Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Up on Cripple Creek

 Over this last weekend, my friend Jordann and I went up to see our friend Cynthia, that lives in Fountain, Colorado which is about a half an hour South of Colorado Springs. Since Cynthia and her husband, Cody, recently bought a house there, we came down to help her hang up pictures and help her do things that will make her house feel like a home, along with just hanging out with our friend. We left Northern Colorado on Friday night and did not get to the house until around 10:30 that night. On Saturday we went garage saling once we all finally woke up and then came home to set up some of the decorations she still had to set up. We headed down to Colorado Springs to get dinner at Steak n' Shake. Neither Jordann or myself had been there before so Cynthia enjoyed to bring us somewhere new. It was actually great! I got a jalapeƱo burger and a Butterfinger shake. After eating we headed to a mall and then home to watch a movie before going to bed. 
The next day we all woke up at 8:30 am, had breakfast, and then got ready to go to Cripple Creek and Victor, Colorado. Cripple Creek is a little mountain gambling town about an hour and fifteen minutes away from Cynthia's house. When we got up there, we found a parking spot that was on a super steep hill just off the main street. One of my favorite things to do in Cripple Creek is to ride the train which takes you on a tour of the old mines around the town.
 We bought our tickets and then all aboard we went! The conductor took our tickets but left us with a souvenir ticket.  
 We sat in the very back of the train on the left side because that is where most of the mines are located.






 




 Cynthia is on the left side, Jordann is in the middle, and I am on the right side.


 We even found a truck that looked similar to Wyatt's truck!













 Above is a picture of one of the mines falling off the side of the mountain. Below is a little chipmunk that liked getting his picture taken.



 Above is a picture of a huge hole in the mountain which is from when miners took out a huge vein of gold that was in the mountain.










 After the train, we went to the local Cripple Creek museum and took a look through the building above which is actually three stories tall! This used to be a house for prominent Cripple Creek residents. Inside, we even saw the top of a skull that was said to be Old West Justice done by the coroner after his death. The skull cap was used as a piece in a local bar for quite some time until it was placed in the museum. The museum said that someday, they will locate the body which is in an unmarked grave and return the skull cap so the soul may rest in peace. The text that is next to the picture explains all about the skull cap if you want to read more.



 After it started to rain really hard in Cripple Creek, we decided to head to Victor, Colorado which is only about ten minutes away. I had been saving up money to buy a new broom at the Victor Trading Co. They are said to have sold some of their brooms to Martha Stewart herself! I don't know about you but I believe that must mean they are great brooms! I grabbed myself a blue broomcorn broom with a wooden handle. The broom set me back $48.00 with tax included to it better be great.

Sea to Shining Sea

 Welcome to Wyatt and Kassie's 4th of July party in blog form! Our party was supposed to start at two p.m. but no one ended up showing up until almost four p.m. so we had lots of time to take pictures of all the little details that we worked on for a long time. At our party, we had a photo booth where the guests would take pictures inside of it with their smartphones. Unfortunately, we were some of the only people to take pictures in it with our phones. Everyone else that took pictures was taken from our friend Brian's camera. Our photo booth was made from an old white barn door with little two foot picket fences as the sides of the booth. The picket fence pieces were placed in a pallet to help keep them sturdy. I then glammed them up with a vintage patriotic quilted square as the backdrop. Then, I placed a large piece of red crushed velvet on the top to act as a canopy. It seemed like everyone liked it.



 The tables were sent up so that we could all sit together. I bought just some plain jane plastic tablecloths at the dollar store and then used a patriotic colored nautical cloth piece to add flair to the middle table. Some plastics give me the heebie geebies and the red tablecloths, of course, gave me that feeling. Luckily I never really had to touch them except for when I taped them to the table. The centerpieces I made using my mom's Cricket cutting machine, chopsticks, foam, spray paint, and ribbon. I think they turned out beautifully but unfortunately, there was off and on rain during the 4th of July so I didn't keep them on the table because they were made of paper.


 Wyatt even got his 4wheeler started and he gave a few people rides on the back of it. Some of them even got to drive it themselves like Ariel. We were pretty sure that she was going to stall the 4wheeler down the street!
 


 Everyone was told to bring sides to go with the hotdogs that Jordann was bringing and the cupcakes and drinks we were providing. However, most of the newly 21 friends decided to bring alcohol so our fridge was stocked up with a variety of hard liquors, hard lemonades, hard ciders, and who knows what else. When everyone left, they left behind what was left so our fridge is still packed because neither Wyatt or myself are big drinkers. 

 My mom owns a cupcake business called Obsession Cupcakes. I wanted to help her advertise her business so I had her make cupcakes and cookies to show them off to the friends. She made lemon cupcakes with buffalo cookies with patriotic fur on top and Snicker Doodle cupcakes with Twizzler firecrackers on top. She even made American eagle cookies! The desserts were a huge hit at the party! If any of you want to order some cupcakes or even just check them out, her website is, http://obsessioncupcakes.com/.















 Here are the lovely friends that came to the party.



 It even got so crazy that we broke a chair!

 
My favorite decoration would have to be the lights that I put up. I even put them all up without a ladder! The lights were strung from the old fence posts to the tree and then from the house to the garage, and even from the garage to an old piece of barn wood stood up to create a great effect. The yard looks so great that I actually do not want to take them down for a while.






 The group was originally going to watch fireworks from our side yard but then I got to thinking and I thought that the trees may be in the way so I suggested that we all go watch it down the street which was actually at the lake. Everyone liked that idea so we got the tipsy group and walked down to watch the fireworks. Surprisingly, no one got hurt too bad crossing the street, train tracks, or even the large area with big rocks. When we got back, we used our new fire pit and made s'mores until the group left slowly and then we cleaned up.
 I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July because we sure did!