Manitou Springs

I can't think of a single vacation where I enjoyed myself so much on the very first day. It typically takes me about a week to unwind enough to have fun. This time, I'm feeling much more relaxed from the beginning and I really had a great time yesterday. It was awesome! Here's what we did:

• After finally getting out of the house at around 10:30am (way too late for Amy and she had already lost her patience), we enjoyed a pleasant drive down to Colorado Springs. We stopped for lunch in Castle Rock and we all enjoyed Chick-fil-a. We didn't hit any traffic and the drive was actually enjoyable and nice. We drove directly to the "Cave of the Winds" and we really enjoyed this part of the trip. The tour lasted about an hour and the kids really had fun - so did I. Our tour guide was witty and the kids just had a blast - practically running through the cave.
• After the Cave, we drove down the road to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. These were actually cliff dwellings from Mesa Verde that were transplanted up to Manitou Springs. The place was virtually empty and we really enjoyed ourselves as the kids ran around the ruins and enjoyed the museum. We were there for about 1.5 hours. Super fun!
• Finally, we went to the little down-town strip area of Manitou Springs. Our first destination was the Penny Arcade. Too bad it costs WAY more than a penny now, but it was fun. The little arcade occupies about 6 different buildings on the main strip. It was fun to see some of the vintage games and enjoy time with the kids. Here are a few photos of the kids:

• For dinner, we went to the Stagecoach Inn, which has been around for a really long time. The food was actually pretty good and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was a really fun place to eat!

• I have to include the following photo in my blog. Prior to having dinner, we stopped at a T-Shirt place and had custom T-shirts made for our family. It was suprisingly cheap ($13 per shirt) and we even had a onesie made for Baby Jarrett. I will try to include a photo of the shirts in my next post. But, it was so HOT in that store that Amy and I could feel our ears being red. We were just HOT. So, the kids decided that we should put our drinks up to our ears. This is the funny photo of us doing this - it actually worked!

• Finally, we arrived at the Embassy Suites around 7:30pm (after enjoying some yummy Baskin Robbin's). We didn't go swimming (but the kids are swimming now), but we did take a fun tour of the hotel and we really enjoyed the evening before going to bed. I will admit that I was SUPER tired and my back was hurting. I'm hoping that 30min in the hot tub this morning will make a difference!
• Here's a photo of the kids swimming with Amy this morning:

 

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