A Family Trip to the Butterfly Pavillion!

Today we went to the breakfast then to the Butterfly Pavillion and had a great time seeing all the bugs! Now that Madison is down to one solid, good nap a day we have the whole first part of the day to do fun activities...it's great! We all had a fun time learning and exploring! It was a great day!

Ready to learn about bugs!

Looking at the bugs with daddy

Reading about the cockroach

"You want me to do WHAT lady?!? You're crazy!"

Madison was a lot less fearful than I was and actually pointed to "Rosie" the tarantula...daddy was no where to be found! He is TERRIFIED of spiders :)

Madison the trantula head!

This picture is out of order, but I still wanted to share it...one of the things that Madison LOVED doing in the outside pavillion area was crossing the bridges. Now that she is a professional walker she is daring by climbing up and down slopes :)

A neat picture with our new camera (well, Christmas new...)

A little clown fish

Madison loved following the fish while they swam

A HUGE starfish!

Madison got to touch one of the starfish

She really wanted to splash in the water, but she couldn't...

Having fun with our camera...

The different colors were amazing!

There were SO many different kinds of butterflies! It was neat to see how many different ones we could count

Madison of course found a drain cover to play with...

"What?!? Isn't this a toy?"

A walkin' girl!

A cute pose :)

Looks like a dragon!

We had a great family day and thought that the Butterfly Pavillion was a fun place to visit!

Playdate at the Children's Museum!

On Friday, we went to the Denver Children's Museum with our friends Dru and Miss Emery! The girls are close in age and great little buddies. We always have so much fun with them, and the girls loved exploring all the different activities at the museum.

Putting on a puppet show

Dressing up

Playing with magnetic alphabet pictures

Such a beautiful blue tutu Miss Emery!

Emery was first to find these rainbow ribbons and loved to shake them

Hi cute girl!

Madison liked the rainbow ribbons too!

Climbing into the critter's house

Madison liked spinning these brightly colored flowers, but was very confused as to why this older boy kept putting them back into perfect shape and would not let her spin them...so she just watched him :)

She is such a brave girl...this was a dark "underground" tunnel and she just crawled right in! She gets that daring side from her daddy!

Playing in another critter's house

Climbing up the bumpy hill!

Peek-a-Boo! Another tunnel she found

After the museum we went to the Aquarium for lunch and the girls loved looking at all the fish and sharks!

They couldn't keep their eyes off of those fish...they were so cool!

Random Fun!

Madison is now 13 months old...so hard to believe! As if she wasn't already "Little Miss Personality" she is becoming more fun and more silly by the day! We love all the amazing moments with her and all the fun we have!

Last week, we had a fun morning walk and playdate with our friends Bethany and Quinn. Madison and Quinn both love to swing and since they are "true Colorado girls" we bundled them up and took them down to the park for a little fun after our walk!

Swinging is so much fun! (Quinn on the left and Madison on the right)

"Mom PLEASE!! Can't I eat in peace without a darn picture?!?"

Such a BIG girl now! Eating with a fork and spoon (a little messy still!) and drinking milk from a cup (not her favorite thing all the time, but she does it!)

Playing outside in her "Little Pink Lady" outfit! Such an unsure face though!

A little hip pose :)

Our cute girl!

Making something tasty in her new kitchen

Still making that yummy meal!

Madison loves to put on my jewlery but quickly became frustrated when she could not get this necklace off!

Madison and her friend Elliot playing farm animals

Melanie's 30th Birthday Weekend in Las Vegas!

Last week, January 9th, I turned 30...yikes! I hear from almost everybody that the 30s are better than the 20s, so bring it on! I'm ready! For the big day, Matt surprised me with a trip to Las Vegas and my parents watched Madison for the weekend...our first time away from her. While it was very wierd to be without her and we missed her terribly, I have to admit that it was nice to focus on us again and have a little break. We also knew that Madison was in good hands and having a great time! While in Vegas, Matt and I enjoyed visiting all the amazing hotels, eating world class food, walking The Strip, drinking great wine while enjoy the incredible views, and pulling a few slots (not many though...we are not gamblers). Overall, we had a great trip and I had a wonderful 30th birthday!

Cesar's Palace...a HUGE hotel with great shopping!

One of the bakerys that we walked by had these amazing little desserts...we shared a chocolate one!

Pulling my one slot!

Birthday morning...ready to walk The Strip.

One of Vegas' new hotels is called City Center. It's actually a cluster of 3 hotels and this was some of the amazing decor in the Cosmo hotel. Vegas hotels are incredible to look at!!

Outside the Bellagio...see my extra wrinkles that 30 gave me?!?

We had lunch at one of Wolfgang Puck's many Vegas resturants...it was in the Venitian hotel and we got to enjoy lunch in "Italy"

Watching the gondolier rides in "Venice"

Such a cheesy picture, but I had too...holding up the BIG 3-0

Right before sunset we went to the Eiffle Tower Resturant and sat at the bar which overlooked The STrip and the Bellagio Hotel fountain show. It was an incredible view, we talked with a nice couple, and enjoyed great wine...it was so relaxing! Not a care in the world!

The fountain show

Watching the fountains as the sun set

"The Eiffle Tower" at night

"Italy" at night

My Vegas present...

We stayed at the New York New York hotel...its amazing! We were too scared to ride the roller coster, but we had a great view of it and The Strip from our room.