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.

Colorado Trip Day 4

Monday

On Day four we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.  It had been at least 20 years since I had last been there with my family.  The last memory I have of there was riding a Camel with my cousin Jessica when she was a little girl.  I must have been in high school or college then.  Eric and our kids had never been there.  I knew they were all in for a great zoo experience based on my memories of visiting there as a child.  I do believe, just like most places, that their prices have gone up.  It was quite expensive, in my opinion, almost $20 a piece for each adult, and $15 a piece for children.  (We do have a family zoo pass to our local zoo, but the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is not a reciprocating zoo so we did not get any discounts with our local zoo pass.  And, of course, like most places, there are lots of "extras" to purchase once you are inside the zoo.  They did allow us to carry in backpacks which we had previously loaded with snacks and drinks to help cut the cost of buying food and drinks down while we were there.)  The zoo is built on the side of the mountain, which means a lot of serious walking for zoo patrons.  We caught the tram at the entrance of the zoo.  It took us all the way to the top of the zoo and we started to make our way down the mountainside looking at different animals and exhibits along the way.  One of the most funny animal things we saw all day was at the beginning of the day, in the reptile building....two Box Turtles, fighting!

The kids liked posing with this giant fake Crocodile, after they were reassured it was indeed fake.

The first "extra" Popee splurged on for the grandkids were the bird feeding sticks.  Phoebe was the first to get a bird onto her stick with Daddy's help.

We all liked their Elephant exhibit.  They have five female Elephants.

One of the coolest and most memorable experiences/"extras" at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has always been feeding the Giraffes.  I still remember doing this many times as a child when we came to this zoo in the summertime.  I also remember thinking I was actually going to be fed to the Giraffes by my Uncle Charlie one summer as he lifted me up and apparently to close to a Giraffe's face.

Our kids were a little nervous at first to hold their hands up towards the Giraffes, but with a little coaxing from Popee, Daddy, and myself they each got the hang of it and loved feeding them!

The Grizzly Bear area was impressive.  There was a large pool for the bears right up next to a glass viewing area.  We watched two Grizzlies eat a snack and then swim in the pool.  Silas liked watching the bears, but especially liked watching the fish that were swimming around in the bear's pool.

To find out more about the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, CLICK HERE.

Silas really enjoyed having John and Jeline at the cabin and zoo with us.

Below, left to right, Eric, Silas, Stacee, Paul, Phoebe, Lindsee, Gloria, Sarah, John, and Jeline.

When we left the zoo we found a large park in Colorado Springs to have a picnic and let the kids play for awhile before we all headed back to the cabin.

That night at the cabin was Aunt Lindsee's last night with us.  She took a turn reading stories to the kids.