Colorado Vacation!

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I finally got a chance today to go through the photos from our Colorado trip and get them ready to post on the blog! We had a great time in Breckenridge and it was wonderful to see everyone!

We were in Colorado from Aug. 2-9. We arrived in Denver on Sunday morning and after leaving the airport, we drove to Michael's Aunt and Uncle's house. It was great to spend time with them and see their kids. Zachary and Taylor had so much fun playing at their house.

After leaving their house, we drove to Breck and after a few attempts, found the townhouse complex we were to live in for the week. Ealier in the year, Michael had one an auction at a Little Theater event to stay in the Meek's families townhouse in Breck for a week! It was a really nice place and we were set with everything we needed. The only downside was that the pool for the complex was under renovation, so we couldn't go swimming...but we did have our own private hot tub!

Here are a few photos of the house.

Michael and Taylor standing outside the front door. It was 3 floors. Our bedroom was the one you can see with the balcony.

A photo looking up towards the kitchen area. The stairs going down went to the garage. There was another floor with 3 bedrooms and bathrooms.

Zachary is getting Michael and Grandma Susie ready to play Monopoly in the family room.

On Monday, we decided to explore the town and took a tour of Main Street and the Riverwalk area. Lots of fun shops on Main Street and the kids had a blast at the River Walk area.

Taylor took this picture!

Cute wood bear on Main Street.

Ed and Susie found this cute little train that gave rides and also had dress-up clothes to boot! The kids loved it. Taylor was all over the dress up clothes.

Zachary wore an engineers hat and hopped in the caboose!

Not sure if you can see Michael, but he took part in the fun hats and wore a Sombraro on the train ride. I didn't ride, so that I could take the photos.

On Tuesday (my birthday), Michael, the kids and I drove to Silverthorne to go to some of the Outlet Mall there. It was kind of sad. You could tell at one point in time that it was probably a really awesome outlet, but there were a lot of empty spaces. After that, we drove to the town of Frisco and walked down their Main Street before we headed back to Breck.

On Wednesday, we took the kids to a real Gold Mine! Zachary was so excited about being able to do this. We went to the Country Boy Gold Mine. The 4 of us went on a tour inside the mine. We went 1100 ft back into the mountain with 900 ft of mountain over our heads. I do suffer from a little claustrophobia, so this was a little scary. It was very interesting to see the inside of the mine and something that none of us had done before.

The kids standing outside the mine.

Inside the mine. It was about 65 or 70 degrees outside, but inside it was 42. Pretty cold and wet. The shaft we are standing in front of is where back many years ago, there was a cave in and there was a miner who died in there and they never were able to find his body. The tour guide told us that they have a lot of photos of wierd lights and shadows from this shaft. They believe it is his ghost. Always nice to hear...especially since on this part of the tour, the guide decided to show us how bright it was in the mine by candlelight and then with no light.

After the tour was over, everyone was able to go out to the creek and pan for gold. We weren't lucky enough to find real gold, but we did find some fool's gold!

Ed and Susie met us at the mine with a picnic lunch.

After lunch, the donkeys decided to come out and visit everyone. Taylor loved the donkeys and I think she gave each one of them a hug. She also fed a few of them and was very happy doing this until one of them accidentally nibbled on her finger.

The 4 of us at Country Boy Mine.

At about 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Michael's brother, Martin, and his girlfriend, Melinda, made it to Breck. It was good to see them and we were so happy they were able to join us on vacation!!

After getting a little sleep, we all hopped in our cars and headed back towards Denver. We went to the Colorado Mills mall that day for a little shopping and then went to "White Fence Farms" for dinner. The last time we went to Colorado (which was 3 years ago), we took the kids to White Fence Farms, so this was definitely something I wanted to do with them again now that they were a little older. It's a really fun place to eat and play. They serve meals family style and then outside of the restaurant, there is a petting zoo, playground, pond, and on most days there is a horse and buggy ride.

Petting Zoo area.

Tree house and playground area.

Fish Pond with baby ducks that were really hungry.

Michael and me. Another photo by Taylor.

The big John Deere tractor.

On Friday, all of us decided to head up to Breck's Peak 8 Fun Park. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that we did go. There was an Alpine Slide...it was .5 mile long slide down the mountain. The kids were too small to ride by themselves, so they had to ride with us. We rode this twice and the kids would have done it more than that, but the line for it just kept getting longer and longer, so we only were able to ride it the 2 times.

Michael and Zachary coming down the slide.

Taylor and myself on our way down.

Me and the kids on the scenic chair lift heading up to the top of the mountain. It didn't take long for it to get windy and chilly.

The 4 of us at the top of the mountain. A very nice man from Oklahoma stopped to take the photo for us.

On Saturday, Mary, John and the kids came up to Breck for the day. Michael, the kids and I also went out and had lunch with some friends that were in town that weekend...they live in Colorado Springs. Melinda and I ended the night with a quick shopping trip down Main Street.

I'm so thankful that we get the opportunity to travel with our kids and take them places and let them have these experiences! Our next trip isn't a new place for us...but our personal favorite family vacation...Disney World...HERE WE COME!!!!