On a lighter note... Casa Bonita!

Though River's birthday is still 4 days away, we joined family last week in Denver for a big celebration of 1st birthdays for River and my niece Tessa who's first birthday was August 26th. My sister and I contemplated and debated for a month or so where to hold this momentous occasion and in the end only one place made the cut. None other than the infamous Casa Bonita. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Casa Bonita, it is a true Denver landmark. It is a very large entertainment style Mexican restaurant with a 3 story waterfall that cliff divers jump from and where they have little skits every 30 minutes or so. The skits always center around Black Bart the outlaw or a gorilla that always manages to outsmart its trainer. Generally in either skit SOMEONE ends up falling into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Here is a really bad picture of the gorilla skit we watched just before we left.

I tried several times with the flash on our camera but the lighting on the little stage conflicted with the flash. It may be difficult to tell but the trainer is in the middle, his assistant is on the left with the blonde curly wig and the gorilla is on the right in swim trunks. In this particular skit the assisstant ended up in the water and proceeded to splash all of the onlookers. That was until my mom scolded her! Oh my, did my sister and I get a good laugh out of that one!

In addition, there is a live mariachi band to create atmosphere. There are arcades, puppet shows, magic shows, a place where you can get your old time photo taken, and my personal favorite Black Bart's Cave which is a "haunted cave" you walk through. It is quite an eventful restaurant and growing up in Metro Denver it is inevitable that you will have at least ONE birthday party here! Some people love it, some people hate it but you can't deny the impact of the place. It even has an entire episode of South Park dedicated to its glory. (click here if interested in watching the episode)

Here are the pictures of The Official Casa Bonita Birthday Party Experience.

Standing in line to get our food
(Mimi, River, Tessa, Kristen)

You don't go for the food... except for the sopapillas
(Me, River, Shawn, Papa)

1st Birthday Party, 1st sopapilla... not so much of a fan
(Cory and River)

One.Happy.Family
(Cory, River, Me)

River opening his presents
(Mimi, Gigi, River, Me, Kennedy)

Tessa's turn :)
(Jenny, Tessa, Abby)

River's new truck
(River, Mimi)

I want to jump off the cliff now!
(Cory, River)

One.Loved.Little.Boy
(Kennedy, River, Collin, Abby)

To illustrate the exhaustion that comes after an over stimulating, fun night with family, sopapillas, gorillas, and Black Bart, here is the first thing River did when we got home. I wish I would have snapped the picture in time to catch him with his thumb in his mouth!

In the Casa Bonita episode of South Park Cartman convinces his friend Butters that the world has been destroyed by a commet and that canibal zombies now roam the earth just to keep him hidden in a bomb shelter so that he can go to Casa Bonita for Kyle's birthday instead of Butters. Butters' parents are a mess, the community is in upheaval and Cartman almost gets away with it. In the end the police chase Cartman through Casa Bonita while he does everything he had been dreaming of... eating sopapillas, watching the cliff divers, getting his old time picture taken, going to the puppet show and going through Black Bart's Cave. When they finally catch him one of the officers asks him if all of the trouble he had caused was worth it. Cartman's response? "Totally."