The Toy Box Years: Rocky Mountain High.....

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

No, I haven't been smoking anything today......

But, if you told me 5 years ago that someday I'd be living in Colorado, I'd laugh and ask you what you've been smoking! Well folks, here we are.....four years into living in the Rocky Mountain state. Thanks to my Marine transferring units in 2005, we now call Colorado home. Don't get me wrong -- home is in Colorado, but Pittsburgh will always have my heart.

Since we've been here, every once in awhile we decide to go on a field trip. We pack a small cooler with snacks, pack the kids in the car, open the atlas and off we drive. We have seen some beautiful scenery this way. We just drive........ Today we took another one of those field trips. We packed the car early and headed up northwest of Denver to Estes Park. It was a beautiful drive up -- a little hazy and foggy. But the sun broke through and it ended up being a nice day. So, I'd love to share with you a little piece of our field trip today..........(cue music for John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High")

On the road to Estes Park

Still some snow on the mountain tops in July!

Rock formation called "Twin Owls"

Estes Park is a ski town - but during the summer also has a pretty booming tourist industry thanks to camping, fishing, and rafting through Rocky Mountain National Park, among other outdoorsy sports. There's a main street with lots of kitschy, souvenir shops, restaurants, and ice cream joints. As you walk down the main street, if you make a right, you're right along the River Walk - which is lined with more restaurants and plenty of seating to watch the water roll by. If you're lucky, like we were today, you just might see some local wildlife.

Along the River Walk

Elk

I decided to try my hand at some creative photography

Ice cream for the girls

By the end of the day, that fresh mountain air did the girls in...they slept the whole way home!

I love living in Colorado. There's just so much to see and do -- and we're hoping to raise our girls to love the outdoors and nature. I'm a girl from the suburbs -- I've never been fishing or camping....I learned to ski once (and I'll stick to hot chocolate in the cabin in front of the fire, thank you very much!). But I'm game for trying anything -- I'd love to learn to rock climb, go rafting down the rapids, go horseback riding on the trails, and go camping and hiking. I may be from the 'burbs, but I do love nature and truly do appreciate all that God has created and given us to enjoy!

And don't forget about the scrapbooking giveaway that I'm doing! You can enter up until July 10th - at which time a lucky winner will be chosen to receive a box of scrapbooking supplies! All you need to do is go to my previous post about scrapbooking and leave a comment. That's it!

4 comments:

A Musing Mother July 5, 2009 at 11:12 PM: Holy crap! That's your backyard?! Can I come over and play?
~Sandy July 6, 2009 at 6:17 AM: Just stopping by from the blog hop and wanted to say hello!!!
glorious days July 6, 2009 at 10:34 AM: wow, you are so lucky to be able to take trips to such wonderful places. i really is beautiful that Colorado state. and more beautiful than that are your daughters. they are so precious. :)
Katie July 10, 2009 at 9:46 AM: Sometimes I do miss those mountains! We lived in NM and drove over to the Denver metro area a few times to visit my Godbrother and his wife. I didn't really care for NM, at least not living there all year but it's a great place to visit and full on natural beauty. We really enjoyed CO too and considered moving there, but man do you guys get the snow.