Day 1- I arrived in Colorado and got to meet Sweet Baby James! I played with Nora, then we went out for a pizza dinner and Mia and I enjoyed some home made Sangria.
Day 2 - Mia, Nora, and I went to the Farmer's market to pick up some goodies to make dinner later that night, then we dropped Nora off with Murphey, and Mia and I went to her favorite place to get a Mani/Pedi and have some lady bonding time. When we got home we realized that the kitchen faucet was broken and leaking all over the kitchen. We proceeded to cook our yummy farmers market finds: garlic and chive pasta shells, veggies and fresh cracked pepper goat's cheese (washing all of the veggies in the bathroom sink). Mia then painted Nora's nails with blue sparkle polish so they would match hers and I braided her hair so that when she woke up in the morning she'd have "Zig-Zaggy hair" like mine.
"Zig-Zaggy Hair" preparation - your wish is my command!
Then the craziness with the faucet continued including Murphey running to Lowe's for a new faucet; Mia and I then running to Home Depot for a completely different style faucet as the store was closing at 10pm; Murphey then running to a 24 hour Walmart for a part; and then coming home only to realize that he still did not have the right pieces and it would have to wait until the next day to be fixed... Always exciting!
Day 3- The Fourth of July! Mia, Murphey, Nora (with her Zig-Zaggy hair and cowgirl hat), Murphey's father and I went to Allenspark for a horseback trail ride. It was an over cast day but we had a great time!
Nora sporting Zig-Zaggy hair for the occasion!
Nora and Grandpapa
The Blacksmith at the ranch have Nora a real horse shoe, as he was in the process of re-shoeing two of the horses.
Before we took off for the ride we had a picnic lunch and Nora picked some flowers.
Then off to ride!
That's our guide, Austin, up front who lead Nora the whole 2 hours and listened to her talk the WHOLE 2 hours about everything include her re-telling of the tail of the Ugly Duckling, her Christmas list that she has already begun (in July), as well as the rewards that she gets if she can keep her panties dry... Let's just say he got a really nice tip!
When we returned back home we were all exhausted and our fireworks plans got rained/stormed out so we enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by Murphey and relaxed.
Day 4- Mia and I drove up to explore Denver today. I had not spent any time in Denver on my previous trips out to Colorado. Before I came out I had researched some neighborhoods that were appealing to me and I wanted to check them out in person in case I want to move out there anytime in the somewhat near future. Despite the detours that our GPS took us on, we finally made it to each neighborhood and had a great lunch and walk along the 16th Street Mall.
Denver is definitely different than cities back East, there are houses and grass and a lot less congestion. This is Washington Park. Beautiful!!!
When we got back to Longmont we went to Nora's T-ball game, Murphey and his father coach her team :)
James enjoyed a little snooze under the sun shade.
Cheering section.
Then home for a bite to eat before we got to complete our fireworks mission that got put off one day because of the storm. I have never set off or been part of someone setting off fireworks before, only been to the bigger shows, so a home done show was very exciting to me. Muphey was very excited too, as this was his second year setting off fireworks and he went out and had a great time picking out just the right ones.
The loot!
Most exciting of all was the ginormous "Tailgate Party"!
Safety first says Fire Marshall Bill...
Ooooo Ahhhhh!
James was a good sport and got to enjoy the fun too!
Though Murphey, knowing my "graceful" ways, wouldn't let me anywhere near helping with the fireworks, he did put me in charge of the sparklers!!! (I only burnt one finger...)
Mia had fun trying to get some cool sparkler pictures, but it was a bit hard without her tripod.
What a busy and fun day!!!
Day 5- Today we took it easy by the pool. Nora spent the majority of the time in the water and James chilled out to catch some zzzzs.
He even learned to find his thumb independently.
Nora holding court with the big kids...
Quick snack break!
That night Mia and I had a Girl's Night out and went to an amazing vegetarian restaurant in Boulder called "Leaf". The food was so good and was presented so beautifully I had to take pictures...
Mia's dish: Vegetarian Enchaladas
My dish:
Jamaican Jerk Tempeh on forbidden rice, with coconut plantain sauce, sauteed greens and fruit salsa!
I wish I had taken a picture of our delicious dessert, though a picture nor the name can do it justice...
Chef's Special of the day Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie! If you are ever in Boulder GO!!!!
Day 6- The weather cooled off a bit hear today and it was overcast so we decided to take Nora to a free Wallace and Grommet movie at the theater. Mia handed James over to me so she could go get some popcorn and as I was holding him he spit up and some how it shot up the sleeve of my fleece and all over me. Baby boy has good aim!!!
Then we had lunch in Prospect at the Two Dog Diner. Prospect looks like a neighborhood taken out of Dr. Seuss's book Oh the Places You'll Go, I loved it!
After lunch we went to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. It was one of my favorite parts of my trip. You walk in to the building and the aroma is amazing!
This is a dress and accessories made out of tea bag packages.
The tasting room has over 70 teas to sample.
Cheers!
Please sir, I want some more...
