Fall Fun - Corn Maze & Coloured Leaves

Ryan playing goalie

Phil's mum arrived on Thursday afternoon, so the boys and I drove over to the airport to pick her up. Her flight was over half an hour early, so we only just made it in time!  Phil had parent conferences til 7.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so he couldn't get there with us.

On Friday, the boys had the day off, although Quinn still had pre-school.  We dropped him off, and then we went looking for Halloween costumes. Luke thinks he has to be the scariest person on the street, but we managed to get Luke and Ryan a costume that we were all OK with!

Saturday was soccer, and we all went along to the game.  Ryan knew he was playing second half in goalie, so was determined to score some goals, as Nanna was there, I think.  He scored 3 in the first half, and Luke scored a couple in the second half, so it was a good win for them, and they were happy to have everyone on the sidelines cheering them on.  

Phil & Luke at the front of MESA

Everyone went up to Phil's school after soccer, so that he could show Gaye where he works,  and gave her a little tour of Castle Rock.

In the kids maze

The seasons really define the year, in Colorado.  It is really nice to have distinct seasons, and there are lots of typical things that they do for the change of the seasons.  Winter is snow (hopefully!), Spring everyone gets out and plants flowers in their gardens and gets it all looking nice after Winter, Summer is holidays, and Fall means getting ready for Halloween, changing leaves, and baking with apples and pumpkin.  Everyone decorated their houses for the seasons, and also any holidays, like Halloween, 4th of July, St Patricks Day, Valentines Day etc.  They hang flags and other decorations - at the moment a lot of people have fall coloured wreaths on their doors, and pumpkins/ghosts and stuff in their yard for Halloween.  It looks good, but a lot of work!  Also, it is a whole industry, as there is so much stuff you can buy in the shops. 

At the start of the big Corn Maze

For Fall, lots of Corn Mazes are around, as tourist attractions.  They are literally fields of corn, which are mowed and planted so that they form a maze. Apparently a guy who owns one of the corn mazes, mows his with a GPS on his lawnmower, to be certain that his co-ordinates are exact!  I had heard of one which is part of the Denver Botanic Gardens, in Chatfield.  It opened on Friday 13th of September, and will remain open until Halloween.  We went out there on Saturday afternoon, and it was lots of fun! We started in the kids maze, which you couldn't really get lost in.  Then Quinn decided he would rather go and jump on the jumping pillow, so Gaye took him over there, while Phil, the boys and I went into the bigger maze.  We were lucky that it still has another month or so to grow, so we could see over the corn a little bit, and decide where to go!  I love mazes, but have no sense of direction, so I could get lost in the kids maze.  Phil & I don't have a good track record of getting out of them together, so it was going to be interesting.   They tell you a the start that it takes between 45-60 minutes to complete the maze, but you have the option to come out at halfway.  The boys started racing through, and there were markers throughout the maze, numbered from 1-10.  This gave us an indication that we were going the right direction, and there were also hint sheets they gave us at the start, so at each of the markers you had to answer a quiz question, and depending on the answer it would tell you whether to go left or right.  There were also 2 viewing platforms inside the maze, that you could climb up to get an idea of where you were.  It was lots of fun, and we made it out fine.

One of the viewing platforms in the maze

There were also lots of food vendors set up out there, as well as a jumping pillow and climbing web for the kids, pony rides and a hay ride, which was pulled along by Clydesdale's.  They also have a big paddock full of pumpkins for Halloween, and one weekend they have a festival and you can go out and get a pumpkin to carve.  It was great to take a look around, and a really warm and sunny afternoon.  Something else, that we would not get to do in Australia!  They are also open until 9pm, so as we were leaving, there were lots of groups of teenagers heading out there, and they have it haunted, and set up with lights, so could be a bit spooky!  



The Clydesdale's

The pumpkin patch 

Boys on the Spiders web

On Sunday, we wanted to head up to the mountains, and see the fall colours.  It is a big tourist attraction in Colorado, and lots of websites, and even on the weather, they are telling you where the best places are to go and see the changing colours.  We decided to take a drive up Guanella Pass.  This is seasonal road, that is often shut over winter when it gets too icy and wet.  It is also a well known spot to see the autumn leaves, and there were heaps of people.  The car parks were packed when we stopped at the Silverdale Trail, to take a little hike to an old mine (although, we didn't make the mine), and then again when we stopped at the Summit of the pass, which was at 11,600 feet above sea level.

We were really lucky to see some pockets of Aspens, which are in most of our photos below, and they get golden yellow leaves, before they fall off.  We didn't see many trees with red leaves, but it is all dependant upon the weather, and which trees are there, obviously!  Still, was really lovely to see pockets of yellow amongst the green on the hillsides, and another thing we don't get to see much of in Australia. 

We only walked down one trail, which was over a bridge and then along a stream, but it really was very pretty.  The boys were happy to get out and run around, and it was quite muddy from rain during the week, but surprisingly, Quinn was the only one who fell over! 



We drove a little further, and reached the Summit which was really cold.  We went for a short walk along here, but it was a bit cool out, and the rest of the way we just looked from the car.  There is beautiful countryside, and the scenery is lovely - I took a lot of photos.  The boys were pretty compliant, and I got a nice photo of them with Nanna, but you can see from some of the photos, they were getting over it!

 

We stopped along the way, and bought some lunch from a buy who had set up a BBQ stand (although, it is not BBQ as we know it in Australia - here BBQ refers to the sauce).  It was interesting food, and Nanna could not believe the turkey leg that Luke chose for his lunch.  We had seen them at fairs, and he was pretty happy to be trying it out!