Denver Escape

Michael and I escaped to Denver last weekend. My mom and dad had plans to go with Stacy and Lilliana to the beach and the kids were spending their beloved annual week with the grandparents. Michael gets a day off for his birthday during the same period and I had citi thank you points burning a hole in my pocket.

So we went to Denver. We stayed in the Hyatt Grand Denver using cash and points and a diamond suite upgrade. The suite was stunningly beautiful, but the best perk was the Grand Club down the hall which served breakfast, snacks, and a beautiful heavy appetizer dinner in the evening all included. It was almost totally empty until our last day and we spent lots of time there.

Our first day we arrived early in the morning and drove all around Denver, exploring the neighborhoods. We arrived at the hotel, dropped off our bags and headed to the Civic Center to partake of Arepas at the food trucks. Delicious! We met Michael's friend Aaron there and he ate with us in the shade. After lunch we walked into the museum, but turned around as we decided to go explore 16th Street Pedestrian Mall instead. We ended up at the Tattered Cover book store and browed around and then went and looked at the new Union Station which was very nice. Then we bought a couple of bottles of wine and headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and sit in the Grand Club until our double date with my friend Tate.

Tate and his wife, Tracy, picked us up on the corner and took us out to dinner at the Argyle which was wonderful. We had so many good things to eat! Then they took us to 1UP, an eighties style arcade, which was fun, but we were so exhausted that we only stayed for one drink. We'd been up for almost 20 hours by then and that's a lot for me.

The next day Michael had to work, so he plugged in and I went for a swim at the pool. After my exercise I cleaned up and we drove out to the northeast side to have lunch with Tate and an outdoor brew pub called GVR. We were very merry, and having a good time, so we dropped Michael off at Tate's house so that he could continue working and Tate and I drove off to explore his neighborhood.

Michael and I finally headed back into Denver so that he could work some more and then we went to meet
Michael's friend Aaron and his wife for dinner at another Brew Pub! We had some great beers and good conversation, and then we headed back to the hotel to watch a movie and cuddle on the couch.

Saturday morning, we got up early and checked out of the hotel and then drove around Denver some more, exploring Lakewood, Broomfield and Louisville, before arriving in Boulder and checking in to our Hyatt Place there. We dropped off our bag and then checked out some bikes from the local bike share and cycled down to the park for the Boulder Craft Beer festival. There was a long line, but the weather was very pleasant and we wound our way through the park to the festival. We had a good time people watching and trying beers and we found a great vegan hotdog to munch on for lunch. The music ranged from tolerable to quite good and the grass where we sprawled was green and soft. I love that kind of grass.

After the festival we biked back to the hotel for a rest and then headed back out to the pedestrian mall in Boulder on Pearl Street. There was GREAT people watching there as they were having a pole dancing competition one block away. We managed to snag to outside seats at "Oak", the restaurant we most wanted to try. A young man sat near us playing one of the outside pianos and played very, very well. The food was incredible and so were the hand crafted cocktails. I loved having this romantic date with Michael. After dinner we strolled Pearl Street and then took a detour to check out Boulder's outdoor movie theater set up, in case that looked fun. It was in a parking lot and we didn't have chairs and it was starting to get really cold, so we gave up on that idea and cycled back to the hotel where we could watch a movie there.

The next morning we got up really early and drove to the airport to come home. I was so glad to see the children! They had had a wonderful time with their grandparents. On Tuesday they had spent the day with my mom, who had taken them to the Barton Creek Mall ("an inside mall!", they had requested) and taken them to buy new school shoes and to the lego store. They ate lunch at California Pizza kitchen and declared it an excellent day. That evening, they went off with Martha and Clark and had many adventures. They went to ZDT's where Davis got to drive a GoKart. They went crawfish fishing, and played pictionary and went put-put golfing. They went to see Minions and watched movies in the evening and caught minnows and went to Landa Park water park. They loved every minute of it. These times with their grandparents are so special to them.

We all reunited Sunday afternoon and after unpacking, Michael and I took the kids over to my mom's house to swim in the pool, just the four of us. We had a great time.
Micahel and I are in such a good place right now. We are so in love and our kids are so great. Davis has really matured this summer and I absolutely adore his company. He is thoughtful, helpful and has become such an interesting person to talk to. Samuel is, of course, still silly and fun and sweet. Happiness seems to breed more happiness and I am so grateful to have so much love and support in my immediate family.