A little bit of this and a little bit of that

15. Visit the Wild Animal Sanctuary

To celebrate our third wedding anniversary we took the day off on Tuesday and knocked a few items off our list. The first place we visited was the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg. The sanctuary is made up of 720 acres of land which is home to lions, tigers, and bears (oh, my!) as well as other large animals. These animals have all been rescued for different reasons such as people trying to raise them as pets, people trying to breed and sell them, abandoned animals from shut down circuses and zoos, etc.

 E and I went a few years ago and were pretty amazed at the improvements they have made since then. Our first trip there, we had the ability to walk through the central "holding area" (for lack of better description) where the new rescues are placed so they can get accustomed to their surroundings and get used to the other animals. There was a small bit of walkway overlooking the surrounding land but you couldn't see many of the animals in the open land around the central facility because they just weren't very close. Since our first trip there, they have expanded this overlook and there is now a mile long walkway that lets you walk over to the various animal habitats allowing much more opportunity to see the animals.

Baby bears playing in their little pen (and the big black bears in the background)

On our way out E asked the guy in the main entrance how the sanctuary got started because really, how do does one decide that they will rescue giant wild animals? When the owner of the sanctuary was nineteen years old he went on a tour of a zoo and was taken to an area in the back where a bunch of the older animals were being held in pens. He asked about them and the zookeeper told him that those were the animals waiting to be put down because they were too old and no longer useful to the zoo (keep in mind this was 30+ years ago). He decided to start a "retirement home" for these animals where they can live out the rest of their lives. He started the original sanctuary on his parents' farm in Boulder. Not long after that it was moved to Lyons where there was more land available. Eight years later he needed to expand again because of the number of animals he was taking in and the sanctuary moved to its current location in Keenesburg.



Interesting fact:  There are more tigers living as “pets” in just the state of Texas than currently exist in the wild all over the world. -- http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/aboutus/majorprograms.html

28. Go to the Swetsville Zoo in Fort Collins

After visiting the Wild Animal Sanctuary we stopped for lunch then went to Fort Collins to see the Swetsville Zoo. The Swetsville Zoo is not your typical zoo full of different animals. This zoo is made up of wild creatures (and Snoopy) crafted from scrap metal and junk parts. Bill Swets certainly shows that one man's junk is another man's treasure.

59. Have a theme party

C really doesn't get as much opportunity to play with other kids as I would like and there are also many of our friends that we don't see often enough so we decided to throw a "Kidlet Barbecue". We invited all of our friends with younger children to come over, hang out, and let the kids run wild with each other (or roll around and drool in some cases!). The parents got to catch up, meet new friends, and talk while the kids got to blow bubbles, go swimming, and play outside.

The boys swimming in the backyard

All in all, we had a pretty good turnout and it seems like everyone had a good time. We will probably try to do this again in the future.


86. Cook an artichoke

Cooking an artichoke was really a lot easier than I expected it to be. To prepare the artichoke I simply cut the stem, pulled off the bottom petals, cut off the top little bit of the artichoke (maybe 1/3 off the top) and cut the tips off the leaves. I brought a small amount of water to a boil then placed the artichoke in a steam basket for about 40 minutes. Once the leaves were easy to pull off I melted some butter (and added some garlic powder to it) and proceeded to enjoy the artichoke. Next time around I might actually try to season the artichoke with lemon, oil, or something else to give it a bit more flavor.

94. Buy flowers once a month for the house

95. Watch 26 movies we've never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet

IMDb - American Reunion

E checked out American Reunion from the library so we watched it one night. They did an awesome job with this movie. It was just as funny as American Pie. The best part about this movie is that they managed to bring back the entire cast. This really made a difference and made it that much more enjoyable because it really was a reunion of the cast. I will admit, I saw body parts belonging to Jason Biggs that I really wish I hadn't seen, but I suppose I should have expected that from an American Pie movie. All in all, very good movie.

IMDb - The Dark Knight Rises

We also went to the theaters to see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX. So before I give you my brief thoughts on the movie, let me give you a review of the Westminster Promenade movie theater. Since the last time we saw a movie there, they added a bar (yep, a bar), and did a serious overhaul of the concessions stand. You can now get gourmet popcorn, fill your drink from the touch screen soda dispensers, and get a real meal (not just nachos and Icees). They did a really nice job with it. Now back to the movie. Action and comic book movies are not typically my first pick so I wasn't overly enthusiastic about going to see it. However, just like with the first two I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I don't know why I love him so much, but I do. I'm pretty sure I would love any movie with him. (By the way, if you haven't seen 50/50 yet, drop what you are doing and go get it). The Dark Knight Rises keeps you interested and entertained the whole time. That's pretty good considering it's a 3 hour long movie. Two thumbs up from me.



8. Visit the Royal Gorge

Yesterday we made a trip down to Cañon City to visit the Royal Gorge Bridge. Cañon City is about an hour south of Colorado Springs. I was a little nervous about going up around noon because the temperature was supposed to get up to the nineties, but luckily the wind kept us pretty cool (see picture below).

Windy

The Royal Gorge Bridge is one of the world's highest suspension bridges that hangs over the Arkansas river. As I said before it was pretty windy. Strong Wind + Suspension Bridge = Swaying Bridge. Walking across it was a little bit creepy because you feel the bridge wobbling under your feet, but you get over it pretty quick. There is more to see than just the bridge. The park has lots of little shops, rides for the kids, train rides, and even a free-fall ride. Unfortunately C misbehaved the entire time so we didn't get to try most of the attractions that were included in the admission price, but he did get to go on his very first Carousel ride (and then second ride when he started crying when we tried to take him off), plus take a ride on a little mini train.

83. Try a new recipe every month (3)

My parents have a peach tree in their backyard and my mom asked me to bake a bunch of stuff to freeze for the holidays before the peaches went bad. When she was loading me up with baking ingredients she pulled out some old unopened molasses bottles and asked if I could use the molasses up too. Since I haven't actually tasted how the peach recipes turned out, this month's recipe will be the Cinnamon Molasses Muffins. I found the recipe on pinterest. It was really very simple to make and turned out really well. They aren't very sweet like a lot of muffins turn out to be. For the recipe, click the picture's caption below.

Cinnamon Molasses Muffins