House Pictures

The house has a nice big kitchen.

Our favorite part of the house is the back yard which backs up to a golf course and has a view of the mountains. It has a covered patio and small yard.

This is part of the living room area. The windows on the left face the front of the house and the ones on the right face the side.

The family room with the kitchen to the right, a small dinning area to the left and the windows face the back yard. The railing on the right is the stairs leading to the basement. The basement is huge but is unfinished.

I couldn't resist posting this picture because Carsten thinks it is VERY funny.

Fun at the Park

We are having so much fun having our daughter Candace and her two daughters in town. We had a great day at the park in Lyons. The kids loved putting their feet in the water.

Miss Charlie enjoying the cold water.

Carsten, Grant and Charlie looking at the St. Varian River.

Having snacks at the park.

Candace and Miss Alaina Beverly. (14 months old)

Grandkids!!

Laney crawling outside first thing in the morning. I love how she has one of Carsten's crocks on her hand!

Charla, Grant and Carsten having fun in the back yard.

The cousins eating corn dogs.

Miss Charlie being silly in the table hole.

Miss Laney is really good on the stairs and she is almost walking to boot!

Sights around the Front Range

On Thursday Dennis and I made a day trip to check out some other areas of Rocky Mountain National Park. The photo above is at the parking lot of one of the Visitor's Center's right before entering the park.

We took a walk around Sprage Lake. We were here one time before with Rena when there was snow on the ground. It was sunny and beautiful on Wednesday although you can see the upper peaks still have snow. We had a delicious lunch of apples and Cliff Bars. A bit meager but we still enjoyed it.

This shot was taken this morning from the kids back yard. They are so lucky to live so close to the mountains.

Here is the view looking south. Off to the right of this area is where there is a great trail for hiking and biking. My friends Debbie and Nina and I did a hike on the trail when we drove our car here 2 months ago. Dennis mountain biked there this morning.

Speaking of Dennis he should be back any minute now with Candace, Charlie and Laney! Can't wait....the boys and I made cookies this morning to celebrate.

Anxious to Get Settled

Sunset from Rena and Nathan's back yard and below, Grant and Carsten enjoying strawberry ice cream cones after their hair cuts.

We went and looked at the house we are leasing again yesterday. Well, we just peaked in the windows and went in the back yard. The boys found some golf balls and we enjoyed the view of the mountains.

The landlord called today and looks like he will have it ready by Monday. Yippee! We are very anxious to get moved in. The house is a little over 2000 square feet with 3 bedrooms and a unfinished basement. The master bedroom is nice and large but the other 2 bedrooms are on the small side. One will be an office and the other a guest room. We will let you know when we are set up for guests! The living room, family room and kitchen are quite large and we will have to buy some furniture to fill it up. I think I will be putting my sewing area in the living room. I know, a little strange but I have some ideas and hopefully it will look okay. I will take pictures as soon as things are shaping up. We will be living pretty frugally until we get jobs so the first furniture we purchase might be used.

In the mean time we are trying to stay busy but it is fairly "down" week. Candace and the girls are arriving on Saturday and will be here for 10 days. Yeah! We are really looking forward to that.
Today we went on a short mountain bike ride and got rained on. I thought it was unusual to get a thunder storm in the morning but you never know when you are in the Rocky Mountains!

Tomorrow we are going to tackle getting new driver's license's. Wish us luck... we hear the lines and the way you are treated is pretty horrible.

That's it for now. We sure miss all our California friends. We love you all!

Hair Cuts

The picture above shows how long the boys hair was when we arrived. Nathan usually gives them buzzes but Rena wanted their hair to be a little longer. So Dennis and I took up them for haircuts.

Grant was very nervous and so we had Carsten go first. I think Carsten was a bit nervous too but he did great!

Here is Dennis and Grant watching the whole process and Grant telling us that he is 3.

Grant wanted to sit on Baba's lap and he only got a "scissors" cut but let the gal use a razor to trip his side burns and around his ears. Good job, Grant! It helped that the gal doing the cutting has a 3 year old son herself. She was great with the boys and after the cut they got to get a prize out of a treasure chest. They loved that!

OOPS!!! I did it again...down loaded the same picture twice. Well, at least it's a darn cute picture!

Peak to Peak Highway

Reservoir at the town of Nederland, a little "hippy" town along the highway. I've seen names of winning quilters from this town.

Rugged, beautiful scenery.

I believe this is Mt. Meeker. There were clouds coming in behind the mountain but the sun was still shinning on the peak. Spectacular!

We did get rained on a little bit.

On Thursday after we signed the lease on the house we went to the gym (Rena got us a membership for one month at the gym where she works) and then we drove the Peak to Peak Highway. We have been on parts of it before but never the whole thing. Wow, we loved it!

New Plates and a Lease

This is the house that we will be leasing.

Here is the new license plate on our Camry---we are becoming official!

I accidentally downloaded the above picture twice and don't know how to get rid of it so please excuse me. I will take more pictures when we move in about 2 weeks. It is in a very nice neighborhood on a golf course. The owner is a super cool older guy and we feel very fortunate that we were lead to find this house. We only had to sign a 6 month lease and we can move in before our Pods rent is due again. I'm just worried that we will be spoiled living in such a nice house....

Swimming Lessons

We got to watch the boys at their swimming lessons on Thursday. We got there when they were half way through the lesson and they were doing great. They were having so much fun they hardly even looked at us. Apparently Grant was pretty nervous when they arrived with their babysitter and he didn't want to get out of the car. As you can see from the pictures, he soon changed his tune!

Fun with the Boys

Carsten and Grant eating a meal.

Swimming time.

Grant with his tool belt. He is one serious worker!

Grandpa and the boys making pancakes.

Sharing a chair on the front porch.

More Rocky Mountain Pictures

We drove through the park on Trail Ridge Road which is the highest paved road in the continental US. It was incredible---so high we were above the tree line.

Quite a bit of snow still left at this elevation. (12,183ft.)

More elk along the hill tops.

It would have been even prettier if there were not so many dead trees from the bark beetle. It was very sad and will take years to recover. Another disappointment is we never saw a bighorn sheep. We even stopped at a place where they like to cross the road but none made an appearance. Maybe next time.....

Rocky Mountain National Park

We drove through Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Lyons and we love it! It was so beautiful and we made a lot of stops to gaze at the beauty along with all the other tourists. It reminded us very much of the California Sierra Nevada mountains. We bought a year pass so we can go back soon!

We took a short hike into the woods after lunch.

Elk on a hillside....

Quite the views!

and lots of snow in the higher elevation.