Golden with the Muellers

We did spend a few waking hours with the Muellers on our way to Utah, but we didn't see anything of their fun town.  During our second time around in Colorado, we made a couple trips back to Golden and had a blast each time.  We drove up from Colorado Springs Sunday afternoon and went right off on a fun walk along a river.  There were people tubing and rafting despite the cold water.  There were loads of statues that were just begging for interaction and climbing kids.  

There is a child statue somewhere under those cute giggly girls.  

It was sometimes hard to catch everyone while they were in constant motion. If they were a state of matter, they would be a gas, filling the space in the container.  

Jaimi, Isaac, Makenna, Jess, Alie, Kaeli.

They tried soaking their feet, but the water was quite chilly.

Jaimi found and caught a snake.  Makenna was about to try to hold it, but it started to pee! Eeww!

Jen has two daughters her size.  Zoiks.  I know it's coming and it scares me a bit, but she makes it look so fun. 

There was a fair amount of time spent drawing.  The Mueller girls all inherited their parents's artistic ability and mine liked to join in.  Isaac introduced them to the Destruction Game that Kim taught us.  

We spent one afternoon at Heritage Square.  This is a great spot within walking distance of their house.  We did the Alpine slide and lots of carnival rides.  There is an old fashioned main street with quaint shops and boardwalks where we sheltered from a brief shower.  The kids all had fun.  If we had a bit more time, we would have loved to revisit the Alpine Slide.

This was the first time any of my kids went on a chair lift.  Funny how no one wanted to ride with mom.  

There go Alie and Makenna, but I didn't get a good shot.  

Jess was on the fence for a bit about whether she wanted to ride on the sled with me or alone.  Her age allowed either one.  She finally opted to go alone and did great!  I sped down first to try and get pictures of everyone else. 

 Kaeli

 Jaimi

 Alie

 Makenna

 Isaac

 Jen.  If you want a funny story, ask about how the landing went.  

 This poor guy behind Jess probably wanted a refund.  Jess went down nice and cautiously.  But she loved it!

 These three had a grand time while Isaac, Jaimi and Kaeli did big kid stuff.  

 Bumper Boats!  I had never seen these before.  How fun!  The boats didn't splash enough though, so there was a lot of reaching out to help cool each other off.  

 Alie and Makenna had a plan to push each other away if either got motion sickness.  The picture below is modeling possible puking.  

Not pictured are the beautiful and challenging runs Jen took me on most mornings.  They have an abundance of gorgeous trails right around their neighborhood.  If I ever live there I will ROCK on hills, but as it was, Jen was patient with me as I slowed her up.  I think Golden is technically in the foothills, but when you get to the summit of the "hill" you feel quite the accomplishment--the view is payment.  Only drawback, run with a buddy and talk loud along a certain section of one trail which has had many mountain lion sightings, but no attacks yet, so don't worry.  I did see my first elk though!  Very cool.  I love running in Colorado.

We went to their farmers market one morning and ate slushies before loosing our appetites catching the crawdads with raw chicken.

Be believe in catch and release. 

gag.