This first full year in Colorado has been amazing for our family! We have had so many adventures and made new friends!
We started the year out with lots of exploring and new activities! We visited the Garden of the Gods for the first time. We went to the Penny Arcade at Manitou Springs. There was also plenty of snow and we got to go sledding with our neighbors and new friends. We also celebrated Sulley’s 4th birthday with a Hot Wheels themed mini-party. We didn’t let the cold weather keep us home and we spent a lot of time checking out new parks and playgrounds!
In February, we spent a day in Trinidad, CO and Tim and I got our official Colorado driver’s licenses. Sulley, Percy and I flew back to Virginia to visit friends and family for a week. Tim took the time off work in between his old position and his new one beginning and had fun with Lucas & Vinnie. The most exciting thing that happened in February though, was us becoming a martial arts family! By March, Lucas, Vinnie, Sulley, and I were all doing karate twice a week! My Mom came out for her 2nd visit in time to celebrate Percy turning two! He had a Thomas the train themed mini-party. He & Sulley still love all things that have wheels! In April, Vinnie passed his banana & penicillin food challenges at National Jewish Health. We wrapped up our spring doing lots of karate classes, going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and hiking all around Colorado Springs. We even took a trip to Buena Vista and did some hiking there too!
June began with Lucas having surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids. Unfortunately, the surgery did not improve his sleep apnea. He did however start to lose weight and have a major growth spurt! He’s as tall as I am now! (5 foot 2”). He will start using CPAP soon. We did a lot more karate, hiking, and explored Cripple Creek and some of the mountain roads nearby. July was spent outdoors trying to stay cool! Both boys finished their school year, with Lucas moving on to 6th grade and Vinnie moving up to 5th grade! We checked out all the local splash pads and spent a lot of time hiking and visiting the zoo! We rolled into August with an amazing staycation, with my sister, niece and mom! We did the Alpine Slides and gondola rides in Winter Park, went 1000 feet underground in a mine and rode the train in Cripple Creek, and visited the zoo and Penny Arcade too! Vinnie turned 10 in August, and we celebrated at the dojo with a Jurassic Park themed party! He still loves dinosaurs as much as ever! Sulley and Tim went to Monster Jam in Denver and Sulley is STILL talking about all the trucks! Finally, we wrapped up our summer by creating and starting a homeschool co-op here in Colorado Springs!
Fall has been going so well! We kicked it off by spending Labor Day weekend in OK visiting with Tim’s family. Sulley had exploratory surgery and was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, he was diagnosed with dysphagia in July, and requires thickeners for all liquids now. Lucas began LARPing (live-action-roleplay) with a homeschool group and we have continued weekly meetups with our co-op. We went to Leadville and hiked Turquoise Lake. Sulley learned to ride a 2-wheeled bike! In October, Lucas celebrated his 12th birthday at Dart Wars with a roomful of friends! A year ago, he couldn’t imagine all the great friends he’d find here in Colorado.
All of us have settled in and are happy in Colorado. Lucas and Vinnie have earned their orange belts, Sulley has his Tiny Tiger’s green belt, and I have my orange belt as well. We have friends at the dojo, our co-op, LARPing, and from the homeschool community nearby. We even found a great babysitter so Tim and I can have date nights! We certainly do miss our extended family and all our friends too, though!
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