Thursday morning found us up bright and early ready to say our final good byes and head to the airport. After an emotional start the rest of the morning proved quite amusing. Upon arrival at Heathrow we realized quite how much luggage we had and how small their trolleys actually are. We did eventually manage to "fit" our 6 large bags, 2 hand luggage suitcases, 2 rucksacks, a pushchair and a carseat onto 2 trolleys. Steph then promptly insisted on trying to push a trolley - quite an entertaining sight.
Thank you Dave K for helping us, not sure we'd have managed all of it on our own. Check in was straight forward enough, although we were slightly bemused by the insistence on having proof that we were coming home as the end date on our Visa's wasn't good enough!
Security came next where Andy and I had a tacit agreement that I would take Steph and sort her and me through and he would take all the electrical items through. Simple enough?! For those that know my husband you can imagine the amount of electrical stuff that "needed" to come with us, as we couldn't possibly cope without them for the first 6 weeks; kindle, Android pad, SLR camera ( my contributions to the stash), small desktop machine, 2 external hard drives, another Android pad and SLR camera and the x-box to name but a few items in the case, along with cables of all kinds. Suffice to say Andy was at security for a good 15 minutes as the staff made him empty the case out!
Our first flight took us to Reykjavik where we had a lovely overnight stop. Flight number 2 departed Friday afternoon and, for me, was where the adventure really felt it was beginning as our next stop was going to be our local airport for the foreseeable future. Following lots of advice from various people we managed to keep Steph entertained for the first half of the flight, until she fell asleep.
She was so excited every time another present appeared out of her suitcase: she particularly loved making little cardboard fairies fly around her seat, thank you Suzi.
We finally reached Denver airport very late Friday night, UK time, and consequently dealt with immigration through a haze of emotion, exhaustion and adrenaline. Next came the challenge of squeezing all our bags into the hire car - it's a good thing baby number 2 is still a bump and not a reality as there would have been no room for him /her. Then we were on our way, our end destination was in sight!
Friday night was a bit of a blur of getting in, unloading bags from the car and heading to bed. Saturday we were up bright and early - very bright and early in fact as Steph introduced us to 5:30am for the first time ever!
Saturday was a day of sleepy exploration. Andy introduced us to the delights of breakfasting out in a really good cafe that he found last time he was here. We followed this with some shopping where we were able to finally buy Steph her proper birthday present. She is now the proud owner of a very pink balance bike and helmet - photos to follow. (She loves it all so much she is, as I type, in bed with her pink helmet!). A visit to the park was then the order of the day.
Much as I enjoyed Saturday I failed to take in our surroundings or really appreciate what an amazing place we have found ourselves to be in, I think I was viewing it all through a sleepy and emotional fug. However Sunday changed that.
We all slept very well Saturday night and were not woken until nearly 7:00am. Breakfast out again and then some more shopping for things we actually needed - well that was the excuse I used to get Andy to take me back to REI (a fantastic outdoor shop that is only round the corner from us and sells everything you didn't know that you needed). Sunday afternoon found us heading out for a walk. The bungalow we are currently staying in is right on the edge of Boulder next to the Flatirons and lots of proper walking. We only had a short bimble as bump is currently limiting my walking ability and any decent walks covered altitude. We're trying to be sensible and let my body, with bump, adjust to the altitude of Boulder before going further. Despite it being only a bimble the views and surrounding area are stunning. Nothing like the English vistas but amazing all the same, green mountains one side, flat built up but still green the other and lots of blue sky and sun :)
Photos will be attached but we're currently on very limited internet and uploading photos takes more than we have.
When we arrived back after our walk we set too and managed to finish the unpacking which we'd been slowly working our way through. The bungalow feels more settled for us now and is really adding to the feeling relaxing into life.
Although very tired Steph has adjusted very well. She has happily played with her toys and is loving the selection of books already here in the house. She particularly loves her bed, which is a, very bouncy, mattress on the floor. She announced on Saturday night that there was ''One little monkey bouncing on the bed,'' as she bounced on the bed!
