Monday, July 24th. Plenty of good eats and Lakeside Amusement Park...

How's every one's summer been so far? Ours has been most excellent. We went and took our big once a year vacation already as you know, which is part of what you are reading right now. And I have told you that...because of summer break being in effect that my posts wouldn't be updated very often. That's because of my kiddos are home from school in the daytime now and stuff. I prefer make spending time with my family priority #1. And the blog like...last or almost near to last priority. I know you all have family's that you love dearly too.... and I know you all understand. Anyways, since we have been home we have BBQ-ed, we have gone to Costco to stock up twice. And I took the kids to see the newest Transformers movie on Sunday, just a few days ago. So regular life is still happening and we're still having tons of fun. I will try and share as much of it that I can. It will just be slightly at a slower speed. I am so sorry about the slowness. But you all know... family time... has got to be numero uno. : ) So back to the Denver posts...shall we? Monday July 24th. I woke up first... as usual. Quickly showered, shampooed and conditioned my hair washed my face and body. And dried off. Deodorant, body spray and got dressed. Face lotion and then makeup. Blow dried the hair. Flat ironed it. And by that time, everyone started waking up. The bathroom was free for all. And they all shower at night, so they all washed their faces and brushed their teeth. Deodrant-ed themselves and body sprayed themselves and got dressed and downstairs for breakfast we went. They had sausage this morning. So, I had scrambled eggs with some hot sauce. A buttery flaky biscuit, some strawberry yogurt with strawberry Special K on top for crunch. A hot fresh ooey gooey cinnamon roll and 1 hot cup of coffee and I was pumped and ready for the day. We were all stuffed. And then we went to a Walmart for some last minute dinner side dish stuff. That's when I saw Walmart had coffee creamer in a huge container of caramel machiatto and one that was called cinnamon french toast? They were such big containers and under 2 dollars each. So we bought 3. Saving money on stuff...that our household uses a lot. Is a good feeling. We dropped everything back at the hotel. It was near 11:30am by now, I'm thinking we might have hit 2 Walmarts and 1 Target. And then went for lunch. 

I ordered my usual that I have always ordered here. A smothered bean burrito with green chili and cheese and topped with chicharrones. They make the best chicharron here. So top notch and flavorful. OMG! When my kids were little they would get a bean and cheese burrito here or a tostada here. But they are older and love spicy food. And so my boys, both Branden and Noah had the same exact thing as me. Noboru had almost the same thing as me, except his burrito had beef inside, no beans and he too had chicharrones, we all love them. And the tin foil on the left of my plate was a half dozen green chili and cheese tamales. We munched some and took most of them home with us. We all had cokes with ice. Delicious!

Their masa is so flavorful. And these tamales are the best! Best in Denver hands down.

After stuffing ourselves silly at lunch. We then hit the Cherry Creek mall. But first...to get there we had to drive through the city of Denver. Which is always such a nice little drive. Here is the Denver skyline.

Baseball stadium for our Colorado Rockies.

Yep, Coors Field.

American flag and underneath is our Colorado flag.

Downtown Denver is so gorgeous.

Decorated for summer with beautiful butterflies.

How gorgeous. I love my city. I love my state so much. I love where I am from!!!

Cherry Creek Mall. Flat Irons and Cherry Creek mall are more upscale malls. They have huge cushy chairs. Like super posh seats. Noboru and kids sat in those cushy plush seats for about 20 minutes tops. I had my list. I went into Sephora. Bought 5 brow products from ABH. I bought the Anastasia Brow Wiz in medium brown, 3 of those. 2 pencils I think they're called perfect pencils also in medium brown. Bought 2 Becca products. And looked at something else... that I was going to buy... but didn't like it in person. I quickly checked out. Zipped to Nordies and bought an ABH sharpener that Sephora was sold out of. And they have an ABH brow bar there. And then I went inside Bath and Body Works. #1 the ladies working there are so super nice. And everything smells so good in there. Good thing the fam-bam had relocated outside of the Bath and Body Works in another trio of nice cushy seats. I bought a ton of body sprays and we left the mall. I was frankly all done with shopping. I got the necessity items... such as Advil, tampons. Coffee creamers. My brows are also a necessity too, so the Sephora run was crucial. And the Bath and Body Works haul was fun. So I was done with shopping. I didn't need anything else. The rest of the trip was now for fun. And only fun. : ) Granted we had fun beforehand too. But...yep so nice to get our shopping done by 2pm Monday. 

On our way back from the mall and going to our hotel to drop all our stuff off. We did that. And the Lakeside amusement park would not be opening until 6pm. So we all went back to our hotel and we actually all snoozed for a few hours. Again it was so nice that our days were leisurely. And the nap helped us all to recharge for the amusement park later. 

