I can't believe we've been here a month already!

Another week's gone by and now it's been a month. With every week that goes by we seem to taking more and more steps towards real life.

Our container was released today, into storage for three weeks! But, there's a certain relief in knowing that it's here and our stuff isn't stuck at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. This does mean that when we move into our rental house we shall have everything ready to move in and can therefore get sorted quite quickly. Hooray :-)

I can't wait to be in the proper rental house now. This one is lovely but it's not ours and the furniture etc. in it isn't ours and I'm now ready to have all my stuff around me again. I think I will really appreciate all our bits much more than I did before. I may even be forced to appreciate having my own computer back and not having to take it in turns with Andy!! We have three weeks before we move in..........not that I'm counting :) The other advantage of the rental is the space we will have, it's a fair bit bigger than the house back in the UK, which will be lovely - although I do predict a visit to IKEA looming!

Daily life now seems to be settling into some kind of routine. The last week has been pretty similar to the previous one. Steph and I now seem to have a bit of a pattern to our three days at home, with at least half the day out meeting people or at groups and then the other half getting things done or just playing around the house. As well as heading to the library we've been included in a group of local Mum's that have just started getting together every couple of weeks; a really nice group of ladies with similar age children to Steph. It will be interesting whether I keep getting invited to this one, as we will be moving out of this area to Louisville in three weeks! Last week we joined a new group on a Thursday. This is a group that have randomly formed and all seem to be fairly new to the Boulder area. It did feel good to go to that group and not feel like the only newcomer.

Strangely though all the people we have met so far seem to have mostly boys around Steph's age!

Steph seems to be settling into nursery too. When we picked her up on Friday she greeted us with a huge grin. Apparently they had made smores and Steph couldn't get enough of them. Today when I picked her up I was told that she hadn't stopped talking all day; a clear sign that she has settled. Apparently she entertained them greatly at lunch time. She finished eating, looked around and then said "This table's filthy!" I'm not sure she could have sounded more English if she had tried.

It's been great having Steph in nursery as it's meant I can do all the jobs that take time and discussion without having to worry about her. Last Friday I had to take the hire car back to Denver and then bus it back to Boulder. Today I caught up on emails and then visited the birthing centre at the hospital for a quick tour. Wow, perhaps I should say hotel. Each room is equipped with all the normal paraphernalia but also has a fridge, hairdryer.........a very different experience to the UK. During this visit I met an English nurse there who was so friendly. She lives round the corner from where we will be living and has offered lots of help and advice for when we move. She also has an 18 year old daughter that works with children and has been offered for babysitting, and potentially, for looking after Steph while I have t'other one :) She's going to come round and sit for us on Saturday so we can meet her and see how it goes.

It's just dawned on us that although we have baby stuff over here we do actually need to pack a bag or two and get ready just in case baby does come early. At 35 weeks I should really be prepared!! I think I now have my jobs sorted for Friday! ( this also included the car seat inspection we have to have before we're allowed to put baby in it!)

We have been learning about the "Boulder Bubble" these last few weeks. It's something that we have heard people talk about and seen reference to on posters. Now it's something we seem to be experiencing ourselves. It seems that Boulder is a little world of it's own. It's quite difficult to explain the how and why, it's more the experience of life than anything else I think. Life is very laid back, for example you could find yourself sitting at the traffic lights when they turn green and sometimes no-one moves for several seconds and no-one beeps horns or revs engines. Everyone just takes their time and moves when they're ready. I think peoples priorities in life here are to maximise quality of life and you can really feel that vibe. I certainly hadn't appreciated the Boulder Bubble effect until I went to Denver last Friday. I suddenly hit real roads again, with real traffic and then crowds of people at the airport. I felt like I needed a large glass of wine upon my return to our little sanctuary. It's a good thing there's a great wine shop next to Andy's office!

