Old South Gaylord Memorial Day Festival

From a Facebook post, I found out about a free festival in the Wash Park area on Memorial Day! It's called the Old South Gaylord Memorial Day Festival. The weather was a little overcast, perfect for a day out and about!

Both kids got to ride in strollers. Lucky!

The festival was small, but it was nice. There were a number of shops who pitched tents, including some artisan shops. There were also some food booths. Andrew loves fair food! The sticker prices were a little steep, but we sprung for the $6 funnel cake anyway. After all, there were no admission fees, so it was OK. Right? That's what we told ourselves, anyway. They had a station to add toppings, so Oliver got to add toppings all by himself!

There was a large bouncy castle and a small one. We paid a dollar for Oliver to jump in the small one. He was too intimidated to go in at first, but we took him around to a quieter part, and then he climbed in.

Unlike her brother, Joanna wasn't afraid at all. She said, "Peace out, guys; I'm going to play!" Well, that's what she would have said if she spoke in sentences.

Here's Jo watching Oliver from above.

I wouldn't say this festival is worth a long drive, but, if you're nearby, it's a nice way to spend an afternoon on Memorial Day weekend. Jo's favorite part was all of the dogs. Oliver's favorite part was topping the funnel cake. Not a bad day out!

Georgetown Loop Pumpkin Festival

Last weekend, took the Georgetown Loop to check out their annual Pumpkin Festival. The Georgetown Loop is a train that runs from the town of Georgetown to the town of Silver Plume. It used to be a mining route, but now the train runs for tourists and sight-seeing. It's only a couple miles long, but the elevation climbs by thousands of feet. To make it up the elevation, it has to spiral, or loop.

The Pumpkin Fest ran all last weekend and will be running this weekend. We almost went last year but were scared off by the price tag. This year, we decided to bite the bullet and go. Oliver loves trains, and so we thought it could be worth it. Children under 3 ride for free if they sit on an adult's lap, so both of our kids were free. Andrew and I each had to pay $25.50 a piece!

I wasn't sure if it would be worth the cost, but I have to admit that it really did. We had a great time.

We left the station out of Georgetown. I recommend leaving out of Silver Plume for the Pumpkin Festival because the Festival is actually at the Georgetown station (Devil's Gate). It would have been a little nicer to ride the train to Georgetown, enjoy the festival, and then ride it back to Silver Plume. Instead, We rode the train to Silver Plume (approximately 30 minutes), picked up passengers there, and then rode back for the 30 minutes back to Georgetown. Thankfully, the kids loved the train and were able to hang out in the train car for the full hour.

We bundled up because it was pretty cold outside. We expected the train to be cold since we didn't pay extra for the first class car. Thankfully, they added windows to the coach car and ran heat inside, keeping the train plenty warm.

 

Andrew and Oliver exited the train at Silver Plume to stretch and check out the engine. Then, we got back on and headed straight back to Georgetown.

Some photos from the way back:

Oliver loved looking out at the scenery from the train.

Here are the kiddos with Grandma Colleen:

When we got back to Georgetown, we enjoyed the Pumpkin Fest. The festival is free to everyone who had a ticket for the train, and every kid got to choose a pumpkin.

The kids walked through an actual maze of hay. Oliver associates hay with chickens (I guess he learned something from the Denver County Fair!) and kept looking for the chickens. At various stops in the maze, the kids could play simple games, like bean bag toss, and get their faces painted.

They'd erected a bouncy castle at the end of the maze. Imagine my surprise when Oliver actually decided to go in! He wouldn't stand and jump, but he bounced around on his knees a bit and had a good time.

The cost of riding the train is definitely expensive, but our kids genuinely had a good time. In fact, it was so much fun that we've been talking about riding the train again during the Christmas season. Rumor has it that Santa and his helpers ride the Georgetown Loop train beginning November 17!

Candy Cane Festival

Yesterday didn't go as planned, but I was determined to have fun today at Hammond's Candy Factory's annual Candy Cane Festival.

Hammond's Candy Factory is a factory downtown that produces handmade candy--most famously, candy canes and ribbon candies. They've been featured on Oprah and The Today Show. They offer free tours daily, and I've heard good things about them, although I've never been there myself.

Well, a friend told me that this weekend (Friday and Saturday) is their annual Candy Cane Festival. There are supposed to be things like crafts and candy and visits from Santa, all for free! The candy tour would be running, too. I talked Andrew into going because I just knew Oliver would have a great time.

We got to Hammond's Candy Factory and were pleased to find a parking spot right up front. It was cold out (high 30s), and we didn't want to have Jo outside any longer than we had to. As we walked around the corner, we spotted dozens of tents, a real fire truck, and a bouncy castle--all outside. With all of the information on their Facebook page and website, I never read anything about the event being held outdoors. I felt terrible. I'd dragged Oliver here immediately after his nap, so he was super crabby in the car. Traffic downtown had been less than ideal, so it had taken us 45 minutes to make the drive. It looked like it was all for nothing.

