We're All a Little Bit Excited Today

For it's not everyday one closes on a house!

This morning, while Chloe was at school, Peggy and I put a lot of ink to paper and got keys to our new home. The house is in the same neighborhood as our current rental, just about 1/2 mile northwest (had we been in the new house in January, we would have the equivalent of 3rd row seats for the wildfire!)

We'll be moving as much stuff as we can ourselves via many carloads over the next 10 days, and then have movers coming on the 26th to take the big and/or heavy stuff up.

I know such an occasion would probably warrant a bigger write-up, but I thought I would let some video clips convey how excited we are.

Here are our first steps inside our new home after closing...

Chloe checks out our new home after school...

6 Months in the Books

It only seems like yesterday we were driving through Illinois commenting, "Man, there are a lot of cornfields here!" but to our surprise, it's been 6 months to the day since we moved here.

The biggest concern for Peggy and I with moving was the impact it was going to have on Chloe. While in PA, it was a good several days for her to begin to understand what was involved and how things were going to be different. (A side note: if any of you plan on moving or even visiting here with small children, be careful on trying to explain to them the fact that there is less oxygen at a mile above sea level. Once you let that cat out of the bag, it might take a while for you to get your point across that people can still live and breathe at that altitude.) It pleases me to no end to report that, much to the delight and comfort of Peggy and I, she has taken the change in-stride and is off to a great start here. She's doing really well in school (AND enjoying it to boot), has developed a great group of friends in the neighborhood and at school, and has enjoyed the new experiences like skiing and Spanish classes.

So, what are our thoughts about living here? We love it here. We really do. We've made some great friends already, which has gone a long way in having us enjoy our lives out here. I know some people thought the major factor in our decision to move here was so that we could be in a cycling, skiing and hiking mecca. I won't lie... The relative ease of being able to do those things is great, for sure, and part of the reason why we love it here so much is the outdoorsy stuff we like to do – I'm biking more and have joined a team, Peg's running and hiking more, and we're skiing, biking and hiking as a family.

But it's more than that.

A lot of it has to do with the day-to-day things, like: not having to wait 3 cycles to get through a traffic light; or having kids in the neighborhood for Chloe to play with; or being able to cut the grass in 20 minutes (vs. 2 hours); or being able to walk/bike to places and not having to use a car for everything; or not having to get dressed up to go to a nice restaurant; or the ability to get in to town easily if you want to, or to get into the mountains easily if you want to.

Yes, there have been some eye-opening incidents (e.g. wildfires, mountain lions and coyotes "foraging" in town, house-rattling winds) and we suspect there will be more of them in the months and years ahead. But we've quickly come to accept them as the "new realities" of life in the West. And we do miss getting together with family and friends back East, but this blog, along with e-mail, Facebook and Skype, have helped bridge the distance.

We've been asked if we have any regrets about moving out here. After factoring in all of which I just wrote, Peggy and I can think of just one: That we didn't move out here sooner.

2 months in, I revisit the Dewey Decimal System, y se habla espanol?

It's our 2 month anniversary here in CO, and so far so good... no cowboy hats and/or boots, no country music presets on the radio, no wrangler jeans, no altitude sickness, and no (visible) body piercings. We've been meeting a good number of families in the neighborhood, and by way of Chloe's soccer team and common acquaintances back East.

Today was also my first day volunteering at the library at Chloe's school. (I know, the irony is amazing... me, a person whose collection of books would fit in a milk crate with room to spare, is volunteering in a library of all places.) I'm there to help the kids check books in and out, and do some reshelving.

Another "first" today was Chloe's first Spanish class. She heard a classmate talking about it last week and became interested in taking it herself. I looked into it and, since it wasn't too late to sign her up, got her enrolled in the after-school class. Que divertido!

Yippee! We're Less a Home!!!

Pop the bottles of bubbly! After being on the market for 3+ months, we closed on our Richboro house today. No more making two housing payments... phew! (I was just about ready to ask Peg to take a second job!)

While we're not particularly keen on renting for the long term, it's been great for us in the short term and we know it has its perks for our particular situation. We suspect we'll take a breather from the housing market for several months, and begin to look for the Schrammel Ranch in 2009 sometime.

Off to do a happy dance!

One Month in the Books

We know we're still in the honeymoon phase, but we've been here one month now and so far so good. Here are some observations thus far:
- Boulder is home to its fair share of prairie dog towns, Subarus and Obama supporters.
- Peg is enjoying the work from home lifestyle, and really loving having the "bonus" 2.5 hours per day, hours that used to be spent in traffic to and fro work.
- TV show start times aren't adjusted completely. That is, even though CO is 2 hours behind PA, prime time TV shows start just 1 hour earlier. So, shows that start at 8 o'clock in PA start at 7 here, and the local news is at 10.
- There aren't many mosquitoes here... we saw our first ones just 2 days ago.
- There are many hiking trails in the immediate area.
- Cars in select counties need to have emissions tests done, but not any kind of PA-style inspection.
- The mule deer here are just as acclimated to people as the white tails in Richboro. We've seen several walking through our neighborhood.
- We no longer own Chamberlain. We, well, read on...
- Boulder is known for being an "outdoorsy" town with a populace that likes endurance sports... there are MANY cyclists and runners. But if that isn't your cup of tea, there are other lofty pursuits available, namely paragliding, hot air ballooning and gliding. During my Saturday morning bike ride, I saw 7 hot air balloons aloft just East of town.
- Even though it's early September, there's already plenty of talk about the upcoming ski season. Some resorts open up mid- to late- November, and hope to stay open until early June 2009.

We're not in Kansas, er, Pennsylvania, anymore (and other observations)

We knew living in the West would provide many changes, including what pops up in the newspapers.
1.) This first story took place about 1/2 mile away from where we are. (1st story)
2.) The second story took place further away, thankfully for Chamberlain. (2nd story)

Other observations:
- There's a HUGE difference between 85 degrees with 70% humidity, and 95 degrees with 20% humidity.
- If you're not wearing a watch but notice dark clouds rolling in over the mountains, it's probably 3 in the afternoon (give or take an hour.) The afternoon rain shower is quite common here... it usually doesn't last long, maybe 20 minutes, but it does a nice job of cooling things down for the evening.

We got our stuff!

After two nights of "house camping", and close to a week since we slept in our own beds, it was a great sight to see the moving trailer make its way in front of our house this afternoon. What we need to confront now is: What in the world are we going to do with everything. We like the house we're in, but it sure is lacking in storage. We have a feeling our garage is going to look like the set from Sanford and Son for a bit.