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Another Big Bite

Another Big Bite

Tag Archives: colorado springs

Playing Tourist… Again.

26 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in Monday Morning Water Cooler, Out of Doors

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Tags

colorado springs, family, feeding elephants, seven falls, Travel, zoo

Nathan’s mom (the kids’ Mima) came to town for a visit last week. Once again, we played proud momma and poppa to our new city of C. Springs, showing it off and basking in our new-found pride. (Isn’t she beautiful? Absolutely perfect! And she even sleeps through the night!) We played tourist again. And I said “Isn’t this awesome?!?” way too many times.

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There are two things that are a must-do for us when someone comes to visit. First – Garden of the Gods. Second; Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. They are a good “bang for your buck” since one is free and we are members to the zoo, and they are both quintessential Colorado Springs experiences.

Finn is always excited when Mima comes to town; I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that she always brings a suitcase of presents every time she visits. Mima also has more patience for Finn’s antics than anyone else. And he makes every effort to see how far he can push it until the happy-go-lucky visit implodes. I always lose my cool well before Mima even winces. So Finn pushes harder, culminating in a shit-storm big enough to get Nathan involved. Thankfully, we evaded any major drama with him this time around, almost to the point where he was tolerable to be around.

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While waiting for Nathan to get off work on Wednesday, we headed to Target and spent over an hour perusing all the new toys. Christmas toys are up, folks… Children, get your roll of paper and pencils ready. We examined every toy in the store and rocked out Chick-fil-a for dinner. Then came Garden of the Gods. I love it there. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a soul who doesn’t. We hiked a little, let the kids run wild and headed out to Manitou Springs for ice cream.

Hitting Manitou Springs on Wednesday was a great idea… On Thursday, we were hit with another epic storm, meaning more flooding and destruction in Manitou. I love it there, but adding mudslides to the crazy tourist season in the summer and getting up and down the hills in the winter makes me glad that we live far enough away where none of that affects us.

Finny had his second day of school on Thursday (more on that later – the jury is still out); meaning we were stuck hanging around the house for most of the day since preschool is smack-dab in the middle of the day. After everyone had been schooled, Mima treated us to dinner and a visit to Seven Falls. We had never been. Remember that awesome storm on Thursday night? Yeah, we arrived just as it started… Visiting a place that has just shy of 400 steps… In the rain… Not the greatest activity ever. It ended up being totally fine, though. They stamped our tickets – a real “rain check” if ever there was one – and we called it a day.

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Finn was looking forward most to Friday. Zoo day! We took Mima through all the regular zoo attractions; giraffe-feeding, lion-gazing and giant-sandwich-eating, but this time, we got to do something new. They let you feed the elephants, too.

Good lord, I almost cried when I found out.

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Sadly, the experience was a little less magical than feeding the giraffes, since space is limited and everyone waits in line to feed the same elephant. I made the mistake of snapping the carrot in half so each of the kids could have a turn, and was promptly scolded… “It is a per-person charge, ma’am. Ugh. You can’t break them in half.” (Cue the epic eye roll directed at me.) Whatever. Mima forked over another fiver so Alice could be terrified of the beast without her brother standing beside her.

Having zoo-ed ourselves out, the kids and Mima napped when we got home. We took Mima to Garbanzos for dinner, one of the best fast-food joints out here (because we like to keep it classy), and tried Seven Falls again.

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This time, the weather was be-a-utiful and we had no problem getting the full experience. We climbed the 180+ steps to the overlook of the falls.

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Mima is none-too-fond of heights, but she was a trooper and braved her way to the top of the steps running adjacent to the falls. We all arrived safely at the top. The four of us, Mima, and Alice’s Pony. It is a little plastic My Little Pony that goes everywhere with her. She clutches it at night when she sleeps. Though all six of us made it up in one piece, only five came down together. Sure enough, after an exhausting day, Alice decided the wisest course of action was to pitch Pony right into the falls after I refused to take her out of the carrier.

I have watched too much Toy Story; all I could think about was that poor little Pony loosing her Alice… It sat in an eddy at the top of the falls, bobbing sadly in one spot. Nathan booked down the 200 steps to wait for it at the bottom, but we couldn’t get it to move. We headed down, defeated and forlorn, but the security guard gave us a little hope. This apparently happens all the time, and Nathan and a custodian high-tailed it back to the top with pool skimmers attached to long poles. Sadly, in the time it took us to climb down and Nathan to climb up, Pony had tumbled. And was lost forever.

