We had dinner at Fiesta Jalisco. I'm always up for Mexican food and this restaurant didn't disappoint. We were right next to King Soopers, so following dinner Chris and the older two went in search of a Redbox movie while Kristen and I stayed to pay the bill. We purchased a few snacks at Soopers and were set for an evening of movie watching for my girls... and a little quiet time for Mom and Dad. Homewood Suites was situated across the street from Briargate Promenade, and we took the opportunity to shop at a few stores.
Saturday the girls were up at 7:15 when I returned from exercising. My fault; I probably woke them up when I opened the door and left the room. Boo. The breakfasts at Homewood were great, but you needed to get there fairly early if you wanted any chocolate dipped strawberries or muffins--always something different. We weren't in any rush to be anywhere after breakfast; the girls were thrilled to play in the pool for an hour or so. We're pretty good about applying sunscreen before swimming outdoors, but I have to say my girls are nicely browned.
Once we were actually able to find the entrance to the parking lot at the America the Beautiful Park for the Pikes Peak Arts Fest, Chris quickly snatched up a parking spot. Parallel parking no less (he's really good at it).
The Arts Fest included a live music stage, food vendors, arts and crafts vendors, kids activities and the coolest rotating fountain ever--even had life guards.
I was standing in the same spot when I took these pictures. So cool how it turns.
Amy and Misha both took a turn at the pottery wheel and really wanted to bring their masterpieces home. Chris nixed it.
On our previous trip to Colorado Springs, it had been rainy and overcast. We had passed by Manitou Springs, but the traffic was so backed up, we decided to skip driving through town. This time, the sun shone brightly and even though the traffic was just as backed up, we patiently waited to see what there was to see. It was a quaint Estes-esque town with touristy shops and people milling about.
Our next stop on Saturday was Fort Carson. They had advertised an afternoon of family fun. It was ok. The girls rocked the schleppy booth kind of stuff--beads, tattoos, balls, pens, toothbrushes, flags, slinkies--some of it will secretly disappear on garbage day. We stayed for a little while and then left to get dinner.
Kristen was kind of funny with her slinky later at the hotel. She bent over with the slinky hanging from one of her eyes. It bungeed up and down, and she joked as though she were reading her fortune, "Wow, I can see my future....." Chris and I were the only ones that caught the humor in my reply, "What? A downward spiral?"
Sunday was a sleep in day. Unusual for some of us, but I don't usually exercise on Sunday, so there was no early morning door opening/children waking going on. We slept in until 8 am. Ok, slept might be a strong word for me. We had a late breakfast and then got ready for church at 11 am. That's when we realized the error in packing for Misha AND that the alarm at home had been tripped that morning--movement in the living room. CRAP! Chris began calling neighbors, friends, police to see if someone could check on our house. We were just a little bit worried. Because it was the 4th, no one was answering. Chris finally reached the Weld County cops who promised a drive by. Our Home Teacher, and the only member of the Bishopric at church on Sunday, also called Chris back. He agreed to go and check things out for us.
The way Chris tells it, Craig left his car running with the door open while he entered our house. Surely a big no-no to enter if someone actually had broken in, but things looked ok. Thirty seconds after opening the door, the alarm sounded. It's not a quiet alarm. Kind of unnerving. Chris guided Craig through disabling and resetting the alarm, and informed him that the cops might be coming by any time. All was well....until the alarm went off again later in the day. But we now think it just got fried last week when the power kept going off. Should have gotten that whole house surge protector. A cop friend came by later that evening after the alarm went of a third time and disabled it for us.
Back to church, Misha wasn't too happy about wearing shorts and flip flops to church, but we only stayed for Sacrament Meeting for her sake. So cool to see men wearing their uniforms. It was an inspiring meeting. We returned to the hotel for a lunch of left overs and mac n' cheese. The weather was much cooler, not so promising for an evening of fireworks with rain in the forecast, but nice enough for an afternoon at Garden of the Gods.
We hiked a different trail than on our previous visit. Kristen's cautious nature and little legs slowed us down some, but still it was fun.
We left the Garden of the Gods around 4 and headed toward the Air Force Academy. They had planned a lot of kids activities, music, food, and fireworks. We anticipated that it would be pretty spectacular to be there for the 4th. We arrived early enough to get a fairly good parking spot, loaded up our arms with blankets, snacks, and jackets. The girls were thrilled to spy all of the jumpy castles AND the activities were all free. We staked out a spot on a practice field, but with all the wind, Chris opted to stay on the blanket and hold it in place. I don't think he was too disappointed.
You could see the darker clouds just starting to move over the mountains. That wind was whipping up something not so great. The girls had fun and the lines were short. We were there early enough to avoid a lot of the crowd. I realized after awhile that the stage for the Air Force band and Colorado Springs symphony was at the opposite end of the field from where we had placed our stuff. I told Chris that we should move closer--even though the clouds were closing in. We were hopeful. We were just about to move from our second location closer to the stage when it started to sprinkle, then rain, then hail, then pour. We were soaked and along with many others started packing up our stuff. Chris and I were pretty disappointed to miss the performances but sitting for hours in wet clothes wasn't a pleasant thought either. We left. Oh well, maybe next year.
We ended up at Olive Garden for dinner and spent an hour talking to our girls about manners and the importance of having them.
My shoes were soaked so no exercising Monday morning for me. GASP! I know! The girls slept in again though, so maybe that was a good thing. We were in no rush to get home, so the girls swam for an hour or so after breakfast. Chris knows I love a good outlet mall, so we spent a number of hours at the Outlets in Castle Rock. Everyone came away happy.