Tiny Town

     Last week was Ashlyn's last full week of summer break.  We wanted to make the very most of it and tried to pack as much fun into that week as we could.  I think we did a good job.
     We started the week with a trip up to Denver.  My mom, sister, Ella, Jameson, Gracie, Ashlyn, Dawson and I all went along.  We amazingly all fit into our mini-van.
    We started our trip with a stop at a place called Tiny Town.  My mom had been wanting to take the kids there for some time, and we finally made it.  Tiny Town is nestled in the mountains on the eastern part of Denver.  It contains lots of tiny houses that are modeled after real places in Denver.  There also is a really neat playground and a train.  The kids really liked Tiny Town.  We had a great time looking at all the different houses.  Some of the houses the kids could even climb through.  They had a great time playing on the playground.  We ended our visit with a ride on the train.  We love the train park in Phoenix and this one was pretty similar.  The kids had so much fun.
       After Tiny Town, we were very close to the town of Evergreen.  We decided to stop there for lunch.  We went to Beau Jos for pizza.  We had one in the Springs many years ago and I had forgotten how good it was.  We all stuffed ourselves silly with pizza.
         After lunch, we made our way to our hotel.  We got settled and did some swimming.  Those kids just love to swim and they swam their little hearts out.  I will updated soon with the rest of our trip.

Tiny buildings

Crawlin through

They are all decorated inside and are kindof like giant dollhouses

Gracie checking out a house

Silly boy

Taking a quick break

Tine to play

Always swinging

How fun

Ashlyn really liked this house

Our view from the train

Splash Park Fun

    A few weeks ago, we had a water filled day.  My brother, Ashlyn, and I all went up to Denver to go to Water World.  This has become a yearly tradition for us and we had such a fun time.  Dawson and Gracie are still too young to go, so they stayed home with Joey.  We picked a really hot day to go.  Joey decided to take advantage of the great weather and took the kids to a local splash park.  He said they had a great time.

Lunch break

Salida

   On Tuesday, we took a little trip down to Salida.  I really like Salida and think it's a pretty neat little town.  We always make a trip down there when we spend the week at the cabin.  We started our time there with a trip to the river park . The kids had fun playing and we walked along the river which is breathtaking.
    After we walked along the river, we walked towards some shopping.  It's similar to Old Colorado City and has some really neat little shops.  There is a toy store that we always stop at and let the kids each pick out a little something.  That store is just packed with toys and the kids always have a hard time choosing something .  We walked around a few more stores.
     We usually go to a local pizza place for lunch, but we have something really similar in town so we decided to try something different.  We had read really good things about a local bakery/deli and we decided to give it a try.  It was the cutest little place with an amazing selection of sandwiches.  The bread was all fresh baked and it was honestly some of the best bread I had ever had.  Our only complaint was we really wanted to try one of their brownies for dessert and they were out of them.  Oh well, next time because there will definitely be a next time.  It was very good.
       After lunch, we decided to head back up to the cabin.  We really didn't spend anytime there the day before and we wanted to spend some time up there since we were heading home the next day.

Park fun

Ashlyn is apparently part monkey and scaled up this pole like a little monkey.  

The Arkansas River

So pretty

A little rock climbing area they have

Such pretty girls

Taking in the views

Gracie found a stroller to push

Gracie enjoying her lunch

The lunch place had amazing fresh baked cookies 

Our sweet Ella

Dawson playing with the trains he got at the toy store

Mt. Princeton Hot Springs

   On Monday of our trip, we ventured down the road to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.  We have gone in years past and the kids have always had such a fun time.  It is an expensive place, so unfortunately we only go once a summer.  We figured a Monday was a good time to go since it would be a little less busy then on the weekend.  Joey's dad lives about five minutes away from there and we invited him to come along since we really needed an extra pair of hands.
     The clouds looked very ominous, yet the weather managed to remain nice all day.  The pools were so warm and the perfect temperature for little kids who loathe being cold.  We got there right when it opened and stayed until the afternoon.  The waterslide was a huge hit like usual.  Jameson got to ride for the first time and he loved it.  He literally laughed the whole way down each time he rode.  It was precious!  We all swam until we couldn't swim anymore.  We changed and headed to Joey's dad's house for an awesome spaghetti and meatballs dinner and a nice hot shower!  What a perfect day it was! We all slept very well that night.

Ashlyn had so much fun swimming with her Papa

Snack break

Dawson loved the small pool since it was so warm.  He spent a lot of time here.

Katy and Jameson on the slide

Dawson and me

Trying to get in some much needed rest

You would think after all that swimming Jameson wouldn't have the energy to run down the hill like that.