Fun at White Fence Farm

Years ago, when I lived in Chicago, our family would occasionally go to a restaurant called White Fence Farm. It's a family-style restaurant that serves classic Southern & American foods like hush-puppies and fried chicken. Imagine our surprise when we moved here and discovered there is a different White Fence Farm restaurant in the Denver area. Shortly after we moved here, we surprised my grandma with a trip out to White Fence Farm. I haven't been back since.

...until last week. We met with friends for dinner. I'd forgotten how kid-friendly it is! They have a petting zoo and a giant slide. There is a little market attached, too, and there was live music playing. Santa is there on some weekend days close to Christmas, but he wasn't there when we visited.

The kids and our friends all got a chicken dinner. Andrew and I selected the vegetarian option, which is unlimited sides and a baked potato. Normally, side dishes aren't all that exciting, but White Fence Farm has a really good bean salad. With the hush puppies, coleslaw, and baked potato, I felt quite satiated. We don't take the kids out to eat very often, so they don't have much experience sitting at a restaurant, waiting for food. At home, they don't have to sit down until food is on the table. Because everything is family-style, the food came out almost immediately. It made dining out really easy. The kids were good and earned a wooden nickel, which they got to cash in at a treasure chest. The treasure chest is filled with blue & pink sealed envelopes, which contain prizes. Oliver got a monkey stamp, which he was thrilled about, and Joanna got these hilarious disguise glasses.

She heard us talking about Oliver's monkey stamp, and she got it in her head that her mask was a monkey mask. She wouldn't take it off and kept making monkey noises to people. "Ooh ooh! Ahh ahh!" People were fawning all over her because she was so cute & funny.

Here are the kids hanging out with the Thomas Jefferson statue. Joanna liked the shoes.

Oliver surprised me by loving the slide. It is really big and fast. There's even a height requirement for it! We also went out and fed the animals. The animals were all inside their barn until they heard the crank of the food machine. They came running! The goats were surprisingly friendly, but the cow was a big bully when it came to the food.

Rampart Park: Shady Playground

While Kendrick Lake Park is my favorite playground to take the kids to in the fall and winter, Rampart Park is our park of choice in the summer.  It's the only park I've found nearby that is nicely shaded.  I don't have to worry about Oliver getting burned by the equipment.  Oliver has gotten burned on many playgrounds here, even as early as 9am.  He actually still refuses to go down slides, and it's been months since he was scalded on the slide at Kendrick Lake Park.  The direct sun here is just so brutal.  

Check out the shaded playground equipment!

The only downside to this playground is that we've never seen another kid here. Not one. We come a few times a week in the summer, and it's always deserted. I wish there were

Surfside Splash Park

A new splash park is in town!  Surfside opened just a few weeks ago on 9th, just west of Sheridan.  We finally made the trip to check it out on Sunday.  

I'm glad we made the trip!  The splash park is amazing!  Like Ray Ross Park, this splash pad is an oasis in an otherwise questionable area.  Unlike Ray Ross Park, this splash pad isn't free.  They charge $1 per person, but the fee is definitely worth it.  They have lifeguards on duty and everything.

We set our things down on one of the many picnic tables under the pavilion.  There was a really nice, gas grill installed by the seating area.

I spoke with one of the lifeguards and learned it's only for private groups.  You can rent out the whole splash park for $90 for two hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.  She told me they're actually booked solid for the rest of the season.  I could see why.  This would be a great place for a party or reunion.  She told me guests are welcome to use any of the charcoal grills during regular hours, though.

Here's Oliver checking out some of the water features when we arrived.  He was pretty uncertain about a lot of it at first.

I tried to give him a pep talk to run through the water.  When that didn't work, I picked him up and ran through everything myself.

He slowly, slowly warmed up to everything.  We learned that some of those tall water features could rotate.  Oliver was able to rotate even the large ones himself.

There was a tunnel to run through that spritzed water everywhere.

Jo's checking out the water, too.

Check out all the fun to be had at this splash pad!  Incredible!  
Oliver started to get into the fun!  In the background of this picture, you can see a kid using a green water cannon behind Oliver.  There were two.  Kids could aim them at each other and get each other soaked.  They spun, so kids could aim it all over the splash park.  The neat thing was: the water pressure dropped when they were aimed at the benches.  So, parents sitting on the benches don't have to worry about getting soaked.

Off to the side was a water feature set up for kids to explore.  It reminded me a lot of the Children's Museum, actually.  Kids could dam up water flow with foam walls, and then open them back up again.  The surge of water would make the water wheels spin.  It's incredibly interactive and fun.

Oliver, of course, wanted to understand how everything worked.  He loved exploring all the things to do.

I took a video of the little guy in action:



We went back to the main area to get wet!  One water feature was essentially a funky looking bucket.  It would fill with water and then tip under the weight of itself.  Oliver loved watching it fill and dump over and over again.  He was too scared to stand under it himself, so I "helped" him:

In this video, you can see the bucket dumping, followed by Oliver spinning one of the water features.



