Colorado!

This year is the first year I think we have taken a trip over Memorial Day weekend.  Greg happened to get off a few extra days and I was still on maternity leave and Greg's parents were in Alaska for a month so we decided to head west for a change and go to Colorado.  Originally we were going to tent it but the weather was calling for rain and fairly cold temps up in the mountains.  With a little baby and for our first tenting trip on our own we decided this was not a good time to try it.  We ended up deciding on Denver and visiting friends in Greeley.  

Our drive up was really fun.  I got the boys a few new little things to play with in the car, like sticker books, they had their own back pack with toys in it, and we got books on take to listen to.  We also had our lap top with movies and the tablet we got used from a friend that only has kid friendly stuff on it, but the kids did so well we didn't watch any movies and they each only had about an hour or less on the tablet!  We had packed our own food and pop in a cooler and had another box filled with snacks to help keep us all happy and we stopped and played at a nice rest stop for lunch.  When we got close to Denver we all kept watching for those mountains over each big hill but unfortunately it was rainy and very cloudy so we couldn't really see them until we were almost in Denver.  Once we got to our hotel though we had a nice view from our window!

The hotel was really nice and we got a good price on it through priceline.com but I almost wished we had used one of the express deals instead of the name your own price so that we could have chosen one that had everything we wanted.  They were very gracious though and brought us up a fridge to keep our things cold and they had a pool that we tried out once (Aaron was not a fan of the way the noise was amplified in there and so Sarah and Aaron and I ended up going back to our room while Greg and Luke swam).  

There are lots of things to do in Denver, and I remembered a lot of fun things from when I was a kid that I wanted to share with the boys.  Some are definitely more expensive than others and we didn't get to nearly all the cool things around but we took it at our own pace and had a really good time.  The first day we went to the Nature and Science Museum.  This was a favorite of ours when I was a kid because it has lots of big dinosaur bones and a really interactive health area.

Awesome T-rex!

Their gems and minerals area is pretty cool too but most of it is pretty dark so not easy to get good pics.  Aaron got so excited that he got away from us for a bit and got scared.  I could actually still see him but in his panic he started running in the opposite direction from me so I had to go chase after him.  After that he and I had a good snuggle and a long talk about staying with mom and dad and what to do if you can't find us.  Poor little guy did really good at staying close after that!

The dinosaur exhibit!

Above a mother stegosaurus protects her baby from and allosaurus. 

They had a laboratory where real scientists were working on real dinosaur bones and fossils.

I didn't get hardly any pics in the health area except for this one of Greg and Sarah.  Before you enter the health area each person gets a little card that looks like a credit card.  You stick it in the first machine and enter some information about yourself, your gender and age and name etc.  Then you go through the exhibit and there are lots of different areas where you put your card into different machines and it measures your heart rate or your height and arm span or you ride a bike and see how your pulse goes up with exercise, etc. and it teaches you about how your body works.  So cool and both the boys loved it!  At the end it prints out a card about you and your health that you can take home with you.    

We spent a fair amount of time in traffic jams, all the summer road work.  Going by the Bronco's stadium made Greg wish we were there during football season.  (-:

The kids did great with all the driving.  Luke is finally old enough to play the alphabet game and Aaron would join in yelling out random letters!  Big cities are great places to play the alphabet game, eastern Colorado and western Kansas, not so much.  (-;

Our second day in Denver we went to tour the Hammond's Candy Factory.  The tour wasn't anything riveting, especially for the kids, but it was short enough that they didn't get too bored and at the end you got free candy samples and of course we bought a bunch of candy in the store too!   

After the Candy factory we drove up to Greeley to visit good friends Kara Lee and Ryan Haines.  Kara Lee was one of my best friends at Hesston College and it was SOOOOO GOOOD to reconnect with her!  Unfortunately that first night Ryan had to DJ and didn't get back until the early morning but we took Kara Lee out for supper and then she and I had good long talks both nights after the kids were in bed.  I wish we lived closer and got to see each other more often (I think the last time was about 6 years ago when Luke was a baby), but even after 6 years it felt like we could just pick right back up where we left off.  I love that girl!  (And Ryan is pretty great too!)

