EPIC Summer moving trip - July 2019

It's been forever since my last travel post. Mostly because we didn't travel much after our last trip to Hawaii.   Things got a bit crazy busy this spring and summer.  We sold our home in Kirkland WA and moved to Colorado Springs CO.  Between getting the house ready to sell, putting it on the market, selling it and then packing up to move March through July was a blur of hard work, waiting and then more hard work.

We are now here in Colorado Springs and settling into our new life.  The girls are back in school and life has slowed down to a more normal pace and schedule.

I didn't want to forget our epic trip from WA to CO so although this blog is about 8 weeks late...at least it is complete.

The map of our trip looked like this.   1724 miles, 4 stops and 18 days on the road.

Part 1:  Hayden ID,  July 3-5

We left WA on July 3rd and traveled to Hayden ID to spend a few days at Lisa & Russell's lake house.  It was such a welcome, relaxing stop after the frantic pace of packing.

The girls spent some time at the dock/lake and playing on the lilly pad (too cold for swimming) and in the soaking tub.

We had a nice 4th of July relaxing, eating and watching fireworks from the boat.

We played games and relaxed by the fire pit.

The girls had a great time with their cousins.  James and I had a nice time just relaxing.

Part 2:  Townsend MT,  July 6-9

Our next stop was to GG and Papa's house in MT.   We had our traditional carousel ride in Helena on the way into town.

The girls had to wear their "cowgirl" boots while on the farm

and they loved played games with Papa.

James left from Helena the day after we arrived in MT and flew to CA for a 5 day work trip with plans to return to WA and meet with the movers to pack up our house.  So, the girls and I were on our own for the remainder of the trip.

One day while we were there, the girls went on a date with their grandparents to Helena for shopping and lunch.  They had the best time and GG and Papa showed them around Helena.

We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to see Snowflake, although we didn't have time to ride him this year.

GG loved reading them stories every night before bed.

The morning that we left for the next part of our trip, the girls wanted a four wheeler ride with Papa.

 And a picture before we headed out of town for Part 3.

Part 3:  Salt Lake City UT, July 9-15

We drove ALL day to get to Salt Lake City to spend a few days visiting friends and relatives.  1st stop after picking up Aunt Leina was for dinner at In & Out.

 The girls were obsessed with Leina's dog Diva.

 We had lunch and a playdate with my friend Jill Rich and her cute kids.

We went to Lagoon on a lovely 100 degree day with Leina and her kids (plus Ella's friend Madison).  Lagoon is such a fun childhood memory for me and my girls love it just as much.  Luckily, the kiddie land area is mostly shaded.  We drank a ton of water.

After lunch we made the girls go on Rattlesnake Rapids.

We all got 100% soaked.  They were not so thrilled with me, but we did cool off.

After they learned that MJ was a great baseball pitcher and could win them prizes... they perked right up. He won them giant stuffed animals.

We also went to Lagoona Beach for a few hours in the late afternoon

and had Swig cookies and drinks (YUM!).

While we were in Salt Lake we also drove south to Utah County to visit with our former nanny (aka Elin's big girl best friend) Katie to see her new baby Kaizen.

Then we continued south to spend a few hours visiting with my Aunt Tuula and Aunt Paula (my mom's sisters)

 We spent an afternoon and evening swimming and hanging out with Julie & Olivia.

And before we knew it, our time in Salt Lake was done and we were moving on again.

So, we packed up the car (again) with a few new friends joining us.

PART 4:  Ignacio CO, July 15-20

 After so many days on the road and so MANY miles driven, we were so excited to finally be in our new home state of Colorado.

 We had a few road trip silly shenanigans.

The girls were SO happy when they finally to Grandma and Pappy's house so they could play with Mia.

The only bad part was that Grandma was in Finland so we didn't get to see her on this trip. We had a lot of good quality time with Pappy though.

The good part was that Grandma made cinnamon rolls before she left and put them in the freezer for Anikka since that is one of her favorite parts of being at Grandma's.

The girls had tons of fun playing and playing and playing.

We went swimming every day in Uncle Oscar's pool.

We went bowling at the Ignacio Rec Center.

We went swimming at the Durango Rec Center Pool.

Had s'mores

 And went to the park.

It is so much fun to play with cousins all day.

Meanwhile....while the girls and I were playing....James finished his work trip to CA and was in WA finishing up the house packing and meeting with the movers who came on July 18th.  

Once the house was packed he started his drive to CO in the mini.

July 20th the girls and I packed up the car for the final time and headed to Colorado Springs.  We had a busy, fun couple of weeks but we were all ready to get to our new home and our own beds.  When we were 90 miles from Colorado Springs, just before Pueblo, on I-25 we hit a horrible black, thunder and lightning storm. We actually had to get off the freeway in Pueblo because there was a flash flood on the freeway and cars were getting stuck.  There was also a tornado warning...which terrified my girls. But, after about 30 minutes of waiting, we headed north again to Colorado Springs.  We made it just a few minutes before James.

Our first two nights in Colorado Springs we spent in an AirBnB.  On July 21st we moved into our rental house, with no furniture. We had to camp out for 4 days on air mattresses. It was a welcome sight when we finally saw our moving truck headed to our house. 

We are now happily settling in to our new life in Colorado Springs. The sun shines every day and we love our new school.  We are looking forward to new travels and new adventures.

 Maija