Hammonds Candy Factory and Denver Botanical Gardens

On Friday, the boys and I played at the playground at Bob and Laura's condo while Adam finished up his work. Then we drove up to Buffalo Ridge for a picnic lunch. Unfortunately, the buffalo had other plans and couldn't join us.

At FOX rental car, a brochure for Hammond's Candies caught Collin and Nolan's eyes. They were intrigued with the promise of free candy, so after lunch we drove into Denver to take a tour of Hammond's Candy Factory. Upon completion of the tour, the boys were given free handmade candy canes. Laura also surprised the boys with a game of jacks.

We then drove to the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield for a jump on Paul Bunyan's pillow...


followed by a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Aaron, in a display of machismo, flexes his muscles for a little girl, asking her to watch him move a behemoth pumpkin.

We concluded the afternoon with the 8-acre corn maze. Upon entry we were handed an interactive passport with 10 questions, which, if answered correctly, provided direction at numbered signs in the maze.
The activity at numbered pole 6 was "Create your own little chant, cheer or song about corn. Hint #1: If you think it's good...turn right, Hint #2: If you think it's REALLY good, perform it for us at the exit and get an ovation!"

We finished the maze in the dark, in the company of high school students, with only the light from Adam's smart phone to assist our reading of the passport. Aaron's "Spidey sense" led us to the exit. We had a blast!
We celebrated finding our way out of the maze with Frontroom Pizza.