Unpacking, Football, Birthdays, and Trains...Oh My!

So this move into the new house has been interesting to say the least.. we have come to the conclusion that Hawaii may have beautiful beaches, but they have TERRIBLE packers!

Seems totally normal to put the golf shoes, balls, car wash and ant killer in the same box??
Sweaters and extension cords are definitely in the same family...I think they missed the "one of these things is not like the other" segment on Sesame Street as kids

Installing the pool table light..the fun of unpacking continues...this will be the ONLY time that Hunter gets to stand on the pool table

A new school brings new sports opportunities..Hunter (#20) played tackle football for the first time in his life...many times this season I thought my heart would jump out of my chest. He did a great job catching on and bypassed the entire second string team to play on the envied gold team. We are so proud of him! We'll see what high school holds for him.

Ashley is loving her new high school. They had a real homecoming week that ended with the homecoming dance. She had fun dressing up, going to dinner with her friends and attending the dance. The mainland is quite different from Hawaii in some great ways.

Fall has arrived in Colorado...This is an Aspen.

A maple in true fall colors!

Woohoo!! Ashley is 16!! I can't believe it...She had her friends over for a bbq, pool, darts, xbox, a bon fire, and hot cocoa. They had a lot of fun...Jason and I are feeling quite old now :-)

Ashley has a love for ducks right now..so she had ducks on her cake this year. Yes, she ended up eating the entire fondant duck.

Grandma and Grandpa flew out to surprise Ashley for her birthday...quite a huge success! We did a little site seeing while they were here and enjoyed every minute. Here we are at the Garden of the Gods.

Can you see the kissing camels? Look at the little hole and you will see both camels facing eachother for a kiss
The balancing rock...totally amazing! One of our other activities was to take the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak from Manitou Springs. It was a 3 hr ride, up to 14,110 ft elevation, and a 30 degree drop in temperature. Very cool scenery and a great family trip. America the Beautiful was inspired by this mountain and its scenery.

Grandpa and Ashley enjoying the view and a little family love! Exploring the mountain top was fun. The wind was bitter, the views were amazing, and the company was the BEST!

We were level with the clouds!

Hunter and I were watching the red fox running around...He was pretty cold..good thing our 30 min of exploring was just about up

Breckenridge for Jason's Birthday!

It was Jason's birthday, so his wish was to check out Breckenridge before the snow hits. A beautiful 2 hr ride out and a great day of family fun!

Our two comedians! The ski lodge...oh how nice!

our first ride on a ski lift...Hunter thought this was the most amazing thing he'd ever ridden on..he was giving me a heart attack as he swung his legs over the side and hollered all the way up

You can see the ski runs on peak 9 and 8...can't wait to see them covered in snow!

Mueller State Park

Hunter went to his friend Brantley's house for some mountain biking and a sleepover...so Jason, Ashley, and I headed out to explore the mountains a little. Our freshly adhered to the window state park pass was just begging to be used, so we headed to Mueller State Park. It's about a 45 minute drive from our house and a beautiful place to explore.

We saw a ton of chipmunks...so cute.
We checked out a few hiking trails, we did see a cow elk, but she was running too fast for a picture. This is Pike's Peak in the background..We were hiking at almost 10,000 ft. elevation and felt it going up the hills!

The old Cheeseman Ranch, now part of the state park..beautiful meadows and mountains. It was a very peaceful hike.

Can't wait to come back and see the Aspen forests as they change color in the fall!

The cutest and most chatty squirrels live in Colorado...Hawaii has no squirrels, so it was a welcomed sight

Scenic outlook...Ashley was a leary of getting to close to the cliff edge.

Beautiful view of the Rockies!

After this long day in the park, lots of hiking and wildlife seen, Jason concluded that he loved Colorado...I think we're going to really enjoy living here!

house update

Woohoo! We have stucco color! Trim and punch still needed to be added, but it's moving right along.

Interior paint and trim finished this week...We got crown molding for free too! Good thing those carpenters didn't read the work order more carefully.

Hunter is standing in our future pool room

From the living room, looking up to the landing

Our new house

We are VERY excited about building our new house and can't wait until it is ready to move in. We drive by several times a week and poke around inside at least a few times. These are the most current pictures. The drywall is almost finished mudding and taping, so they will start the finish work soon. I will update pictures every week or so...we have a great guestroom in the finished basement, so come on out to visit soon!

The view from Ashley's window..that is the golf course off our fence...this is the teebox almost directly behind us...the scaffolding for the stucco is still up along the house..boy are we going to have a lot of landscaping to do!

This is my bathtub window view

The house before stucco

And after stucco...Jason is inspecting...Ashley and I thought he blended in wearing his uniform...he definitely knows his stuff about construction and I'm glad he's home during this process
The stucco has to cure for a few days before they can put the colored coat on...can't wait!!

Jason and Hunter..they just love wearing those hard hats! The fireplace is coming along...maybe next time we see it, we'll be looking at stone!

Ashley in her bedroom...little miss priss

Hunter in his bedroom...mr. cool