Day 5
Our hotel was located close to downtown Boulder, where we descended upon it to check out the famous Pearl Street. It reminded me a lot of Mass Street in Lawrence.
This was an outdoor mall area with a lot of areas to climb around on. We arrived too early, before all the stores opened up, and had a lot of time to walk around.
The courthouse!
Finally at 10am, stores started to open. We first went into a giant 3-story bookstore and pumped way too much money into the local economy.
Next up - Into the Wind, a large kite/toy story. I got the feeling that kites were the true love of the owners, but toys seemed to be what everyone was actually buying here.
Rocket Fizz, a soda pop and candy store. Only, there was no chocolate anywhere. HERESY.
We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, and told the kids at the end of the meal that the four of us could split a piece of cheesecake. They had fun picking out our selection.
Annika did as well. The kids decided that the Very Fanciness of the Cheesecake Factory demanded speaking in an English accent the entire time we were there.
CHOCOLATE!!! This store is a place after my heart.
This picture below cracks me up - Annika is sitting perched next to a trash can, eating a giant marshmallow, while reading a book. Clearly.
That afternoon, we headed back to the hotel and then walked over to the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. We were right next to the campus in our hotel and were able to take an underpass bridge right on over.
Gorgeous mountains.
The university!
The kids' favorite part of our campus tour - chasing after some poor geese.
That evening, we decided to make the 45-minute drive over to the "world famous" Casa Bonita!! This is a place that is definitely a run-down tourist trap, but is the perfect location for kids who are our kids' ages.
There are "theme" areas of the restaurant where you sit. We were located near the waterfall/giant diving pool, where we got to see a cliff diver dive from the rocks, as well as other shows like a man in a gorilla suit running around. The kids loved it and thought it was the best thing ever.
Day 6
We went back skiing at Eldora! This is a small ski place near Nederland and not too far from Boulder - it is very family-friendly and has great lessons. The kids were chomping at the bit to go to the next level in Ski School from winter break.
Spying on ski school! Daniel was in the 4-6 year old group, while Annika was with the 7-12 year olds. I have no idea how the poor ski instructors managed all of this.
On the slopes!
Will and I skied together for a while, and then he went off to do some blue runs while I puttered around on the easiest greens I could find.
Annika at ski school! It quickly became apparent that Annika is now a better skier than I am (which isn't saying much, but still).
Coming down the mountain with her instructor.
By the end of the day, Annika was skiing some of the blue runs, something I have never done. Great job, Annika!
Spying on Daniel. You can see that the weather was quite warm - as soon as the slopes area ended, the parking lot was just a giant pool of dirt and mud.
Daniel coming down the mountain with his group! This was Daniel's first time on the "real" slopes outside of the ski school area and he did great.
Close up of Daniel - great job, buddy!
After ski school, Will and Annika skied some more together, while Daniel and I hung out in the lodge. Our kids were completely tired out after the day ended. And so was I!
That evening, we met Will's cousin Mike for dinner at a local Boulder pub called the Dark Horse. It was really close to our hotel and to where Mike works, so that was perfect. Mike was super patient with our kids as they told him everything in the world about Harry Potter.
The most memorable part of the evening - the part we were in had all kinds of images of naked people on the wall. They had images of just about everything else, too, and it wasn't obvious, but our kids manged to count that there were images of 76 naked people on the wall. The place did have a kids' menu so it was open to kids, but clearly we should sat in another part of the restaurant.
Day 7
Good-bye, Colorado! Hello, Kansas! The only downside of the trip back is that Will realized that his phone was left behind at our hotel, but thankfully they are going to send it via overnight mail to us.
What a great spring break trip - six different states, time with friends and family, two different phases, and so many memories all around. Now, time to work on getting back to reality, and finishing the semester with a bang!
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