'tis the season

We are thoroughly enjoying experiencing a northern hemisphere Christmas with every public space adorned with lights and general Christmasalia. The other day Tess spent some time in a fake ice castle with 'snow' showering down. She was in heaven. Ye olde worlde carollers entertain the ice skaters at our local outdoor mall and everything smells of cinnamon.
Last month we were invited again to our friends' place in Vail to share Thanksgiving. The meal was delicious but I guess they do it all again in a few weeks time. Tess was finally able to walk in the snow and even went sledding with Jason on a very quiet slope. Jason and I took turns sledding down a kilometre of windy road that we had blocked off. Very exhilarating, especially my spectacular crash into a snow bank.
Last weekend we went downtown to see the Christmas Parade which was just gorgeous. Stunningly pretty floats and lots of very American school marching bands. Tess was in raptures and Jason and I were FREEZING! No, we loved it too. Columbine High's marching band (pictured) was my favourite.
So our adventure in the states is quickly coming to an end. We are saying farewell to our American friends and hoping that it snows one last time before we leave. We can recommend the experience of an exchange to any of our teacher colleagues. It has been a fantastic year and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Viva Las Vegas...

A weekend in sin city, the city that never sleeps. Just as well when you need Starbucks to make a warmed milk at 5am in the morning. It was really striking to see so much glitz in the middle of the Nevada desert. While Ann-Marie and I loved the Bellagio fountain and its choreographed display, Tess sounded objection and turned her back in protest as it finished in an almighty explosion of water.

Gambling, drinking, debauchery, well can I just say...I'm sure they were all there and we, well, we indulged in little if any of all three. I know that speaks volumes about where we've arrived at in our lives, but the truth of the matter is it was just great to overindulge at the citywide buffet and walk up and down the strip marveling at the facsimiles of landmarks and places across the globe reconstructed in the name of gambling, in the middle of the desert, in the middle of nowhere.

We're glad we made it there on our American odyssey. To have my photo taken alongside the King of Rock (or at least he looked a lot like Elvis, one of these guys was an impersonator for sure) was a highlight for me, and on my birthday to boot.

Autumn in America

We went to Moore by moonlight in the Denver Botanical Gardens and we also caught the free day at Denver Zoo. Tess was blown away as Madagascar (the animation) came to life. The Botanical gardens were beautiful, and to catch the sculpture on sunset was a spectacle. For our anniversary in October we stayed in downtown Denver and the city is really pretty up close. The snow has returned to the Rockies and the view is awesome.

We had our first ever real Halloween experience when first we carved pumpkins with the Australian exchangees and then we were invited to the neighbours for pasta and a pretrickortreat party. Tess was a tiny Karate Kid and was animated the entire time even with a sniffle. This prevented us from trick or treating ourselves later on...Imagine the candy that cute outfit would have hauled in? It will forever be a regret now, oh the calories...

The temperatures drop this week and we fly to Vegas on the weekend...Bright light city gonna set my soul on fire...More from us after that.

LA trip and other images

This is beautiful Santa Monica. We had a great time in LA and Santa Monica was well and truly one of the highlights. We went out for dinner on the first night and had an amazing view and were treated to a live band.
Tess developed more of a taste for the cafe life. We ate breakfast at this crepe cafe on more than one occasion. Tess was also blown away on the street outside as she watched a dancing trumpet player that really could move.
In these two shots we have two Santa Monica- icons the Pier and the life guard towers. We had an amazing walk up the beach path all the way to Venice Beach where we were treated to a once in a lifetime look at the weird and the wonderful, even got to see the muscle man competition judged. Venice Beach was an experience but a little too grungy for our liking.

This was in the Grove which is right beside the City market, an LA land mark. It was a groovy place to spend some time.
Ann-Marie discovered Great Aunty Gene had been to the Chinese Theatre before her.
The top of the double decker bus was a great vantage point.

Two ladies dressed for a night(late afternoon) on the town.
Just a short rest to recharge our batteries after the Denver flight. We were up until nearly 9:30 this night!

Atop Mount Aspen.
Are Tess and Nana making the same face?
Tess was at home meeting family in Houston. Sorry to Uncle Ross I can't find a photo with you in it, I'll scan the one from the Space Centre, eventually. We loved our stay in Texas and Tess enjoyed having a selection of people to go to for cuddles.

Somewhere in Colorado

The last 3 months have been spent somewhere in Colorado, exploring this gorgeous state. We had a week in Steamboat Springs with Kate and Dean. Steamboat is a ski resort in the Winter and is famous for its hot springs. The Yampa River runs through the town and I took the opportunity to go 'tubing' down it one hot afternoon. Class 5 rapids, they were not, but I did have a frightening run in with a low hanging twig. Luckily, I wasn't holding a margarita, or I might have spilt it. Tess had a great time getting to know Kate and Dean. Jason and Dean hired very fast looking bikes and took off up the mountain. Jason came home a little earlier than Dean but it had nothing to do with ability or fitness. Something may have been wrong with Jason's bike.
Our next trip was to visit famous Aspen. We were hoping for some celeb spotting, but Charlie Sheen was in court that day. Aspen is a truly pretty town. We walked along the river and visited the John Denver memorial. Then we took the sky rail up to the top of Aspen Mount to see views of the 14ers, Colorado's highest peaks. Tess looked glorious in her tutu, surrounded by hikers. And Jason thrilled us with his hula hoop technique. We stayed in Glenwood Springs, another town famous for it's hot springs. However, it was a little too hot to consider trying them. We drove through the most magnificent canyon beside the Rio Grande river to get there. We also visited beautiful Breckenridge en route, and plan to return in the Autumn. The thing I most enjoy about Colorado is that every town is completely different to the last, all of them unique, and the drive is almost more stunning than the destination. We have had 2 more local trips since Jason returned to work. A couple of weeks ago we stayed with friends in their cabin up near an old wild west gold mining town called Cripple Creek. We fished for trout and had a 49c breakfast to beat all 49c breakfasts in Cripple Creek's casino. Breakfast starts at 2am! We have discovered that many people have a little (or big) cabin as their weekend getaway and I met a couple in a cafe who offered us their cabin this weekend in Pine, just an hour away. It was very pretty and extremely rudimentary. We had a hike up a trail and witnessed the turning colours of the Aspen trees. I hope you enjoy our photos. The mountains are just magnificent with huge sprays of gold among the conifers. It's finally cooling down, I think Autumn may be our favourite season here. On a family note, Tess is walking with growing confidence and is speaking more each day. She's a joy! Next blog we'll share stories of our trip to LA.