Yee Haw and Howdy Folks

Every summer, Buffalo Bill Days come to Golden and we have enjoyed making it a tradition to attend the parade and festivities.

Here's a fun fact: Did you know that Buffalo Bills grave is on lookout mountain, just above Golden.  Yes, yes, it is.  I hear that he's buried in Cody, Wyoming too.  Isn't THAT amazing?!  I guess in the wild west days, if you could have a double barrel gun you can have a double burial.  Who knew?!

The Heineman's were professional paraders and they arrived early to get us a prime seat with curbside seating.  As an added bonus, all of our parade shots were framed with the Welcome to Golden Signs.

Howdy Folks, from Owen and Oliver.

Kellan likes to join in on the fun too.

After a Chinese fire drill around the letter B (see it written in chalk on the ground), they landed here with a YEE HAW!!

It was a roasty toasty 80 degrees and Kellan was tipping back some cold water.  Whew!  Living on the Wild Side.

The boys were glued to the parade AND their snow cones.

"Horses, Mommy, Horses"

Kellan couldn't get enough of the horses.

We always get excited to see the Coors truck that's compliments of Coors Distributing Company in Denver.

Throwing out some love for Coors

The Railroad Museum is always a hit too.

The Coors truck and the Railroad museum may be a hit, but in Kellan's mind, nothing compared to the endless Westerneer horses.

"HORSES!!"

With parades come LOTS of parade candy.

With a great time at a parade comes a very lenient Mommy and Daddy.

Kellan is adopting his own version of western style double draw action.

Who doesn't love a patriotic John Deere tractor?  It's the American way.

More and More candy.

The boys scouts were very prescripted on their candy distribution, unlike most of the other parade walkers.

The parade was a BIG hit.  We all loved it but you know what this Mama loves more?

Carnival Corn Dogs!

Next stop, the carnival, complete with lunch.

Mmmm... Carnival Corn Dogs.  LOVE THEM!

"Stick-em-Up if you dare get near my dog."

What's the second best?

Funnel Cake!!!

I hopped up to get two funnel cakes, one for us and one for the Martin's, who met us for the carnival.  

I'm sad to say that Oliver was the only one in the Ham Fam to join me in the love of funnel cake.  Kellan took one tiny nibble and declared it no good.  (That made me question if he was switched at birth because I don't think that's genetically possible to not like funnel cake).

Kristi was the good mom who cooled the funnel cake off or her boys.

Me, I just said "dive in, but be careful"

As hard as Oliver and I tried, we couldn't quite finish the whole funnel cake.

We really did try our best.

After lunch we finished off with some games and the one that all of the boys were dying to do was the big hammer game.  Is it in their DNA?

Oliver LOVED it and came away swinging with a Super Bat.

Kellan loved it too.

Kellan came away with a new blow up sword, which is clearly not pictured.

Once again, Buffalo Bill Days was a big hit for the Ham Fam.  We're already plotting next years parade arrival for a prime seating re-do followed by carnival corn dogs, funnel cake and hammer swinging.  

What a blast!!!

Pearl Street

On Sunday, we were in the mood for something different and away from the house, so we loaded up and headed 20 whole minutes away to Boulder's Pearl Street.

Our first order of business was dinner.  There is a sushi place that we love in Wash Park and they have a sister restaurant on Pearl Street so we thought that we would give it a try.  Sadly, it wasn't nearly as good of an experience as Wash Park, but we still enjoyed a sushi treat.  Even the boys gave it a try.  We did give them free reign to eat without utensils (chop sticks).  Oliver first tried salmon and then went for tuna.  He loved it!!!  (Our bank account is doomed!!!)

Kellan didn't love it, at all.

He did try a nibble, but in classic Kellan form, he had a few facial expressions to demonstrate his experience.

Go Big or Go Home!

After dinner (don't worry, the boys had plenty of other stuff to eat) we strolled down Pearl Street in search of ice cream and street performers.  The man in the box was out and I was the only one who had ever seen him.  We missed most of his show but we did see the grand finale, when he put himself in the box.

The kids were hooked and watched in wonder.

Ta-Da

Man in the Box

Being Sunday night, most of Pearl Street was packing up.  It looked that there had been an art festival with booths and this exhibit was on a side street.

Check it out, a larger than life flamingo.

Kellan was in love with this flamingo as well as the animals who's heads bobbed up and down.

He had a long chat with a friendly moose.

We finally settled on some ice cream and a bench to sit upon.

The ice cream was delish and the seat was perfect.  Little did we know, it came with a street performer view.

Oliver kept a sharp eye on the mysterious street performer.

Kellan kept a sharp eye on the ice cream.

Look very closely to the far left, under the green umbrella.  There was a statue that moved.

After watching from afar for 15 minutes, we went to watch in person.  As people gave her money, she would blow them a kiss.  In between that, she stood perfectly still.  Kellan cautiously gave her a dollar.

So cautious, I got a few photos.

When he came back to us and turned around, she blew him a kiss.

Next up was Oliver.  He was SO quick that I got one photo and it was on the return trip.

He too got a kiss from afar.

Our final destination was the splash pad.

This is how Kellan enjoyed most of our time at the splash pad.  Cautiously watching from the side line.

This is how Oliver spent his time at the splash pad.

Having the time of his life!!

I've always wanted to photograph the boys having fun at a splash pad and Oliver granted me that pleasure.  On our way home, we talked about our favorite moments of the evening and Daddy was right when he said that Mommy's favorite was probably taking photos as the splash pad.  He's absolutely right.  

This next serious of photos are PURE JOY!

PURE JOY in the most Raw Form!

LOVE IT!

LOVE HIM!

Kellan and Keith, they hung around the fence.  It was great fun too, in their own way.

Oliver carried on and loved every second of it.

Our Happy and Handsome Boy.

Love this guy!

What a great evening we had at Pearl Street.  It was just what the doctor ordered for rounding out our weekend with some new kind of family time.  We loved it!