This one's for you, Pony.

This one’s for you, Pony.

Moment of silence, please?

Good thing Target is littered with Ponys. We stopped and picked up a new one on the way home – just as Alice was starting to panic about impending bedtime.

Mima left early the next morning, before the kids had woken up, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Successful visit in the bag!! I kept waiting for a major Finny-Meltdown, but it never happened.

There is always next time.

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‘Merica.

06 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in Out of Doors, Party Hearty, The "Joy" of Parenting, The Good Ole Days

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4th of july, colorado springs, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, concert, fireworks, independence day, kids, parenting

There are few things more American than blowing shit up, for no other reason than to watch it explode.  That, and dancing like a bit of an idiot.  Throw in a watermelon, a cake decked out with various berries resembling good old Stars and Stripes and some sparklers and you’ve got yourself Independence Day.

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Unless you live in Colorado Springs, where we have had a few wildfires…  Then you don’t get the sparklers.  Don’t worry, you’ll live.

This is the one and only day I miss Chicago – my brothers would buy boatloads of illegal fireworks just over the border in Indiana.  My parents would have the entire neighborhood over.  We would eat copious amounts of my mother’s fabulous potato salad, sit on the lawn; getting munched by mosquitoes while watching the fireworks.  Every one of us (smokers or not) were armed with lit cigarettes to light the fuses of small explosives.  We would throw M80’s down the sewers, crank up “Friends in Low Places” and “Black Betty” on the car stereos and burn our fingers with the wicks of bottle rockets.  The next morning, we would drag our bodies out to the cul-de-sac to sweep up hundreds of dollars of spent pyrotechnics and go back to bed.

Perfection.

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photo 2 (1)We had no idea what to expect of C.Springs when it came to the 4th of July.  We were not disappointed.  The Colorado Springs Philharmonic was set to play a free concert on the lawn of Memorial Park and to accompany the fireworks display.  Pack up the folding lawn chairs and water bottles, ’cause this girl is game for that.

After noshing on kettle corn for dinner, the kids had a blast on the giant inflatable slides and moon bounces.  We found a spot on the lawn and cracked a pair of glow stick wands.  I was fully prepared for the kids to be bored to death with the concert.  Nope.  It must be human nature to want to get out of your seat and dance when the Philharmonic breaks out the Big Band classics.  I couldn’t even get a clear shot of the kids; they would not sit still.  I opted for video instead.

Yes.  My son is a bit of a lunatic.  And has no patience for letting Alice get any screen time.  Too much kettle corn, perhaps?

The two of them bounced around for an hour.  By the time the fireworks started halfway through the 1812 Overture, they were sitting peacefully on our laps.  The next song was the Star Wars theme…  Ohmygod.  The crowd roused to a level of geekness I never thought possible.  But, by the end of Star Wars, both kids were O.U.T.  Like a light.

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“You know, after Disney World, this looks a little bit like Mike and Rick lighting off mortars in the street,” Nae commented.

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And then they got a little better…

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And even better…

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And by the finale, we were both stunned at how GIANT the fireworks were.  Amazing.

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I’ll tell you what wasn’t amazing, though.  Getting stuck in a parking lot for over an hour until a sweet, little old lady decided to direct traffic.  It was worse than leaving an Aerosmith concert.

All in all, I was mighty impressed, Colorado Springs.  Good job making up for the lack of sparklers, smoke bombs and roman candles.  I didn’t even miss the blistered fingers of Chicago.  Snaps to you.

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Nothin’ New to See Here, People…

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in Monday Morning Water Cooler, Out of Doors, The Good Ole Days

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colorado springs, friends, Garden of the Gods, giraffes, old friends, zoo

Just more pictures of giraffes.  And Garden of the Gods.

And this lovely lady:

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Last week, we had our first official visitor; Gwen, my dear, dear friend from high school and Alice’s godmother.  Since I posted about feeding giraffes, she made sure we knew THAT is what we should do when she came to visit.

I had no problem indulging myself her.

