summer happenings

July was a busy month, but fun. One weekend we went hiking at the Craigs the kids did pretty well the Kelty carrier was a life saver.

Then we went up Pikes Peak one Afternoon. The drive was very pretty and I was happy Neil was driving. They have great donuts, can't wait to go get some more.
My Brother got married July 23rd in Minnesota so the kids and I went back a week early and Neil drove back and met up with us later in the trip. The wedding was beautiful and weather was perfect.
Keenan took swimming lessons he loved it. He did great. He passed his first session and got to go to the next level, but the next level is pretty hard. They want them to be able to do a breast stroke put the whole combination of moving hands and kicking and putting face in the water at the same time. Keenan is going to have to practice that some, but he had a blast.
I will be posting some August Happenings later in the month.

Summer Riding

The last couple Thursday Neil and I have finally been able to get out and ride with each other which we have not done for awhile.

We have gone to Ute Park (which is only a mile from Neil's work) so Neil knows the trails really well I have been there a couple times. Ute has great trails very different than midwest riding, but love the new challenge.

Last night we went to Palmer Park (Section 16). We took off from the parking lot and Neil warned me that there is alot of climbing at the beginning, but I was not prepared for 1.5 hours of sustained climbing. It was all singal track. We met up with some of Neils co-workers at the Trail head (1/2 hour into the ride) They all had downhill bikes. So we took off up the Mountain and 1 hour later got to the top it was soo pretty. I was able to catch my breath and some of Neil's co-workers started to put some arm and leg protection on (Neil also warned me that the first part of the descent is really techincal, but I will be able to ride most of it). So we took off down the hill first and I think I was a little siked out, the frist quarter of the descent was rocky, loose gravel switch backs and STEEP! So I proceeded to ride part of it and I just could not go any further I was pretty nervous so I walked part of it. Then Neil's co-workers came down with their down hilll bikes and they were flying down the trail. It was neat to watch them go through these sections not even batting an eye. We got past that section and I was able to ride the rest of the trail down it was pretty loose and rocky, but we took it slow. It was a great night of riding an can't wait to do more.

Beauty

Last night we all decided to go for a car ride and go up in the Mountains. It just amazes me that we are just minutes to wilderness or what seems to be out in the middle of nowhere and really on the otherside of this one Mountain is Colorado Springs.

Neil took us on this very curvy road with HUGE drop offs on one side of the road and which only seemed big enough for one car but when we would meet a car we would some how fit, but the views were worth the anxiety of being a passenger and having no control.

We went hiking to this waterfall, and the kids walked up these huge steps they did amazing and loved exploring and throwing rocks into the waterfall.


I think we are going to start doing that more often in the evening after work just get in the car and go into the mountains with the kids and go exploring.

BEAR!!

Tonight we had our baby sitter come over and Cathy and I headed out for a ride. I took her to the Falcon trail at the Air Force Academy. Things were going good until about 1/2 way into the ride I stopped at the bottom of a hill to watch Cathy come down. While I was waiting I hear russling in the trees. Cathy rolled up and we quietly walked around the corner and then saw a brown bear in the trees walking away from us. He was heading in the same direction as the trail so we waited a while and then decided to keep going. I was yelling and making noise as we slowly rolled down the trail. As we went around the next corner I saw the bear lumber off the trail and back into the woods just in front of us. At the time it was a little scary but after riding to a safe area it was cool to see the bear in the wild.

CO best of both worlds!

Here in CO you get the best of both worlds in a matter of a day. Today we got 3-4 inches of snow which we are in great need of moisture here. So the kids and I went out and made a snowman. It was fun to do something different in the morning, they loved it. By noon today it fell apart and is melting fast. Tomorrow its suppose to be 70 for the next couple days. I love it, snow pants one day, t-shirts and shorts the next.

Hiking

It has been too long since I have posted anything on here. Cathy was out of town this weekend (Thursday through Sunday) so was on kid duty. The weather wasn't great on Thur/Fri so finally on Saturday it was supposed to be nice and we wanted to take advantage of it. With the forcast of 70 degrees we had our choice; 1) Playgrounds 2) Sledding/playing in the snow 3) Hiking We choose the last. Cathy's parents bought us a hiking book so I paged through it and found a hike that looked and sounded fun.

The trail started pretty steep right out of the parking lot!

This doesn't look like a big deal but I am basically looking straight down at the high way about 400ft below. The kids are leading the way!! Time for a break!

The kids did amazing. We ended up hiking about 1/2 way out to the loop and back which amounted to approx. 2.5 miles. I guess the first/last part of the hike is the steepest and hardest so we basically got a condensed version of the entire 7.5 mile trail. It was a really fun trail and likely we will be back there again this summer maybe to concur the whole thing (with the assistance of a baby sitter and kids at home...sorry guys).