The next day the boys played outside in the morning, just good normal imaginative play.  Aaron made a "fire" on the front porch...

...while Luke made a fort under their tree...

......and Sarah and I enjoyed the swing.  (-:

While the kids and I were outside Greg and Kara tried out some of the caramel we got at the candy factory on some popcorn.  We should probably have looked up how to on the internet, and then let it sit overnight before eating it, but it was yummy anyway (even if a bit soggy).  (-:  

Once Ryan got back from church (Sunday) we all headed to Denver in our van and went to the Aquarium!  This was by far our most expensive outing but it was a lot of fun and I am glad we did it.

Ryan and Luke were quick buddies!

The otters were pretty cool doing back flips against the glass over and over again!

There was also a submarine that you could control and it had a camera in it to look at fish in that aquarium up close.  Ryan, Luke and Greg had fun making it bump into fish!

I love all the colorful fish and things that we don't get in the middle of the country.  (-:  

Nemo!

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Jaws!

After the aquarium we hung out for a bit at a Starbucks and then headed over to Casa Bonita for supper.  As a kid this we pretty much a yearly thing, go to Colorado and eat at Casa Bonita.  It is a supper cool restaurant with all kinds of live shows, a 30ft waterfall, divers, a guy in a gorilla suite, an arcade, pinatas, puppet shows, a spooky cave to walk through, live music, etc.  I think we all had a blast and it turns out that Luke is an ace at ski ball.  (-:  

Kara Lee and Ryan are both so good with our kids!  The kids loved them and even though we took over their little house they were so gracious and made us feel right at home.  The next morning we packed up our things and said goodbye.  We wanted one day up in the mountains so we headed out to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park for the day.  The views were breath taking.

We got to hike on Deer Head Ridge trail.  I think we went at least a mile or mile and a half and then walked back.  The trail was not too difficult though we were told that it became more difficult towards the end with steeper climbs and lots of switch backs.  The kids loved hiking and did a great job.  Made me wish we had done more of it, but we only had so much time and with all the rain it was probably good that we did a lot of indoor activities too.

Sarah slept for most of the hiking but woke up when we got back to the car and after she ate and was changed she was in a very good mood!  She even seemed to like being in her car seat for the most part and would start grinning when I would put her in it!  Below she is still on my lap just before we started driving again.

On the way back down we saw a lot of deer just by the side of the road.  I think this one had a collar on it.

We ate Supper in Estes Park and then started the drive back to Denver through Boulder.  It took longer than we expected and the kids slept for most of it.  The hotel we got in Denver for our last night was one I got through the express deals option on priceline and it had everything I could have wanted and more.  Two beds, fridge and microwave in the room, very nice modern decor and tons of space, an indoor pool and really, really good free breakfast!  Wish we could have stayed longer but it was time to get on the road and head home.  These next pics are a bit jumbled but they are all from the trip home.  It was cool to see all the wind turbines and amazing how big they were!

Very happy Sarah!

We stopped for lunch at this park that had a space theme.  It had nice covered picnic tables with good shade and a splash park too and the kids had a great time and got out a lot of energy.  There are more pics from our lunch later on.

Kansas skies!  I love the mountains, but I love Kansas too!  So beautiful and free feeling with the wide open spaces.

lunch pics again...

Luke started a Sarah kissing fest that probably went on just a bit longer than she would have liked but she tolerated it well.  (-:

My happy girl!

It was a really fun trip and I am so glad my kids got to see the mountains!  On the way home I told the kids to get in the van to go home and Aaron said, "No!  No go home!  More driving!"  I guess that means we did a good job planing.  (-:  We all wished for more time in the mountains but hopefully in a year or two we can go back and do that.  Thanks again to Kara Lee and Ryan for putting us up!  We had a great time!