Despite the fact that I never quite got around to cleaning the house properly, she still loves me.  I am the antithesis of Gwen’s BFF back in Chicago, who really is the perfect mother while keeping her house spotless…  While I’ve never actually met her, she seriously seems amazing, and genuinely put together (and is a total knockout in every photo I’ve ever seen of her on Facebook).  Meanwhile, I haven’t mopped the floor in a week and a half, Finn spent a large chunk of our time at the house from Wednesday to Friday parked in front of some kind of screen or another – and my eyebrows?  Haven’t been landscaped in over a month.  There has to be balance in the world, right?

Gwen asked when I got to the point where I wasn’t constantly wiping the kids’ faces…  Should I feel horrible that I cannot recall a point where I ever DID wipe them clean?

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photo 4 (2)So, after a fantastical journey to the zoo (again), we took a much-needed breather.  This, Gwen, is what you traveled thousands of miles for:

photo 4 (3)G and I went took in The Great Gatsby; and subsequently got in a delightful, yet heated argument about Paul Newman vs. Robert Redford on the way home…  The movie was surprisingly pretty good; and even though I’m not the world’s biggest fangirl of Leonardo DiCaprio, oh…  That look when he finally sees Daisy for the first time in five years?  Ugh, it gets ya right in the feels.

We also took her to Garden of the Gods – which never fails to disappoint.

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On Friday night, when her sister (who lives a few hours from here) came to pick her up, I didn’t even get that feeling that you normally get when house guests leave… You know the feeling; where you simply cannot wait to run around in your underwear again?

I guess we’re past all that, her and I.  And I adore her for it.  Despite the fact that she honestly believes that Paul Newman was better looking than this guy:

 

Love you, G.  Miss you already.  But Redford beats Newman by a mile. XOXO

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Please Feed The Animals

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, The "Joy" of Parenting

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

animals, cheyenne mountain zoo, colorado springs, giraffes, hippos, Travel, zoo

It is official. Colorado Springs is the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH.

Wait. Stop. Stop, stop, stop!

Second greatest. Disney World is still better. Obviously.

But C.Springs is a respectable second. On Saturday, we went to The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We were holding out for better weather so all the animals from warmer climates wouldn’t be huddled en mass in the far corners of their pens. Finally, we had a beautiful day. My expectations for the zoo were pretty high, I hail from Chicago – home to two world-class zoos; Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo. Holy awesomeness, Batman, my mind was BLOWN this weekend.

We get there, and this is the first thing we did…

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No big deal. Just feeding the giraffes at the zoo. What?? They let you do that? Yes. Every. single. day.

You fork over your two dollars for a hunk of romaine and then the giraffes just come running. I am thanking my lucky stars that I am no longer suffering from engorged ta-tas… And I am done smuggling a load of vegetation in my brazier. Would they have smelled it in there? Don’t get me wrong, I love me some giraffe, but I’m not sure that going to second base with one of their gigantic tongues would have been the highlight of my day. It would’ve been a helluva story, though.

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The zoo is small, and its primate houses and hippo arena leave a bit to be desired. It is like walking back in time when you enter those buildings. I’m not sure when they were built, but it was a long time ago. It is pretty sparse, and way before the era where zoological parks started to make the habitats of animals look like fake rocks. Outside of that, it is amazing… All the animals are so interactive. You can just touch all sorts of things. The hippos are so close you could touch them; though I was way too terrified to try. I’ve never seen one so close before. They were right there… Not that it was a spiritual experience with a pachyderm or anything, but it is profound to stand eye to eye with a hippopotamus and know that the only thing between you and it are a few metal bars. I sort-of lost myself locking eyes with them; I wonder what they are thinking… And what would happen if they suddenly lost their mind and charged the bars. Mental note; nearest exit is behind me and to the right.

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We were nose-to-nose with wallabies. We watched grizzlies go for a swim. We now know what it is like to be in the midst of a screaming match between every species of monkey in one of the primate houses. Finny learned that he has no desire to be close to a gorilla – like, ever; real or fake, and I have reaffirmed my distaste for birds after Nathan and I got pooped on while standing under a hoard of parakeets, cockatiels and zebra finches. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the most prudent place to stand.

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I suppose we should thank our lucky stars that we only got shit on once apiece after standing under THAT.

I suppose we should thank our lucky stars that we only got shit on once apiece after standing under THAT.

