At the Park

After the Mighty Machines exhibit, we played at the park next to the museum for a little while. Lucas isn't really a big fan of the jungle gyms, but had a great time this time!Peekaboo!

Mighty Machines

The Children's Museum had a special exhibit earlier this month called Mighty Machines. They had a dump truck, a mini- excavator, and a front end loader on display for the kids to check out and climb in. This was definitely an event we could not miss! Lucas had soooo much fun checking out the trucks. We took so many pictures and can't post them all, so here are some favorites!

Avery's on the go!

I thought this day would never come! Avery's been sort of crawling for a while now. First she did a lot of rolling, then army crawling, then this kind of lurching thing! But today she decided that she wanted to crawl the right way and what do you know, it's faster! I guess my job got a little harder, cause she gets into things faster than she use to!

Lucas and Avery

Lucas must've really missed his baby sister when he was in school because when we got home to eat lunch, he was all about her!!

Preschool

Oh how fast kids grow up! Lucas started preschool at Northglenn United Methodist Church. He's in the 1 1/2- 2 1/2 year old classroom, which is also known as the DUCKS. He goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-11:30am. The program follows the Storybook Journey Curriculum*.
We had Back to School night earlier in the week so the kids can see the classroom and meet the teachers. Lucas was very excited to see all the toys and the teachers (Miss Lindsay and Miss Regal) were all very nice and tried very hard to get Lucas to warm up to them.
Lucas had a rough time being dropped off (which happens all the time at the gym) but Miss Lindsay did a great job distracting Lucas with a tractor so I could leave.

*(in case you were wondering what the Storybook Journey actually entails, here's a brief paragraph about it)

It easy to engage young imaginations when books provide the inspiration for our unique curriculum entitled The Storybook Journey which:

• supports emergent literacy with in-depth exploration of books and stories
• uses puppets, storytelling characters, dramatic play props and discussions
• fully integrates language, literacy, math, science, social studies, music, movement and physical development into the child's daily life.

Special attention is paid to the learning environment as a means to guide children's behavior and engage them in self-directed learning. Learning Centers filled with appropriate materials offer choice and stimulate curiosity. Children are encouraged to explore, experiment, and problem solve through active learning in child initiated and teacher supported experiences and activities. In addition, our teachers are respectful of the cultural and ethnic heritages of all children.

Here's the preschooler before we walk out the door

walking through the parking lot of the school

he was so excited to have a backpack with a dump truck on it

starting to get nervous...

really nervous!!!

Miss Lindsay trying to get Lucas to play

I didn't know what to do with myself for 2 and half hours without him! I got back to school early and found the kids outside playing, so i sneaked a few pictures!

Lucas next to his cubby.

They definitely know how to get in good with the kids! When I went to pick him up, the first thing he said to me was "Mama, I eat Cookie!" And all of you who know me, know that the kids don't get too many sweets! He told me he had a good time and that he wanted to come back to school!

The end of The Bay

Labor Day was the last day of the season for The Bay, so we thought we'd have one last hoorah! Even though the weather wasn't ideal, we all still had a very good time!Eric took Lucas on the slide

and then he wanted to go again, so i took him

and of course, little miss priss with her princess towel on her head, eating cheerios!
This was our farewell to summer! We look forward to next summer, when the kids are older and enjoy the pool a little more!

Estes Park

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a little hike in Estes Park. We've never been there before and got a late start that morning so we didn't get to stay very long or see very much of it. We didn't know exactly where to go either, so we kinda drove through and stopped to "hike" (maybe not so much hiking since it was paved!) around Lake Estes.

Before the hike

Dad and his mini meMom and Ave

We stopped to have some lunch by the marina

Eric took Lucas closer to the water so he could show him how to skip rocks

Avery had it made, she didn't have to walk any of it!

We walked a total of 2.5 miles. Lucas almost made it the whole way, but after about 2 miles he got tired and pretty much collapsed! So he got a ride on Dad's shoulders!

After the hike

Estes Park was definitely beautiful and we will be back again to check out the rest of the town!