These ROCKY Mountains

It didn't take long for us to find snow. There isn't any snow snow at our place, but only a short drive got us to these views...
















The kids go crazy for rocks...and there are a lot of them around here. They are always asking to bring them home. I'm not sure how many more our van can hold!

--B

Finally!

We're bloggin' again!  Sorry, but it's been an INSANE couple months.  From flying out to Colorado to look at houses, packing up our place in Florida, packing the POD, travelling to Illinois to visit family, travelling to Colorado, closing on the house, unpacking the POD, furniture shopping......all with 4 kids.....whew!  But we actually did it.  The Hastings are now Coloradans!

Of course is wasn't easy leaving our paradise in Florida.  After living on the water for three years.... sailing, kayaking, swimming, throwing cast nets, building sand castles and living the island life, it was just time to go.  Our new paradise involves more hiking & biking, playing at the park, playing soccer in the yard, playing with Honey (more on that in a bit).  So yep, it's a bit different.  But, I'll tell you one thing..... while the three years we spent in FL seemed like the best three years of my life.... I don't think it was because of the FL.  It was just being with Brooke & the kids, THAT is what makes paradise for me.  Yep, even IL could've filled the bill.  Maybe.

All the friends we made from around the world who came through on vacation, all the flight students and military families we got to spend time with, and mostly Dottie & Mark... it was very hard saying good bye.  For us to be 1000 miles from all of our family and friends in IL but to never feel like we didn't have someone to depend on, made those three years possible.  We were never alone.  Dot & Mark, we love you guys :-)

Now for some pics!

This may be the last pic of the kids playing on the beach in front of our place.  But it WON'T be the last pic of the kids playing on the beach.  From our new spot the west coast beaches are an easy drive and we're excited to go see them!

The day before, it was cloudy and stormy...  but on our our last morning in Florida, it just had to be a beautiful sunrise.  I will say though, it was a bit cool waking up this early.

The closing of the POD in FL.  That thing was packed!  Which reminds me.... thank you Nolan, Amelia & Nick!  You guys were amazing helpers getting our house packed up and getting the POD loaded.  That last night of bringing boxes and bags downstairs, you were a huge help.

Our last look back at Innerarity Island.

I think Nick was missing his bed right about now.  It was 16 hour to IL and another 14 to CO.  And you know what?  It went great!  No DVD's, no satellite radio....just a whole lot of reading and Sound of Music sing-a-longs.

This was the first time the kids (& Brooke) got the meet Samuel up in the IL.  We had a great time there seeing friends, cousins, aunts & uncles, grandmas & gramdpas and even a couple goats being born at Uncle D's.  I'll spare you the pics for now, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

We stayed with Grandma White while we were in IL and the kids had a blast playing in the woods behind her house.  We made a survival shelter here that we were all proud of :-)

Thank you very much Grandma White!  We had a great time in IL and look forward to seeing you soon.

And then there was our stop at Jay & Cindy's place in Colorado.  Thank you two too!  I didn't manage to get a picture of the Ruckerts, but I did snap this one of Amelia and her buddy Kalua.

At this point, we are ooooo so close to our house.  But, we had to make a quick stop at Standley Lake first.  For us, it's never been about the house but always about the location.  And man did we find a good one this time.  Everyday a new running route if we want it.  The bike paths & trails are awesome!

And finally......... our house.  The POD even beat us there!  The house has been great.  Of course this whole being a home owner again is sort of....eh.  That renter lifestyle was nice :-)  But, for the kids to have a backyard, it's well worth it.

And you know what comes with a backyard!  It's Honey!  She's a 5 month old Border Collie that we got from a horse farm north of Ft. Collins.  She is a great dog and is fitting in with the family very well.

And with that, we should be up to date.  Which means we'll be blogging a bunch because so far, everyday brings something that we'd love to share :-)