I think this may have been my favorite place in C.Springs yet. And that is saying something.

When we first spied the giraffes, I forgot that I am 31 and a mother of two. I took of running; “Nathan! Finny! Look! Giraffes are – holyshitholyshit – someone is touching them!!”

Long ago, in middle school, my dad took us to Busch Gardens in Florida, and I was so excited to feed the giraffes. I remember the commercials where people would pile into a giant, double-decker jeep-ish vehicle and they would be eye-level with the giraffes. A little girl would reach out her hand and touch one. There is only one thing that I wanted more at that point in my life (which was to go to NASA Space Camp), and holy cow; it was gonna happen. Only problem is, it never did. Once we got there, I realized to do one of those giraffe safaris was extra – LOTS EXTRA – and I knew better than to ask.

All of a sudden, I was eleven again and I took off like a bat outta hell and shamelessly elbowed my way in. By the time Nathan and the kids caught up, I realized the giraffes wanted absolutely nothing to do with you if you didn’t have lettuce. I would reach up to touch them and they were as prude as Sandra Dee before the hooker shoes and bouffant. Gimme some greens, lady. I’m not giving the milk up for free, especially to some lunatic who just kneed a seven-year-old girl in the back for a better look-see.

Yes, I know giraffes are big, but they are staggering in real life. You know in those old Three Stooges movies where Larry has one end of a ladder and turns around, whipping the other end of the ladder super fast into Curly? They move like that; only there is no crashing or poking one another in the eye. They walk and their heads just like, whhaahhh – swing around so fast; it is so graceful… And as cheesy as it sounds, it is breathtaking to watch.

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I could have stood there all day. We got some lettuce from a super helpful zookeeper and at her behest, by the end of our stint in the African Rift exhibit, we packed up, headed straight back to the ticket booth and signed up to become members. If we came back at least twice more in the next year it would pay for itself. I can think of worse things to spend fifty bucks on.

So we cancelled our plans on Easter and headed right back to the zoo. Two days in a row and I still cannot get enough of the giraffes. I’m smitten.

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Maybe it was so magical (yes, a smchmaltzy way to put it, but it truly was) because we stumbled upon it and had no idea how spectacular the zoo would be. If it wasn’t just happenstance and we expected more maybe it wouldn’t have seemed so cool. Either way, I still can’t get over the fact that I live here. Everything we head out to do, whether it be Garden of the Gods, or The Incline; it’s all so definitive of this place. Since we left Washington, the feeling I had when we lived Spokane was always something I hoped we would find again when we retired. But I’m only in my thirties.

Mostly, I just feel as though I am finally back home again. And all it took was to get licked by a giraffe and pooped on by a parakeet.

Gratuitous Little-Girl-in-Her-Easter-Dress Shot.  Couldn't help myself.

Gratuitous Little-Girl-in-Her-Easter-Dress Shot. Couldn’t help myself.

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We an inclination…

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alice, colorado, colorado springs, finn, hiking, Manitou Incline, outdoors, The Incline

…to hike up The Incline.  Specifically, The Manitou Incline.

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Actually, Nathan and a few friends from work had the inclination; the kids and I were just along for the ride.  If I had known what I was agreeing to when Nathan asked if I wanted to “hike The Incline” I most likely would have bailed out.  The trail used to be a cog railroad track; after the tracks were wiped out in a rock slide, the rails were removed and fitness nuts started hiking up it FOR FUN.  Naturally.

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“Hiking The Incline” sounded pretty lame-o; sure I was game!  As we got closer, I started to worry…  Fifteen minutes before you get to the parking lot, you can see it cut straight up the mountain.  This short, mile-long trail is hella steep.  It climbs over 2,000 feet in elevation, which doesn’t mean much if you aren’t into this kind of thing (Mom).  Allow me to put it into perspective: you know those signs on mountain roads that warn truckers of steep grades?  Like this?

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The highest I’ve ever seen is 7% grade, and with a hill that steep, there is no gas; only brake, and you FLY down those hills.  Going up – even in our peppy little car, the best you can do is down shift and get in the right lane.

The Incline is a 68% grade in places.  Uphill.

Nathan and I did it with the kids on our backs.

