An American Burns Supper!

We had a great night on Saturday celebrating Burns night with a sit down Burns Supper for 25. I should have done a bit more preparation before hand but the night went brilliantly.

The Piper was very noisy and then changed to a quieter set of bagpipes to pipe the haggis in. There's a photo of Nick carrying the haggis. Everyone's speeches went well and there was even a proposal from John to Sheri. She said yes, thankfully, and champagne was enjoyed by all. I've included a photo of the proposal and one of the table.

People eventually left about 1am and I was up with Jacob and Abi at 6.30am. We spent all of Sunday washing up and clearing and I am finally getting the house back to normal. I'll definitely do it again next year but will try and find haggis locally - it came from New York. The veggie haggis was lovely and I'm going to make it again soon. Loads of whiskey was drunk - not by me! Everyone left on a merry note.

Jacob's parent conference went well. He's learning lots of new sight words and is getting on well with his writing. Abi had a written summary from her pre school teacher and it was glowing.

Off down South this coming weekend to try skiing in Monarch. We're going with Nick and Amy and their little girl. Amy has offered to have the children so Allen and I can ski together which will be nice.

Hope everyone's well

Rachael.

PS Accidently put one of Abi in in Jacob's Scottish rugby top!

Vail and a Rodeo!

Hi

Have been away for a week so I missed posting a blog. We went to Vail/Beaver Creek to ski for a long weekend. Allen, me and the children stayed in a 3 bed apartment for 3 nights. Allen's work colleague, Nick, and his wife Amy joined us for Saturday night and then skied with us Sunday. The children did really well and skied for a whole day on the Sunday. I had to carry Abi down the mountain while skiing at the end which was an experience. Jacob came down slowly with Amy and was great.

We met up with Ali - a friend from Portsmouth days - in Vail. She was out with a BT group having won a 5 night stay in Vail. Jeremy, her boyfriend, stayed for 3 nights and then I took over as her guest. Allen took the children home and I had a relaxing 2 nights in a very nice hotel. Went skiing with Ali's group on the Tuesday and had a brilliant time. I do enjoy the children but skiing at my own pace was great. I think I surprised Ali with my speed, especially by my head first dive down the first black we tackled! I was fine as the snow was so soft and perfect. I've included a photo of me and Ali on one of Vail's runs and also Jacob with Penguin Pete. He's doing a project at school about penguins and we had to take Pete somewhere over the weekend.

Ali came back for a night at our house and we indulged in some outlet mall shopping before she left. Luckily her flight wasn't too delayed by the crash at Heathrow.

Abi was sick over the weekend so we had a quiet Saturday. Then Sunday we went off to the Rodeo. Will's mum (Will is in Jacob's class) had got us Rodeo tickets. We saw a Wild West Show. There is a dark photo of a stage coach! Also one of Abi really enjoying it! There were lots of gun shots that had all the children with their fingers in their ears! It was very different and I've never seen anything like it. We will go again next year but will try a different show - perhaps the actual rodeo.

Holding a Burns Supper on Saturday. There will be 27 of us to have a 5 course sit down meal. This will be an experience for me as the most I've cooked for is 6 people before! Hoping it will run itself. Made a Cloutie Dumpling yesterday to practice as lots of the ingredients are different here eg they don't have treacle or suet. It came out very nicely and Allen and I had the dumpling for breakfast this morning.
Hopefully I'll get some good pictures of the night and post them next Sunday.

Parent Conference for Jacob tomorrow, Abi's is next month. Can't remember if I out that Jacob has lost his second tooth, I think I did.

Hope everyone's well

Rachael.

Denver in January

Hi
Been busy with Marion. She leaves on Tuesday so we wanted to make the most of her time here. We all went to the Zoo lights. It was very magical and everyone, even Scrooge Allen, enjoyed it. There is a photo of me and the children standing inside a hippos mouth. The photos didn't do it justice as it was fantastic to see.

We also went to the children's' museum. We have visited here a few times with Carrie when were we just visiting from DC. I bought Carrie a gift certificate last year and she passed it on to me as she thought she'd be moving to Arizona. So I finally got around to redeeming it and luckily it was just in date! So we now have a year's membership. The children had a great time playing on the fire engine, sawing wood (very scary to watch), painting and dancing the afternoon away.

Went to the Denver Art Museum on Saturday, it's free each 1st Saturday of the month. Marion wanted to see a quilt exhibition and we knew there were activities for children. Jacob and Abi made an Egyptian pillow cover out of plastic flowers and angel wings. They then had a great time playing with the dress up things. The photos are of Abi as a hare and Jacob as a hawk.

Marion and I helped our neighbour decorate centre pieces for her daughter's (our babysitter) Batmitzvar. It's coming up in February. These centre pieces are quite extravagant - covered in gold sequins and will look great once they are finished. I think I'll be doing a few over the next couple of weeks - a nice craft project that I will enjoy. We're going to the Batmitzvar which we're really looking forward to. Any suggestions for a present would be helpful as I've never been to one before.

Jacob's got the hospital tomorrow - a routine appointment for his eyes and school starts - hooray!!!! How am I going to manage for 3 months in the summer. Well summer camp to start with and a road trip to DC to visit friends, plus hopefully friends visiting us too!

Hope the New Year is going well for everyone

Rachael.

Happy New Year!

Christmas was a great success in the Wilson household. It was very cold in Breckenridge but the skiing went well and Christmas day was full of sledging - see photo and good food. We all ate way too much as usual but enjoyed the day. We took Jacob and Abi out for a short ski on Christmas morning. They also had lessons with Greg and are now both quite good. Abi actually started listening and can turn and stop without too much shouting going on! There was a frost bite warning out most days so we bought everyone face masks and after that we were fine. Glad we can go anytime though as we could just ski for an hour and not worry about it!

