Weekend Recap, Vol. 5

Good morning, friends! How was your weekend?

As some of you may know, Allen’s brother Galen was visiting us from Montana this past week, and it was so great to spend time with him and get to know him better. (You are welcome any time, Galen!) On Saturday, I was so excited to extend this bonding time with the Ream family to Allen’s older sister, Kerry and her family. Kerry has three younger children, so we decided to meet at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as a fun, yet practical way to meet everyone. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a science museum? (Adults, included.)

First things first, breakfast. And by now you should know that breakfast on the road for us means Einstein bagels.

I usually go savory, but instead opted for sweet this particular morning. Meet the cinnamon sugar bagel, complete with warm, melted butter. Mmmmm…

A quick hop onto the highway and 40 minutes later, we arrived at the Denver Science Museum. It’s really great having Denver so close to Boulder. When I was living in College Station, TX, we considered Houston to be close at 2 hours away. So Denver feels like a guilty pleasure to me now, and a luxury I don’t ever want to give up.

Saturday turned out to be gorgeous! It was blue skies (and snowy mountains)  as far as the eyes could see. Allen thought it would be hilarious to shake the mamoth’s foot like he was making a business deal. He cracks me up sometimes ALL the time.

Can you see the snow on the mountains in the background?! My heart is jumping for joy with ski season approaching!

I knew it was going to be a good museum when we walked in and saw this dancing dinosaur! Ok, ok, so it wasn’t actually dancing, but  doesn’t he look like he’s gettin’ down to the groove?

We arrived at the museum a little before Kerry and her family, so we went ahead and got started with the space exhibit. No surprise there, right?

This was a panel from the Orion spacecraft, used in one of the very first flight tests. This panel actually flew!

One of my favorite exhibits was an animation showing how the nuclear particles from the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant spread across the globe. It’s devastating what happened, of course, but from a scientific standpoint, very interesting to see how quickly and wide spread the particles traveled.

As we were exploring more of the space exhibit, Kerry and her family found us. (It’s like she knows us.) There was this really neat activity room where kids could go to dress up like astronauts. I was really jealous that her younger daughter, Evelyn, was small enough to wear one. They should really make them in adult sizes, too!

Next, we went to the Poison Exhibit. Allen kept making weird “rock on” hand gestures and playing the air guitar. It wasn’t until I saw this video later that I understood. Wrong Poison, babe. But entertaining to the rest of us, nonetheless.

I love learning about animals in nature and especially about what makes them different and the scientific reasons behind it. So seeing these live poison frogs was a real treat! This species of frog gets their toxicity from the bugs they eat. But because these frogs in particular are fed non-toxic crickets while in captivity, they actually aren’t poisonous at all. Interesting, right?

There was also a cute little show in the poison exhibit where a scientist demonstrated how the test for arsenic poisoning was developed back in the ye-old century. It’s essentially a chemical reaction that brings solid arsenic out of solution. Prior to this experiment, there was no way of proving arsenic poisoning in court. We can thank development of this test for keeping angsty grandsons from poisoning their grandfathers to get their inheritance sooner. Very glad this isn’t as much of an issue today.

Next was the Health Exhibit, which turned out to be a crowd favorite. I think it may have been the all the exercising involved in the activities–you know how boys love to run around and make a ruckus. Here, Allen and Kerry’s oldest son Owen bike to find their target heart rates. Because Allen put his age in as 69, the computer kept telling him to slow down and to not overexert himself. Oh Allen.

True love is making butt prints on a giant pin art board. (Notice: “This room is especially for kids ages five and under…” We’re kids at heart.)

A little farther into the health exhibit, there was a rock wall teaching kids bout muscle movement. So naturally, Allen and Galen raced each other around it.

A precious moment of Kerry’s children, Jacob and Evelyn, and her husband, Brian, extracting DNA in the Biotechnology Lab area. This museum has such great hands-on science resources for kids if you haven’t been! (It’s great for adults too! 😉 )

The shortest battle there ever was. In this experiment, the person with the most relaxed brain waves, magnetically pushes a ball to the other person’s goal line. When I sat down and tried it with Allen, it took all of 30 seconds for him to win. What can I say? I’ve got a lot on my mind with graduate school (and an exam I was supposed to be doing). But then Galen tried after me and from the moment they started, the ball was headed straight for Galen’s goal. It took Allen maybe 10 seconds max to overtake Galen. So I don’t feel so bad. I think Allen is just ridiculously easy-going and more carefree overall. Kerry was the only one to dethrone Allen from his brain-waving reign. More power to you guys. We could probably learn a thing or two from you about relaxing.

