2024 Summer Trip - The Return to Colorado - 2024/07/11

It's been a really fun time in Washington visiting my brother and his family, but now it's time to start heading Eastward. When T was looking for flights to get back to Michigan, the best thing she found had us connecting in Denver. Well, if we're going to be in Colorado, why not just spend a few more days with family there before heading on to Michigan? 

There's some really pretty views as we're leaving Oregon and Washington. 

We knew that my Dad was picking us up from the airport, but there was a surprise waiting for us in the back seat! Avery came too! 

All piled into the car and ready to head to Colorado Springs. 

But it's lunchtime and we're starting to get hungry. 

Costco to the rescue! 

Making it back to Colorado Springs, we still have a bit of time before everyone is off work, so all of us went to Chuck E Cheese to use our Summer Fun Pass! 

Once. 

Twice! 

Three times a winner! 

Not a bad high score on the basketball either. 

But when my brother finished work and stopped by, we really could push that score even higher! 

Seeing as how it's 7/11, after dinner, we all went for a long walk to our local 7-Eleven for free Slurpee Day! 

Sigh... And were greeted by a sign that said they were out... Boo. 

The next day, everyone got back into the car to head back up to Denver for a special event. It won't happen until 3pm so we had time to stop at a brand new (to us) Chuck E Cheese in Denver! 

That Cheese Bread looks good. 

But I don't know about dipping that chocolate chip cookie in Ranch. She must have learned that from her daddy. 

Even though it was a very well rated CEC on Google Reviews, it wasn't without issues. The Down The Clown said you get a 200 ticket bonus for winning the jackpot. After Ian and I beat the high score 5 times, we checked our card history and saw it only paid out 100 tickets each time. Ian and I went up to the counter and after he explained what happened, they added 500 tickets to his card to make up for it. Thank you! 

One of my other favorite games is the Milk Jug Toss. It has an anti-cheating feature that points down into the play area to make sure you're not just leaning in and putting the ball in the jug. I've got no problem with that, but it was angled in such a way that if anyone walked up and played the game beside it, it "detected" something and would zero out your score. 

The girls had a lot of fun popping the giant balloons and winning bonus tickets. 

Here was our big outing up to Denver! Casa Bonita! I'll have a whole separate write-up about our visit to the most entertaining Mexican restaurant in the world! 

After we got home, Ian and Alli were inspired by the balloon artist, using their leftover balloons to make their own weapons. This is a bow and arrow along with a cup for a quiver. 

T and I went for a walk later in the evening. Normally we're walking along without flashlights, but I saw something hop in front of my foot, thinking it was a frog or something. When I looked harder, it was a super tiny baby bunny! It's so little! 

About a half-mile later, we were walking near a field and saw something large. Getting closer, oh my, it's an owl! I hope this owl and the bunny we just saw don't meet up. 

Another trip to CEC and this time we threw down a massive score! 144!

Almost a winner. 

Another day, this sign suddenly showed up in the living room. 

And the kids were hard at work in the basement. 

My dad is always tinkering around with cars. His buddy has a car he bought used that would always blow through the defrost vents and never on the passengers, meaning it didn't have very good heating in the Colorado winters! I'm not sure he knew everything he was going to have to do once he started started taking it apart, but I joined in when the entire front dash was already taken off! 

They sure don't make these vent actuators easy to get to. We switched a few things out, put in a new actuator and thought we had it all working again. Dad put the entire assembly back together only to find that the driver's side worked finally, but the passenger side didn't. Everything came back apart where he replaced another actuator and now it's all working properly! 

Time for another fun festival in the basement that the kids have been working on for hours! 

The Festival of The Fruits! 

I love the sign and all the colors! 

Welcome to the Festival of Fruits! 

Oooh! We have some very delightful surprises in store for us today! The Festival might be free to attend, but the treats are for sale. 

$2 chocolate fruit skewers. That's a deal! And $1 for the plain fruit skewers. 

A very tasty festival indeed! 

Everyone was enjoying them. 

Along with the fruits, the kids were hard at work making these popsicle stick boxes with glue and beads.

Ian - Every one is unique! It has a different bead on it! 

It wouldn't be a festival if there weren't games to be played. If you use the magnetic darts, you can try to do a William Tell on the apple taped to the fridge. 

It wasn't easy getting it into the small target. 

But Patrick got it! 

And for the final game, they've hidden 10 fuzzy stick skewers around the basement. Whoever can find 3 the fastest wins a free fruit skewer! Congratulations Patrick! 

Gotta get a photo with the puzzle we worked on while we were here. 

Goodbye Gram! 

Love you! 

Off to the airport! 

Thanks for bringing us up to the airport again Pop Pop! 

See you again soon Avery!