Colorado - Day 1 - US Mint

Jason and I have a quest to see all 50 state capitals.  Today we saw #10 - we've got a lot more trips to make!!!  The capital was under construction, but the gold dome was still beautiful!

 You are not allowed to take photos inside the US Mint, but we snapped a few on Jason's phone before entering.  Getting tickets was an adventure... We decided we were going to CO about 3 weeks before we went.  About 2 weeks before Jason mentioned the Mint, so I looked on-line and they were booked through August.  I just couldn't believe that they were booked so far in advance, so the next day I called the (not so) nice lady at the Mint and asked if there were any openings.  She thought I was CRAZY and informed me that tours fill up at least 2 months in advance.  I kept putting on my charm (hahaha) and she finally gave me the inside scoop that they were opening two more tours at the end of each day starting in 3 days.  You HAVE to book on-line and the tours open at midnight Eastern time.  SO for the next 3 nights at 11:00 Central, I went on-line to check.  Lo and behold - on Saturday night they were open!  So I booked 5 spots for the 3pm tour on Thursday.  I checked the next day and half the spots were taken and by Monday PM, all the spots were full.  SO the moral of the story - book the Mint tour early!

 This was one of our favorite stops on the whole trip.  The tour guides were FANTASTIC and the Mint was just plain awesome.  We got to see $2 million in gold - only 3 bars!  We also got to see $144,000 in gold dollars and all the machines to make the coins.  It was SO interesting!

 The last thing we drove by before heading home for the night was Broncos Stadium!  We think it looks like a roller coaster on top!

We all crashed early and got a great night's sleep.  And we needed it for the next day's trip up Pike's Peak!

Colorado - Day 1 - The Argo

A few weeks ago, Jason got an email from Southwest air that he had a ton of points that would expire in September, so we started thinking, "Where can we go???"  My uncle Mike lives just south of Denver and the Denver redemption points were in our range, so we called him then booked our flights for Denver!  Dad joined us and we had a GREAT long weekend in Colorado.  We took the 5:30AM flight... which was insane, but worked out great since we had the whole day to play once we arrived at 6:45AM.  Here's Rylan looking out the window....

After we got the rental car, we headed to the nearest Einstein Bagels for yummy breakfast sandwiches. Then we went west to Idaho Springs to tour the Argo Gold Mine and Mill.  It was SO cool!  Here we are in jail! hahaha

 The tour guide gave a wonderful presentation on the rocks of the area  and the history of the Argo.

 This table was so loud!  It would shake and shake and shake, leaving the gold in the ruts.  Pretty cool!

 This was the loudest thing I have ever heard!  The miners would put the TNT in the holes to blast open more of the mine.  These guys had to be deaf!  It was very interesting.

 Next we rode up to the top on a bus and the rest of the tour began.  We got to go into the Double Eagle Gold Mine.  Over 600 mines were in the area and they all hooked up to the Argo Tunnel to get to the mine.

 We all got a hard hat and entered the 54 degree mine.  The cool felt great!  Jacob loved looking at the walls and trying to find veins of gold.

 Rylan thought touching the walls was the best part!

 Our family in the mine!

 We only went about 300 feet into the mine.  Here are my 3 boys looking at the end.  They labeled the gold veins.  Super cool!

 GPop and his boys at the mine entrance/exit.

 Jason hoisted the boys into an old gold ore cart.  They thought it was really cool!

 The Argo Tunnel is closed now, but this is the entrance.  It was amazing to think of all the thousands of dollars of gold that passed through that tunnel

 Next stop was the mill.  The mill was multi-storied and full of the equipment!  It was amazing!!!

 The highlight of the tour for the boys was panning for gold!  This was really hard work!!!

 First you dump your baggie of dirt and gold into the pan.  Then you get a little water and swish is around.  Shake, shake, shake and swirl, swirl, swirl until there is only a small pile of black-ish sand.

 Then look for the freckle-sized flecks of gold!

 The boys were slightly disappointed because they thought they would be bringing home pecan-sized chunks of gold.  But the dozen freckles of gold were OK too!

 After touring the mine and mill we went across the street to eat lunch at Subway.  The photo of the mill was taken from our lunch table.  Jason walked down to the banks of Clear Creek to touch the super cold water.  Each boy got a river rock and tried to keep their hand in the water for a whole minute.  It was 74 degrees outside and zero humidity!  Perfect!

More to come!

Green, Green Everywhere!!!

One of our favorite Tex-Mex places has these roosters out front.  Jacob calls it the "Rooster Restaurant."  On this visit, Rylan noticed that the baby rooster is green, so he promptly asked for his photo to be taken with it!  Yet another reason to love this joint... a green rooster for my green Dirk jersey wearing boy!!!

The Lord is My Shepherd - VBS 2012

The big week was finally here! VBS 2012!!! Each day began with an incredible live skit!  Our youth minister was the main writer and they were wonderful beyond words!  

 The kids were mesmersized and learned so much each day from the skit!

 After the skit, the boys class went to crafts.  Granna was a great helper in the craft station!

 Here is Jacob leaving Grandma Nonnie's house.  She had a treat each day for them... a flash light, a bag of chocolate coins, a foam craft of John 14:6 and a sponge heart.  They were awesome!!!

 Look at precious sheep Jacob!

 Grandma Nonnie's house is also where the kids got to see a puppet show.  They were so cute too!

 The boys class!  On Tuesday we took a photo of each class... priceless!

 My two favorite little sheep!!!

 Day three skit was on the sheep being lost!  The skits were one of the highlights of each day.  The boys also loved singing with Mr. Jordan each morning.

 After craft/snack each day the teens helped to play "sheep, sheep, wolf" a spin on "duck, duck, goose."  Another huge hit!!!

 The retell class with Mrs. Krysta and Miss Sarah was awesome!  They had great lessons, fun puzzles (Jacob especially liked the day 3 puzzle), and games.  They also got to make a really cool coloring book each day.

 On day 4, they made these cute shepherd head-dresses and braided the ropes.  They were another huge hit!  Thank you Mrs. Kim H!!

 Rylan loved carrying the staff on day 4.

 Jacob doing his puzzle one day in retell.

 Rylan doing his puzzle in retell.

 Throughout the week the kids all memorized Psalm 23.  This is when they were practicing on the big stage.

 Thursday night we hosted a HUGE Open House!  We had over 300 people join us for a VBS celebration of memory work, skits, singing and then we came to the gym for games and food.

 The boys favorite part was the bounce house!

 Here are all of our sheep!  This VBS far exceeded our expectations.  The Lord provided all the right adult helpers, sent the kids that needed to be taught and allowed the planning to make for a smooth week. To God be the glory, GREAT things HE has done!!!