Time for Tea ~

Today we went to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory for a tour.  The factory is in Boulder, and the drive was lovely!  Many kids were on vacation, so it was a small group, but we still had lots of fun!

The girls really enjoyed sampling the tea, and one of their favorites was a new tea, Watermelon Lime Zinger.

While tasting the tea, we decided to take a photo with the sleepytime bear, and then check out the original artwork for some of the tea boxes.

These are so much prettier in person...very bright and colorful!

 

Then it was time for the tour.  We enjoyed a short video on the history of Celestial Seasonings, and then we were given hairnets for the factory part of the tour. 

We were not allowed to take photos in the factory, so we snapped this silly shot before we headed in.

 

We learned many cool things about tea and how its made.  We also learned their 3 top selling teas are not teas at all, but instead, herbal infusions: Sleepytime Tea, Chamomile Tea and Peppermint Tea.  The factory smells absolutely divine, and all the kids had fun in the mint room.  It made some folks eyes water, but we loved it!  We learned their busiest time of year in the factory is in October when they are getting ready for the holidays...and in fact, when we were there, they were running their holiday line on the floor.  The tour ends at the gift shop, and they have some of the neatest things there.  Lots of tea, of course, but also mugs, t-shirts, posters, souvenirs, and other trinkets.  All the kids went home with a treat!

We had lunch in their cafe and the food was delicious!  Then we decided to let the kids run around a bit outside to get their wiggles out.

Next stop was the Leanin Tree Museum and Sculpture Garden of Western Art.  Its right next door to the Celestial Seasonings place, so why not!  In the last year or so, they have started doing tours of their factory as well, but we werent aware of that, so we just enjoyed the sculpture garden and museum.

 The kids loved this giant mountain lion sculpture titled, The Intruder.  Jordyn and i saw a bobcat on our way to pick up the girls that morning, so it was fun to see this sculpture to remind us of our big cat experience that day.  The kids really enjoyed the sculpture garden, and it was hard to get them to go inside!

 This was probably our favorite piece outside...Ironfire!  I am sharing a lot of photos of him so you can see all the fun details!

 

 

The lovely chaperones, taking a break! 

 

When we finally did enter the gallery, the kids were not disappointed!  Lots of beautiful paintings and sculptures, and of course a gift shop too!

This was one of my favorite paintings, Chiggers II.  Hilarious!  I love it when an artist has a sense of humor!

 

After a full day of delicious aromas and eye candy, it was time to call it a day!  The kids and chaperones alike really enjoyed this adventure!  If you get a chance to check it out, i highly recommend it!  Hope you enjoyed the tour with us!  :)