Happy Birthday Sweet 9 Year Old ~

For Jordyns birthday we went to Fort Fun!  She was allowed to invite two friends, and this is the results of that day...

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Paddle Boat racing with Daddy, Rehna and Andrea...Rehna looks like shes going to be seasick!  :)

Then on to the Bumper Boats, complete with squirt guns...

which Jordyn tried to spray me with....little Stinker!  :)

Grandpa Frank happily spends a quarter to become Master Blaster and soak the kids...

Jordyn is laughing at grandpa because she is out of range...Andrea is getting soaked, however!

Grandpa holds Jordyn at bay as she tries to give him super wet hugs!

Shes still trying to get him wet...hehehehhe...i love this photo!

 

Next the girls tried the B'loon Blast...it took a few tries, but then they got pretty good!

 

Rehna is getting doused with water here...get em back kiddo!

Christy was able to sneak away from work and join us for a while for birthday hugs  :)

Then it was time for the GoCarts!  This is one of the coolest women i know! Almost 93, and she still has so much zest for life! Here she is crossing another thing off her bucket list...the GoCarts! And Justin didnt go easy on her either! He said she was enjoying the ride, but also said, "this is kind of scary...we're going kind of fast". But as we passed them on the track i do believe i saw her smiling

 

We enjoyed pizza for lunch and then she opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

They dont allow outside food, so we settled for a birthday ice cream scoop!  Make a wish sweetheart!

After we refueled, we hit the bumper boats (no pun intended)  :)

 then the arcade...

 The carousel used to be Jordyns favorite ride here but she never even noticed it this time around(sigh), so naturally, i had to be sentimental and make the girls take a photo with it...they were good sports though and hammed it up! 

 We went upstairs and enjoyed several rounds of laser tag...and i have to admit, this was my favorite!  I could spend the entire afternoon in there!  We had the room to ourselves most of the time, and it wasnt that busy in the evening, so we could keep going in over and over again!  Justin got first place every time, but Rehna and Andrea became pretty good snipers and got us quite a bit in the last round!  Jordyn shot me every chance she got...not sure how i should take that :)

 I posted both of these photos...one with the flash, and one without...but i LOVE the one without the flash!

 This photo cracks me up...modern day Charlie's Angels!  Andrea looks like she just spotted a giant rat on the ceiling!

On our way home we saw a mountain lion by the mailboxes at Rustic Road (only 1/2 a mile down from us)  The girls were totally psyched to see him...and he was huge!  How fun that we should see a bobcat yesterday and a mountain lion today!  very cool indeed! 

 When we got home we enjoyed her "official" cake!  The number 9 we used is from GG's cake last August when she turned 92...i thought it would be fun to use again!

 Jordyn opened presents from the girls and us and our new kitten helped!  She got lots of cool goodies, including art supplies a cat warrior book and lots of clothes!

 It was a great day to turn 9...hope you enjoyed it Jordyn!
We love you to the moon and back!!!!

In the morning the girls asked if they could have some cake for breakfast...i said, "sure...help yourself!" and this is what i found in the kitchen....Now they are burning their sugar high off on the rope swing!

Mom is great....gave us a chocolate cake!

 

Now its time to prepare for Rogue Camp...guests should be arriving any minute!  Stay tuned for more fun!

Time for Tea ~

Today our girl scout troop went to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory for a tour.  The factory is in Boulder, and the drive was lovely!  Many kids were on vacation, so it was a small group, but we still had lots of fun!

The girls really enjoyed sampling the tea, and one of their favorites was a new tea, Watermelon Lime Zinger.

While tasting the tea, we decided to take a photo with the sleepytime bear, and then check out the original artwork for some of the tea boxes.

These are so much prettier in person...very bright and colorful!

 

Then it was time for the tour.  We enjoyed a short video on the history of Celestial Seasonings, and then we were given hairnets for the factory part of the tour. 

We were not allowed to take photos in the factory, so we snapped this silly shot before we headed in.

 

We learned many cool things about tea and how its made.  We also learned their 3 top selling teas are not teas at all, but instead, herbal infusions: Sleepytime Tea, Chamomile Tea and Peppermint Tea.  The factory smells absolutely divine, and all the kids had fun in the mint room.  It made some folks eyes water, but we loved it!  We learned their busiest time of year in the factory is in October when they are getting ready for the holidays...and in fact, when we were there, they were running their holiday line on the floor.  The tour ends at the gift shop, and they have some of the neatest things there.  Lots of tea, of course, but also mugs, t-shirts, posters, souvenirs, and other trinkets.  All the kids went home with a treat!

We had lunch in their cafe and the food was delicious!  Then we decided to let the kids run around a bit outside to get their wiggles out.

Next stop was the Leanin Tree Museum and Sculpture Garden of Western Art.  Its right next door to the Celestial Seasonings place, so why not!  In the last year or so, they have started doing tours of their factory as well, but we werent aware of that, so we just enjoyed the sculpture garden and museum.

 The kids loved this giant mountain lion sculpture titled, The Intruder.  Jordyn and i saw a bobcat on our way to pick up the girls that morning, so it was fun to see this sculpture to remind us of our big cat experience that day.  The kids really enjoyed the sculpture garden, and it was hard to get them to go inside!

 This was probably our favorite piece outside...Ironfire!  I am sharing a lot of photos of him so you can see all the fun details!

 

The lovely chaperones, taking a break! 

 

When we finally did enter the gallery, the kids were not disappointed!  Lots of beautiful paintings and sculptures, and of course a gift shop too!

This was one of my favorite paintings, Chiggers II.  Hilarious!  I love it when an artist has a sense of humor!

 

After a full day of delicious aromas and eye candy, it was time to call it a day!  The kids and chaperones alike really enjoyed this adventure!  If you get a chance to check it out, i highly recommend it!  Hope you enjoyed the tour with us!  :)