Family Vacation - Denver, CO

We left the day after school was out for our family vacation. Our original destination was going to be Nashville, TN - but after the flooding, we switched our plans. It was a great choice! I am not the vacation planner in our family, my husband is - and he is very good I might add! He has a knack for finding unusual places to visit that the kids will love. Since it was our family vacation, the whole trip was pretty much centered around the kids. We left from Wichita, KS after spending the night at Aunt Dixie's house. This picture is in her driveway right before we left.Day 1 we went on a hike in El Dorado Canyon State Park. It was beautiful and the perfect hike for us. Eli was loving it and Caleb just wanted to be carried the whole way. It brought back so many memories of my summer's growing up when we would hit the road camping for 2 months at a time and visit National and State parks. After our hike and a picnic we had to stick our toes in the mountain stream - brrrr - the boys didn't even last 30 seconds. Our next stop was to the Colorado Rail Museum in Golden, Co. They had lots of full size trains you could walk around and see - very fun for 2 train lovers like Eli and Caleb. Last stop for the day was Tiny Town. It is a kid sized village originally built in 1915. It was refurbished in 1988 and now has over 100 kid sized building and an authentic steam locomotive that takes you around the village. So very cute! Eli loved it and Caleb was terrified every time the train blew it's whistle (which was a lot), so we didn't get to stay too long, but we enjoyed our time while we were there.
Day 2 started out with a trip to the Denver zoo which was very nice. We got to see the sea lion show and a bird show that was very entertaining. Highlight for the boys were the peacocks all over or "peahawks" as Caleb calls them. Next we headed up to Golden Gate State Park to do some more hiking. This time our hike took us 2 miles up to Frazier Meadow. It was definitely harder than we imagined, but 2 hours later, we made it to our destination. It was tough people! Eli was a champ and I was so proud of him, he wanted to turn back several times, but then he would remember that he wanted to make it to the meadow! Lance was super dad and carried Caleb on his shoulders the entire time! 3 hours later we were back in our car with some great memories and a sense of accomplishment! Next stop was the Aquarium Restaurant - Eli had really been looking forward to this! We got to sit right next to the tank and watch all the fish. The food was okay, but you go for the atmosphere and the boys just loved it! We were so pooped by the time we went to bed this night.

Day 3 began in our usual way, breakfast at the hotel where Eli had a stack of pancakes 3 mornings in a row- he loved them! Then we headed to the Denver Museum of Science and History. It was a wonderful museum. We went to a planetarium movie called "The Little Star Who Could" (actually Lance and Eli did because Caleb and I had to leave 5 minutes in because he was scared). We explored Space Odessey, Discovery Zone, and the Prehistoric Journey. After that, we rested before heading out for some dinner at Carl's Pizza and rides at Lakeside Amusement Park. It was perfect- 50 cent rides for the boys and they loved every minute of it. I was so proud of Eli, he finally went on a roller coaster (all by himself no less) - he is growing up so fast! Two hours of rides and some cotton candy was a perfect ending to our trip!

We left the next morning at 7am to drive 11 hours home. We were exhausted, but it was so worth it. Eli really loves these vacations and looks forward to them for many months. In fact, he asked me minutes after we got home when we would be going on another "trip"!!

This is a view of downtown Denver and the mountains from the Science and History Museum. Hope you have a wonderful summer vacation - wherever you are heading!

Tara