The Colorado Last Hurrah

We tried to cram in quite a bit the last few weeks I was pregnant with Levi. Of course we wanted to spend some special time with Luke, but we also knew about our next journey for the Army at this point. We knew we would be leaving Colorado in December and heading to Fort Benning, Georgia for a few months. Drew had to attend his Captain Career Course for six months and there was a possibility to attend a couple other classes there as well. So as we made preparations for the new baby and the move, we also tried to fit in a few things.

We took a day trip to Canon City to see the Royal Gorge one more time. It's pretty neat and we hadn't seen it for a couple years. It's this massive, deep gorge with a river running at the bottom of it. There's a huge suspension bridge built across it you can walk or drive across. There's also an open elevator you can ride down to the bottom. We didn't take many pictures this time, so I'll add a few from previous trips too. We also went to Buckskin Joe's while we were down there. It was an old west town with most of the buildings being authentic. The owners had recently sold it, so it was the last weekend they were open before they dismantled it. They have an awesome little train that goes around the Royal Gorge so we were able to take Luke on that. The boy loves his trains.

(September 4, 2010)

In September we went to the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. Luke got to see a baby cow, bunnies and other farm animals. His favorite thing was playing in the corn box though. We of coursehad to eat fair food - a massive corndog, a fried twinkie (don't think I need one of those again), and fresh squeezed lemonade. We split them between the three of us so that's healthy, right?

(September 6, 2010)

We'll obviously miss the outdoors in Colorado.  We didn't take advantage of them nearly as much as we should have but it was so nice to have everything in our vicinity.  We had such an awesome view of the mountains from our backyard, could drive five minutes to get to creeks, parks, or go for a drive in the mountains.  And the weather was so great.  You got four true seasons and barely any humidity and the air just seemed so crisp and clean.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of Luke and Drew in a creek.  Of course there are creeks almost everywhere else, but they aren't really the same!

(September 11, 2010)

We went to the air show in early October. Luke loved seeing all the planes flying, but also had a lot of fun seeing all the various vehicles on the ground.

(October 2, 2010)

August 2010

It doesn't look like we have many pictures from last August. We did lose a lot of pictures from the last half of 2010 from our camera though. I was able to recover some of them with a program I found but some are still damaged or missing. Here are a few though...


One thing we'll definitely miss from Colorado Springs is the zoo. It really is an amazing zoo. It's pretty large, has a lot of animals and is built right on the side of the mountain. We had a membership so we went quite a bit. They have this one room where a bunch of parakeets and tiny birds are free to fly around and you can feed them.
Although Roxie likes to run around and terrorize Rico about 80% of the time, they can be pretty sweet together sometimes.
I was able to snag some really cheap tickets to the Toby Keith concert in Denver, so we were able to sneak away for a few hours. It was a great show and one of our last times out by ourselves before we had Levi. Please excuse the pale, puffy pregnant woman in the picture.


Although Luke wasn't fully pottytrained until he was three, he had some quality training time in Colorado. You can see Drew had some influence here. Sorry the picture is weird, it's one of the ones that only got partly recovered.
Some quality father and son napping:

Summer Trip Home

We were able to make a trip back home last July. As always, the drive was a long one. Especially with one pathetic Basset Hound who thinks she's human...

We definitely had to spend some time on the boat and in the lake!


My in-laws have some neighbors who have all kinds of animals at their place. The kids had a lot of fun exploring. We were even there in time for the baby chicks!


Luke obviously had to take golf cart rides with Grandpa and the other kids (well, and Uncle Steven)...

(July 1-5, 2010)

Luke's 2nd Birthday

We were pretty low key on Luke's birthday last year. He opened gifts at home from us and family. We went to Chuck E. Cheese for a mini party with his favorite family, the Sandbergs! Luke has known them since he was a few weeks old and they have always treated them like their own. I could write a book, but I'll just keep it at they are awesome and we sure do miss them!





Since when did Chuck E. Cheese stop having the characters actually walking around instead of glued to the stage?! And when did they stop having the ball pit? I know it's probably not sanitary and all, but come on! On a positive note, the pizza was much yummier than I had remembered or anticipated.




This is totally random, but found these in with the other pictures for May. Luke has never been too fond of drive through car washes...

Easter Visitors

My parents were able to come out in April and spend Easter with us. Luke had a ball learning to hunt for eggs in the backyard.





We went to a restaurant that has a real plane attached to it and Luke had a blast with Papa and the controls. That boy has a fascination with buttons. If there was a button (or anything that resembled a button) anywhere in view, we just HAD to push it. Although this obsession has lessened some with age, he still loves his buttons.

(April 2-4, 2010)

The Remainder of 2010

According to the blog, about the only things that happened in 2010 were Luke had a hernia and turned two. If I tried to break it down into too many posts, I would probably never catch up. So, I'm just going to hit a few high points and then get into 2011 with a little more detail. Here we go...

Big Decision (December 2009)

I was looking back on the posts I had made before my hiatus to kind of see where I left off. As per the blog, Drew left the Army in January 2010. Not so true. It's a long story, but I'll spare you all the drama. After much deliberation, discussion, prayer, and not-so-faint gut feelings we stayed in the Army. Even though military life is trying and there are definite cons to it all, we strongly felt (and still do) that we were being led to continue to serve. Obviously, it was ultimately up to Drew, but we are in this as a family. Yes, our relationship and our children will be affected by this decision. That doesn't mean it has to be a bad thing. We may have to approach and deal with some things in life a little differently but we're prepared to do that. At least for now. Drew has the intention to stay in for his whole career (20+ years), but he always has the option to leave if we decide it's needed for the family, etc. So, most of the time we are excited about our crazy life and try to enjoy all the experiences we are offered by this lifestyle!

SHAME

Whoopsie. My absence and neglect was definitely not intentional. Sometimes life just happens and it takes us with it. We make big life decisions, we have a baby, we move around, we go on adventures, our kids grow like weeds, and this all happens in the past year without telling people a darn thing. So, I'm back and looking forward to sharing our life again. I've missed blogging and have wanted to post lately but just figured I was just too far behind. Well, I'm going to quickly catch you up in the next few days and then update from there. Not that it would take much to improve...