Hi All!
Summer has flown by! It’s been a bit s-l-o-w and lacking in camp fun, but we’ve made new friends, returned to frequenting our favorite local haunts, and celebrated a birthday, so we’re all good! Let’s recap:
The Denver Botanic Gardens: This was the first place to open back up during COVID, and we were there within 72-hours of that occurring. You’ve probably seen the pics posted of us running around a very lush garden, with koi and fantastic sculptures? That’s it. We love to go there and pretend that we are in the movie Jumanji. Sometimes, we just pretend that Mom and Dad are nefarious ne’er do wells and we have to escape and spy on them. Either way, we’re outside, so we’re good.
The Denver Zoo: This was the second place to open back up, and when we got into a virtual line to purchase tickets, we were only number 55,000 in line. Yes, the zoo is that popular. Anyway, we ended up getting tickets and were back within their first week reopened. It was great to see all of our favorite animals, but since we were there in the afternoon, we didn’t get to see the newborn cubs, the baby rhino, or the new stingray petting area. Two more times, we tried to get tickets earlier in the day so we could see these animal attractions, and twice all of the time slots were gone. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that we FINALLY got to the zoo before noon and we saw everything we wanted to see! Yay! We tried not to let the fact that it was a bajillion degrees outside get us down, but it was a close call. Two hours outside and we were exhausted and turning on each other…
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science: This just opened back up kind of recently. We’ve been twice times so far, though. First, we went to see the new exhibit Art of the Brick, which was a bunch of huge Lego sculptures. It was super cool. Asher especially loved the life sized T-Rex and the equally huge swimmer. There was a ginormous pencil there too that everyone found to be pretty amazing. When we went back, we saw an IMAX about mimics in the Amazon and a Victorian explorer whose work helped Darwin prove his theory of Evolution. Mom was a bit surprised to see us on the edge of our seats for the entire IMAX. We loved it!
Wicked Camp: Emmett was the Wizard in his Wicked theater camp! He was super upset that he wasn’t Elphaba, but he’s still pretty new to musical theater. His teacher says that he has an amazing voice, but it still needs training. Nevertheless, he’s on his way! We loved watching the filmed performance! (Due to COVID, there are no live performances, and all of the performers socially distance during the performance.) We got popcorn and put it on the big screen TV in the basement. We cheered when it was Emmett’s turn to sing. Yay, Emmett!
History Colorado Camp: This was our first full week camp that we all did together, and it was amazing. We’d never done camps at History Colorado before, but we loved their virtual field trips this past spring. Our theme was Colorado Archaeology, and we excavated, explored, and learned. We built a hide stretcher, rebuilt pots from discovered shards, and strung beads. We made new friends that we enjoyed hanging out with, and had a wonderful week.
Asher’s 7th Birthday Party: It was 20 kids outside for a Mandalorian Themed Party. We had a Mandalorian themed nature scavenger hunt, pin Baby Yoda on the Mandalorian, light saber fights, and Baby Yoda cupcakes. It was hot, with a small amount of shade on our front porch, but it was great! Asher got a new bike for his birthday, and asked his friends to donate to rhinos.org in lieu of gifts. He was so proud of himself when rhinos.org emailed him and told him how special he was to request that his friends help support the rhinos. Asher-Dasher is so fantastic.
Camping: We paddle boarded on a lake, saw a petrified forest and the Royal Gorge, and had an entire mountain valley to ourselves for two days of hiking and adventuring. Look at the pics. Each time, it was so, so good to unplug and spend time outside of the city. We are looking forward to doing it again.
Etc: Add to all of the above rock climbing at Uber Grippen, lots of playdates with friends, and exploring the neighborhood with new friends, and our summer–while not a normal Pig Summer–has still be full of excitement and exploration.
We aren’t sure what this fall will bring, but as there’s always something happening here, it’s sure to be interesting…
With love,
The Pigs
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