Another weekend of discovery was had last weekend. We found a small children's museum in Lafayette which Steph loved. It was a couple of huge rooms with lots of role play areas set out, including a bank, a train station, a theatre with costumes and a food store. There were also lots of interactive displays on basic Science concepts. I was very impressed with the display for the water cycle and the one for demonstrating how the planets orbit the sun - Linda you would have loved them :) There was also a slide and small sandpit which Steph spent ages playing on. I suspect this will become a rather frequented place, along with the climbing wall that was given a second visit last weekend.

We also managed another walk. We climbed a small peak and were able to eat lunch with some glorious views. I think the walking part of our weekends is still giving life very much a holiday feel for us as the only time we did any decent walking in the UK tended to be on holiday as proper hills were so far away. It will take us a good bit of time to adjust to being able to pop out for a mornings walk up a mountain and for it to feel part of our lives rather than just a holiday moment. It's at times like these I realise how lucky we are to be here.

Week 3

Wow, a very busy week but a week where lots of things have been achieved and we're really starting to feel as if we're living here and not just on holiday.

Monday was actually a very calm start to the week. Steph and I had a gentle day at home doing jobs interspersed with playing with toys. After a busy weekend we needed a quiet day but I'm also trying to start being ''more at home and less on holiday''. The first couple of weeks have had a very holiday type feel to them as we explore and just enjoy where we are but I feel now we need to start moving slightly back into reality. If for no other reason than Steph needs some calm days as well as holiday days. Also reality kind of hits when you realise that house work does actually need doing, even if it's with a hoover that's cable is only 4m long max!

Tuesday morning was story time in the library, which was based on a theme of music so lots of singing, during which time my daughter kept saying 'No mummy, no!''

We decided to brave the Boulder bus system during the afternoon! While Steph was having her nap I had a look on Google and discovered that the bus routes here aren't numbered but given names; Hop, Skip and Jump for the main three routes! I was entertained by this.

Our plan was to head to Boulder main library with Olivia and her three children as there was an author doing a performance / talk there that looked quite good. We had a lovely afternoon. The author was very entertaining and the library was a fantastic place to explore. They even had some clown fish in the fish tank so Steph was happy to see Nemo.

Our day was complete when we came home to find our Social Security Numbers had arrived in the post :) This meant we could sort a car, driving tests, finalise bank account details and click the button to go on the Health Insurance along with many other things. We could start living here properly :)

Wednesday was a big day for us as Steph was going to Nursery for a trial day. We'd chatted to her and prepared her as much as we could. She and I had been shopping earlier in the week to buy her a cool bag for her lunch, as they have to take their own, and that morning we packed it together. We were ready.

Andy and I dropped Steph off together, she seemed very happy to go in, slightly hesitant at the door but easily distracted until she was asked to put her lunch bag on the shelf! She didn't want to let her food go!I believe the lunch bag spent most of the morning in her hands.

Once Steph was happily playing at nursery Andy and I headed to another house viewing. Wow! Goldilocks moment - this one was just right :) It was a lovely detached house with a big garden. There were three bedrooms upstairs and a forth one in the basement, with a bathroom, which for us is ideal, as it means guests can come and stay and not be disturbed by the baby or Steph. The living space was fantastic too, wrap around lounge, dining and kitchen with a great big room in the basement for Andy. Rapid emails asking for referees were sent off following this visit so we could apply to rent this house. By Friday morning all checks had been done and references provided and we confirmed that the house would be ours come mid-August. So, for anyone planning to visit, we will have space for you and you're more than welcome :)

The rest of Wednesday passed in a blur. I kind of expected that without Steph I'd get loads of things done but I didn't. By the time I'd been to the few shops I needed to and chatted to Mum there wan't a lot of time left!

Steph had a great day a nursery, she needed some reassurance but generally joined in and played with everyone. When I got there she held her arm out to the room and said 'Steph's new friends!'' A success! It may be my imagination but I felt that Steph was also a little happier that evening, as if her world was slotting back into place. A successful trial day meant that I could now book her in for two days a week. We shall see how it goes and re-evaluate in a few weeks time. Another advantage for us is the nursery is 5 minutes from the new house.