At first, we meandered up the base at Finn’s pace, with Alice riding on Nae’s back.  I am not anywhere in the shape I used to be in, but we were still passing folks left and right.  Focusing on Finn’s safety kept me from psyching myself out and after a good long stretch, I had the ridiculous, fleeting notion that maybe it just looked bad from the base, and now that we are right here in the middle of it, it wasn’t so bad.  Which, of course, is right when it really starts to climb.  Life is a bitch that way; just when you get in the thick of something and start to hit your stride, that bastard of a hill reaches for the sky for no other reason than to make you question your sanity for ever wanting to do something as menial as walk up a big hill.

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Finny was such a mini trooper…  He made it halfway up before we forced him into the backpack.  Nathan switched Alice out into my back and Finn rode in the super kid-carrier.  At the halfway mark, (still passing people), a pattern started to emerge…  Folks would comment on how crazy we were bring the kids, how we “better be safe with those little bundles of joy on our backs,” that we were “animals.”  Don’t get me wrong, it was tough, but really?  We weren’t the only ones doing it with kids.  Maybe it’s all those vegetables we are eating.

There's me and Alice!

There’s me and Alice!

All of a sudden I looked up, and whoa… I was a lot closer to the top than I thought.  Like, holy crap, I thought I was getting along at a snail’s pace, literally scrambling up the ties on all fours (I ain’t got any shame).  Turns out I was only two thirds of the way up.  There is a false summit; once you crest what you think is the top, there are only eight million more steps to climb.  Yes, you have been hiking for over an hour, but you turn around and realize that you can STILL SEE THE EFFING CAR.  Alice and I copped a squat, I unhitched her and we waitied a few minutes for Nathan to catch up.  It was hysterical – Nathan was doing what he does best (kicking ass) all the while huffing and puffing and Finn just lazily munches his way through a Granny Smith, all smiley and content while his ass was being carted up the hill like a sack o’taters.

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The good news is this: once we got past the false summit, the tracks were nice and straight.  Even though it was the steepest leg, every step was level.  We stopped a few more times, and Bob’s your uncle – we were at the top.  It only took us an hour and a half.  Only.  Because we were almost the last ones of the group to get to the top, we had a nice little pep squad to welcome us.  High fives all around.

Yeah, walkin’ up a hill, no big deal.  Like a boss.

The pole marks the unoffcial tippy top.

The pole marks the unoffcial tippy top.

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The very best part was hiking the Barr Trail down.  It was georgous, if not a little bit of an ego check.  There we were, all high up on ourselves for making it to the top, and on the way down, there were people RUNNING past us.  I had a hard time not falling on my ass in a few places (I, in fact, did), and though it felt like I was hauling, low and behold, some dude with his running shorts half falling off would come zipping along past us.  Not that I didn’t enjoy his expanse of tan-line.  Cue Nathan’s epic eye roll, by the way.

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After gorging ourselves silly at one of the local Mexican restaurants in Manitou Springs (veggie fajitas and I was so proud that I didn’t even touch the sour cream), we headed home with two very sleepy kiddos and hit the showers.  When we were laying in bed that night, Nae was Googling the heck out of The Incline.  We were completely unaware that hiking The Incline is actually, like, a thing.  The fastest anyone has ever climbed it is somewhere around sixteen minutes, which totally puts us to shame, but lots of non-fitness-y folks climb it in two hours.  Olympic hopefuls use it to train for god’s sake, and here we are; stopping halfway to nosh on peanut butter sandwiches.

I laughed my ass off at one of the guys who hiked it with us.  His Facebook post touted that he murdered The Incline with twenty weights worth of weights in his backpack like the BAMF (Bad Ass Mother Fucker) that he is.  How is this hilarious?  He bitched the entire way and swore he was never doing it again five or six times.  Proving once again that you should never take what anyone posts on their FB Timeline too seriously.  (Yes, he got to the top, just like I did, but…  Let the record show that Alice weighs twenty FIVE pounds.  Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.)

Moral of the story is this; I’m glad I didn’t have the opportunity to talk myself out of it. Whether it be eating vegan or climbing a mountain, I’m starting to realize that the biggest obstacle between me and something big is… Well, me.

I’m almost as proud of myself as I am of Finny.  Knowing that he walked (half of) the same path as world-class athletes is pretty cool.  And he did it without a single complaint.  What a BAMF.

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