Colorado August 2011

We decided to take a rather "last minute" vacation to Colorado before school started. We drove over on Friday, arriving in Golden that evening. Grandma and Grandpa were camping with Auntie Maggie, Uncle Jim, Lizzy & Katherine so we had the house to ourselves for a few days! On Saturday we decided to take part in some Denver history and headed to Hammond's Candy Factory. It has been making candy in Denver for almost 100 years! They even use some of the same techniques and simple machines (like the crimper that makes their ribbon candy) that they used in the 20's. All of their candy is handmade down to the crook in the candy canes. They make candy under other retail names all over the place. You have most likely eaten thier candies and had no idea! Only 20% of their product is sold retail under their name. 80% is wholesale! The big lolllipops at Disney World? Yep...Hammond's!  The boys thought it was great...especially shopping in the huge candy store at the end!

Next, we traveled downtown to our favorite REI store on the Platte River. The boys love this store, especially the outside areas. They climbed and Allen made some new friends! :)

Later we did some shopping at the new IKEA near Patrick's childhood home. We didn't think through the fact it was the second Saturday it was open...chaos! But we waited in the line to get in and we were very impressed with the store itself. We picked up a few things and headed back towards Golden. That night, our friends John and Molly came over for dinner and to meet the boys. They are such a fun couple - they got married last July in Vail, our last trip to Colorado. We enjoyed seeing them again and catching up on their very buys lives!

On Sunday morning, we decided to head to Tiny Town. This was a hit with the boys 2 summers ago and they again loved it. We figure they will "outgrow it" in the next year or two so we wanted to repeat the experience sooner rather than later. We had a great time - it was hot but not miserable. They rode the train three times, once in the caboose!

We saw this truck in the parking lot - Allen was convinced it was Mater!



Next we visited Red Rocks. We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the scenery. We had planned to do some hiking but the altitude was affecting the boys a little so we bailed on that idea and headed back to Golden earlier.

Everyone made it back from the camping trip and the kids immediately picked up where they left off in March. They had a great time playing together and even enjoyed some candy on the back deck!

More to come...