After our tasting we went on to do the Factory Tour. Mia wasn't allowed in because she had James with her (no babies or children under five years old - we fibbed a bit about Nora's age, she's only 4) so Nora and I went together.
We had to sport the beautiful hairnets so that we wouldn't contaminate any of the tea...
The Sleepy Time Bear
The tour was really cool, we got to see all of the varieties of tea and learned about white, green, and black tea. We went into the Mint Room which is a room sealed with a cargo door. You enter and immediately feel the vapors of the mint in your nose and throat. They said that if the door was to be left open it would not only affect the other teas, but it would be able to be smelled two miles away. We also saw all of the packaging machines and they had a teddy bear hidden on one of the machines for the kids to search for, "Where's Waldo" style. Needless to say I came home with lots of tea :)
After dinner Mia made s'mores for Nora. The pictures say it all!!!
Finger lickin' good!
And James had fun playing on the play mat, soon enough he'll enjoy s'mores too!
Day 7- Well it wouldn't be a vacation with me and Mia unless something medically/physically happened to one of us... Today the plan was to go to the Denver Zoo, unfortunately that didn't happen... I woke up early in the morning and got in a shower so that I could help Mia get the kids ready and we could be on our way to the zoo. As I was walking downstairs to get dressed I got my toe caught, as only I can do, in a metal pipe that was on the floor. Thank goodness I had just had a tetanus shot two months before, but I did have to go to urgent care. They couldn't stitch it up because the area was under my small toe and too difficult to get to, but they did glue it as well as steri-strip the top of the fourth toe and told me not to do too much walking for the next day or so. There went our plans for hiking too... Mia had a great back up plan though and we went to paint pottery instead.
Later we went to meet Murphey for dinner/adventure at the infamous Casa Bonita. Mia had told me about this place before I came out and it sounded like one of those things you just have to experience (there is even a South Park episode about it). Mia and Murphey hadn't been there before yet either, so it was a MUST on the itinerary. So what is Casa Bonita? From all I had heard/read it is a restaurant, where the food is disgusting but you have to order a meal to get in, and an amusement park with cliff divers all under one roof (yes, inside).
One blog describes it as if "Disney had sex with Tijuana and left the goofy-looking bastard to fend for itself in a random strip mall"... And let me tell you that's just about what it was. I ordered the safest food ont he menu taco salad with no meat. Even if you are not a vegetarian stay away from the meat! Mia says that is was like it came from a can. Also I would encourage you to avoid the cheese sauce... Now I'm one who sadly likes movie theater nachos with fake cheese but this stuff was really gross... So this is how it works...
You go inside and get on line. You wind around a line like at Disney World for about 45 minutes or so until you get to the cashier where you place your order, pay and they guilt you (especially if you have a child with you) into buying multiple bags of tokens for the arcade games. You then proceed through another winding line to get your food from the cafeteria style buffet.
Then you proceed along a path carrying your food to another hostess stand where they then seat you at a table to eat. Since we had read up on the do's and don't's at Casa Bonita, we knew to ask for a table by the "Cliffs." Luckily one was available without a wait. So we are now seated about an hour+ after we had arrived and just in time for the cliff diving show to begin. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture of the divers, but it was impressive and fun. The divers look like they are probably on a high school or college dive team and literally dive from the man made set/cliffs into a grotto beneath.
Nora loved it!
The only other edible item, other than the salad, and very delicious I might add were the sopapillas, yummm! After dinner we headed out into the madness of the games and adventures. Though we didn't experience them all, we chose to focus on the arcade which was a blast for Nora.
Ski Ball
As a kid I always had good fortune/skill when playing the crane grabbing machines at arcades or wherever I found them. I must have told Mia this because about 6 months ago I got a call from Nora asking me to win her a toy in the crane machine by her house. So when I saw one at Casa Bonita I had to give it a try... Apparently I've still got it and I won Nora this lion stuffed animal!!!
Token Queen
We left after the adults and James had all had enough and were completely overstimulated. I think Nora could have lasted another few hours...
Day 8- My last full day in Beautiful Colorado and it was a truly gorgeous day! Mia the kids and I spent the afternoon in Boulder. We went to my favorite place in Boulder, the Dushanbe Tea House for lunch and tea of course.
Sweet Baby James
When Nora was about the same age as James, I came out to Colorado for the first time. We walked around Boulder with her sucking on my thumb just like this! Here we are four years later in the same position with her brother.
After a long day, Mia and I kicked back with a bottle of Cava sitting on her back deck. Lovely, just the way I like to spend a summer evening!
Day 9- Before it was time to leave for the airport we all went for brunch at the restaurant at Chautauqua. On my last trip out to Colorado we hiked Chautauqua, this time we dined there :) Beautiful, I love Colorado!
Mia, Murphey, Nora, and James, thank you so much for everything I had an amazing time with you as always! I hope to see you again soon!
Colorado, I will miss you as well and hope to be back sooner rather than later!
1 comment:
I love the pictures and the narrative, Darcie! Mia didn't tell me that you're considering moving to CO!! That would be INCREDIBLE!! My best to you and your family. :-)
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