Pinewood Derby

Last night was Bucko's first Pinewood Derby.  He and PC picked a "Flash" theme, though really they just liked the look of the lightning bolt on the car, not really "Flash" per se.  They painted it red and got it all ready.  Bucko also received his first progress bead toward his Wolf badge and 3 belt loops: music, science, and good manners.  PC was hoping Bucko's car would win a few runs at least, and he wasn't disappointed.  Here's his first race. (He's in lane one, in first place.)

Not bad, eh?  Yeah, he actually ended up placing 3rd overall!  They also gave him the "Most Electric" award and the Cub Master said he thought it was the "Flashiest." ;) 
We all had fun and I even made these yummy Cookies 'n Cream Cheesecakes for the dessert table.  You can find the recipe here.

 One of the den leaders made nice wooden plaques for first, second, and third places.  He put a bracket on there so you can mount your car.  I'll have to take a picture when we get the car mounted.

Music Performance

Bucko had a second grade music performance a couple weeks ago.  They incorporated a bunch of fairy tales and Bucko was the Big Bad Wolf.  He had a good time, and some of PC's family was able to come with us.

CM Zoo

We did make it to the zoo at the end of Spring Break. I'm just now updating the blog!  I have been reading so many books lately that I have let the blog updating go slack.  Finally getting around to it today. 
We had a good time at the zoo. Bucko talked to one of the workers (her name is the same as Tink's) for his final requirement for his Science belt loop.  She told him what she does at the zoo and what she studied in school.  He even helped her with the tortoise. 
We did get a zoo membership with the sky ride included.  Our first time going, I was worried that we shouldn't have added the sky ride, because I was terrified one of the younger kids were going to fall off! I have never been scared of heights before, but when two little ones are next to you, wiggling everywhere, I thought my heart was going to stop.  I had Goofy ride down with PC and I did better. We went back to the zoo last week and I did much better. I was more confident and the kids knew more of what was expected of them on it.  They love it, though, and I'm pretty sure it is their favorite thing about going to the zoo, so I am glad that we added that onto our membership. 

Cheyenne Mountain

This morning we tried to go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We got off later than we had planned and when we got there, there was absolutely NO parking.  We drove all through it with a ton of other cars also looking for spots.  So we decided to just bag it and go another day when we can get there right when it opens.  So I checked on our GPS to see if there were any parks close by and Cheyenne Mountain Canon Park came up, so we drove a couple minutes over there. It was gorgeous! Winding roads going up in the mountains and trails all over.  We stopped at one spot and checked the map. We found where there were a couple waterfalls (Helen Hunt and Cascade Falls) up the road, so we drove up there and hiked around.  It was so pretty. 

Garden of the Gods

Today we headed out to the Garden of the Gods. We hadn't been out there since we've moved here. We've taken the kids out when we've visited before, but this was our first time this year.  (In fact, we were looking at pictures of when we went the very first time. Tink was only about 18-months-old at the time, so that was neat to see.)  The weather was gorgeous and we just did a bit of hiking.  It was hot though and we all got a little bit of sunburn.  Goofy hadn't ever really had a sunburn before and his neck was burnt bad enough for him to NOT like getting them. 
Speaking of Goofy, he has said some FUNNY things lately.  One thing he did for about a week was Papa had downloaded a racing car game on his iPod so the grandkids could play.  Well, Goofy was showing him how it worked and all that when he first got it, so anytime after that when Papa would get on his iPod, Goofy would run over and tell him not to play the game!  He would tell him that he didn't know how to play and he might lose.  It was super cute.  Another thing lately that he has been doing is telling PC that he will help him find a job.  So sweet. We got him a bike last week, so he keeps telling PC that he has his bike and will help him find a job.  One of the other kids got onto him one morning, saying he wasn't really going to help Daddy find a job.  Goofy came running in and told me what they said and I told him that he was definitely a big help with Daddy finding a job.  He wants to help so much and he felt lots better when I told him that.  One more funny thing: I put in a movie for him one night and pushed play. It then went to the screen where you can pick "widescreen" of "full screen."  I picked full screen, and PC said, "You like full screen?" I said, "No, I like widescreen, but the kids like full screen." A couple seconds later, Goofy said, "I like ice cream!"  I wish I could type the inflections in his voice, because it is so funny, but this will just have to suffice. 

Spring Break, Week 1

Two weeks of spring break may seem a bit long, but I think it's great.  We had thought about going to visit my sister, but in the end, just decided to stay around here and do things local.  Monday we went swimming. We had finally gotten the kids some goggles, so they all couldn't wait to try them out. In fact, Goofy cried himself into a nap on Friday, threw a fit Saturday afternoon when we didn't go, but by that evening, was resigned to the fact that he had to wait until Monday.
Wednesday we got two kites and flew them in the backyard.  It is so windy here that getting them up was not a problem.  Holding on was though, as Goofy did let go at one point. Luckily it wasn't very high yet and just flew into the fence. I thought it was cool when a plane flew overhead and it looked like the kites were flying with it.

Today we went to a special story time at the library with Mother Goose. The kids really had fun and we met up with some friends there so that made it even more fun.  After that, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese's.  We had a couple of good coupons, so thought it would be a fun lunch.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We went for a walk in Black Forrest park today.  It was perfect weather and we walked maybe 2 miles, which was plenty for the kids.  It was gorgeous though, and I know we'll be doing a lot more hiking in the months to come. PC is already planning backpack camping trips.  Colorado really is a beautiful place.