Growing up, Denver always had 2 amusement parks. Lakeside Amusement Park and Elitch Gardens. They were only about a 5 minute drive from each other, these 2 amusement parks. But then Elitch's moved. They moved closer to Downtown Denver. I was really upset when they moved. Because the original Elitch's had lots of trees and shade which made the park so nice to enjoy in summer. The new park was all cement and very hot. Granted I am sure they have grown trees there by now. But ehh. The nostalgia was gone. I do miss original Elitch's. The singing doo-wop acts. The log ride with the gum tree that everyone and anyone would stick their gum too. Lakeside on the other hand has stayed firmly where it first began. And the rides are the same today, as they were when I was a toddler and riding the kiddie rides there! We do not go to Lakeside to be impressed with brand new rides. Believe me, if I wanted to be impressed I'd go to Tokyo Disneyland or Disney Sea. I go to Lakeside because... like many Coloradoans and Denverites like me...we had huge love and respect and nostalgia for the place. This amusement park right here. May not be flashy or in it's prime anymore. But this amusement park is my childhood in a nutshell. When I was 3 and 5 years old my parents would take me to the kiddie rides here. Every summer I'd go here with my folks. My cousins. My best friends. When I was a teenager. My best friends and I would have our parents drop us off here and we'd play here all day and night until near closing. We would slurp our ICEE's here. Play skee-ball. Licked twist cones here. Had cheeseburgers and fries here and talked about what boys in our class that we thought were cute. As we got even older. I had some classmates even get jobs here. I loved this place. So no...I do not come here for the best 2017 rides. I come here because... I have a lifetime of memories of this place. And my kids have a good handful of memories of this place. And I hope this place is still alive and kicking when my kids become adults. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But...I love this place. : ) I would guess....a Denver transplant...a person who moved to Denver...who didn't grow up with all the memories. Perhaps they might not like this place. And that's okay. But I *love* this place. I truly love this place. And it's still like so super cheap to ride all the rides unlimited that you want. They even give you a little band on your wrist. Such an affordable fun place.

I have taught my kids well. They love this place. : )

The bumper cars. Looks the same and smells the same, as when I was a little girl.

Noboru had Noah do all the driving. Noah did a great job! Noboru smiling. Noah smiling too.

Yay BrannyMcB. Branden had a ton of fun.

Noah in seat 10. Seat #11 was broken, so Bran had to wait and ride after they finished. 

Noah you truly have the palest white chicken legs. Poor kid is so pale...that sometimes if he's walking under the harsh sun without a hat or sun protection. I think he's going to burst right into flames.  #palepeopleproblems. #thesunisnothisfriend.

Noah and the kid near him. Noah said the kid asked Noah. Are you scared? Noah said he told him, "nope, how about you?" The kid said he was. I think Noah was scared too. 

They went straight to the top. And went splat! They went straight down. Noah said because of the angle of the seat, you can't even tell when you're gonna drop. Branden told us too...that this was way scarier than the Tower of Terror at Disney Sea. @_@

Noboru took video of Noah on this and he also took video of Branden riding this too. 

Hi Noah...hi all kids. So glad you all survived. And you all look like you all had a blast. 

Now it's Bran's turn. 

There was another couple from Asia. I was thinking from China... but Noboru thought from Japan. The man was Asian. Not Asian American. It doesn't matter at all... just giving you all the info. The mama was white. But the kids, there were 2, one boy and girl. Younger than Noah. But they were not hafu. They were 100% Asian for sures. Again doesn't matter at all, but just giving you the visual. Although you can see the pic for yourself. And the couples clothes were...I don't want to say weird.... But definitely a style you would not see in America. The shoes were a very unique style. They were both wearing windbreakers...but not like American windbreakers... but unusual windbreaker styling. Just very...unusual clothing. The husband had a great big huge camera with them. Perhaps this was their first day in America or I don't know. Nice looking family. And the little boy was sitting to Bran's left. The sister was opting out of this ride. The little boy didn't speak to Branden at all. Maybe he didn't speak English? I don't know. But he watched Branden a lot and thought Branden was hysterical. 

Branden pretending to bite the metal railing. Optical illusion. But Branden is a very silly and kind big brother type. And that boy got such a kick out of Branden. The boy was giggling at Bran in this pic. Branden was trying to make *me* laugh.. but instead made the little boy laugh. 

