Colorado Springs: A Vacation of the Gods (Win it!)

May 8, 2012 By

Colorado Springs is just one hour south of Denver but whenever we make the jaunt, it feels a world away. Katie (the PR rep) for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has repeatedly invited me down for a visit and last weekend, we finally made it happen.

And I’m so glad we did.

The zoo is consistently ranked as one of the top in the nation. Set on a mountainside, the views are stunning, the exhibits interactive and we all fell in love with pretty much every aspect of it.

One of my kiddo’s favorite activities was feeding the giraffes, the most popular exhibit at the zoo.

I mean, who wouldn’t love seeing eye-to-eye with a giraffe and have his black, slimy tongue licking you?

I deferred to my delighted kiddos on this one.

Katie gave us a deluxe tour we will never forget that included getting up-close-and-personal with their two bears, Emmett and Digger. The zookeeper even let the kids toss them food through the fence.

 It was nice to be able to feed them without being worried we would be the meal.

Though Digger is eying Hadley pretty darn hungrily.

We were also delighted to see an orangutan paint. Yep, you heard correctly. Every Friday at 3 p.m., this is one of the zoo’s ultra-cool attractions. If you click the image below to enlarge, you will see the masterpiece he painted before our very eyes. 

Another cool moment was interacting with the elephants. Public access to them is not permitted until fall when the zoo will open Encounter Africa, a huge new plaza area featuring a traditional African tent with an amphitheater for guests to see elephant training, enrichment and husbandry.  Last week, we got to touch and feed them and also see how they are bathed.

Animal-obsessed Hadley has now decided she wants to be a zookeeper.

Next time, we’ll let her clean up poop to deem if she’s serious about it.

Garden of the Gods

Aptly named, this 1,377-acre otherworldly public park is one of our favorite destinations in Colorado Springs. Fifteen miles of hiking trails wind around the stunning red rock formations and this time, we stumbled upon an area where we could scramble around on the rocks.

Note: Rock climbing is usually only allowed with a permit and the nice lady at the visitor center told us we could not climb higher than 10 feet.

Don’t tell anyone but I think Hadley (whom I have dubbed “Adventure Girl“) may have scaled a wee bit higher and was paralyzed with fear trying to get down. Bode, on the other hand, seems to thrive when Hadley is freaking out. He brazenly leaped from rock-to-rock, taking uncharacteristic risks.

“Wow, Bode you are like Indian Jones!”
“I am not. I AM LIKE ADVENTURE BOY!”

Cheyenne Mountain Resort

A few years ago, I was invited to visit this 217-acre, 316-room property with extraordinary mountain views of the Pikes Peak Region but had to decline. I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity during this trip and we’ve vowed to return this summer when even more kid-friendly activities abound.

Cases in point: Saturday Zoo Breakfast with animals from the  Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Kids Splash Park, Bocce, Horseshoes and Volleyball at the Aquatics Center.The private 35-acre lake has sailing, swimming and bumper boats as well as sandcastle building on the beach, kids under 8 eat free and they have a new Cheyenne Kidz Camp.

See? Told you.


Though a lot of Cheyenne Mountain Resort’s activities will kick off Memorial Day weekend, a couple of our favorites included splashing around in the pool and roasting s’mores on the Mountain View Terrace of the Main Lodge.

We also watched an in-room movie, “We Bought a Zoo”–an appropriate choice given our experiences at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. When the movie was over, Hadley gave us THE look: the one that says, “Why are you not cool enough to go out and buy me a zoo?”

Maybe someday she’ll appreciate that our adventures in Colorado Springs more than make up for that.

If you live in Colorado or are hoping to come here this summer, be sure to go to Mile High Mamas to enter to win our two-night Family Getaway Package to Cheyenne Mountain Resort that also includes tickets to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, Humor, travel

How to be anti-social on TV

May 7, 2012 By

On Sunday afternoon, Jamie and I took a long, luxurious nap. The problem was when I tried to fall asleep at my normal time (10:30 p.m.ish) I was wired.

Hyper chick disclaimer: More wired than usual.

