Two years ago we packed up a uhaul, hitched the car to the back of it, and crammed as much as we could into the car, the uhaul, and our second car. Brandon and I drove for two days with three kids, halfway across the Country to finally find home. We did all of it, with less than a month of planning time. We never imagined how much work, or how rewarding it would be.
We put everything we had into a storage unit in Denver. The kids helped, and everyone was fairly excited. It was a long trip but when we came over the mountains and saw that welcome to Colorful Colorado sign it made everything worth it. We spent the first three weeks in a Hotel. We planned on staying for two weeks until we found an apartment and then move in.
What we didn't realize was that Denver is a hot market for renters. Most places had waiting lists, and sometimes you would go check out a place in the morning, and find out three other people already went on a list for the one apartment available within a community.
We started working right away. Brandon transferred jobs, and
i had two lined up before we even arrived. The kids spent a lot of time at the pool. There isn't a lot to entertain you in a hotel. But we were there so long Kira learned how to officially swim on her own. On week three we finally found an apartment. Good square footage, good location, and the price was right.
That first night we could have stayed in the hotel. We had one last night paid for, but everyone was so excited we opted to stay in the apartment, even though all of our furniture was still in storage. We all slept on the floor. We litterally ate off of plastic plates from the dollar store, with plastic silverware for a couple of months. Dishes didn't make the move. You have to pick and choose what to take
with you when you make such a long move.We only had so much space in the Uhaul so we tried to prioritize furniture, and the kids stuff to make things as normal as possible for them. Everyone was so proud of our new apartment. We have been in that apartment for two years now, we just signed our third lease. For the first time in years, we have a sense of community.
The kids have gone to the same school for two years in a row. In August they will return for their third year. Before Colorado Kira had never been at the same school for more than a year. Now her and Donovan have friends they have literally known for years! Brandon and I promised we would make this a better life for ourselves. We both changed jobs once we got here. We chose not to settle for less than what made us happy.
We have done quite a bit of exploring since we have moved here. I will never forget what it was like those first few months, when literally everything was new. Now two years later Denver feels like home. I don't have to GPS everything. People can tell me a story at work, or give me directions to a place and i can picture it like i could back in Washington.
One of my favorite things about Colorado is the scenery. We see so many mountains when we are driving and they are gorgeous. The color of the sky, the shrubbery etc. it's pretty. We also have some amazing sun sets.
We live a quick walk down the trail to a park. We are three blocks from the library, less than a mile from both of our kids schools, across the street from Brandon's job, and just a ten min. few mile drive from my job. Across the street we have our bank, Walmart, a dollar store, papa murphys, a liquor store and a gas station. We are within about 2 miles of at least 10 different food options, a handful of parks (at least 5 plus), target, whole foods, walgreens, King Sooper's, Petsmart and more.
We live a couple of miles from Cheery Creek state park, which our family makes great use of during the sunny months. It has swimming, hiking, camping, boating, etc. If it opens in time we will be doing a camping trip in June there to try out our new camping gear! (with covid19 only time will tell)
We have joined the YMCA that is only a couple miles from us down the road. This gives our family a good place to play together, and the kids can continue swim lessons there once they too reopen from Covid19. We are 15 minutes give or take from downtown. Including one of our favorite destinations, Elitch Gardens. It's nice to have a real Theme Park so close to home. Also the Zoo, Museum of Science, Aquarium and Children's Museums are all in the same area. Not to mention countless other attractions we have yet to have time to visit.
We have had the new experience, of finding new favorites, and new regular spots. We've tried new food and restaurants. The variety of food options is huge out here. A mixture of the East coast chains and the West Coast.
We traded in our cinnabon, Christmas morning tradition for Duffy Rolls.
We traded the Museum of Nature and Science for the Pacific Science Center. We traded Mathews Beach Park, for Westword park, We traded King Sooper's for QFC, and we traded the Holiday carousel at Westlake in Seattle, for the Holiday Carousel at the 16th street mall in Denver as our holiday tradition.
And perhaps the biggest change we made was adding Beatrix Rose to our family. Baby Bea makes Denver feel that much more like home. Like everyone else in Colorado i learn to hate it by April or May, but i do love the snow. Real snow, white holidays, snowball fights, the peaceful hush that falls on everything. I love the 300+ sunny days a year, and the crazy thunderstorms followed by insane hale storms. I love that my family is happy, that they have found there place in a new state.
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