We spent our last few weeks in CO trying see and do as many things as we could before our move to IL. Of course, we also wanted to hang out with family as much as possible.
Georgetown train ride
Snuggles with Lolo
Yabby Hut
Dave and Busters
Elitch Gardens
Dim Sum
Move number 8
We packed up the van and Uhaul and started our drive east. What was supposed to take us 12 hours took over 17! The kids were great, but not being able to go over 65 miles/hr in the moving truck made the trip that much longer.
We stayed in temporary housing on base while they finished a few things and we closed on the house, so we explored our new hood. Let me say, for the record, it was hot and humid in IL!!
Butterfly Pavilion, St. Louis
Peach and blackberry picking at Eckert’s Farm
Swaantje came to visit us
Why no pictures of the house yet, you ask? Well, that’s because we didn’t move in until 18 days after we arrived. 8 people living in TLF with only 2 full bathrooms was not the jam, but we finally got our first shipment of household goods on August 18. Notice I said first truck. The second was stuck in CO and didn’t arrive for another few weeks.
St. Louis Arch
Water fight!
St. Louis Zoo
City Museum, St. Louis
Against Ty’s wishes I bought a trampoline for the kids. It took him over 5 hours to assemble, but it was worth every penny. The kids are on it almost every day.
When I first told my job Ty got orders to Scott, they offered to let me work remotely half time and fly back to CO every other week. Swaantje joined me for one of my first trips back to CO since the move.
Back in IL – backyard bubbles
Dad’s retirement party at New Saigon Restaurant Denver, CO
St. Louis Science Museum
Pumpkin picking
Lolo came to visit us in IL – Exploring Forest Park in St. Louis for my birthday
Halloween
Lauren’s 3rd birthday party
Traveled to Baltimore, MD for my residency program at Johns Hopkins
First snow in IL
Back in CO and Michael was in town too
Ty actually let me put up decorations early this year! He always makes me wait until Black Friday, but with all my work travel, he wanted me to have a chance to enjoy it since he knows it’s my favorite time of year.
Thanksgiving 2018
Bellville, IL Christmas Market
Hot Pot with Claire and Aprille
Claire and I spent a day together exploring Boulder. She’s off to college next fall and part of me is hoping she’ll choose to be a Buff like her Ninang 😉
Back in IL for a couple days before heading right back to CO
Colorado Bound for Christmas – We decided to drive back home to spend the holidays with family. The kids are really getting use to these long drives.
Christmas Eve party at Tito Orley’s
Sledding
Happy 11th birthday Ana!
Spent the final hours of 2018 with my good friend Theresa and her family.
Froyo after eating Ramen
Snooze
Hammond’s Candy Factory Tour
Dior exhibit at the Denver Art Museum
Phew, I did it. Those all are the updates in our “This Is Us” series. I will go back to posting every month or so with our happenings and pick up the next blog with our first trip to Chicago. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I know we’ve been MIA and that was a lot to catch up on. Stay tuned, we have a lot of great things going on and we are excited to document it all here <3