Thanks Giving

Hi

We had a very enjoyable Thanks Giving yesterday. We started the day with movies for everyone. Allen and I caught up on Heroes and the children watched Curious George and Ice Age. We then tided the house as Allen has invited people around on Friday to try and drink our remaining spirits - can't take them with us unfortunately.

At 2pm we wandered over the road to Ken and Kelli's. There were 16 of us. Kelli had done lots of snacks to start and I ate too many of them! King Prawns and artichoke dip, plus cheese and crackers. We sat down at 4pm to turkey, spice ham, mashed pots, beans, carrots, squash, cranberry dressing, stuffing and salad. It was great and even better that it had all been done for us. Jacob and Abi were very good, I think it was the bribe of chocolate covered pretzels and chocolates for after the meal.

We enjoyed the evening and came back across at about 7pm. I've included photos of Kelli, Sam and Jordyn plus Jacob and Abi of course!

Trying to decide whether to go to the Black Friday sales today, don't really need anything and can't really fit anything in but we do love to shop!

Hope all's well

Rachael.

Friends and Grandparents day

Hi
Jacob and Abi's school held a friends and Grandparents day yesterday, most schools have this kind of day here. So we invited 2 neighbours due to the Grandparents being in a different country! Kelli and Mindy came. Jacob and Abi were very excited to see them. Kelli did some craft stuff with Abi and then reading and language games with Jacob and Mindy came and had a look around. At the start of the day we weren't sure either could make it so I made Allen come and make a candy turkey with Abi in her room - much to his enjoyment! So the children were well represented and had a lovely day. We finished at lunchtime so I took my 2 plus a friend of Abi's to 50 cent Tuesday at the local cinema. We saw WallE, a very sweet movie, which we all enjoyed.

Allen finishes at lunchtime today so we're off skiing and then it's Thanks Giving tomorrow. Kelli and Ken have invited us so it'll be an easy day with lots of food and wine. May try and ski in the morning but it may be too cold.

Days are flying past and leaving Denver is coming up way too soon for me. Jacob and Abi are ready to see the family though so that's good.

Hope all's well

Rachael.

Jungle Mania!

Hi

Jacob and Abi went to a 7th Birthday party at a jungle themed play place. I was very scared and didn't relax for the hour and a half that they were throwing themselves off zip wires and bungee cords. I tried to encourage them into the nice and tame play area but to no avail and they had a great time! I've included a photo of both on ropes. Abi ended up with rope burn on her hand but is now fine.

Allen arrived in the UK fine and will hopefully have a good time. Mainly work but he is meeting up with friends and family too.

Rachael.

1st Snow

Hi

We have had our first snow in Denver. Jacob and Abi were ready and outside in record time this morning. Abi wanted to do a snow angel but none had settled on the driveway so she was happy stomping through the snow on the grass. It's not going to last but is nice to see!

Half day at school today, Jacob is off for a playdate with Rylan and I'm having Joost, a boy in Abi's class. So we're off to the Children's museum and everyone is very excited.

Skiing tomorrow and then Allen leaves for the UK on Sunday. He's gone a week but we'll be busy with our normal schedule plus extra ballet for the Nutcracker. Jacob told me ballet is better than soccer!

Had a crown done this morning and got to finish watching the film of Pride and Prejudice - you get to watch a movie while they do the work. Best dentist ever!

Hope all's well

Rachael.

Jacob's 6th Birthday

Hi

It was Jacob's 6th Birthday on Monday and the lucky boy had the day off for Veterans Day. He was up nice and early - 6am and was ready to open his presents straight away. He got a good variety for stuff, his favourite being Lego. Allen had to go into work for a meeting but was back by 10am so we went out to see Madagascar 2. It was excellent, so if you have children or not go and see it. Then it was off to his party. We entertained 23 children at an indoor play place. Everyone had fun and we were ready for a beer afterwards! My neighbour, Betsy, was very helpful and she and her 2 children - Mallory and Will, came round after to watch Jacob open all his presents.

After that we went out to Jacob's favourite restaurant with our other neighbour Shawna. Kev, Allen's replacement from the UK, had landed in time to join us and we all had a good meal.

Got home a tad tired! It was a fun but busy day - aren't they all! I've included a photo of the Medieval Castle cake I made for Jacob. I think I was more impressed than him. Also one of him and Abi at Monkey Biz and Jacob at the restaurant in his new top from Owen and Ceri (DC) plus his '6' badges from Katharine and Kathryn.

Hope all's well

Rachael.

A Fall weekend

Hi

We had a great Fall weekend. Jacob and Abi discovered they could use the leaf blower and had so much fun spreading the leaves around the front garden! We eventually got them into a decent pile so that they could jump in them and bury themselves in the huge pile. I've included 2 photos of they having so much fun. We filled 3 big bins and 3 bin bags and still have the same amount to go and that's only from the front - backyard next weekend I think. Have found a place that will do something environmental with them so I need to go and buy brown paper bags to put them in and deliver them on Sunday.

We also managed to go skiing at Loveland. It was a much more successful trip this time. Abi was much more confident, I didn't feel like pretending she wasn't mine! The snow was much better as they had had more natural snow fall. A big storm went through he mountains yesterday so we're going up again on Saturday to check it out.

San Diego

Hi

We spent 3 days in LA visiting Disney and California Adventure parks. The next 2 days were spent in San Diego where we went to Sea World and then Lego Land. Sea World, California, is much smaller than Florida. It was very manageable and the children really enjoyed the shows. I've included a photo of an impressive whale stunt. I liked the Florida site better but Jacob and Abi don't remember going there! It was a good day as they let military families in for free.

The next day we spent in Lego Land. I think this was Jacob and Abi's favourite place as it is really suited to 4 and 5 year olds. All the rides were pretty tame and they were both very impressed with the mini Lego cities. I've included a photo of the children with a Darth Vader Lego model and one of Abi and me on a ride.

We will go back to California on holiday when they are both older to experience other things that the state has to offer. We had an excellent holiday and would recommend Disney to everyone.

Hope all's well, packers come Tuesday so we're a bit busy at the moment. Allen is actually waiting for me to finish so he can pack the main computer so I'll be using the laptop from now on.

Rachael.

Disney, California

Hi

Well we had a wonderful time in Disney. We started our trip by meeting up with Carrie, Jake and Annie for a hike and picnic at Zion National Park. It was great, as always, to see them and the children had a lovely time. My Jacob was very torn as to going home with Jake or going onto Disney! I've included a photo of 3 of them hanging over the cliff!

Next stop was LA. Off course I didn't realise how big the city was. It took us about an hour from getting to the edge of LA to actually arrive at our hotel. We chose a good location, on a bus route about a mile from the park. We were in the queue to get in at 7.30am and on the rides just after 8am. Sunday was good int he morning but very busy by lunch time. There are photos of Allen and Jacob on the rockets - a favourite, the children in front of an impressive Mickey Pumpkin, all of us at a character breakfast,and Jacob and Abi with Minnie.

Abi's favourite was meeting the princesses, a photo of her and Belle is included and Jacob's highlight was being a Jedi Knight and fighting Darth Vader - see photo. Allen's favourite in Disney was the parade (he took enough photos of it!), my favourite thing was just being there and seeing everyone having such a fun time.

The next blog shows San Diego.

Rachael.