Rocky Mountain Get-Away!

This week is Fall Break, and since Sam doesn't have school we decided to take the chance to get away and have a mini family vacation! We thought we would enjoy the beautiful Fall weather and scenery up in the mountains at Breckenridge. We thought we'd have Fall weather, anyway!
On our way up on Monday afternoon, we got a little bit of rain, and although it was a bit chilly when we arrived, it was still beautiful and had that wonderful crisp Fall smell!
Tuesday we decided to take advantage of the sunshine, although it was still chilly, and walked through the town. For those of you unfamiliar with this area, Breckenridge is up in the mountains and is one of the many ski towns here in Colorado and about 2 hours away from Vail. There isn't really much there to do during the off season, but it is still a fun atmosphere to relax in. After we walked around the main street in the town, everyone was feeling a bit chilly so we stopped into Starbucks for a little warm refreshment. You know me, I love my vanilla steamer!
We didn't get much sleep the night before so that afternoon we all went back to the hotel for some naps. When we woke up we were surprised to see snow falling! We decided instead of walking that afternoon, we'd take a little drive instead. There was plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy up there!
Needless to say, we decided we'd have an early dinner and head back to the hotel. As if having rain, sunshine, and snow all within a 24 hour period wasn't enough, after dinner we walked out of the restaurant into a little hail storm! We had pea-sized hail pelting us the whole way to the car. The kids thought it was very funny that mom was shivering from the hail that had somehow fallen down my back! We spent the rest of the night warm and cozy in our hotel room, safe from the hail, snow, or whatever the weather decided to throw our way. This morning when we woke up, we were definitely not surprised to see a blanket of snow surrounding us. It was a little bit of a slippery ride home for the first little bit!
Despite the crazy weather, we still managed to enjoy ourselves, and although it was only a few days, it was fun to just be together without our daily stress and chaos. The kids enjoyed the change of scenery, and I think their favorite parts were staying in a hotel and seeing the snow - I'm not quite ready for that yet. I was glad to see that winter still hadn't come to Parker when we got home. Hopefully the autumn weather will hang on for a bit longer, but I have a sinking feeling that winter is right around the corner. My fingers are crossed though, that the snow might hold out until after Halloween at least! ...Maybe!?

The Greatest Show on Earth!

The circus is in town!

I haven't been to the circus since I was really little, and only once in my life, so when we saw that the circus was here in town, we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity and take the kids to see the Greatest Show on Earth!
Wow, how the circus has changed! Nope, no bearded ladies or tatooed men! The show was really great and the kids absolutely loved it!
It really is amazing the things they can do! Of course the clowns were funny, the acrobats were amazing, and the various tricks they did with the animals were pretty cool, but my favorite part was watching the kids' faces. I don't think I have ever seen them all so still and totally focused on one thing for so long! The show was about 2 and a half hours with constant action - the kids were mesmerized! Of course the endless popcorn and cotton candy helped a bit too. It is the circus, after all, how could we have gone without it! (Of course Sami specifically asked if she would get some when we told them we were going. How could we dissapoint her?)
We got lucky and had really great seats, especially since I didn't buy them until the day before. The kids had a totally clear view and were up pretty close to all the action. If you ask them what their favorite part was, they will give you a different answer every time, but of course one that always comes up, is when the clown "tooted" every time he popped a bubble! The things that stick with them???? We invited Grandma and Grandpa to come enjoy the day with us and the kids were really excited to be with them too. They bought the kids a DVD of the circus performance and of course, they all asked if they could watch it when we got home. It was a little late last night, but today we HAD to put it on! They sat there watching it with their hats on the whole time...and somehow those hats have turned magic and I have imaginary bunnies popping out of them all over the place!
I'm so glad they enjoyed it so much and had such a wonderful time! It really is amazing how your perspective on things changes with children. Yes, I was excited to go see the circus and "ooed" and "awed" at the amazing show they put on, but the best part of the show for me, really wasn't the show at all. It was watching the fun and excitement through my children's eyes, and the wonder and joy they felt at being there. Their sweet faces and happy giggles are why the circus truely is the Greatest Show on Earth!!






A few snapshots of the show.

Our little family after the show.

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.