We asked around and learned that the only indoor activity was the tour. So, we chose to do the tour, which sounded fun in itself. Once inside, I hung out in line with Baby Jo, and Andrew took Oliver to the potty. They returned five minutes later, visibly upset. An older man (not with the company) had pounded on the door and yelled at them for taking too long. Andrew skipped on washing Oliver's hands, which set off a tantrum, as Oliver hates it when his routine changes. I ended up having to take Oliver to the women's room to wash his hands, and Andrew lectured the man about having patience in a place full of kids.

Finally, the tour started. I couldn't see anything because I'm so short, but they had monitors set up to show videos of what was going on in the factory. Our tour guide told us we were just getting the short version of the tour. She also kept talking about how this was the first year they added a second day on to the festival. She complained about how she didn't like it, it made things disorganized, and she hoped they wouldn't do it again next year. Once she was done complaining, she sent us down the hall to watch people package the candy and to get a free sample. A person dressed as a mouse made an appearance, which delighted Oliver. We watched the candy packaging for a while and then collected our samples. We tried a butterscotch candy cane and some taffy. The candy cane was the most beautiful candy cane I'd ever seen, and the taffy was delicious and chewy.

Our tour ended in the gift shop, of course! We browsed the merchandise, thinking of people on our Christmas list. As beautiful as the candies were, though, we couldn't rationalize spending over $3.50 on a candy cane. A customer at the chocolate counter started yelling about the outrageous prices of truffles (about $23/pound). We can't afford that, either, but I wanted to remind her that she just did a free tour at a free festival, and it's probably in bad taste to yell at a cashier who doesn't have any authority over the pricing of the candies. I held my tongue.

And, so, we left the festival. It really did look like it would have been a lot of fun if it had been warmer. We left disappointed, and I felt a bit guilty. Two days in a row, I'd dragged the family out in the cold for a disappointing trip. We made the long drive home in silence. Just kidding--we made the long drive home listening to a two-year-old's tantrum. He was mad because he tore his tour hat up which, shockingly, left him with a torn, unwearable hat.

Oliver's Second Birthday Party

We celebrated Oliver's second birthday three weeks early this year because his actual birthday is so close to my due date. It gave me an excuse to host the party at the Denver Botanic Gardens Pumpkin Festival, which is held in early October every year. This year, I was delighted to see so many little kids at the party, and they all wore costumes. It was a cuteness overload, and I didn't mind one bit. Unfortunately, an hour of party festivities wore out most of the toddlers. So, even though the party was fun, most of our little guests needed naps and had to forgo the pumpkin patch and face painting.

Our guests this year included all four grandparents; our old neighbor, Shawna, with Owen; my old work buddy, Vicky, with Gissell and Maddox; one of my oldest friends, Andy, with his wife, Kristen, and their son, Logan; one of my closest and dearest friends, Aminta; Andrew's good friend, Chris C; Andrew's old work buddy, Jake, with his wife, Libby, and their daughter, Charlotte; and family friends Patti and Nicole.

Here is a recap from Oliver's party last year (how was that a year ago?), and here are the photos from this year's party:

The cake, which I finished glazing an hour before the party:

Waiting in the cold, 40 degree weather for the gates to open. It's a good thing the kids wore warm costumes!:

We gave out homemade pumpkin bread for the guests, and the kids also got pumpkin decorating kits:


Nicole came! She's so sweet, and she's always willing to watch and play with Oliver:


Charlotte (or "Charlie") came dressed as a puppy! This first shot was taken by Chris:


Owen came as a monster. At first, he was overwhelmed by the sight of everyone and started to cry. Unfortunately, I missed that photo op because it was the cutest thing, ever. Here he is after he (quickly) adjusted:


Oliver had his own mini-melt down when everyone sang, "Happy Birthday." It was quickly remedied by birthday cake. The close-up shots are courtesy of our friend, Chris:

Here's Logan! He's sporting the dragon costume sent to us by my sister, Julie. I brought it with because it's warm. I think it did the trick. The second shot is from Chris, too:


Here are our attempts at herding the toddlers together for a group photo shot:

Here are photos of Gissell (the witch) and Maddox (Darth Vader), brother and sister:


Oliver's trying to escape:


He made a break for it!


Mr. Owen, enjoying his milk:


Time for presents!


The revealing of Elmo:

Feelings were hurt when one toddler was told that Elmo was for Oliver. I can't help it; I think this is so cute:


Thankfully, Oliver was willing to share the beloved Elmo doll:

Elmo got a lot of love from Logan:


...and Oliver was on to his next gift!:

Off to the pumpkin patch:

Oliver let us know that it was time to go home and take a nap:

What a fun birthday celebration! Thanks to everyone who could join us!