February Family Visit (Part 2)

A week after Jeff's parents came to help us unpack, my parents arrived for their first visit to our new home. By the time they got here, we had almost everything put away, so we got to explore with them a little and see some things around the area.

On Friday, Jeff had to work, so my parents, Boone and I headed to Boulder. We checked out the Flatirons and then walked around Pearl Street Mall. It was a bit chilly, but it was fun!

In front of the Flatirons!

On Saturday, we decided to head up to Winter Park and walk around the area. We had planned to eat at a restaurant that my family had gone to all the time when we used to ski in Winter Park, but it wasn't open for lunch. We were bummed, but it was still fun to check out the town.

Winter Park added a mini gondola that travels between two areas in the resort, so we took it for a little ride.

We were anxious to ski because we hadn't been yet at this point.

All three of us on the gondola.

Walking around the village at Winter Park.

They had these neat wagons you could borrow to haul your kiddos and ski gear through the village. We decided to give Boone a little ride.

On Monday, my parents and I decided to head down to Colorado Springs. We wanted to tour the Olympic training center and take them by Garden of the Gods. We had a great time at both places.

The Olympic training center in Colorado Springs is the location for sports like swimming, wrestling, volleyball and men's gymnastics. Athletes can start living at the training center at 16 and must stay in the top 10% of their sport to stay at the center.

Volleyball gym.

The training center also hosts the shooting sports. It was neat to see their indoor facilities.

Indoor shooting areas

One of the gyms in the center

At the end of the tour. It was a pretty neat thing to see for it being a free tour. And it was neat to see it while the Olympics were actually going on.

And it was a great afternoon to swing by Garden of Gods. My parents had never been there, so it was fun to walk through there with them and the weather was great.

We were so thankful to have both our parents in Denver within our first month of living in our new place. They are so faithful to always make the effort to come and see us!

We are loving our new home!

Garden of the Gods

Every time I had visited Colorado in the past, it was to ski, so I've never spent much time exploring outside of ski towns. This past weekend, we took advantage of some GREAT weather we had on Saturday and headed down to Colorado Springs to see Jeff's aunt and uncle who live there.

Colorado Springs is really close to Denver and only about 40 minutes south from the southern part of Denver. We will be living on the northern end, so it will take around an hour and 15 minutes for us to get there, but that is still the closest we've ever lived to family in all our moves.

We headed straight for the Carlton's house when we got there, and spent some time seeing their place and catching up. Jeff's uncle recently retired from the military, and they are working on remodeling parts of their cabin in southern Colorado, so they have a lot going on!

After grabbing some lunch at a great Mexican restaurant, we decided to walk around Old Colorado City. It is a cute area with lots of shops and restaurants and it was a great day to walk around outside. Boone was a little late getting a nap, so after a little chocolate snack, he was a little sleepy.

 

Old Colorado City

 

Getting a treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

 

Post-treat. You can see the chocolate smudges on his face.

After walking around and window shopping a bit, we decided to head to Garden of the gods. I was amazed to learn that Garden of the gods is a city park, which seems amazing because of how impressive it is! Perfect January day to get our first look at this beautiful place!

Despite how I may have framed these pictures, it was a VERY busy day at the park! There were lots of people, and we couldn't blame them because it was such a beautiful day! We will definitely be back with visitors that come up to see us!

Oh, and on an unrelated note, we HAVE A HOUSE... or a duplex I guess! Either way, we move in February 3 and I can't wait!! We will have been without our things for 2 months by the time we get into our new home! We can't wait to be settled and I'll for sure put up pictures once the dust settles.

We are loving Colorado already! Come visit us!

Jeff, Em + Boone