staycation

colorado springs | garden of the gods, manitou springs, and santa’s workshop

Garden of the Gods is one our favs. When in Colorado Springs, you have to go! It’s a necessity. The girls love the exploring. Climbing the big ol’ red rocks. 
The leaning rock pictures are a requirement. We have them from every visit. 
One of my favorites shots of the day. 
We stopped in Manitou Springs for lunch. The downtown is so quaint and I’ve been going here for years….since back in high school when my friend, Diane would come out to visit me. We’ve never really found a restaurant that we love, but we keep on trying. 
Gwneth found this tap of spring water and thought it was just the best. She got such a kick out of it. 
We tried salt water taffy on main street. Annabelle loved it. Gwyneth hated it. 
Another fresh spring water tap.
;This was our first visit to the North Pole, a cute little amusement park on the base of Pike’s Peak.  It is right up Gwyneth’s alley. No big roller coasters; just lots of fun smaller rides. They girls did most of them together and had a good ol’ time. 
love that face!
having so much fun!
This is the one ride where the girls had to split up. They need an adult to take them on the reindeer zip line. B looks a bit concerned – ha!
Here they go…
On their way back…
Gwyneth’s turn:
She is going to take some convincing: 
She loved it too!
This was a pole of ice/snow and it was nice and refreshing to lean against on that hot day. 
Overall it was kind of a cheesy little park, but we had a blast. I would recommend it for people with younger kids or anyone who doesn’t love roller coasters. 
Back at the hotel the girls begged for one more night of swimming. 
They had the pool nearly to themselves. There were two other kids there, but the rest of the place was empty! They got fancy with the slide and went head first. They were nothing but smiles and giggles. 

colorado springs | seven falls and the broadmoor

We planned this little mini – “staycation” for the week of the 4th. It’s pretty quiet at both of our businesses this week due to the holiday. We wanted take advantage of that down time and have a lot of family time. 
The morning we were set to leave was a bit of a whirlwind. We had stayed downtown the night before because we didn’t want to drive home with all the crazies after the game and fireworks. We didn’t get back to our hotel room the previous night until almost midnight so we had some tired girls. 
B received a few surprise orders and had to head back to the Kitchen that morning to do some cooking. I had to do payroll and get a few other work things done which I did from the hotel room in the dark. The girls were sound asleep from our previous night’s adventure. 
B and I were a bit flustered about starting our little trip later than expected. He scurried off while it was still dark and we both worked away. Our little ladies slept through it all! They didn’t wake up until about 10 am. They got ready for the day and we were waiting in the lobby when B pulled up to pick us up and head down south. 
It’s funny the things that get us worked up sometimes and then turn out to really be nothing at all…
On to our adventure!
I may love Colorado Springs more than anyone else in the world. Yes, the entire world. There is so much to do in that beautiful little town. So many natural treasures…and man-made ones too. I joke with B that I’m going to end up buying a vacation home there and he genuinely looks concerned. I really do love it. No matter how often we go there is never enough time. There is just so much to do. 
I have started quite a little journey of visiting the resorts there. We tried out the Cheyenne Mountain Resort and the Garden of the Gods Resort and this year we stayed at the Lodge at Flying Horse. The only resort left on my list to stay at is The Broadmoor. Someday. Soon. 
The resort was beautiful and the rooms were very nice. The views were stunning. It had more of a neighborhood feel though with the clubhouse and restaurant being across the parking lot and catered to residents. It was a bit far from the sites also. We had a really wonderful time and it was gorgeous, but given the price tag I will definitely rank it below the other two resorts we visited on prior visits.  
Our first stop was Seven Falls.
This one has been really built up for us. When B was a kid he made this place “Eight Falls” and the girls just think that story is hilarious! I did very little research on this outing and thought it would be 7 individual water falls. It wasn’t quite as expected. I think the girls were a little let down but they laughed all the way to the top thinking about their dad as a little boy peeing off the side!
This trip really took me out of my comfort zone. I’m terrified of heights and was so nervous. I got a little shaky up top but I did it. 
We stopped at the Golden Bee for a quick snack. The restaurant is located by the shuttle to Seven Falls and the Broadmoor. It’s a great little pub with the best smoked salmon appetizer. 
After our snack we wandered around The Broadmoor. It’s such a gorgeous hotel and the grounds have the most amazing views. I love the history of the place with well-known visitors. 
As we were leaving we noticed this guy just hanging out on the lawn: 
You’d think the girls would have been worn out by now, but nope! They were still up for a swim. They spent the rest of the evening going down this slide. Over and over again. They loved it! 
After a busy, busy day they were so hungry so we appeased with room service. I think that may be there favorite part of traveling. It was a busy, busy first day and lots more fun planned ahead…