After a mere four hours of sleep, I leaped out of bed with puffy eyes (also thanks to an allergy attack), slapped on some make-up, got the kiddos ready and headed down to the 9News studio.

The reason? Today was a big day for me. My column has been running in The Denver Post for a few months but this was my first time it was the featured story that ate up the majority of the front page.

(They posted part of my article online here).

Though I’m pleased as punch, I’m most happy about the exposure this Mother’s Day article gave some well-deserving local mompreneurs.

I talked about some of these products on the 9News segment. TaRhonda Thomas (the reporter)  told me to arrive by 8:20 a.m. and we’d go live at 8:40 a.m. But at 8:30 a.m., I was still standing in the newsroom waiting for her.

And moderately stressing out that I wouldn’t have enough time to set everything up.

But TaRhonda is a pro. She casually sauntered over and walked us into the studio. All of my previous segments have been more hands-on as we stood behind a long table. This time, we crammed everything onto a coffee table as we sat on the couch.

I got hooked up to a microphone, anchorwoman Kyle Dyer tossed to TaRhonda and before I knew it, we were LIVE without any forewarning. When showcasing items, I’m supposed to look at either the reporter or the items I’m explaining and I always like to look straight into the camera at the beginning and the end.

The problem is there were two side-by-side cameras and I hadn’t been given the chance to figure out which was the correct one.

And so I ignored the camera.

Though the segment went pretty smoothly, I really don’t enjoy watching myself but Jamie later forced me to do just that and it didn’t turn out as badly as I thought.

Minus the fact I was being anti-social with the television viewers.

Better luck next month.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: 9News, Humor Tagged With:

Bode’s old obsession

May 3, 2012 By

We’re going through a really funny phase with Bode. He’s always been a black-and-white kid and certainly loves playing his Wii a couple of times a week. I don’t work for Nintendo but every few months, a big box arrives with some new game for Bode to try out. I say “Bode” because Hadley has lost interest in the Wii (though she recently tried Just Dance at a friend’s and said she loved it).

There may be hope for her to gain the rhythm I never had.

But really, Bode is the sole proprietor of the Wii. One night after he went to bed, we had some people over and fired it up. When Bode heard those magical melodies, he shouted downstairs:

“I HEARD DAT.”

He takes his job very seriously.

Last month, a box was delivered for us to try out Mario Party 9–a party game for multiple players. Accompanying the game were various plush Mario toys and some Mario wall-hangings (guess where those are going). We surprised him with everything during his Easter egg hunt.

His opinion of the Easter bunny increased exponentially.

So, in keeping with Mario Party, we threw our own party for Family Home Evening. Hadley was a reluctant whiner but Jamie was insistent that we dedicate a night doing something Bode loves for once

And lo did he ever love playing his new game with us.

And to be honest, so did I. I’m not one to sit down and play Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros., for the sole reason Bode leaves me in his dust. But Mario Party 9  has 80 minigames with Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom buddies. Games I could actually compete with Mushroom King Bode.

In the end, he still ended up beating us all and Hadley was still a store loser.

Me: “Why are you so mad?”
Hadley: “Because Bode is BRAGGING!”
Jamie: “That’s the entire point of playing it!”

Bode: 1, Hadley: 0.


Note: That’s Bode’s old obsession. Tune in next week for his new obsession.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Uncategorized

Becoming Mothers: When your water breaks in public & baby manipulates you from the womb

May 1, 2012 By

I’ve been thinking a lot about Mother’s Day lately and an epiphany came during a recent bike ride: Why not have women write in and share their stories of how they became mothers?

I issued the challenge at Mile High Mamas and was thrilled with the response–everything from a teen pregnancy (and how it saved her life) to surrogacy to open adoption to more traditional tales.


To kick everything off, the story of my soon-to-be 8-year-old daughter, Hurricane Hadley. On May 25, she graced the world with her presence. Her birth and subsequent life have been one WILD ride.

Not to mention the car we now owe her for her 16th birthday because of it. Read her story here.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Uncategorized
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