Skip to main content

Colorado Symphony ~ field trip

Colorado Symphony ~ field trip

We were able to go to the Colorado Symphony this last week.  I don’t know who was more excited, my husband and I or the kids!  My husband and I were in band when we were in high school and played in a concert group.  I played the french horn and my husband played either the tuba, baritone or drums, depending on where he was needed the most.  Our family has a love of music and this was just an amazing experience for our family.

French Horn player making notes before the start of the concert.

I loved how this group did the concert for all the kids.  The conductor of the symphony explained the different groups of instruments and introduced them in a way that highlighted the instruments.  He also talked about different composers and their music.

Trumpet player warming up.

The seats we had were amazing!  We could have reached out and touched the guy that was playing the Timpani’s!

The view from our seat.

They opened up with two groups of brass playing.  It was beautiful and brought back a lot of memories from when we played in high school.

Brass waiting for the conductor to begin.

The symphony ended with the 1812 Overture.   This overture was written by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  He wrote it in 1880 to remember Russia’s defense against Napoleon’s invasion in 1812.

This was a great field trip for our family, since we all love music so much.  It also got our kids to talking about what they would like to learn to play.  So far, they have mentioned a cello, violin and upright bass!

The best part about the field trip, besides spending time together?  The kids wanting to go again and soon!

Have you ever been to a symphony before?  What are your favorite instruments to listen to?

Snow Day!

Snow Day!

Union Ridge Park

This was the 2nd snow of the season.  We woke up to 4-5 inches of snow on Thursday morning.  The kids were so excited!  Since we didn’t take a snow day on the first snow (only about 1-2 inches), I decided we would have one today.  The first thing the kids wanted to do when they got out of bed was go outside and play.  Then the hunt was on to find all of our snow clothes!

throwing a snowball at his sister

We are very blessed to live in an apartment complex that has a park right across from us.   One of the joys of homeschooling is having a park all to ourselves!

throwing a snowball at her brother

The kids had fun throwing snowballs at each other.  They asked to take the sled, but I said no.  I may have to say yes to that next time!

trying to figure out who to throw this snowball at.

The youngest may be small, but she sure did give the older two a few good shots to the body!

Union Park

We loved walking around the park and looking at the snow on the tree branches.  It was so beautiful outside today.

Freezing!

While it was beautiful, it was also very cold!

making snow angels

Our family loves the cooler weather and especially love the snow.

snow covered trees

We are looking forward to many more days of snow to play in!

 

traditions, family drives ~ Guanella Pass

traditions, family drives ~ Guanella Pass

One of our favorite things to do as a family is going a on drive around the area.  Since we have moved to Colorado, we have a lot of new areas to explore.  One of those areas we went to recently was the Guanella Pass.

.

Guanella Pass is located in Clear Creek County, west of Denver.  It was also named after a worker who had worked for the county for 50 years.

We started the drive in Georgetown, CO.

All along the way, there are places you can pull off the road and hike.

There are also places you can camp.

I see this as being a road that we take often on drives.

Not only do we get to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  We get to enjoy the special time together.

We leave our phones off, and music softly playing.  We enjoy just talking and visiting with one another.

I love this special time with my family.

Do you go on family drives?  How do you spend time with your family?

my blog, a new name and new look…

my blog, a new name and new look…

As you know, I no longer live in the Great Smokies of North Carolina.  We moved about 6 weeks ago to the beautiful state of Colorado.  So, I knew that I would need to change the title of my blog to something else.  I was asked if I would change it to My Home In The Rockies.  I had thought about that, but decided against it.  I joked with my husband that we probably would be moving again in another 7 years or so and I would have to change it again.  Then the work began of trying to think of a new name that would fit me and what I write about here on this blog.  I knew I wanted something that would fit our family, our faith and our homeschooling life.  After much thinking and praying, after talking with my husband and friends, I settled on “A Journey of Joy”.

a little sneak peek of my new blog

Why did I choose A Journey of Joy?  For the past several years, I have looked at my life as being a journey.  Everything I do, I do it one day at a time and I do it because I am on this trip of a lifetime.  A journey that hopefully will bring me closer to God.  With my faith, I am on a journey.  A journey to grow more in God. To praise and glorify Him every day.

Then, I am on this journey of homeschooling our children.  Again, it is something we do one day at a time.  We learn together as a family.  We take trips back in time, with history.  We do this to praise and glorify God.  He is the reason why we are homeschooling.

Then, my name is Joy.  Yes, I was blessed to be named Joy.  Other than being my name, what is Joy?  What does it mean?  The Merriam-Webster says

Definition of JOY

a : the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires
b : the expression or exhibition of such emotion
2: a state of happiness or felicity
3: a source or cause of delight

So while it is my name, I also want this blog to be a place of finding happiness.  Finding a source of delight.  We all know that being on journeys can be difficult at times.  I want to be able to go on the journeys with you and us find that happiness and delights together.  To get through those tough times of when things don’t go the way we think they should.  When we have those days that it seems like nothing is going right.  I want to be there to pick you up and encourage you in your faith and homeschooling journey.  Will you come along with me on this new journey?  I sure hope you will!

The new blog should be up and running on Monday.  Honey and Jonah from Honeycomb Design Studio have been working so hard to get this blog designed.  We will begin the process on Saturday.  Yes, I will  be bringing everything from this blog, to the new one.

I do have a new Facebook page for the new blog and you can find it here.  I hope you will stop by and like the new page.

I am looking forward to this next step in my journey.  I have a lot of new and exciting things planned an I can’t wait to share them with you.

Blessings.

 

 

vacation rental

vacation rental

As many of you know, we were blessed to be able to stay in a very nice vacation rental when we first moved to Golden, CO.  It is located in a gated community on a mountain.  It really is a beautiful place and I do miss being out in the country.  Many of you asked to see pictures of the place, so I thought I would share some with you.  This place is also for sale.  If you are interested in it, let me know and I will put you in contact with the owner.  😉

This is the back of the house from the top of the driveway.

This is the front of the house from the main road.

Just click on a picture to look at it.  I figured this might be easier to do since there were so many pictures.  Also, the house was lived in.  I didn’t pick up any thing or clean the kitchen.  We had been doing school that day and we hadn’t cleaned up yet.  😉