Ten Things I Love about Coeur d'Alene

1. This is an active place! Everywhere you look there's walkers, joggers, bikers, hikers, swimmers and kayakers. It's really inspiring and I've even lost a few pounds myself!
2. Downtown. We found a used bike trailer for Evie and Isaac and we've been spending a lot of time cruising around town in it. I'm amazed by how quickly I can get to everything on a bike. The post office, bank, library, grocery, and Josiah's school are all within a five minute bike ride. Josiah has also become quite the rider and keeps up really well.
   
3. Farmers Market. There are two in town, but the one I've been going to is right downtown every Wednesday evening. The variety of produce is fantastic and the prices are great too. They have live music too and I've been really impressed by the quality of musicians they have.
4. Free children's programs. The library has great programs for kids including story time geared toward toddlers as well as preschoolers, and an after school LEGO club. I also discovered a great community art program called Art on the Edge that I'm really excited to try out.
5. The perfect size. Not too big and not too small.
6. The lake. We can walk to it, it's warm, it's beautiful. What more is there to say?!
7. Tubbs Hill Park. I was really worried about missing Lone Pine State Park in MT, but Tubbs hill is a perfect replacement. It's about the same amount of hiking although not quite as grueling. I am missing my hiking buddies though.
8. Family. My parents and sister are only about 1 1/2 hours away now! They often come here for shopping and things anyway so I'm excited to see them more often. Aunts and uncles live in town and my grandparents live about 30 minutes away in Spokane.
9. Our House. I've never lived in such a beautiful home. It's a little difficult to be renting and not know how long we will be able to stay and to not quite feel like its ours, but we really enjoy calling the landlord with any problem that we find with the house and telling him to fix it! Everything in the house is beautiful and we're starting to feel more comfortable in it. The kids love having their own rooms and a basement playroom. Josiah says it's the house he's always wanted. The sidewalks are also fantastic with an empty parking lot next door for lots of bike riding. I do still need to do some decorating to fill up the empty spaces that seem to be everywhere since we went from 1,000 sq feet to 2,600 sq feet. But believe me I'm not complaining.
   
10. Our Neighbors. They are so friendly, nice, and easy to get to know. There's two other families on our block with kids close in age to ours and my kids never seem to lack a playmate. We're planning to go to a neighborhood picnic this weekend and we're hoping to meet some more of the neighbors there.