I think it's safe to say that we had a great time.

Oliver Scales the Climbing Wall

Spring

About a mile north of our house is a Starbucks right at our main reservoir. We can stop for a cup of coffee and take a stroll, and I love it.

Today was the first time Oliver walked around the whole thing himself. It's a mile around, and he usually wants to be held near the end. I was so proud of him for walking the entire thing. He's such a big boy!

Back to the Patch 2011

Andrew and I took Oliver back to the patch today, this time to pick out a pumpkin!  The pumpkin patch we go to is at Bear Creek Church in Lakewood, and the money benefits Bear Creek High school.

A woman and her teenage daughter were running the stand today, and, I'm telling you, that girl has a future as a used car salesman! She kept cornering me to discuss which pumpkin we were going to purchase, preventing me from spending time with Andrew and Oliver and from taking the pictures I'd hoped to capture. A few times, I thought I successfully ditched her, but she'd pop up again to remind me that she can hold a pumpkin for me while we continue looking. What a nightmare! I wish I was a more assertive person so I could have just said, "Thanks for your assistance, but we've got it from here. I'm going to take some more photos, and then we'll choose our pumpkin." Oh well. We'll get a family shot at the patch next year!

Bear Creek Lake Park

Andrew wanted to take Oliver for a hike, so we headed out for Lair of the Bear. On the way, we passed Bear Creek Lake Park. It's about four miles from our home, and we've been meaning to check it out to see what the campground is like. We decided to spend the afternoon there instead.

Unlike most parks and open spaces in Jefferson County, Bear Creek Lake Park had an entrance fee. It's $5 a carload, which isn't so bad. As we drove into the park, there were forested areas for hiking and picnicking. We went further in to Big Soda Lake, which advertised a swim beach. It was quite the place! There was a playground, a bike rental shop, beach volleyball, and a swim beach full of kids. Further down was a dock for boaters and a place to rent boats.

Oliver wasn't dressed for swimming, but I'd brought an extra outfit along just in case. Thankfully, I'd put sunscreen on him before leaving the house, too. Andrew took Oliver straight down to the water. At first, Oliver protested because he wanted to go to the playground. Once he discovered the rocks along the shore, his attitude changed for the better.

He found more rocks!

Quick family shot:

Dredging up rocks from the water to throw:

I had to get back in the shade! Here are more photos of my two wonderful guys:

Oliver loved it when Andrew dipped him into the water:

We were only there for about half an hour, but for a toddler, that was enough time! He came back happy and worn out. We peeled off his lake-water clothes and let him pee in the back of Andrew's car (in the potty, of course).

After getting settled back into the car, we drove to check out the campsites.

I was very disappointed to find out that the campsites weren't in the forested area. In fact, there was no shade around the tent area whatsoever. It was just prairie. That would be a hot, miserable, and public place to camp. All the tents were close to each other, too, which meant that if Oliver got fussy while camping, he'd disturb all of the other campers. Boo.

As we drove on, we found two yurts. One was in the sun, but the other was in a shaded area, away from the other tents. How cool would it be to rent a yurt? Andrew and I made a mental note to try it out one day! Maybe we'll do it next season when Baby Girl is with us.

Bear Creek

Andrew and I took Oliver to the creek behind out house today. Part of the outing involved us working on being firm and teaching him to walk in public. Oliver frequently refuses to walk when we're outside of our home and will do whatever it takes (tantrums, screaming, whatever) to get us to pick him up and carry him. This outing was no different. When we were about 20 yards from the creek, we set him down and started to walk. Oliver stood and said, "Up!" I told him that he was going to walk. He tried saying, "Up," a few more times. We told him no, that he was going to walk with us.

Oliver had a tantrum in the middle of the trail. We were consistent and even stern at times. Other times, we were loving and sat and held him. We didn't give in and carry him. It took at least twenty minutes, but he finally walked on his own. OK, so he crawled most of the way, but then he walked. I thought for sure we'd end up caving before he did, but we managed to stay strong. I felt very good as a parent, knowing that consistency won out. Our little guy really needs to learn to walk in public, and I want to teach him to do so before he's a big brother.

Once he made it to the creek, I think he decided it was worth it. Here he is with Andrew checking out the creek:

Enough with watching the water. Oliver decided it was time to throw rocks into it!

Oliver asked his daddy to take him "in." Andrew confirmed with Oliver that he wanted to go into the creek. Oliver answered emphatically, "Yeah!" And that's how my two favorite guys ended up in the creek:

Andrew and Oliver came back to shore. After a minute on land, Oliver decided he wanted to go back into the creek. He had no fear and didn't wait for Dad, who had to scurry to catch him:

In the end, Oliver had so much fun. Andrew had just as much fun, and I think he's excited to take Oliver again soon. Sometimes, we get a little jealous when we see little kids out walking around and even doing easy hikes with their parents. Today was a small victory that will (hopefully) lead to being able to do those things with him.