Botanical Gardens in Winter--posted by katie

Yes, it was about as crazy as it sounds. But the inside was nice :) All the ladies of our family went along with Uncle Mike. Much fun was had by all...

The very first picture I took.
I took tons of flower pictures (Ali, I know you're in heaven) so bear with me!




Trishie and Ellie
I'm not sure what this is (Ellie took this).

Tulips are simply gorgeous...
I didn't like this flower, but Mary insisted we take a picture of it.







Mike and Mary.






Ellie, Mom, and Mary.

We were all enthralled with this huge indoor tree--until we found out it was FAKE! Yep, they put a fake tree and then glued all these live plants onto it. Anyway, this picture was taken before we found out the horrible truth.

The gift shop was the highlight, as you can maybe tell. There were so many fun hats! From left to right: Mary, Katie (me), Patricia, Mike, Elizabeth.
The ladies.
The vases (Mary took this).
More hats!
These next couple are the outside pictures. Let me just say that it was dreary and very un-botanical garden-like. Never again will I go outside in a botanical garden during the winter months of Colorado.
However, this picture made the outside experience worth it. Seriously, when I was editing this picture I actually flipped it the other way and thought it was right-side up; until I noticed that the TOP was a little blurry. Anyway, I LOVE this picture...

There was another picture of a really cool sidewalk made totally out of the same kind of rock but I accidentally deleted it :( So just imagine it in your mind... It was swirls of rock--very neat.

God bless!

Skiing for the VERY FIRST TIME!--posted by katie

Yep, the Cochrans actually went skiing for the very first time a couple weeks ago! Our cousins, who are avid skiers, were in town and had a blast (at least, I hope they had a blast!) teaching us. Unfortunately I never got any pictures of the actual ski time because my camera ran out of batteries on the way there :( But here a couple car shots...

Aunt Anne and Danielle.
The, um, back seat *no comment*
A couple of views...
Well skiing was great, even if I personally felt outdone by all my (younger) siblings. Oh well--it wasn't the first time (like when we went ice skating, I was totally holding the side the entire time and everybody else was speeding around like they'd been born on ice *no fair!*). So anyway, it was great. The only down-side were the SKI LIFTS. Those things scare me so bad... I hate heights and kept on picturing what would happen if I went plunging... Oh, and Patricia, my mom, and I accidentally got on the wrong ski lift and went seriously as high as is possible for human beings to go. We were right at the Continental Divide! I attempted to ski down the hill but totally wiped out so then the three of us waited for a snow-mobile to come rescue us and, actually, riding that was more fun than skiing! Anyway, it was an experience I will never forget--for good and bad reasons :)

An Outing to the Denver Zoo

I know this is way late, but about a month ago Mary, my mom, and I went to the Denver Zoo. All the kids had gone about a week before, but Mary liked it so much that she wanted to go again :) Dad joined us later on...

Isn't this just the most adorable white fox you've ever seen (or maybe it's the ONLY white fox you've ever seen *laugh*).
I wouldn't want to get near that one without a fence!
Tons of geese!
The male polar bear is on the bottom and the female is on the rock. It was kind of sad because the female was afraid of that bullying old male so she wouldn't come down :(
This lizard made me laugh.
Gorgeous peacock feathers...
That fox again :)
This goose was cute with his head on his back--wow, he has a pillow wherever he goes!
This peacock is definitely living up to its reputation of being vain--take a look at the thing! I would bet he's actually posing...
After looking at the animals, we de-thawed inside the gift shop. A large stuffed bear held our attention. Mary and Dad smile under it :)
Mary.
And I was persuaded pose with the bear as well. Adios!