Denver Vacation: Sunday

Sunday morning we all slept a little later. J hadn't slept well and was very sore. They had texted us at 6 in the morning asking if we'd brought any pain killers. When I was finally up & showered, the girls & I walked over to the main building to find ourselves some free breakfast. The hotels breakfast was quite impressive. They had pancakes, potatoes, biscuits, a waffle maker, oatmeal, fruit, etc. I ended up just getting myself a big bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar on it and the girls just wanted fruit loops so I let them carry their bowls with a handful of dry loops in them. I wanted to take our food back to our room so we proceeded toward the elevator. I reminded Jasmine to hold he bowl upright so she wouldn't spill & Eden (big sister that she is) said, "See Jasmine, like this." It was at that point that the elevator door opened and Eden make a quick jolty turn & spilled her fruit loops right into the crack of the elevator. We did our best to clean them up and then quickly headed back to our room with a small stop at the front desk to let them know what happened. We got back & ate our food while everyone else was just getting up. We finally got everyone out to the vehicles at about 9-ish. After getting most of the way to the zoo we decided to go get Jamba Juice first so we made a detour for our favorite drinks. While the guys & I got our smoothies, S went to Safeway to buy J some pain killers & herself a Starbucks coffee--then we were once again headed toward the days main event--The Zoo! It was pretty fun, but very busy. I guess even though it isn't quite after Memorial Day the weather was just right for a trip to the zoo and people were taking advantage of it. We saw the lions first, then the other cats. We saw giraffes, & polar bears. Little J & Jasmine both loved the snakes. (Silly little girls!) The men didn't get to see them because strollers weren't allowed inside that particular building so they stayed outside to watch our stuff while S & I took the kids through. We took a little juice break then we saw seals, & camels, & buffalo. We made very brief stops near the hippo & rhino. (I felt like we were practically running through the place!) By the time we got to the bird house a bathroom break was called for so we stopped there for that and ended up spending a great deal of time with the penguins. The girls just loved them! After that sizable stop we saw the flamingos before going through the primates. They had some neat animals but the signs about human evolution really started to get on my nerves! It was on our way through the last of the monkeys that Jasmine hit what was left of my smoothie out of my hand and all over the carpet of this incredibly busy building. I have to wonder why the children tend to make the biggest messes in the worst possible places! Ug! After that Little J was getting cranky & so S was rushing toward the exit so we only stopped briefly to see the bears, the mountain goats, the elephants, & the kangaroos. Those were among Eden's favorites (the elephants & kangaroos) We got to see an emu chasing the roos everywhere. Russ was hoping one of them would turn around and slam it in the face with his legs...but they didn't. Back at the entrance/exit, I explored the gift shop while Russ went to get our van which we had parked next the museum blocks away. While in the gift shop Eden dropped & shattered a snow globe all over the floor. I told one of the girls who worked there and she was really nice about it. She said it happens all the time and she thanked me for letting her know. We purchased a couple souvenirs and met Russ outside. By this time we were all starving since it was about 2 o'clock and so we headed to Dave & Busters for lunch. They weren't very busy at that time so we got seated & ordered. I was a little frustrated because they don't serve lunch size portions on Sundays so I got more food than I wanted for more than I wanted to pay. Jasmine had zonked in the gift shop and had slept through two car seat transfers & all through lunch. She finally awoke just as we were paying our bill & getting ready to leave. Back at the motel, J & Russ relaxed while S & I took the 3 oldest kids swimming (Jasmine stayed with Russ.) They had a lot of fun. Eden had a small scare when she stepped a little far into deeper water & couldn't get her head up. I pulled her up & she was scared but she got right back in the pool. (She spent the next hour, though, repeating the story to everyone about how she fell in.) While we were in the pool the maid came to clean J&S's room & they ended up out of their room with no key. So when we were done swimming S had to walk back to the front desk to get a new one so they could get in their room to change into dry clothes. After we were all dry again & properly clothed, we drove downtown to walk the 16th Street mall. J still wasn't feeling very well but he was a good sport anyway. We walked almost the whole strip both ways. We made a stop near the bottom to rest our feet, a stop in the middle to get more Jamba, & a stop at the top just to enjoy the perfect outdoor air. Little J pretty much slept the whole time. By the time we decided to head back to the hotel I was hungry & we figured the kids would be too so while J & Russ waited with the kids by the car, S & I went to Johnny Rockets to get some cheeseburgers to go. It was quite relaxing for us & gave us a chance to talk a little bit. The food seemed to take a bit longer than it should have and we began to worry about the guys but they were surviving. Once we got our food (minus S's fries, darn it!) we went back to hotel, ate it together & then headed back to our own rooms to recharge for Monday.