Yep the boy was clearly a Bran-fan. Fan of Bran. Hahaha. : ) 

And look at this pose...Mr. Hands on his hips. You know how some kids are just so obnoxious or bratty. Or just downright awful. Blech!  I'm so lucky in that my kids have always listened to me. They have always been kind to other kids. Have never been a pain in the a**. They have just always been super playful. Super laid back. Very chill personalities. Even when they were little, they never really caused me any trouble at all. Just super chill personalities. Are they angels 24/7? No absolutely not. But they're super chill and very nice. When people meet me and my kids. They always tell me...your kids are so cool. So laid back. And I agree. They really are. They'd never give any of you a headache. They just wouldn't.  And the little boy near Branden was so super behaved and a true delight.  

Hope you all survive the hammer. One time...me and 3 of my best friends went to Lakeside. We always went with a gaggle of girls. Anyway...they sit you 2 and 2. One of my friends in the other hammer had vomited. And I kept thinking, dear gawd...thank the lord she was not in the same hammer as me. @_@  I mean who wants to be covered in their friends vomit. Am I right? And another time...my dad vomited on this ride, again thank the heavens he was not in the same hammer as me. And also a random stranger vomited on this ride too. This ride has caused so many to vomit. My kids have teflon stomachs, so they're pretty good on rides. This ride goes so fast. I personally love this ride a lot. I could ride this forever. 

The Crystal Palace. Glass and mirror house behind this. I have known how to maneuver this glass and mirror maze since I was in elementary school. I have seen quite a few kids run and slam against the windows at high speeds super hard. I have told my kids the secret. I said. Look at the ceiling and see which is a mirror or glass and what is not. You will never go wrong. Just look at the top. I went in with my kids and was out within 1 minute flat. Now my kids have too... mastered the Crystal Palace. : ) Aww, we're making new memories. : ) 

Little boy hair, versus bigger boy hair. When my kids reached the 5th grade. I told them. "American boys always smell good and they always have the best hair!!!" Granted I am not trying to generalize but for the most part yes it's true...American males have great hair and smell superb. My boys smell amazing daily. And my boys have slammin' stylish hair.  Branden's blonde haired, blue eyed American girlfriend thinks his hair is slammin' too. 

Three of us went for an Icee and Bran went for a soda. Noboru and Noah had coke Icee's, I had a pina colada Icee.

Thanks Bran for holding my Icee for me, so I could take a pic of it. 

We all got on the train. The train goes 1 lap around the lake. Again it's such nostalgia for me. I have a lifetime of memories being on this train. And I just so happened to be sitting near an amazing hispanic woman, if I were to guess her age, I'd say she was 39-42 years in age. She was with her 2 young children. She said something to me to be nice, as we sat down. We were in the last train part/caboose. Anyway...she and her 2 kids were in 2 rows and we were also in 2 rows too. And she was facing me. Like I said...she said something to me as we sat down. And I immediately thought..."I get her" Her personality and mine matched! She was funny. Intelligent. Quick witted. Anyway. As we hit half of the train lap. She was talking to her kids... but in a way...I was definitely thinking she was also talking to me too. She said..."you know this park opened up in 1908. And I remember they used to have paddling boats and folks would ride all over the lake in the paddling boats." Because I could tell we "got one another, she and I." I chimed in. And said..."I clearly remember that too." I asked her. "Remember all the lily pads?" And she said yes!!! And she was thrilled. So now, her and I were talking. I said...remember the carp and how people would feed them popcorn? And she started laughing. Clearly remembering. I asked her...do you remember the Fun House. She smiled and said...OMG!!! Yes I remember that. Remember the carpet slide and the super steep slides and the record that would throw people off. We 2 ladies were dying laughing... on the train ride cracking up. Reliving the old days. Reliving how Lakeside was a queen in her glory days!!! Living in Japan. I sometimes feel. Nobody in Japan knows what Lakeside amusement park is. Or who the Denver Broncos are. Or where Denver, Colorado is. So to have that connection with someone. Wow. Truly appreciated. This 5-7 minute conversation with this amazing lady. I will treasure our talk. More than she'll ever know : ) 

View from the train. As we got closer to the amusement park again. I exited the train and the lady told me..."wonderful talking to you tonight." And I smiled and told her..."I feel the same, you have a good night"

We decided to ride the roller coaster again and the Tilt a Whirl one last time and call it a night. We frankly rode nearly every ride in the park. The wait time is practically zero. It's so gorgeous here at night.

After leaving Lakeside amusement park. None of us wanted supper. So we went to 7-11. Noboru and the boys bought 2 large nachos. And we then went to the Dairy Queen Drive-thru. This pic is the only proof from that DQ run. 1 Peanut Buster parfait (for me) and 2 medium Reese's Peanutbutter Blizzards for the kids. We ate the DQ along the way in the car and the 3 of them tore into those nachos like nobody's business as soon as we got into our hotel room. And I finished off the green chili cheese tamales, which I nuked in the hotel room, they were so good. : )