Christmas Getaway Gift

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Matt and I opted to give the kids less gifts this year in favor of doing an out-of-the-ordinary family experience. It really worked well and is something we will probably keep doing! We bought and wrapped up three gifts for each kiddo to open when we celebrated Christmas, still plenty for them. Our un-wrap-able gift to the kids was an overnight in Denver and day passes to an indoor waterpark! Because we weren't traveling to Minnesota this year, we went on our adventure toward the tail end of Christmas Break. It was so much fun!

We left for Denver around 9 on Friday and made a stop at the outlets in Castle Rock. We didn't shop much; Charlie likes to go into the UA outlet, and I wanted to go to two stores. It was a pretty short stop! We took a picture by this giant Christmas tree... with the bright blue Colorado sky behind it. :) There was a lot of salt on the ground from a recent snow and apparently Hattie noticed it crunching beneath her feet as she walked because she said, "Why is there so much crumbs on the floor?" Ha!

 We ate lunch at Sam's club - the price just couldn't be beat! 

After lunch, we drove to Union Station to see if the big Christmas tree was still up and it was! It's decorated so densely that the green can hardly be seen. :) Who puts a clock in a Christmas tree?! It's so fun to look at, and Union Station is a really neat place to hang out. We stayed for a bit and then walked over to Tattered Cover bookstore on 16th street. Matt and I took turns sitting with the kids in the kids section and walking around the store looking at books. The kids would have been happy to stay there the rest of the day! 

 There was a giant Christmas tree right outside of Union Station, too. 

 This is Matt's brave face; he wasn't feeling awesome that day. I think he was feeling under the weather in part due to the last and final rabies vaccination shot and because he was legitimately coming down with something. (In hind sight, I'm grateful that he just powered through. If we would have waited until we were all healthy, we still wouldn't have gone on our adventure. For the love!)

We stayed the night at the Residence Inn in Littleton which was also a short 5 minutes from Costco. We swam in the pool for an hour and then and ordered a Costco pizza for supper. It was a fun day! The BIG adventure was the next day....