mardi Gras party theme for their social, so Sofia danced most of the night and wore a glitter mask. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the hotel room so I missed out on taking some great pictures of our little dancer, but the glitter remained (for days after!)

Visiting Harmony School, Aunt, Uncle and "Mr. Jas"

On Tuesday Sofia and I drove up to Ft Collins to visit Aunt Cathy, Uncle Eric, my cousin Jason and to finally see Harmony School! First we went to Harmony School and met up with Aunt Cathy who gave us a great tour of the entire building, including visits to each class, the gym, and to the playground outside. To say Sofia loved it is an understatement! She ran into each class and joined the crowd with gusto, often pushing kids out of the way while saying "Don't do that!" (no, not my proudest moments of her). The school is absolutely amazing and it was fantastic to finally visit! After spending some time at the school, Aunt Cathy drove Sofia and I into old town Ft Collins to meet up with my Uncle Eric and cousin Jason (aka "Mr. Jas" to Sofia) for a great lunch on the patio of a Mexican restaurant. Sofia and Mr. Jas hit it off immediately and she had a great time playing with him, particularly after lunch! Unfortunately his wife and two kids are out of town. We returned to Aunt and Uncle's house to hang out for a while (Sofia wouldn't take a nap in their guest room unfortunately), before driving back to Denver. Needless to say, Sofia was fast asleep before we even got onto the highway.

Our first look at the school (this is actually the side of the building)


Sofia and me outside Harmony School (Aunt Cathy took this before we left)


Getting her hair styled by kids in one of the classrooms


Patting Murtle the Turtle (tortoise actually)


Sofia and Aunt Cathy


Sofia gives a drawing lesson


After lunch, Sofia plays while Uncle Eric and Aunt Cathy look on


Mr. Jas and Sofia with Uncle Eric


Ahhh, nap time!

Our first day in Denver

We arrived in Denver around 5pm and after we checked into our hotel we drove out to a nearby suburb to visit with one of CK's friends who he reconnected with through Facebook and hadn't seen in 18 years! Lori and Mike have a two year old named Paige and seven year old named Holly, and needless to say the three girls had a fantastic time together. Despite being very tired, we could hardly pry Sofia away from Paige and Holly at 830pm (which is 930pm Dallas time)! The next day CK's conference didn't start until noon so we walked around Denver and found a great breakfast joint thanks to the hotel's front desk. Our hotel is only two blocks from the 16th Street Promenade, which is an entire street lined with shops and restaurants. We ate a delicious breakfast and walked around the Promenade before returned to our hotel.

On California Street near our hotel


Sofia watches a "train" which is really a light rail that runs down California Street and she loves watching it and usually shouts out "Train! Train! Hi, train!" and then "Bye, bye, train" when it leaves.


At breakfast - Papa and Sofia coloring.


Enjoying Denver!


Sofia with "her" brand new OTS backpack! She was so small wearing it.