Meeting Kerry and her family was so, so great!! Kerry is super bubbly and fun to be around and I can’t wait to see more of her and her family in the future! It’s a real blessing to have them living only a short drive away. (Let’s go hiking soon!)

On our way out of the museum, we took a slight detour to the Gems and Minerals Exhibit. Here are a few of the prettiest snaps I took on our stroll through the caves.

Above, aquamarine is the official gemstone of Colorado, coveted by Coloradan geologists in particular because it tells of the conditions under which mountains, such as Mt. Antero, were formed.

Overall, we loved the museum!!! In fact, we are already planning a return trip soon. There was so much we didn’t even get to! Again, #nerds.

By the end of our time at the museum, we were starving. And because Galen was leaving to go back to Montana in the morning, we knew we needed to treat him to our favorite Golden burger joint…Bob’s Atomic Burgers!! It’s roughly the equivalent of a Which Wich, where you select exactly what kind of sandwich you want right on the wrapper, but for burgers instead. And fantastic burgers at that.

Naturally, the chocolate malt addiction continues… But in all honesty, their chocolate malt is the best.

I went a little crazy and added guacamole to my burger that was already piled high with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and pepperjack cheese. Seriously, so good. If you are in the area, and haven’t tried it, you need to!

After lunch, we drove back to Boulder and had a group nap session. (Because good food does that to you.) That evening I spent the rest of my time working on an exam that was due Monday. Crazy Saturday night, I know. It’s the grad student life.

On Sunday, we woke up at the crack of dawn for pictures with Cheyenne in Denver. We also said our farewells to Galen as he made the long 10 hour drive back to Montana.

One of my favorite things about waking up so early on the weekend is seeing the beautiful colors of the sky as the sun rises. These two shots, no joke, both happened on the same morning within 30 minutes of each other. Beautiful, no?

We arrived in Denver 30 minutes early, so Allen and I stopped into a Starbucks to get some coffee (aka “morning milkshake” for Allen and “wake up elixir” for Kristin). We just happened to stumble upon the most luxurious Starbucks I have ever been in. It had a fireplace and beautiful wooden and stone accents throughout. And the prettiest Edison light bulb fixtures, which are my favorite! I could’ve curled up with a nice book and stayed there all morning.

Around 8 am, we met with Cheyenne for pictures (coming to the blog soon–get excited!) . The Cherry Creek area is so beautiful. So afterwards, Allen and I walked around a bit in the gorgeous weather before heading back to Boulder. We wanted to eat at Syrup, which was only a block or two away. But with the 45 minute wait (you know it’s gotta be good)  and the exam breathing down my neck, we opted to have lunch in Boulder instead.

Allen found a statue of a mountain lion and gave his best impression for the camera.

If you know me or Allen, you know that we both love Antonio’s pizza in College Station. It is the best pizza-by-slice place I’ve been to (including those in New York). I’m still craving the potato cheddar rosemary pizza. Goodness, what I would give for a slice of that right now. But I digress… We’ve been on the hunt for a similar spot in Colorado, and I think we may have hit gold with Boss Lady Pizza in Boulder.

Boss Lady Pizza has such unique flavors, and great quality pizza too! I tried the mac ‘n cheese pizza and the bbq hamburger pizza, while Allen tried the Philly cheesesteak pizza and the Greek pizza. And my goodness, were they delicious! The mother-daughter duo was incredibly endearing too–they were just the sweetest people! A very down-to-earth place, and a fantastic way to spend lunch on a semi-lazy Sunday afternoon.

This mac ‘n cheese pizza though. So good.

After lunch, we went home and I worked on my test for the remainder of the afternoon and evening and morning (oops). But we had such a blast this weekend, and I particularly loved meeting Kerry and her family. What about you? Did you do anything fun this past weekend? I’d love to know!

In case you are interested, here is my last weekend recap. As always, feel free to leave comments below! If you’re interested in getting posts sent straight to your inbox, subscribe in the sidebar with your email. Or follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Bloglovin’.