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. : )

Sunday spent at Lakeside Amusement Park! : )

Denver is home of 2 amusement parks. Both were old and both were within a few blocks from another. However the original Elitch Garden as it was originally called, had moved towards the downtown area and was built fresh and brand new and adopted if you will, by Six Flags, so all the big rides are there. So that's the new amusement park. Then there is also the original Lakeside Amusement Park and it's honestly 100 years old. And we went there Sunday out of nostalgia reasons then for the rides. Because if I want a new amusement park, I can go to Tokyo Disneyland or Sea anytime. However the important thing for me was, I wanted my 2 boys to get to ride the rides I used to, when I was a little kid, So yeah, it was indeed for nostalgia then the rides like I said. We went here. And I looked at this motorcycle ride and geeze, I actually have pictures of me as a 3 year old on this very ride! It made me happy to have my own kids ride the same rides! If it sounds corny, sorry! : )

Funny, this ride in particular, I always wanted to ride in the one that looked like the Denver Bronco helmet, lol!

My son riding the real coal train around the lake. I've ridden this about a million times myself. It was so awesome to get to enjoy this with Branden and Noah. See the unlimited ride pass band around Noboru's wrist? Ha ha ha. : )

This peaceful little lake. However, as the Denver natives know there are those sucking fish with lips like a sucking vacuum in this lake. Don't ever go in here unless you want to end up with about 1 million hickeys! Ha ha ha. : ) And from a fish nonetheless! : ) Blech! : )

At least once a summer some shithead tries to light the weeds on fire! Probably kids thinking they are funny or showing off! Good thing nobody did that today! : )

It looks so old, but seems so familiar! I love this place! I love this amusement park! That tower is so recognizable to me!

The bumper cars! The only time in life where it's actually okay and acceptable to plow right into a total stranger, all in good fun and they not get upset! Ha ha ha! : ) I recalled when I was about 11 years old and I tried to drive around here without anyone hitting my car a single time. It was quite the challenge I came up for myself and so much fun! I must have rode this a half dozen times trying to avoid a single car! Ha ha ha. Silly kids game, I know! Yet I remember stuff like that fondly! I really do! : )

This picture of a Noah that was too little to ride! Has to be titled, "it sucks to be the youngest" Ha ha ha! : ) Poor little guy all standing on his tippy toes and all, just trying to get a look and he has so much pride, that when I offered to hold him so he could get a better look, he said no thanks, he can see on his own! : )

This crystal place. It's really tricky, it's like a maze of clear glass and mirrors. Hard as heck for many to get out of. I however came out of this within a minute. Must be because I still remembered how to get out of here, since I was little. Branden got out of here okay. And Noboru went with Noah. However, some kid older then B, maybe about 10 years old? Anyway, he was walking without holding your hands out in front to protect his face like I warned my kids to do. Anyway this kid smacks his face on one of the glass walls so hard that his nose was bleeding extremely hard. Gushing would be more like it! Some random mom and I chatted and we both looked for tissues to offer to help. The mom of the boy in question had to go in the maze and go get him, poor kid! : (

The view in here never changes and you know what, I would *never* want it to! : ) Man it felt good to be there! : )

Branden and I rode this roller coaster together. It was his first time on here. My dad also rode behind us. Noboru and Noah sat this one out. However since there was a really tiny little kid in line (like Noah sized) I asked the man working there just out of curiosity, what age is allowed on here. He said, you have to be 2 years old and be able to walk on your own. I thought that was a bit too young. Anyway, we rode. Holy crap! And good grief Charlie Brown! That ride is so wild and so hard! I felt like my brain was jiggling in my head. I told my dad, in joking that I might end up getting a cat scan after that ride! Hmm! I can ride any roller coaster at Disneyland and Disney Sea just fine. Well forget that Tower of Terror but then that's free fall and a totally different thing anyway. But the rides at Disneyland and Sea are smooth. Even the scary rides. Yet this ride was like a ride a kid could end up with shaken baby syndrome or something. It was really wild. After that, I told Noboru, Noah could techincally ride, but I won't let him. That roller coaster is not for the faint hearted! : )

But because of it's age, it is indeed a landmark! : ) But just ride at your own risk! : ) This should be called the roller coaster of terror, I think! Ha ha ha. : )

In the middle of all the riding the rides, the kids needed a cherry Slurpee! Just 99 cents! : ) I had one too! Man was it good! Oh hey, just noticed my Slurpee was right next to Noah! Yup, see I did have one! Ha ha ha! : )

Close up Slurpee drinking! : )

Noah wanted to sit right between daddy and grandpa! : ) I think because he just wanted to charm them for some twist ice cream cone! Ha ha ha. : )

Checking out his jibbitz! : )

Noah enjoying his day at Lakeside Amusement Park! : )

Century of fun indeed from 1908 to 2008! Awesome and yes I brought my green cup back to Japan with me. So when I need to take a drink with me to swim club or whatever, I can look down at my little ol' cup and think of "home" and smile. Yes, sometimes it is these $1.75 cheap things like this cup that make all the difference in the world right? : )

These disk boat type things. Branden drove my dad all over with it! They sure had a fun time!

The hearts! I know it may not look like much in the day. But at night, these hearts light up and it's like they are floating in the air. You can't see the black thing holding them up at night, is why. I rode the hearts on Sunday! All by myself. It felt so good to ride these again! : )

Around 6:30 pm we left Lakeside amusement park. Said good bye to my dad and he drove home. And we headed back to our hotel room.

We stayed at La Quinta in Wesminster! It was all off in nice safe suburbia. And the hotel is amazing. So clean and I am really picky about that stuff, but it was flawlessly clean. Big room and just a very comfortable place to stay actually! : )

Kids were dead tired. They had quick showers and into PJ's and meanwhile we ordered dinner, to be delivered because we were all exhausted and didn't wanna get all back in the car, even to a fast food place. So, it was pizza delivery for us and none of us minded a bit! : )

Branden told me, "look mama, they have door handles like we have at our house!" Ha ha ha. I said, very smart of you to notice that B. Ha ha ha! : ) I will totally be staying at this place again next time I head back to Denver! : )

Our room had games and the whole bit! Oh and, guess what..... the Sex and the City movie was available to rent in the room for just $4.99. I ended up watching it our second night there after the boys went to sleep! Yup, I finally got to see it in the comfort and privacy of my hotel room in bed while eating pizza! What an awesome way to watch the Sex and the City movie! Ha ha ha. : )

The Pizza Hut pan pizza, pepperoni and mushroom got there in 30 minutes. The boys each had a slice, think they were still stuffed from all the amusement park food they both had. And they went to sleep. Then Noboru and I ate. He ate pizza. And I ate pizza in bed and watched Sex and the City! What did I think? I loved the movie and I will be asking my dad to send me the DVD when it comes out in the end of September. Again, nothing big or major going on here during our trip back home. Just hanging with family and relaxing, going to an old favorite amusement park. But basically nothing fancy or anything. Just regular stuff, normal every day type stuff. : ) But then again eating pizza and watching Sex in the City in bed, is the type of girl, I am! Ha ha ha. A kicked back relaxin' type of gal! *winks* : )

Noah dead asleep. Yup riding all those rides tuckered him out! And get this, we honestly had no jet lag while in Denver at all. We switched times almost instantly which was weird, I know. : ) Kids woke up around 7am or 7:30 am every morning. Normal stuff.

B zonked out to the world, probably dreaming of the "Cyclone" roller coaster! Ha ha ha. : ) It was just a very quiet but amazing time back home! : )