For eight years, we lived in Littleton on South Youngfield Street in our 3-5 year house. When we bought that house, it was not our forever home. We knew that Keith had a vision of having a pig farm (shoot me now!) and more man space. I had a vision of more space outdoors for our kids to grow up with, like Keith and I had as kids and more indoor space for each of us. Plus... all of those years ago, it was just the two of us and we weren't even engaged yet. (GASP!) I wanted to be engaged and come to find out, Keith had been working on it for four months (so he says). He lived in Loveland and I lived in Denver. Our homes were an hour apart and even further when there was traffic, which was often. I lived in the heart of the city and Keith lived in the suburbs of a small town. We compromised and decided to look for a home in the suburbs of the city. We looked for months (maybe four??) and finally found one that we thought was perfect on South Youngfield Street.
Surely, if I didn't have a ring, the ring would follow the purchase of a house. Right? It did. Two weeks after we had put an offer on the Littleton home and two weeks before we closed, we were officially engaged. YAY!
What we didn't expect, was the fall in love with our neighbors. We should have suspected it since when we first looked at the house they were all out putting up Christmas lights on Thanksgiving weekend and yelled across to us to encourage us to buy the house. The social neighborhood was one of the reasons we loved the house. Quite honestly, it was the same floor plan as several other houses that we looked at but this one came with perks, great neighbors.
The great neighbors is one of the biggest reasons that our 3-5 year house turned into the eight year house. We dreaded the day that the for sale sign went up and we had to tell them that we were moving. We must have approached it well though because for the past two summers they have invited us back to the annual block party.
We LOVE the South Youngield Street Block Party and so do our boys.
Well... Oliver does.
Kellan was a bit shy and skeptical and we realized instantly, he has no memory of living there.
This didn't hinder his instant love for the hood though once he realized that there was an endless buffet table of goodies and the rule at the block party is that you can eat whatever you want as long as you're having fun.
Cookies for Dinner? You Bet!
Oliver rode right in and made his grand entrance. We were going to "forget" his bike, but he remembered that they block off the street and ride bikes all night long. He made sure that we didn't leave our Golden home without it. Once we got there, he saddled up and rode right in like he lived there. Maybe, because unlike Kellan, he does have a memory of living there and playing with all of the awesome kids (mostly boys) that lived just a hop skip and jump away.
In true form, Oliver also breezed past the buffet table often.
His dinner choice, Theresa's raspberry filled cupcakes. SO YUMMY!
Kellan was a bit shy, but not with Harley. If we still lived here, he may find himself earning cookies and juice boxes by walking Harley through the hood. They were a good team.
He also made his way to Theresa's cupcakes. He never quite finished one, so his poor Mother was forced to eat the rest. Darn!
Once night came, the fire bit came out for smores. If Kellan has ever roasted marshmallows, he was too young to remember so it was like having another "first" moment.
This is Oliver smacking his head in disbelief of Daddy and Kellan's roasting techniques. Seriously, that's what happened.
Oliver was awesome at helping Kellan. I love when I see these two as peas in a pod. They fight like any other sibling and drive their parents nuts, but most of the time it's nothing but brotherly love.
It was getting late and the Ham Fam was getting tired.
Kellan had tried to lay back next to Keith to rest and bonked his head quite hard on the sidewalk. When he was done with his ice pack Daddy wore it as a hat. Silly Daddy.
Once again, we visited Theresa's Halloween shop.
When we were neighbors, Theresa bailed us out with a costume more than once.
We happened to be talking about football and Oliver and I told her that Oliver surprised me by not wanting to be Spider-Man for the third year (I truly expected this) and he wanted to be a football player. She jumped up and pulled out a football get up that was too small for her boys or any other boys that she knew. Oliver scored big time and was nothing but smiles.
We had another great time at the block party.
Thanks to the South Youngfield hood for including us once again. We truly enjoyed seeing you and catching up. We miss hanging with you in our drive ways while we watch the kids ride their bikes and play sports in the street. We hope to see you again soon, before block party 2014.
BTW... Keith didn't get his pig farm when we moved, but he did get ample man space and a big yard to mow, which he loves. He still has a vision of buying property across the highway and putting in a pig farm.
I just had a scary thought, Oliver is allergic to cats/dogs, but pigs don't have hair. I hope Keith doesn't get any crazy ideas and bring home one of those pet pigs. If he does, you may be sending him and the pig mail on the other side of the freeway. HA HA!!
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