Thursday saw me heading to the doctors. With the arrival of the SSN's we were on the way to sorting the medical insurance so I could finally see someone and get bump checked out. Wow! I had been recommended to go to Boulder Women's Care which specialises in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It's run by 5 women doctors and a team of nurses and was a really lovely experience. The 5 doctors all take it in turns to be on call so one of them will definitely be with me at birth. Once there, I had to fill in lots of paperwork and then they gave me a quick check. I was really surprised as I thought they would want to re-do most things I'd had done just to make sure but they were very happy with my UK notes and felt there was nothing more they needed to do at this time. I was able to chat to them about where I go for the birth and all the other details and came away very impressed and happy that I now had everything sorted. The only thing I had to do was ring the hospital and book a tour - this I did and upon hearing that I was already 33 weeks the lady I spoke to offered to give Andy and I a private tour this week as the official ones are all booked up. I can't wait to see how it compares to the UK.

The rest of Thursday was taken up with Google's summer family BBQ. We drove out to another new place, Lyons, where we were fed and watered in a beautiful setting, surrounded by mountains with a river burbling next to us, that could be paddled in. Yet another opportunity for meeting new people. We had a great time and came home exhausted.

Friday was another busy day, Steph went back to nursery and I was on a mission to price up and sort out cars. Several hours of sitting in garages talking to salesmen later I had all the info I needed and headed to the Off Licence in search of wine! Wow, a very good off-licence, they didn't just have American wines, they had a very good selection of European wines too. I was very pleasantly surprised.

Saturday started with a walk. Again a very picturesque location. We walked up part of a canyon that has a river / stream running down it where paddling was a must. A very pleasant mornings walk and paddle was had by all.

The afternoon saw us head to the VW garage to buy ourselves a car :) After going over my collection of numbers from the previous day we had decided that we would like to get a VW Tiguan. It's not as uneconomical with fuel as some of the 4 x 4's but it's still a 4 x 4, which is needed during the winter and if we do much exploration of the mountains. A mostly sensible decision! ( We did have more sensible cars on the list and other, more fun cars on the list.......) All paperwork is now going through and hopefully we will have a car by the end of the week :) Something that entertained us was the disclaimer VW here in Boulder have had to add onto their current stock of cars; Apparently during the massive thunder storm the other week, when it hailed huge hailstones, most of their stock got dented by the hail! The dents are quite impressive.

And so we come to Sunday. We headed to The Butterfly Pavilion this morning and had a brilliant time wondering around looking at the various tarantulas, millipedes and other bugs they had there and looking at all the beautiful butterflies. Steph was very taken with Rosie, the tarantula, who was sitting with a member of staff waiting to be held by visitors. Unfortunately Steph was below their age limit for touching her but I suspect if allowed she would have done. 

The final part of Sunday was some Daddy / daughter bonding time. Andy took Steph to the local climbing wall where she was on great form apparently and thoroughly enjoyed herself, judging by the tantrum given when it came to taking the climbing shoes off at the end of the session. They have an area specially for smaller people where Steph was quite happy climbing 6ft walls. I suspect she will be doing lessons there once she hits 2.5 and is old enough.

So looking back over the week many steps have now been taken towards settling down and making a life for ourselves here and moving away from the holiday feel. It's all been quite exciting but emotional as we really are settling. Now we have a house we are very keen for our container to arrive and move in. Much as we have appreciated the use of the house we're in, it's not ours and it's not our stuff and I think we will feel much more at home once we are surrounded with our things again. In the meantime let the holiday continue.......

Where has the time gone?!!

Andy and Steph have gone out for some Daddy / daughter bonding at the climbing wall so I'm taking this opportunity to try and catch up!
It's been two weeks since I last updated this and I honestly don't know where the time has gone, considering I'm not at work, the time has completely flown by.
As you can imagine from my lack of time we've had two rather busy weeks. Our second full week here wasn't really a normal week as the Thursday was July 4th, so Andy had both the Thursday and Friday off work.
The early part of the week Steph and I spent trying to gather some kind of routine around food shopping and general household chores. We also visited the swimming pool with a friend and her 2 year old son, Caleb. This was a very strange experience as it was an outdoor pool and it felt just like being on holiday, but it wasn't, this is the norm, very strange :). We also made it back to the library for story time on Tuesday where we met some more locals.
On the Wednesday I decided it was time to do some proper exploring so Steph and I headed into the centre of Boulder for the day. The centre of Boulder is very unusual for American towns as it is a proper pedestrianised street that runs for several blocks: Pearl Street. Dotted all along it are bronze statues of animals, water features for playing in, rocks for scrambling on and street entertainers, not to mention the wide variety of shops.

