Allll Aboooaaarrrddd!!!

Troy surprised us with a family vacation last weekend to Denver on the California Zephyr!

We loaded up in the wee hours of the morning and went to Provo to catch the train. The boys were so surprised and excited to be able to ride on the train. We are, you know, Thomas aficionados at our house and know everything about trains!

The ride to Denver was fun, beautiful, long, and eventful for the kids. They had a great time sitting in the "Observation Car" with the big windows and of course the snack bar. We went through parts of the Rocky Mountains that are only accessible by train and river. We followed the Colorado River for 268 miles! Beautiful country!

Our next big surprise on our first full day in Denver was to catch the Rockies Baseball Game at Coors Field!!! Wow! Our game was delayed for an hour due to severe thunderstorms and then a tornado watch but then it got on its way. The game was exciting and a nail biter when the Mariners tied up the game! We saw some amazing double plays and watched a pinch hitter accidentally throw his bat past the 3rd base ump! Colin was chanting, "Rockies Rockies No. 1" and all the boys were waving their #1 purple foam fingers! The Rockies won, this was their 10-0 game of the season (I think). The next day their game was stopped again due to tornado warnings, but they went on to win that one too!

When I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was they replied, "The Rockies Game and swimming at the hotel." Isn't it funny that the favorite parts of kids vacations are the hotels and their swimming pools??? Why is that?

We also visited the Denver Firefighters Museum and the Denver Jurassic Botanical Gardens. The boys had a great time crawling all over the fire engines and then following the "secret paths" with the map in the gardens to find the dinosaurs!

We came home on the train too. Train travel is much more relaxed than plane travel. There is definitely more room between seats and the seats are more comfy!!! We decided though, that if we ever did it again, we'd fly there and then ride the train home.

I'll have to down load my pics of the trip! Fun Time! Thanks Dad for planning it!