Came back down on Saturday and then had a night away for Allen's birthday with Marion kindly looking after the children. Not sure if she'll want to do it again though as Abi told her not to touch her when she was being out to bed and that she didn't like Grandma anyway! She did apologise 5 mins later thankfully. Allen and I had a lovely relaxing time and came back the next morning to cake and presents.

New Year was fun. Mindy and Shawna came round from over the road and we had snacks and puddings plus lots of wine. We played games until about 10pm. Allen and I went to the local pub to see in the New Year. A very strange experience here, no Auld Lang Syne and not much attention paid to when it was New Year. So we had a few drinks and came home at 1am. All the paths here are under about a foot of snow so we had to walk on the road - quite scary so we took a short cut through the local Mosque and ended up having to climb an 8 foot fence! I've got a great bruise on my leg and Allen broke his sporran, yes he was in his kilt.

Thought about going skiing today but due to hangovers that's a no no so it's off to the 50 cent Tuesday cinema after a lunch of soup and stovies courtesy of Marion.

So Happy New Year to you all, hope 2008 brings everyone health and happiness.

Rachael.

Grandma Melrose arrives

Hi All

Marion arrived safe and sound and we have been busy over her first few days. Friday we went to the North Pole. Well actually it was Colorado Springs and Santa's Workshop. We had a brilliant time and I will take the children again. Santa was very believable and it was handy to hear that Jacob wants a Star Wars game for Christmas and Abi asked for shoes! We left as it started snowing and had a very slow drive back home. I only skidded as we turned into our road narrowly avoiding a wall! I was driving our 'new' people carrier (minivan for those Americans reading this). I love it, Allen's not keen.

Jacob came home from school with a Gingerbread house that he made with his study buddy - see photo. He's gradually been eating it! Also found out at the hospital that he's definitely allergic to eggs so we'll have to be a bit more careful with what he eats. His lung capacity has improved 300% though so his inhalers are doing the job. Next appointment for him is 7th January (eyes). Abi's fine, well apart for the let me do it, don't touch me etc.....

Saturday was the Nutcracker. It was a good performance. Only 45mins each half. At half time Jacob and Abi twirled all over the place (see photo). They both lasted very well although Abi went out 10 mins before the end as she needed the loo. So our first ballet show went down very well with everyone.

Sunday it was food shopping for taking up to Breckenridge and last minute presents. We also had 2 Christmas parties to go to. Allen and I went to one on our own which was nice and then we all went to a school one. Very successful and a nice started to the holiday.

Got to now pack the Ford up with presents, clothes, food and the tree to take up to the lodge for the week. We're taking Jacob and Abi skiing later and Marion's sorting the lodge out! Will be skiing on Christmas morning and then enjoying a huge ham plus all the trimmings.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and fun New Year

Rachael.

Super Skiers!

Well from the title you can probably guess what our weekend was all about! We went to Arapahoe Basin on Saturday afternoon and Jacob and Abi had a 2 and a half hour lesson. There were only three of them in their group so they got lots of tuition. Allen and I went off and skied. It got a little cold and I actually bought a nose mask as I thought I was about to get frost bite. It was warmer where the children were but when I went and got them they were cold and had had enough. Afternoon lessons may not be a good idea in the future as they were too tired. However it didn't put them off and today we skied at Breckenridge. We'd booked a private lesson with someone off of Craigslist. I then started worrying that he could be a kidnapper or child molester so had decided I was going to stay with them the whole lesson. It didn't matter as he wanted me there anyway! Jacob listened and learned, Abi was having none of it and wouldn't let anyone touch her! So after three hours Jacob was turning and snow ploughing like a pro, Abi was a demon straight down the hill and sod anyone who got in her way! The only way she'd stop was by falling over and that was only if someone was in the way. Not sure what we're going to do with her so any suggestions would be appreciated. We stayed the Saturday night in a house belonging to someone through Allen's work. It was great, 4 bedrooms and very cosy. Even better that it was free. So we hope to go lots more. We've booked Greg (the private ski instructor) for 2 more half days while we're up next week so are hoping that Jacob will then be skiing anywhere and I'm not quite sure about my darling Abi! You should have seen me shouting as she was heading for a tree! As you will see from the photos she is wearing a helmet.
No other news. Very busy over the next couple of weeks so I should have a variety of photos to post. Marion arrives Thursday and we're getting her busy straight away with a visit to Santa Land (or something like that) down at Colorado Springs. Jacob and Abi are very excited over meeting Santa so I hope he's good. Last year they met him in a small Forest in Melrose that was very believable so this one will hopefully be as good.
Have a festive and fun time
Rachael.

First Sledging!

Hi All
Have just returned from our local park after a morning of sledging (Carrie you may recognise it). Everyone had a great time. Allen is now clearing our driveway and the children are playing out the front. We had a bout 4 inches of snow over the last 24 hours and it's just lovely in the sunshine for playing. Not sure how good it'll be to make a snowman but I'll find out after lunch!
Had a busy week at school as I've been helping with the book fair. Hopefully made lots of money/books for school. Also went to a fund raising Casino night which was good fun.
Christmas dos start this week with a wives one and British one. Will go weather dependent. Definitely going skiing next weekend and are booking the children into lessons Saturday and Sunday so we'll see how it goes.
Jacob's off for his asthma clinic this week, all seems fine with him. Had his first semester report card and he's doing brilliantly. He knows all his numbers to 100 and all his letters. I have had no part in this! He's getting on well with his Spanish and is so enthusiastic about school. I am really not looking forward to the 3 months off over the summer as Jacob moans when it's Saturday! Abi's being good at school too.
Hope all's well with everyone
Rachael.