House Hunting Trip

We had our official house hunting trip last week to Colorado Springs. We decided to bring all three kids with us; part of it because we wanted the kids to get excited moving and part of it was because we didn't really have a place for them to stay. 

Our flight TO Denver was at 6:15, which meant that we woke up at 4 am and our return flight was at 10:25 pm, which meant that we didn't get home until midnight. So not the ideal travel times, yet our kids did amazing. Aleksi had about 10 minutes of crying on our return flight but eveyrthing else went smoothly. It helped that he was in his car seat on our way to Denver and he just slept in there pretty much the whole flight. I actually read a book, the kids had their devices and Troy watched something on his iPhone. 

We drove around a lot. We ate great food. We went to bed late and slept in late.

Aleksi slept in the bathroom. There was no flushing allowed if anyone had to pee in the middle of the night.

We checked out a ward when we hope to rent and people were very friendly. Both of the kids' primary classes seemed to have a good number of kids. 

We visited the amazing mountain zoo. We drove out to the country and for a minute or two we dreamed of a life that would include five acres of land and spending evenings sitting on the porch overlooking a beautiful valley. 

We spend an afternoon with Catherine and Jon's family plus Mimi and her kids. After eating out and spending four days in hotel, it was nice to be at someone's home. Plus they are so generous and gracious about having us over that you just feel at home. 

We also had a faith building experience. A good rental is very hard to come by and they go very quickly. We found one that would be in the Wolf Ranch development. We just felt good about it while it definitely would not be a home that we would buy. However it was very unsure whether we could rent it because the owner was also trying to sell it. I met Emily's sister Amy and started talking to her and it happens that they are buying a house and need to find renters for their current rental. It is 350 dollars cheaper than the other house. I truly feel like this was God's hand leading us. 

I truly cannot wait to move and live in that beautiful city.

Train ride at the airport is fun when you are in the front

Saku's favorite thing about the zoo was the rock climbing wall.

He worked on it and got pretty good.

I usually don't do the fun stuff but I did show the kids that äiti can be fun too.

View from the SkyRide

Eerika trying to figure out how to do things without a thumb.

Eerika was so excited to go that she actually woke up before 4:15 am alarm clock.

Aleksi was happy too!

Eerika knew that traveling meant pretty much unlimited screen time and she was ready to milk it for all its worth.

Saku got the old iPhone as his device.

Aleksi and I were both so much more comfortable since he had his car seat in the plane.

Still smiling when we arrived in Denver.

Hanging out while isi and Saku went to get our rental car.

First night's dinner was Eerika's choice: Pizza

Second night was Texas Roadhouse by Saku's choice.

Aleksi enjoying the freedom from the car seat.

Third night: Chili's