Sports Authority Field Tour

For a few years I have been hearing about the tour you can take at Sports Authority Field, which is the home of the Denver Broncos. So, I finally decided this was the summer we would go and two weeks before school started, I booked us a tour. It was on an off Friday so Dad got to join us. 

It was pretty neat. They took you up in the suites, the press boxes, the guest locker room (the Broncos locker room was off limits, I guess they are superstitious), and on the field. 

The press room

The 5280 Suite. The only suite you can purchase individual seats for. The rest you have to purchase the entire suite, plus food and drinks.

As close as we got to the field. They were having an NFL Play 60 event going on. 

We got to go into the beer fridge. They have two of them that supply the entire stadium. Look at all those tubes bringing beer to the good people of Denver.

The visitors hot/cold tubs. I guess they are the ones used by the Broncos since the 70's. They go moved to the visitor locker room when the Broncos updated to nicer ones for themselves. 

After the tour we walked around the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. They had a kid room where the kids could dress up with all the old athletic equipment from the teams. He makes a pretty cute football player. 

It was pretty neat to see parts of the stadium you don't see when you go to a game and hear the history of it. And those from Iowa will get a kick out of hearing the Hawkeyes make the tour for their pink visitor locker room. We were discussing tricks to psych out the competition.

It was a fun little trip.

No more braces

We had a very fun orthodontist appointment this morning. 

He went from this....

....to this (look at that genuine smile!)

He even came out with a bag full of all the things he wasn't supposed to eat with braces on (and proceed to pull them out one-by-one saying, "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to eat this". Oops!) Now we get to experience life with a retainer. Yay!

Touch-A-Truck

This year we were in town for the annual Touch-A-Truck event near our house. The boys love it. It is a parking lot full of trucks, cars, vans, buses, firetrucks, police cars, ambulances, buses, and anything else that moves. And the best part, you get to climb into every single one. It is a little boys' dream.

Batman was there with his supped up bat mobile. 

The boys got to sit in the back of a police car. We had the talk about how that should be the only time they have to sit in the back. Ha!

They also had a race with ride-on toys from a local store. 

And a Pepsi truck you could paint on.

They got to climb into the back of an ambulance. 

And drive a garbage truck.

The cutest kids on the bus. 

It was a fun day and something we will definitely do next year. 

Adventureland

Since we were in Iowa already, we decided to drive up to Des Moines from the Strutt vacation and spend a few days with the other side of the family. Which meant, our kids (and us) got to go to Adventureland for the day.

We started the day on the Ferris Wheel. The kids liked being able to see really far away.

Then we headed over to the Gallian (since it was right next to the Ferris Wheel). Patrick went on it but I guess wasn't too impressed. He still talks about the scary pirate ship.

Then we were all over the park trying out all different kinds of rides. Of course we had to go on the log ride a few times since this was the last season it would be at Adventureland. 

They have a lot of little rides for the little guys. Of course, he loved it.

And you can't go to Adventureland without riding the Tornado.

Josh's favorite ride were the swings. I was okay with staying on the ground for that one. They got really high. 

On the way out we stopped for ice cream (curtesy of Uncle Joe).

 

And one last ride on the train before we headed home. 

It was a very fun (very hot) day and the kids loved it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Strutt Family Vacation

For Christmas last year, us five siblings decided to give Mom and Dad a family vacation as a present. So we got to planning (well, really Becca got to planning) and settled on a time for everyone to get together and just hang out. It was pretty amazing to get everyone together since we live in five different states and have six different family schedules. I'm so glad we did though. It was a great time and made me want to do it again, soon. (Get ready family!)

We decided to meet at a resort in Iowa called the Honey Creek Resort. A few of us had been there a few years ago (to celebrate Becca's graduation from Law School) and decided it was a good place to stay and entertain all 10 grandkids. We got two four-bedroom cabins right next to each other, had all the meals planned, and got together for five days and four nights of family time.

We arrived Saturday and everyone got settled in before a yummy fajita dinner prepared by the Vargas clan. The set up was really nice because we could all hang out outside, or inside, even after the kids went to bed.

Sunday we made a trek to the beach for some lake swimming. It's not quite the Mississippi sandbar but we had fun anyway. They had a nice swimming area roped off that the kids enjoyed. And for those that didn't like swimming (like Patrick) there were sand toys and plenty of sand to keep them occupied. We had packed a sandwich lunch and ate lunch on the beach before heading back for afternoon naps. Since 8 out of the 10 kids were 3 or under, afternoon naps were a must. It gave the older boys some extra time at the indoor water park that afternoon. 

Attempt at grandkids picture. With ten kids, it is quite the feat.

We also planned to celebrate a very special birthday (a month early) since we were all together. So, I made a cake, we sang "Happy Birthday", and had a small celebration. 

Monday we took all the kids to indoor water park. It was a little hectic keeping track of 10 rambunctious kids but I think everyone had fun. And when it was time to leave to get lunch and naps, everyone was ready to sleep. 

Tuesday morning we ventured over to the playground at the resort and let the kids run around and climb on things. The adults got to play too. Someone decided it looked like an American Ninja Warriors course so we took turns trying to master it. Some had better runs than others. Those things are really hard. 

After the kids ran around for a while, we headed back to the indoor water park again to cool off. I think the kids really like the water. After naps, we headed to the hotel restaurant for our final dinner together. I'm sure we made quite the site as our party of twenty-one. 

Then we headed back to the cabins and had fun roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Yum!

Did I tell you how perfect the set up was for everyone? It was fabulous. The kids had a lot of room to run around and play. There were also a lot of toys to play with and things to ride on. 

They had great porches for the kids to play on (Uncle Jon brought a hammock the kids thought was pretty fun) and the parents had a shaded place to sit to watch it all. 

Playing with water and pans. Who would have thought that would keep them entertained for so long?

A big hit of the week were the bat and ball set Grandma brought. It kept Grandpa busy outside all week long. Everyone got a turn to play ball.

The kids got a lot of cousin time in. I think they really enjoyed playing with all the kids. 

And of course, there were bubbles. Who doesn't like bubbles?

Wednesday morning we said our good-byes as everyone headed off in different directions. It was a great few days. I am so glad I got to hang out with everyone. It had been too long seeing some of them. Hopefully we can make this a regular thing. We really do have fun hanging out with each other. 

Thanks for the fun vacation family!

(If you would like to see all the pictures from the week, head over to www.weldons.shutterfly.com)