labor day

After closing on Color Me Mine we knew we wouldn’t be able to travel for the holiday weekend. I worked at the store for a lot of the weekend and we were pretty busy on Monday for the holiday. We did sneak away for a little staycation near home. Our family sure does enjoy a hotel stay and swim in a hotel pool. We were only able to get away for one night, but it’s enough to reconnect and refocus. 
Unfortunately Miss Annabelle was not feeling great. She was fighting a terrible chest cold and was really dragging. She took a good nap in the afternoon and still managed a little swim in the pool. She was the first one asleep that night, which NEVER happens. She woke up the next morning back to her self again. I’m glad she was able to relax and get better. I hate when the kiddos are not feeling well. 
After a good night sleep, B went to the Kitchen and I asked the girls if they wanted to go for a swim. They declined and requested breakfast in bed and a movie marathon. Not a bad idea at all! 

easter eve

After a morning of catering and Easter preparation we checked in to a hotel near our house. We love our little staycations and our tradition of staying at a hotel the night before Easter. There’s always swimming and dinner and such anticipation and discussion about if the Easter Bunny will find us. 
This year we stayed at the Renaissance Flatirons. The views from the hotel were gorgeous. The pool was simple and the girls had it all to themselves. We were able to get a suite for a low, low price and they had a great lounge for watching March Madness. 

Love the lashes

Fabulous, just fabulous!

Gwyneth has gotten so much better swimming but still doesn’t like to jump right in. Luckily Annabelle is there to hold her hand.

Looking so lovely for dinner

Annabelle likes to be our photographer 
After dinner we hung out in the lounge and watched March Madness and had such fun family time. 

Annabelle may have been a touch distracted with her iPad, but she put it away once the games got started. This is our basketball lover after all.

 Now we wait for the Easter Bunny…

colorado springs revisited

We have been making our way around resorts in Colorado Springs. We tried another called the Cheyenne Mountain Resort. This one was just minutes away from the zoo which we have been very eager to check out. We had a great time, but I preferred the Garden of the Gods resort. 
We waited out the rain playing cards. We taught the girls Gin Rummy. Annabelle loved it, Gwyneth played one hand and asked if she could color instead. 
Fierce!
What a view!
The hotel had a smores bar….Gwyneth went for the standard chocolate bars and Annabelle and I added Reeces Peanut Butter cups. 
We finally got to visit the zoo. I had heard so much about it, but have never been. It was just as amazing as everyone described! 
Feeding the giraffes. B was the most adventurous of the group. 
After our zoo trip, we had pizza in Manitou Springs. 
Next stop: the top of Pikes Peak!

garden of the gods and renaissance festival

I may be in love with Colorado Springs. It’s not that far from us, but this weekend we made a trip of it and stayed overnight. We stayed at the gorgeous Garden of the Gods Resort. The views from our balcony were amazing and we were just a quick drive to the Garden of the Gods park. 
We had grand plans to go explore, but ended up snacking at the resort and swimming and relaxing on our balcony. I’m a planner, uber-planner really, so downtime is not something I always allocate time for, but this peaceful family time was just what we all needed! 
Wedding Crashers!
How gorgeous is this view???
Annabelle loved the vanity in the bathroom. So, so girly. 
Afternoon snacks. Perfection!
The girls hit the pool and Annabelle took her first jump off a diving board. One hop in and she was hooked!
We had dinner at the golf club and enjoyed a beautiful Colorado evening with fantastic views and weather. 
Kissing Camels
We surprised the girls with room-service breakfast on our patio.
We finally had to drag ourselves from the resort (we could have stayed a few more days and enjoyed that view and the laziness). We ventured over to Garden of the Gods and the girls fell in love. We could barely keep up with Gwyneth. Even in a dress and crocs, she was all over the rocks. 
We finished up our weekend with a trip to the Renaissance Festival. This has become quite a tradition with Gus and Misti. This year Abe and Wendi joined us too. It was cooler than most years and we had a lovely time eating crazy fair foods and enjoying cold beers. The girls still love the fairies best and Misti made their day buying them special “fairy dust”. I can’t compete with that. 
Corn on the cob and fried mac and cheese….is that what they really ate during the renaissance period? I’m pretty sure they didn’t have Coors light either, so I’m going to let it lie..
Our rag tag crew. Very fun day!