To Colorado and Beyond!

After planning to move out of California for the last 5 or so years, and after choosing Colorado as our final destination over a year ago, we're finally here! It was quite a journey making the move. I flew out with the kids and Kevin's mom Susan. What was supposed to be a 2 hour direct flight turned into a 6 hour debacle involving a turn around to Las Vegas and sitting on the tarmac in the hot plane for almost 2 hours. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we finally made it to the safety of our friends' house in Colorado Springs!

Here are Claire and Grandma at the airport in Long Beach

Our new house is amazing! We are going to rent for a while so we can get a feel for the neighborhoods. We lucked out big time with this place- especially considering we rented it long distance! It has 4 bedrooms plus an office for Kevin. This means we have a guest room and can still put the kids in separate rooms, so now they don't wake each other up! Hooray! The best part about our new place is the view. Off our back deck we have an unobstructed view of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak. It's gorgeous!

Kevin and I decided to make every Saturday an Adventure Day as we become familiar with the area. Last Saturday we went to Garden of the Gods, which is a beautiful collection of rock formations with lots of hiking paths. Claire had fun climbing on the small rocks and getting blown over by the wind. This Saturday we're going to check out downtown Colorado Springs.

We tried out a church on Sunday that my friend who lives here goes to. It was a bit of a culture shock for Kevin and me, but not a wholly unpleasant experience. We realized that we were very lucky to have gone to such an amazing church in Costa Mesa for so long, and that looking for another church like it may be an exercise in futility. We are not sure whether or not we will stay there, but will for sure give it a few more tries before deciding. We have some very great potentials for community there including my friend Anjanette and her family as well as some new friends we met on Sunday who were super nice. We are very encouraged by the renewal of old friendships and the beginnings of new ones.

The weather has been mostly sunny and warm (in the 50s and 60s) but with an icy wind. But one night shortly after we got here there was a light dusting of snow. It was all melted by noon, but it was fun for Claire to go frolic a bit in the morning.

All in all we are adjusting well and can't wait to see what is in store for us in this new chapter in our lives!