Happy 4th of July!

Another fun filled weekend had passed so it is time for an update. Thad brought home sparklers early in the week, the good kind that you can't get in CA, and the kids asked every five minutes if it was time to do fireworks yet. We then got to thinking about our usual 4th of July's, and how we bounce from one ward activity to family party to the next, and how the kids would drive us crazy all day waiting for fireworks if we didn't find something to do to keep them busy. So we headed in to Durango to the children's discovery museum and cool downtown shops. It was beautiful.

 This is the bike path along the river that ran right behind the museum, which is an old converted power building.

This bridge was a little ways up the path and on the other side of the river were some pretty sweet homes.

I've always wanted to rent one of these. We didn't. I still want to.

 Fun stuff inside the Museum. 

 There are a lot more museum pictures, but the kids were running around so crazy that most of them ended up blurry. Proof that it was a good time. After the museum we grabbed some lunch and went to a park to play. Colorado is big on parks, and they are all really nice.We even ventured over to the mall so I could find some board shorts. Mine just died. And even though it was a real mall, it was still pretty sad in comparison to Ca shopping.
After naps at home they were ready for fireworks. We broke out the sparklers, and though they were definitely better than the crappy ones you buy in CA, they were not as great as we remembered. Maybe our batch was a bit of a dud, or maybe our childhood memories over exaggerated the coolness of them. Either way the kids enjoyed them.

The city does a free show at the park right across from our townhouse. So we climbed out on to the roof for a great view. It was a great show, and I'm pretty sure the entire town was there to see it.

Saturday we went to Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwellings. Thad would like to go back without the kids, because we were limited on what we could see with them in tow. But what we did see was really cool.

Inside the spruce tree house. Peter hates being restrained for pictures.

There it is from the top of the trail. Peter is in the "do everything myself" phase,  which means he wanted to walk down the steep hazardous trail all by himself. It was a very stressful walk for Thad and I who were taking turns guarding the cliff side of the trail.

It was a great adventure filled weekend. These pictures are from earlier in the week when Thad took the kids to the climbing wall at the rec center. They did pretty well!