We went to Colorado for vacation this summer. It was a "short" 10 hour drive to the Longmont/Boulder area. Brandon's brother, Bradley and sister-in-law, Char live there. They met us at the hotel and took us to dinner at Treppeda's in Niwot. It was delicious after a long day of travel and eating fast food!
The next day, we went to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. The company was started in Boulder in 1968. We got to sample lots of tea. Elli loved it!
We made a quick pass through the University of Colorado campus and visited Ralphie the Buffalo.
Then, we drove up Flagstaff Mountain in the Flatirons. Uncle Bradley packed a picnic lunch for us.
The kids thought it was the best thing ever. This picture is so funny, it looks like Elli scaled this steep rock, but it wasn't actually this steep or high. Noah didn't want to leave, he said, "I just feel like I could do this all day."
After hiking, we went to Pearl Street Mall to get some ice cream, then back to the hotel for naps.
That night, Brad and Char had us over for dinner. They got BBQ from The Rib House, it was soooo good! The kids loved spending time with their aunt and uncle and were so sad to find out they won't see them again until Thanksgiving.
Thank you, Brad and Char for being such great hosts and showing us around your beautiful city!
We got up, got some hotel breakfast and coffee from Ziggi's and headed to Breckenridge. It was too early to check in to our hotel so we hung out at Meadow Creek Park in Frisco for a while, then ate lunch at The Boat House.
On Tuesday, we went to the Breck Summer Fun Park. We headed to the Alpine Slide first. It is a half mile slide that winds down the mountain. Both of my kids surprised me when they loved the gondola, chair lift AND slide. I couldn't believe it! Elli is NOT a fan of heights, she was so brave. She could do anything with daddy at her side.
Noah rode down with me twice and then got brave enough to go by himself twice!
Mama and Elli on the chair lift. She didn't even want me to hold on to her! She was making my tummy flip!
Big waves from Elli and daddy.
Weeeeeeee!
Next, the kids did the mineshaft maze.
Then, putt-putt.
It started sprinkling so they deflated the bounce house. Elli was bummed, but one of the mountain dudes told her the bungee-trampoline was better. So off we went, all the while shocked that she agreed to do this. She stayed in line even after she saw what it was. She liked it until she got over a foot off the ground.
Then she didn't like it so much anymore.
I decided since we paid for our tickets, I might as well get our money's worth. :)
It was so much fun! I'd never done the bungee trampoline before. I didn't expect him to sling shot me in the air. I may or may not have screamed like a little girl. I was even able to do a back flip. Something I never learned to do on my trampoline as a kid.
We rode the alpine slide a couple more times, then got in line for the Gold Runner Coaster as it started sprinkling. Elli didn't love the coaster, but Noah did! By the time we got off the ride, it was pouring. We ran inside for some coffee and hot chocolate and waited for the rain to pass.
After naptime, it cleared up and we went to dinner at Oscar's Mexican restaurant.
Wednesday morning, we ate pancakes in our condo again and then headed out for a hike. The trailhead was right by our condo. It was a perfect trail for the kids (Elli still convinced daddy that she needed to be carried part of the way).
The trail followed a stream, it was beautiful! The kids had so much fun throwing rocks/leaves/grass in to the water.
We came upon another family taking pictures at the stream and they offered to take our picture. Her dad volunteered the info that she's a professional photographer! Ha! I said, well in that case, take it off 'auto'. She didn't take me up on it, but we got some good pictures anyway.
We climbed a small hill and came upon this reservoir. Beautiful!
Noah was hoping to catch some fish in his net.
We ate a yummy, hearty lunch at The Ridge Street Kitchen in town. Here's a beautiful view of the slopes from Main Street.
Back to the condo for naptime.
Noah swam every day while Elli slept. He was crazy. It was COLD outside and the pool wasn't heated. He would go from hot tub to pool and back again.
Elli joined him after she woke up.
We were still full from lunch so decided to just go to Crepes a la Cart for dinner. It was raining (again) so the line was short for once. We got them and ate in the car. Yumm!
It was a stay inside kind of night so that's exactly what we did. The kids discovered Full House and we watched 2 1/2 episodes! They laughed so hard! They loved it. Why can't they make shows like that anymore?!
Thursday morning, we ate breakfast at The Columbine Cafe and rented bikes. I pulled Elli in the trailer and Noah rode with Brandon on the Trail-A-Bike. I'd be in such good shape if I lived in Colorado! So much to do.
It POURED on us for about 2 minutes on our way to Frisco. We got drenched. We got lunch and coffee in Frisco (we were freezing since we were wet).
It was an 18-mile round trip. I didn't think I was gonna make it. Brandon and I did this same trail on our 1-year anniversary trip. It was much easier when I was 11 years younger (and not pulling a trailer!). I wanted to curl up with Elli in the trailer. It was a steady climb back up to Breckenridge. We traded bikes and Noah helped me pedal for a while, then poor Brandon decided to pull both kids in the trailer. What a workout!
When we got back to the lodge, we all got in the hot tub. By the time we all got cleaned up and back to Main street, all the restaurants had a forever long wait and we were starving. We ended up in this pizza place full of locals. We stood out like sore thumbs. It sure tasted good though, after our long bike ride.
We said so long to the mountains and headed home Friday morning. We were ready to head back to the warm summer days in Oklahoma.
