Colorado - Day 5: Hammond's Candy Factory/Water World

My family was leaving in the afternoon so Monday we woke up early and packed everything up to get going. We still had a full day planned and only a few short hours to get it all done in. With 10 people in the house this was no small task and we still managed to get out of the house by 9:30, which included eating breakfast. Jessica took the day off work so she could join us in whatever we did as well, but Rob was back to work.



I had tried to set up a tour of the Denver Mint before leaving but everything was already scheduled. We still wanted to go so our only option was standby. We arrived at 10:00 only to find out that there was no way we would be able to get in today. However, if we could come back tomorrow morning at 7 for standby tickets, there was a really good chance that we would be able to get in at a later time Tuesday. We decided to try that - although it wouldn't work for my parents who were leaving - since Dave really wanted to go. So it was off to our next destination, which was the girls' first choice anyway - Hammond's Candy Factory. They offer free tours so I called and set up an appointment for 11:30. Nothing like the last minute, since their flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30.



The tour was pretty cool, they could see how they cool the candy and add flavoring and then pull it to make it lighter and shiny. You could really smell the rootbeer and cherry flavoring when they added it to different batches.



Of course the girls' favorite part was getting to pick out their own candy. There were so many choices.



Kelsey wouldn't put a hat on, but Katelyn had no problem showing off. Waiting for our tour to start.



After spending way too much money in the store, my parents headed off to the airport and we were off to find a quick bite to eat and then over to the water park.



This was on the top of my list of things I wanted to do in Colorado because the girls love the water and just can't get enough of it. We went for the last half of the day to get half price tickets and it was so much fun. Let me preface this with Katelyn has not had a nap yet. I thought she'd take a nap on the drive over, at least a short one, but that was wishful thinking so I was sure of a breakdown happening at any moment. Was I ever wrong.



We started out going on the water slides that you needed the larger tubes for. Dave, Katelyn and I were in a group and Jessica took Kelsey in the other. Katelyn did not like this part. She did fine waiting in the lines but when it came time to actually get in the tube she started crying. By the time we reached the bottom, she was not pleased with the *torture* we had just put her through. But she survived so it was on to the next. As for Kelsey, well she had a huge smile on her face the whole way down. After a few of these it was a few times around the lazy river. I have to say this was Katelyn's favorite part thus far.

This was not the first tube we'd been in, could ya tell?! Katelyn is definitely not enjoying herself. There were a couple slides we could all go together so that was a lot of fun.

For the last tube slide, Jess and I walked down the hill to wait in line for one, while Dave and the girls stayed at the top to wait. I figured with how long it took us to finally get one, they'd all be asleep under the shade of a tree. Was I wrong again. With the wait being about 45 minutes, he took the girls to the wave pool and played there for awhile till we made it back.

After that we wandered over to the *under 48"* part of the park. It was back by the entrance and had the girls seen this first, we never would have been able to leave. This probably wasn't the most fun trip for Jess since it revolved a lot around the girls, but hopefully it was more fun than a day at work.

Kelsey ran right over to the water slides without any hesitation at all. And Katelyn quickly followed.

They are both fish, what can I say? This was not Kelsey's first time down.



The first time Katelyn went down, someone was at the bottom to catch her and she laughed and quickly stood up to go again.



Getting a little more brave. This wasn't so fast for Katelyn, we think the swim diaper was slowing her down.

But for Kelsey as soon as she hit that turn in the slide it just launched her to the bottom. She thoroughly enjoyed herself.

And for more enjoyment, these videos: (You'll have to turn your head to get the full affect, since they were taken on the camera and we couldn't rotate them)