Yesterday was one of those Colorado winter days in which the heat from the sun in the Mile High City made it feel like early Spring. Chris was in the promised land (Fort Collins) visiting friends, and I had just picked up the boys from an over night at my mom’s. It was just too nice-looking a day to simply head right back down to Colorado Springs, so the boys and I ventured up a little further north to the area surrounding downtown Denver. I had missed a turn off the interstate that I would normally take, so that took us to a little different area that we hadn’t ever explored before. The boys noticed the several bridges as we drove by and asked if we could please get out and go walk on them. So, we did! 

Please note: this is unusual for us – being so spontaneous-but, wow! What an extraordinary feeling to be spontaneous. Talk about seizing the day! Anyhow, especially unusual for just myself and the boys to pull over in some side neighborhood just a skip north of downtown and start walking to see what we would see!

First item of notice was this sculpture that they needed to be a part of.

Then we found this first bridge that crossed over the river…I think it is either the Colorado or the Arkansas…Coloradoans-which is it?

Here’s another shot of it with a view of Six Flags Elitch Gardens in the distance.

We don’t know what this is a sculpture of. Logan thinks they might just be a pile of hot dogs. What do you think?

This bridge here was particularly cool because it lead right over the top of I-25. The boys thought that was amazing to see it from that perspective.

And, I mean to confess, far be it for me to let the words “beer” and “Co.” go unnoticed when I’m around. I’m just keeping it real, folks. So, when I spotted this here Denver Beer Co. I sure felt like I had discovered an unknown gem. Chris and I have never even heard of it’s existence before! I marched right in with a boy on each hand and asked for some free swag. But boy oh boy it smelled good and I would have loved a taste. Next time! 🙂 It was like one large tap room with friendly people. Of course they were friendly…they were either drinking, pouring or brewing delicious craft beer on a spring – like day in Denver! We came away with three of their logo stickers. Score!

Oh, and did I mention there was a food truck right outside? Yea, there was. Tap room + food truck = bliss.

We meandered around some more…probably covering at least a mile…and found another bridge. We declared the day “bridge day!”

I ask them to give me a pose and this is what I get. But I love it!

Beautiful city!

Amazing water!

Then we came upon this skate park.

The guys were fascinated. We sat right down on the low brick wall and watched for a while. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw these small children here being taught by their dad to skate. Funny how nearby I heard a word spoken that shouldn’t be spoken near children, and the dad shot the person with the naughty mouth a sharp look! Sorry pops, you probably can’t expect all clean language in a place like this!

Logan desperately wished he had his bike with him to try out some moves. I wonder if he actually would have tried if he had his bike. He wants to go back next Friday after school!

Great shadow games!

This here might be one of my favorite things to see in Downtown Denver. This is right outside the Convention Center. This enormous (maybe 15 feet tall) bear stands, peering inside, as if he’s telling everyone “hello!”

To round off the afternoon, we stopped in Cherry Creek for a Frappuccino break before hitting the road back down to Colorado Springs.

I am so grateful to have had this time with my guys. To roam around, not on a schedule, checking out whatever we wanted to. I needed this. I have not been very present in the last weeks and this kind of quality face time felt amazing. If I could take these times with my kids and bottle them up I would. For the busy times in life…or the feeling down times in life…or the not-being-on- the-same-page-together times of life…I would open the bottle, pour out the memory and bask in the smiles, the laughs, the hand holding, the laughter, the being in the present moment-taking in each look on their faces, each curious observation, each excited discovery. These are the times that matter, friends.