Jared had class for the entire day. Boo!! But I guess that’s the main part of why we came, so we put up with it. After getting ready and spending our morning at the park, we grabbed KFC (which ended up being a major rip-off!) and ate in our hotel room. Then I got brave…really brave. I decided to take everyone (minus Jared, of course) to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, about 20 minutes west of Denver. It looked like the perfect activity. Kids love dinosaurs, right? And it was FREE!! Or so I thought.
We arrived around 2:30 p.m., and were greeted with life-like replicas of a few different dinosaurs. Pretty cool. We walked up to the main building, and I saw sign that said you could do a walking tour – that was 2 hours long! – for free, or you could pay $4/person to take a 30-45 minute guided tour on a bus!! Ok…that’s just lame! I didn’t have 2 hours – nor the desire – to drag the six of us through who knows what! So I thought “What the heck, it’s only a few more dollars.” There was a group that was just boarding when we got there, but it was full, so we’d have to wait until another bus came.
In the meantime, the kids were having fun digging for dinosaur bones in a man-made dig site. While they were having their fun, I read a sign that warned about rattlesnakes in and around the property. Just one more reason we WOULDN’T be taking the walking tour! Josh later saw a sign in a different area and nearly b-lined it for the car!
We spent some time browsing around the gift shop, and I had to keep telling Rachel to put all the pretty little rocks back. We can’t take them because they don’t belong to us, and we have to pay money if we want them (and we DIDN’T want them). Then we browsed around the “museum” they had. (I think the term “museum” is awfully generous, but what the heck.) The kids got to dig for their own dinosaur treasures to take home. I quickly realized that we probably wouldn’t have time to do a tour at this point. We had to pick up Jared at 4:30 p.m., and we needed around 30 minutes for the drive. So we looked around the gift shop some more, did a little more digging, and got ready to leave. Everyone was all loaded up when Emily announced, “Mom! Rachel stole some rocks from the store!!” Yes…we have a little kleptomaniac on our hands! (This isn’t the first time Rachel has taken something from a store. Ughgh!) So I ran back to the store and turned in the contraband. Gee whiz! Someone needs to teach this girl right from wrong!
I was so glad to see Jared when his class was over. My patience was wearing thin and I needed a break! So we set out to see the Denver Temple. It is about 20 minutes south of Denver. It is tucked away in a nice neighborhood where it seems to just pop up from nowhere.
The picture really doesn’t do it justice. It reminded me a lot of the Jordan River Temple.
We then hit yet another gigantic mall just east of the temple. Denver does big malls!! The reason for our stop? Yes, another Lego store! Denver must be really special to get 2 stores!!
We ended the day – and our trip – at the Downtown Aquarium. A great way to cap off the trip. If you can think of an aquatic creature, I’m pretty sure we saw it. Sharks…check! Piranha…check. Giant sea turtles (aka “Crush”)…oh yeah!
Caleb didn’t mind trying to pet the rays, but he sure was afraid of the sharks!!
“Those are the shrieking eels! If you doubt me, just wait. They always grow louder when they’re about to feed on human flesh!”
We topped off the evening with a visit to Dairy Queen, and the rest is history. We had a great time!
We packed up the next morning and were on our way. But only after we had to go back to the hotel to find Emily’s missing doll! (We were only a mile down the road having breakfast…she would have been minus a doll if we were any further away.) The drive home was very uneventful, and we made it home by 6 p.m. on Saturday night. Just in time to get all the laundry done and make a trip to the grocery store!
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