The ZOO

My parents came to visit this last week so we had some fun activites planned. One day we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo the animals were very active. We got to feed the giraffes lettuce which was a lot of fun. The bears were not happy with one another so that was neat to watch. They have a carousel and the kids loved going for a ride. Georgia was saying Yee-Haw!! We went to the Airforce Acedamy one day and looked at some airplanes. Georgia got a new hat and sandals she loved going for a walk with her book and we could not forget her sippy cup. She was soo cute.

House pictures

We are moved in and here are pictures of our house and some of our projects. It took us awhile to unpack after a oouple of months living out of boxes, but its so nice to be settling into our house.

View of Pikes Peak from our backyard that tree might need to go, durning the summer its going to block my view. We also have a hot tub that came with the house so that has been kind of fun.

Keenan's room - Before (these are the pictures we took when we first looked at the house it was their guest room)

After (a fun room for an active boy)

Georgia's room - Before a bright purple room

After (a cute pink/green room for my little girl)

While Neil was in Taiwan for a week I worked on painting our room. It looks so nice I love the colors and I love making my bed now. Before - the master bedroom with a flower border and mauve pink accent and tan walls. After- Bright, clean and fresh I love our room. Guest Room - Before it was a very ugly green with red curtains.

After- A nice relaxing room for our guest, please come visit :)

We still have some more painting to do and some minor updating, but we have a good start. I will post some more pictures as we continue to do more projects.

The Move to CO

A deer at the end of the road at our Rental house.

The MOVE- This will be the summed up version
We left Saturaday, January 15th for the trek out west in our little Escape(we had movers come and move our stuff out). Saturday we left at noon and I was very emotional leaving, but the kids did a great job with the long day in the car. We stopped at Kearny, NE for the night and then woke up the next day and finished the trip.
The 2nd day traveling was not as easy, Georgia had the stomach flu and threw-up 3 times in the car, but we made it to Colorado Springs around 3 that day so it was not as long in the car. We stayed in a hotel on Sunday in Colorado Springs until our Moving Truck arrived on Monday. They moving truck pulled up to our Rental house at 9am Monday and got everything unloaded by noon that day and so far everything looks good.

Keenan helping put the table together.

Georgia helping unpack!

Through out the week we unpacked some things, but left alot of boxes packed in the garage. for when we get in to a house.
Georgia never got over her flu and by Wednesday(19th) of that week, she had a temp of 103.3 with tylenol so we took her to a clinic and had her looked at she had an ear infection we got her on some medicine and by the next day she was doing alot better.
Neil's parents came on Tuesday(18th) and hung out with us until Friday. Neil and I went out for dinner on Thursday, because we figured it would be the last time in awhile that we will have a babysitter, until we meet people and feel comfortable leaving our kids with other people.
The last couple weeks we have looked at a lot of houses nice/ok ones and some awful ones, but we have found a house. I will post more about the house in the next blog.

Alot has happened since November!!!

Our New place of Resident!

Well, we haven't blogged in along time. The last time we blogged is when we were interviewing for a job in Colorado. Well 2 weeks after Nov. 1st was Keenan's 3rd Birthday November 18th which is when we got the news about Neil getting the job out in Colorado Springs. Neil and I were happy about the new location, but it was also sad to think about leaving Madison.

We Celebrated Keenan's 3rd Birthday at the (Keenan words )"Bowling Pin Place" with just Family and then had a big Birthday party on the weekend. So I had to make a Bowling Pin Cake he loved the cake. I can't believe he is 3, time just flies by.

We took a house hunting trip to CO mid December and looked at a lot of houses and did some site seeing which was a lot of fun. It was almost 60 degrees in Colorado Springs when we visited in December 11th. (1st picture)

Later in December we went to California for Christmas to see Neil's Brother, Wife and Nephew for a week which was nice to get away for awhile. We went to Disneyland for a day which was a lot of fun but very busy. Then we went to the beach on Christmas Eve(which was kind of wierd playing on white sandy beaches instead in the cold white snow). We went sailing one day and played outside as much as we could. It was great to spend time with the family before our big adventure.

When we got back from CA Neil had a few days before he left to go to CO to start his new job on January 3rd. It was a busy few days and was hard to see him leave because 2 weeks later when he returned we would all be leaving Madison and moving to CO.
Our house was put on the market Dec. 7th and we got an accepted offer January 9th. We close on February 25th. Which made it a little easier to move out of our house in Madison. More to come about the move. Stay tune.