I'm sure it's novelty as much as anything else at the moment but so far we do seem to be in a truly wonderful part of the world. As I said above the area is gorgeous, there's space and green and walking and cycling, I could go on........! Boulder itself seems to be a very cosmopolitan American town, with it's run of the mill shopping centres but also a beautiful pedestrianised town centre and Boulder Creek running right through the middle of it. At the moment what I have seen is very limited but I'm hoping that I can spend most of the next couple of weeks exploring it all and really seeing how fantastic it all is. I just need to master the art of American driving now.......
This week is when real life sort of sets in. Andy started his new job properly this morning, loving the fact that is was 10 mins door to door with the car. Makes such a change to the 1 1/2 hr commute from before. I get to be a Mummy at home again for a while and the major exploration of new life begins. We need to find a house, a car, some toddler groups, shops and everything else that means we can really settle and stop pretending we're on holiday. But all in good time, we'll start with a wonder to the park this afternoon and take it from there.
Friday night was a bit of a blur of getting in, unloading bags from the car and heading to bed. Saturday we were up bright and early - very bright and early in fact as Steph introduced us to 5:30am for the first time ever!
Saturday was a day of sleepy exploration. Andy introduced us to the delights of breakfasting out in a really good cafe that he found last time he was here. We followed this with some shopping where we were able to finally buy Steph her proper birthday present. She is now the proud owner of a very pink balance bike and helmet - photos to follow. (She loves it all so much she is, as I type, in bed with her pink helmet!). A visit to the park was then the order of the day.
Much as I enjoyed Saturday I failed to take in our surroundings or really appreciate what an amazing place we have found ourselves to be in, I think I was viewing it all through a sleepy and emotional fug. However Sunday changed that.
We all slept very well Saturday night and were not woken until nearly 7:00am. Breakfast out again and then some more shopping for things we actually needed - well that was the excuse I used to get Andy to take me back to REI (a fantastic outdoor shop that is only round the corner from us and sells everything you didn't know that you needed). Sunday afternoon found us heading out for a walk. The bungalow we are currently staying in is right on the edge of Boulder next to the Flatirons and lots of proper walking. We only had a short bimble as bump is currently limiting my walking ability and any decent walks covered altitude. We're trying to be sensible and let my body, with bump, adjust to the altitude of Boulder before going further. Despite it being only a bimble the views and surrounding area are stunning. Nothing like the English vistas but amazing all the same, green mountains one side, flat built up but still green the other and lots of blue sky and sun :)
When we arrived back after our walk we set too and managed to finish the unpacking which we'd been slowly working our way through. The bungalow feels more settled for us now and is really adding to the feeling relaxing into life.
Although very tired Steph has adjusted very well. She has happily played with her toys and is loving the selection of books already here in the house. She particularly loves her bed, which is a, very bouncy, mattress on the floor. She announced on Saturday night that there was ''One little monkey bouncing on the bed,'' as she bounced on the bed!
I'm sure it's novelty as much as anything else at the moment but so far we do seem to be in a truly wonderful part of the world. As I said above the area is gorgeous, there's space and green and walking and cycling, I could go on........! Boulder itself seems to be a very cosmopolitan American town, with it's run of the mill shopping centres but also a beautiful pedestrianised town centre and Boulder Creek running right through the middle of it. At the moment what I have seen is very limited but I'm hoping that I can spend most of the next couple of weeks exploring it all and really seeing how fantastic it all is. I just need to master the art of American driving now.......
This week is when real life sort of sets in. Andy started his new job properly this morning, loving the fact that is was 10 mins door to door with the car. Makes such a change to the 1 1/2 hr commute from before. I get to be a Mummy at home again for a while and the major exploration of new life begins. We need to find a house, a car, some toddler groups, shops and everything else that means we can really settle and stop pretending we're on holiday. But all in good time, we'll start with a wonder to the park this afternoon and take it from there.
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