Things I missed last year and am thankful for........

 

I realize how much I love nature and how much I missed the mountains when I was out of the country last year. I love the colors of each of the seasons that we have to enjoy here in Colorado. 

The first thing I noticed after arriving at the Denver airport was the fresh air!

Second, was when I went to bed that night (in my VERY comfy bed) was the QUIET! 

Third, was when I woke and it was still SO quiet outside!! In Morocco there was always some kind of noise outside my bedroom window.....dogs barking, donkeys hooves clip-clopping, the sound from the Mosques.....always something. I LOVE the quiet here!

Jim and Jenny visit Colorado

 

Jim and Jenny came for a visit in July. It was so wonderful to get to see them. Uncle Bill and Aunt Julie came down for a hike to the top of Rabbit Ears. Fun hike and lunch!

Time to rename my blog......Jill in Steamboat!

                                                                                                                                                                        

I spent the 4th of July with Eric and his girlfriend, Natalie, in San Francisco. First, though, they took me to a beautiful spot in Bodega Bay called On The Water's Edge. This was a view out our window. We were right on the bay with a wonderful view of the birds and sailboats!

Eric at the top of the steps going down to the deck area.

Eric had fun picking out assorted salt water taffy flavors for us to snack on over the weekend! They were delicious!!

Hmmmm....getting this kid to flash his NORMAL great smile is realllllly hard! :D

This was such a relaxing and fun weekend. Just what we all needed....me from just getting off of a stress filled year of teaching and them from working LONG hours as new lawyers (Eric until 9/9:30 pm and Natalie until 11pm sometimes!!!!) Yikes! On our drive north searching for a winery we found this great little cemetery. So we stopped, walked around and saw some interesting stones.

A vineyard!! :)

...and the tasting began! We had so much fun and learned a lot about the grapes and wine in that area of CA.

Another view out the window of the condo we were staying in.

We even got to see the fireworks right outside of our window. It was lovely!!

Lots of sailboats in the bay.

MUCH colder than we were expecting near the bay area. We were walking out to watch the people crabbing.

The next day we drove inland again to find the Russian River to go fishing. We came upon this small rodeo and Natalie was so excited. She had never seen a rodeo, so we pulled over and she was on the sitting on the stands watching in a matter of minutes. Eric, however, spotted the BBQ sandwiches and headed that direction first! We had so much fun laughing and eating! We never did get to the fishing part of the day! :)

The kids at a rodeo in CA....who would have guessed!!??!! :D I thought that would be more of a CO activity!

Next we found a fun spot to play. The weather was AWESOME......like 20 degrees warmer when we drove inland!

Stacking rocks, damming the water and drinking wine.....it doesn't get much better than that! Can you say...RELAX? AND sharing this with my kids! I LOVED it! ;)

...just playing in the water on a Sunday afternoon! Fun, fun!

My kids in among the rocks.....they are so cute!

CUTE!

I did mention the wine, right? :)

Natalie's little garden of rocks! Gorgeous!

Low tide and the last morning before we left Bodega Bay to head back to the big city.

My teacher friend, Courtney, from Morocco lives near San Fran. She, her mom and grandma came to meet me for lunch in San Fran. We had a great time catching up!

When I got back to CO I drove up to Cheyenne and spent the night with Bill and Julie. We went downtown to watch Ross at work. He was wonderful! He has a singing gig at a very classy restaurant in Cheyenne this summer! I could sit and listen to him for hours. I especially enjoyed a couple of the songs that he had written!

This is Jen (Ross' girlfriend) and Jill. Jill was in Cheyenne planning her upcoming wedding! What a treat to get to see everyone!

We took the usual "Jill Marie Lindstrom" photo. This MIGHT be the last one! After Nov. "little Jill" will be Jill Marie Chi! :)

The girls havin' fun!

....and the family havin' fun! :) They are always sooooo welcoming and good to me! It's always a treat to stop in and have a cup of coffee with Bill and Julie! (...just a joke! I don't drink coffee....and for a LONG time EVERY time I would stop to visit Bill would ask, "Hey, want a cup of coffee??" Now he asks and we both laugh!) Awwwwww......it is SO good to be back in the USA! What a fun 4th of July weekend I had. Thanking God for family and friends!

My first week home.....

Well, I got home Sat. pm and Sunday night my great friends from IA were here for a visit. Tom and I spent the next two days looking for a car. We found one!! I'm now the new owner of a 2011 Subaru Outback! :) I couldn't have done it without Tom! He was great!! THANKS TOM!

Finally on the third day Carol and I got to play and go for a hike. It is spring time in the Rockies. The snow is still melting and everything is so lush and green. It is awesome!

The water in Spring Creek is a little out of it's banks as you can see here. But we walked around the water places and thoroughly enjoyed the hike that morning!

On the way home from Spring Creek Trail we saw this sign in a neighborhood. Carol was bummed that we didn't see any bear while they were here. Rats!

Each meal was soooo delicious!! I guess I'm still on a high from just getting back, but the food in America is SOOO good! :) We even had a banjo player entertaining us while we ate at the Creek Side Cafe. Tom enjoyed singing along with the guy! It was lots of fun!

We had to share Fish Creek Falls with Tom. It was amazing this time of the year. The sound was so loud and the water was rushing at full steam!!

And of course we couldn't have them leave Steamboat without sharing a drink at Sunpies! We sat along the Yampa and watched the kayaks go down the river. What a great way to re-enter the USA! Great friends and back in my lovely Yampa Valley!

Finally home!!!

When I arrived at the airport I was tired and grungy and a little discombobulated......but there came Elise running toward me with a huge hug! What a wonderful friend!!!

Elise drove 3 hours to DIA to get me and then turned right around and took me home because she knew I just wanted to get back to my little condo and sleep in my own bed. 

After talking for 3 hours straight we arrived at my condo. She had left flowers and balloons and even a pink flamingo waiting in the condo for me!!! What an awesome homecoming!

Elise's hubby, Jim, had just had surgery on his ACL two days before so she had been up every three hours the nights before changing the ice on his knee. Is she a great friend, or what??!!

Well.....no make up, looking icky, but SO happy to be home! I'm still loving the fresh mountain air, the green valley and everything else about being home!