Australia Day

On Saturday night we headed across town to an Australia Day party at the home of a member of the Exchange Teacher's League.This was rather daunting because it required us to drive on the I25- a highway, with never less than 6 lanes of traffic merging and exiting. We were the only car doing the speed limit.
The party itself was interesting. There were about 60 Aussiephiles there. People who had done an exchange to Australia in the past and relived it through each other and us. We were the toast of the evening, mostly due to our accents and our cute accessory. Tess actually managed to fall asleep amid chaos. But then screamed all the way home. There were a number of events to sign up for so we will be going to a tamale making day in a couple of weeks, and we will also be snow shoeing through Estes Park (foot of the Rocky National Park) in the near future. There was left over clothing from past exchangees to sift through so I now have snow boots. Jason thinks this is great because I now have no excuse not to shovel the bloody driveway. Except that there's only one shovel and one person who has to leave the house at 6am.
There was a silent auction set up at the party and I scored a week's accommodation at a timeshare resort. I'm enjoying perusing a catalogue and deciding where we might be able to go.
I have stumbled upon babytime at the local library. We all sit in a circle and sing and play with our babies. It's very cute and I'm hoping it may lead to some connections with other local parents. It also gets us out of the house.
Yesterday we celebrated my 40th. It was a quiet affair but I managed to make a pig of myself at dinner.
Apart from our photos I'm including a short experimental vid of Tess. Promise to put a more interesting one on next time.
Love to you all ,
AM, J and T

Well good morning everyone. It's Monday here and a public holiday for Martin Luther King day. So we have celebrated our first long weekend with a drive to Boulder yesterday.
Boulder is only 40 minutes away and is a very picturesque university town closer to Rocky Mountain National Park. It sits at the foot of a magnificent rock formation known as the Flatirons, named because they look like flat irons. The town itself has a lovely walking mall with buskers. We found real coffee and took a walk along the partially frozen Boulder creek. We also saw our first squirrel. Boulder is quite hilly and the houses were like something out of a picture book, multi-storied and shingled, very different to Denver architecture which seems to be mostly single story brick homes.
We have been enjoying some Denver hospitality here with a raft of dinner invitations. Our next door neighbours cooked us buffalo burgers with a choice of cheeses and dressings. Buffalo is really lean and tasty. The following night we had brownies and cookies and cream ice cream for dessert. Heaven! We are meeting really lovely people who have been so generous in finding baby gear for us and giving us travel advice. It seems that everyone we meet, or is it only Scott's friends, are outrageously fit. They do triathlons and exercise at the famous Dener Red Rocks amphitheatre. For those of you who are bored at work, check it out on You Tube.
Tess has embraced solids with gusto as we suspected she would. Yesterday she was eyeing off my beignet donuts. I just wanted you to know that I had beignet donuts and that's how you spell it.
The days are mostly sunny so the cold really doesn't bother us much. It's hard to imagine you all in an Australian Summer.
Scott is home now, so if you are reading this from home, please give him a ring. He is using my old mobile or you can reach him on our landline.
Bye for now, AM, Jason and Tess

Week 2 Settling in

It is week 2 on the teaching exchange and having survived the snow of week 1, the only weather idiosyncracy to report this week is scraping ice from the front and side wind shields almost every morning. The classes I'm teaching are great the students are all hard at work and are understanding of the gaps in my knowledge. I'm happy to say that kids are kids the world over and that has made the transition between my Aussie students to my American students relatively easy. Tess is a little out of sorts a head cold and irratic sleeping and eating patterns. Ann-Marie is tired and more than a bit concerned. We are both hoping she will settle down soon. The big news is that yesterday she had her first solid food ever. I tasted it and I can understand why some kids revert to eating paste, as it is not disimilar in texture and lack of taste. Ann-Marie will write more about this. Tess is still counting bathtime as the highlight of her day and relatively she is handling the dramatic change in her lifestyle very well.

First time driving in snow

It was my first time in front of American students and they were very kind. I had some excellent questions and they can't imagine that we could run over kangaroos as a common occurrence. I stopped there with the different types of native wildlife we're inclined to mow down on the way to our destinations. While talking about road hazards it would be pertinent to mention that now I've almost mastered the driving on the wrong side of the road, Colorado threw another obstacle my way "driving in snow". I was told that it would be a lot like driving in sand. Well there may be comparisons but it's more like somewhere between sand and mud. You move at a snail's pace and are happy for the lack of pace. Jason
Tess and I have enjoyed our first day housebound. We had fair warning yesterday that our sunny, chilly days were about to turn nasty with reports of 'arctic winds' hitting by lunch on Wednesday. Since the windows are double glazed it's very quiet inside and today was like watching a silent movie. The snow has just got heavier and heavier and it's about -10. Unfortunately, Jason is going to discover the intricacies of snow shoveling at 5am tomorrow. I've been looking up tips for him on the net. As he starts teaching at 7am(!!!), he needs to get started with that shovel. while Tess and I sleep soundly. He better not wake us up.
Tess' body clock has finally got back to normal. We had a few sleepless nights. Before today, we have been out exploring our neighbourhood. We are in walking distance to a few enormous supermarkets where sugary snacks seem to feature heavily in every aisle. Food is very inexpensive. In fact, everything is very inexpensive. Yesterday I bought a hairdryer for $10. We have found the local library which was huge and packed.
Tess looks adorable in her white suit with the face and ears. Everyone wants to comment as we walk by with her strapped to me, smiling and kicking her legs. One little girl called out 'Daddy why can't my baby sister be a bunny too?'
Jason has just popped next door because the next door neighbour seems to have started on his driveway. Maybe 5am is too late. Maybe he has to do it twice!
Twice it is. Our next door's neighbour's young boy is helping him. Looks cold out there. And the snow is falling as fast as they shovel. Shame there's only one shovel.
Ann-Marie