FoCo Life

What has life been like in Fort Collins so far?! (Keep in mind this is coming from the perspective of an Iowan who has only lived here for a few weeks). Not sure if these exactly highlight Fort Collins the best, but they are what we have experienced so far! Also, these are not CSU Navs related because although we love our job and ministry, life DOES exist outside of work 🙂

Neighborhood – Love our neighborhood and our neighbors! There are lots and lots of dogs. Ruby has been on edge. Our house is right in between campus and the football stadium on the map. Trista likes to take morning walks down Elizabeth street (the main street our house is on that runs from the foothills right into campus, about a 2 mile stretch) and watch the sunrise behind the mountains. Our neighbor to the left is a single mom with 2 sons and our neighbors to the right also have 2 older sons (and 3 dogs). They are super friendly and helpful and we love them already.

Our house – we couldn’t be more in love with our cute little house. It has certain features about it that are very endearing to us and Trista has been having way too much fun decorating. Check out pictures below.

Penny Pinching – Cost of living out here is pricey. Rent is super expensive out here, as well as car insurance. Having twins is also going to be a lot more costly here than we thought. So we are being creative in ways to save every penny. Trista has enjoyed using the massive clothes line in our backyard to dry all our clothes. No seriously, she loves it. We are even considering getting by with only one car for at least another year.

Walking to the grocery store – Kings Sooper is literally a 4 minute WALK from our house. It’s become a normal part of our daily routine for Benaiah and Trista to take a stroll up there, get a few things for the day/week and then head back home. She is determined to find a grocery cart that she can store in our garage to take to and from the grocery store to make things a little easier once the babies get here. Also within walking distance is a Starbucks, Cups coffee shop, Pappa Murphy’s and a park.

Bikes, bikes and more bikes – Everyone bikes around here, even on major busy roads. Every road has a bike lane on each side. The idea seems dangerous but people just kind of go with the flow of it here. We are getting more used to it by now. We went to the annual Tour de Fat and watched 10,000 bikers in costumes bike through Fort Collins. Another fun thing Trista and Benaiah went to was the annual Peach festival. Palisades peaches are huge around here.

Fitness – everyone is in shape here. And I mean everyone. Men. Women. Students. Everyone. Not just skinny, but fit. And people eat very healthy here. Trista is sad she’ll have to find other things besides cookies and brownies to bring to staff/student gatherings.

Old Town – the “downtown” part of Fort Collins. It is close to campus with lots of different fun shops and restaurants. It’s a similar feel to Main Street in Cedar Falls only much bigger. On the weekends there’s usually always something fun going on down there. There’s also a kids’ splash pad that Benaiah enjoys.

La Mar’s – an amazing donut place we found. For the time being this will be our new “Scratch,” the cupcake place that we really loved in Cedar Falls. We also  love a Mexican restaurant here called Café Mex and are looking forward to scoping out more yummy places to eat. FOCO has the highest restaurants per capita. All of our favorite restaurants are right here in town!

Friends – We are slowly making friends! Taylor and Sarah Muggy also just moved here from Nebraska and have a 5 month old. We have been date swapping with them. Jason and Whitney Miller have been so helpful and kind in helping us acclimate to FOCO. We hope to hang out with them as soon as Fall Kickoff settles down. Trista joined the Fort Collins Parents of Multiples club and went to a picnic where she met a few families. She is hoping to connect more with some moms from that group before the babies come. Trista has also been meeting some moms of young children at the park and is playing around with the idea of starting a moms IBD this semester.

Shopping – Every store a girl could ever want is here. All of our favorite stores spread across Iowa are literally all in FOCO within just a 10 minute drive. Platos Closest (an awesome thrift store), Target, Wal-mart, Homegoods, TJ Maxx, the Arc (another awesome thrift store), Goodwill, The Dollar Tree, Old Navy, REI, all the major stores you can think of are here.