Colorado Trip Day 5

Tuesday

On our last full day in Colorado we headed to the North Pole, a fun Christmas themed amusement park about 15-20 minutes from the cabin.  The North Pole is celebrating its 60th year of fun this year!

It is hard to believe that I have been gong there almost every summer, as a kid or with my own kids, for about the last 30-40 years!  This was John and Jeline's first time to go to the North Pole, Colorado.

 Sitting in Santa's sleigh, right inside the entrance ~ Lindsee, Silas, Stacee, Sarah, Phoebe, Nanee, and Popee.

Look at these jokesters!  The Kansas Explorers... North Pole, Colorado or bust!  Is it a scary sleigh ride or a stick-up?  Look Ma, no hands!  Wait, wait, Santa, we promise we'll give back all the toys!

First real ride of the day the old-fashioned cars.  Silas drove John around the track.  Phoebe drove Popee, and Sarah drove me.

Next was a fast spinning ride that went forwards and then backwards.  Aunt Lindsee, being up for the Aunt of the year award, rode this with Silas and Sarah.

Then an all-time favorite for people of all ages, the Candy Cane Slide!

Jeline and John took a turn too.  Jeline especially enjoyed the twists and turns of the Candy Cane.  She laughed and smiled.  In the picture of her below you can see pure joy on her face,  I think I can almost see a little 9 or 10 year old Jeline there enjoying some old-fashioned sliding fun!

"Where's your helmet, Dude?" When I yelled this at Silas as he got on to take a ride around on these motorcycles, he started to search for his helmet.  Safety first.

We were all smiles and laughs on the Tilt-O-Whirl.  Seriously my favorite ride of all time.

Below, the Parachute ride.  I hate strongly dislike this one.  One or two of my kids ALWAYS wants to ride this one and has to have an adult with them to be able to ride.  I am always terrified for my life while on it, whipping up into the sky and flinging outward over the mountainside.... As you can see I lived through it, but I did ride with my eyes closed.

Touching, hugging, or licking the cold North Pole is always fun, funny, and interesting.  One of my kids may or may not lick this pole every year.  John and Jeline did NOT lick the North Pole. 

To find out more about the North Pole ~ Home of Santa's Workshop CLICK HERE.

Dad and John liked watching the glass blower.  There were several beautiful Christmas ornaments and decorations in his shop at the North Pole.  I particularly liked the Columbine, the small Hummingbirds, and the snowflakes

As we rode around in circles on the Carousel, riding our Reindeer, we all sang in unison, beautifully, "Oh, you know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen, Comet, and Cupid, and Donder, and Blitzen.  But do you recall, the most famous Reindeer of all???" And, on we went in circles, up and down on our Reindeer, belting out the famous Christmas song for all to hear.

Dad and John both rode the Ladybugs with the kids!  I am not sure that they actually enjoyed it very much, but they waved and smiled as their bugs went round and round.

Train ride... Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo!

We finally made our way to the back of the North Pole and the Scrambler ride.  This was the site of SO MUCH blood and horror last summer.  If you missed that story you can read about it by CLICKING HERE.  We all managed to get on and off the ride safely this year.

Silas and Phoebe enjoyed this Space Shooter ride.  Silas really got into it, pretending to shoot at other kids ships in front of and around his, causing one boy in another space ship to freak out a little bit, as he tried to tell Silas that the guns weren't real and didn't really shoot anything.  It made me giggle out loud and possibly cheer on my little sharp-shooter a little more.

We visited Santa on our way out of the North Pole.  Silas couldn't decide what he wanted for Christmas and did not want to go into Santa's house for a visit.  I told him he had plenty of time before Christmas to think of something that he wanted to ask for and just to come in and say "Hi", but he couldn't be convinced to come in... So, Nanee, Popee, and the girls all went in to see Santa.

Back at the cabin John discovered a female deer laying down at the bottom of the hill behind the cabin.

Sarah, Phoebe, John, and I were able to slowly walk down the hill and get pretty close to her before she stood up and walked slowly away from us.

Later that evening Eric and I took Sarah and Silas for a drive to look for wildlife in the mountains.  We saw this buck walking through some trees.

A great view of Pike's Peak!

And, a large herd of Elk.  Eric estimated between 60-80 Elk in this herd that was coming down out of the trees as the sunset in the west.

Another fun Colorado trip in the books.  Memories made and laughter shared in one of the most beautiful places on earth.