We took a trip to the Wildlife Experience Museum in Parker, Colorado. It has to be one of the coolest places on earth to spend an afternoon with your family.
And we got to experience it with two families! There was Dave, Bill, Alexi, Linda's William, Jack, My William, and Linda.
That's six men and a lady... oh yeah, and me, the photographer.
Watching the men do their things was awesome.
Age was no barrier to the male bonding I watching occur right before my eyes.
And when you get that many men together, things just start happening.
Like climbing all over the rocks when there is a very polite sign up front that says, "Please don't climb on the rocks."
And then there are moments like this...
I'm not sure what to say about this one.
I'm just glad I never saw the movie Birds, or I might be subject to reoccurring nightmares of Dave running down the street with birds pecking at his head.
And this...
I think every man - no matter how old - has a little bit of I-want-to-be-a-super-hero in him.
I'm thinkin' if Spiderman can do it... so can they.
And fly... who doesn't want to fly!
Courtesy of a zip-line with wings, we all got to try flying.
As the day unfolded, I noticed how the female's role on an outing with six men is to corral, temper if possible, and unassumingly assist the weaker males in an effort to build up their maleness when needed.
It's a noble role... and just plain necessary.
At the Wildlife Experience, the men had moments filled with awe as they took the time to remember that the world is a fascinating place full of so much more than their daily lives usually reveal.
And even moments of deep contemplation...
...as they tried to bridge seeing an exhibit of the animals in a simulated habitat and imagining the actual animals playing... running... sleeping... surviving out in their real habitat.
It is these type of memories... these type of experiences... I want to remember...
...and record.
Such as my little man eating Skittles...
...and posing by his favorite animal in the whole world.
Then there was the wonder of the run away fish.
...of the technology that brings not only the museum alive, but its visitors as well.
And the silly and absurd.
Those get-down-from-there-but-first-let-me-take-a-picture moments - when you're not sure if scolding or laughing is the appropriate response.
For the whole afternoon, the six men wandered. They read and listened... and watched... and studied...and ran... and goofed off.
I could see on the lady's face a heartfelt smile...
...as she watched and remembered, Those are my men.
Then as we headed home the lady was reminded just one more time what it meant to be a gaggle of six men when she said...
Stick together and watch out for cars.
---Happy 15th Birthday, Alexi !
