Fun in the Colorado Sun

Father's Day gave us the perfect excuse to explore Pueblo a little more.

Despite the 99 degree temperatures, we settled on the zoo and the park! I'd been looking forward to taking the kids to these two places since I was googling this town back in January.

It's a small zoo, but it's bigger than the one in Roanoke so we had plenty to be excited about!

Like penguins!

And ostriches!

We weren't able to see the new baby lion, or indeed any lions (probably too hot even for them), but we did catch a few of these guys:

I bonded with the lynx:

Adele was fascinated by the peacocks, which strolled freely. I was sure she was going to get a bite, but either the peacock or Adele had just enough self control to avoid this.

I loved these dudes:

The river otters were able to escape the heat, at least.

At 5, the zoo closes... and the Rides at City Park open!

There are about 10 kiddy rides and they're each a quarter per child to ride! What??!

We hit up the train first and enjoyed creating a breeze around the sunny pond:

I'm growing out my fringe. My hair is just too insane in this dry air to make it look tolerable!

Oh, the carousel is the exception to the 25 cent price...

...It costs 50 cents a ride.

I love free and cheep things! What a treasure!

Speaking of free and cheap things, we went to the local library branch for a second day in a row last week to participate in creative movement:

Later in the week, our furniture and washer and dryer arrived! Furnishing the kids with big boxes to play with. They spent quite a lot of time in their little city in the backyard. Here's a shot of the beginning of their submarine...


Now, it has windows and a front viewing pane.

Oh, and our efforts to rake and mow the yards continue. Pictures soon.

In fact, I'm thinking next week I might feel ready to show readers pictures of the whole house! I'm just trying to get more art on the walls and pick up the clutter, first.

Jon leaves for New Orleans tomorrow morning, for the American Society for Engineering Education conference. I have four days of solo parenting! But it'll be no sweat with all these cool things to do and our lovely home to nest in.

We're doing well, a bit tired from adjusting to the elevation and the time zone difference, but ok on the whole. We're tossing back gallons of water and trying to encourage the children to do the same. I am also, admittedly, a bit lonely. It's not that unusual for me to go 10 days without socializing, but I really feel the distance of all my friends and family and the almost complete lack of acquaintance here. I hope to meet some like-minded adult people soon!