Surprise Mystery Trip

Last December, I asked our two boys what they wanted to do for their birthday this March. In unison, they both said “go on a trip!”. This made me laugh because we have created travel monsters, which I secretly love! Going on a trip is way more fun than hosting two birthday parties in the same month. I proceeded to ask them what kind of trip they had in mind. Brysen (our eight year old) recommended a Disney Cruise or Disney World, which was not happening with such short notice. Brayden (our ten year old) recommended a surprise mystery trip and Brysen quickly agreed. If you know me you know I LOVE planning trips, it is what I do in my free time, so this excited mama was off to start planning our mystery birthday weekend getaway. 

As the weeks got closer, the boys started asking for clues. The suspense was starting to get to them. We did not cave, but we did give them a few clues occasionally, so they could start making guesses. We never confirmed or denied any of their predictions. They had to wait until we got to our gate at the airport. 

The clues the boys received were:

1. It is not an island 

2. We are staying in the United States  

3. We are leaving our home state of  California 

4. This state has an NFL team

Their final guesses where... 

Brayden: Wisconsin Go Pack Go!

Brysen: Arizona

Friday morning we arrived at the airport and loaded a plane to Colorado to visit Denver and Colorado Springs!

Union Station | 2019

Our day in Denver..... 

Once we got to our rental car, we were off to Union Station for lunch. We ate at Next Door|Union Station. It was a very trendy restaurant, food was okay but the atmosphere was fun. After lunch we walked around 16th Street Mall, Rookies ballpark and the Bronco stadium. My sports crazed boys (all three of them, if you include my husband Brandon) loved every minute of this adventure! Denver proves to be a clean, beautiful city that I would love to revisit in the spring/summer months. 

After our time in Denver, the four of us made the fifty minute drive to the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. From the moment we arrived, the kids could NOT wait to get to the water park. We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and playing and then finished our day with dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel. 

The following day, our time was spent exploring Colorado Springs. We started with brunch at First Watch. We had a 15-20 minute wait which was no problem, as we were in no hurry. Once we got our table everything was going good. Our waitress was charming and funny. We started with their Million Dollar Bacon which is a baked bacon with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle, and it was as AMAZING as it sounds! Once our meals arrived, everyone was excited because we were all starving a this point! Unfortunately all of our meals were cold! This was disappointing. We ate what we could and went on with our day. After brunch, we toured the Air Force Academy, which was astounding. Our whole family really enjoyed it. Being on a military base always gives me such a proud and patriotic feeling that I love to share with my boys. The cadet chapel was beautiful, and was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Afterwords we found a quaint homemade ice cream shop called Josh & Johns. It was  delicious! After we scarfed down  our yummy frozen treats, we drove around and explored. Our day ended with dinner at Cheddars which was a good and kid friendly restaurant. 

Great Wolf Lodge | 2019

The following day was Sunday. We Spent most of the day at the hotel enjoying all that Great Wolf Lodge has to offer. This includes the fabulous waterpark, magicquest game,  indoor miniature golf,  an obstacle course and a challenging rock wall. All this indoor fun was perfect because it snowed Saturday night and all day Sunday, staying below eight degrees most of the day! This California girl is not fond of the cold, so I was happy to spend the day inside the cozy resort.

Magiquest | Great Wolf Lodge

We had paid for late check out Monday, which meant we had our room until 2pm instead of 11am. This also meant we could enjoy more of the fun activities before returning to Denver to catch our flight home. We left an hour and a half earlier than we had originally planned, just so we wouldn’t have to stress if we hit traffic or any delays, and was I so glad we did! We encountered two accidents and one of those closed the two lane freeway. After all was said and done, we got to our gate with less then 5 min to spare!

Mini Golf | Great Wolf Lodge

All in all, we had really great trip. It was so memorable and our boys have now said they would like to do a mystery trip every year for their birthday. We would love to go back and spend more time In Colorado...but this time in the warmer months!

♡Jen