Steph and I spent a very hot day exploring all that Pearl Street had to offer. We found a great book shop, where we spent a good proportion of time browsing books (they had air conditioning in there) and, in Stephs case, swinging on the handrails. (a trick Daddy had taught her the previous weekend). We also found several outdoor shops, along with some very nice clothes shops and lots of arty shops, filled with work done by local artists - I need to start saving so I can buy some of their stuff, it was beautiful.

As well as day to day things Andy and I had also spent what felt like hours trying to get to grips with renting property over here and nurseries for Steph.
Regarding renting, there seems to be a steady stream of properties coming onto the market but in a wide range of sizes and some of them were coming on and then going on the same day. In doing our property search we found Craigslist! This is what seems to be the place to go if you have something to sell in the USA, or for a variety of other things aswell. Basically most towns / cities across the country have their own Craigslist page and you can find anything - ebay hasn't featured much since this discovery! Anyway we found Craigslist quite helpful as most people advertised their properties here. So during the early part of our second week we started to email a couple of properties as we felt we needed to start thinking about finding a house and the more we looked at the more we would know what we wanted. On the same Wednesday that we went to Pearl Street we started the day with our first house visit.
It was a very nice house, split level, which I loved, having come from a bungalow, but unfortunately it wasn't quite big enough for all our rubbish that is somewhere on the high seas.
The other thing we did that Wednesday morning was visit a nursery. Day care over here seems to be slightly different from the UK and what we are used to. There is lots of talk about Pre-school but this doesn't start until the children are 2.5 and apparently there are long waiting lists. There are a few places that take children that are younger but it seems you need to hunt them down. We have been quite keen to find Steph a nursery. Partly because she is used to going 3 days a week and we feel the nursery in the UK did so much for her (thank you very much Mongewell Park, you were fab and we were very sorry to leave you) that we'd like to try and continue that if we can. Also, we still have another house move to do and lots of jobs to do linked to this move and, so far, Steph has been very good and patient but we don't really want to cart her round car garages and house viewings too much if we can help it. Consequently, we wanted to find somewhere good, with space for Steph before she forgets what nursery is. So after some investigations we discovered that Bright Horizons, who ran her UK nursery, also run nurseries over here and, in particular, have one in Louisville, where we were centring our house search. We were very impressed with the nursery, they all seemed very friendly there, the children looked happy and they had a very good set up in a purpose built building. Lots of thinking and chatting to do :)
We had a very good first 4th July. There was a pot luck picnic being held at the local park so we headed down there and met up with Olivia and family and friends and enjoyed a very jolly picnic.

We followed this with another walk. This time to Red Rocks Trails. This was another very scenic spot with some rocks for scrambling up. A little bit like Brimham Rocks for those that have been there but much smaller and higher up. We had a little monkey that was collecting rocks rapidly and trying to fill her pockets so she could keep them all!

Friday had us visiting another town to check it out. We went to Longmont, which was deemed too far away - all of 14 miles I think! But we did find a butcher there who does sell some English cuts of meet, we came home with a very tasty bit of beef for roasting. Sadly they didn't do back bacon though - still on the hunt for that, need my bacon butties.
We also went to Gunbarrel where we investigated another house, this time too big! I'm starting to feel a bit like Goldilocks. Much as we were tempted by the house, Gunbarrel was very similar to Superior, lots of housing estates and not a lot else so we decided to leave it and hope for something in Louisville.
Saturday and Sunday were spent doing a couple of walks, again taking in the beauty of the local area and just enjoying the sheer closeness of everything. We paid another visit to Craigslist this week to make the walking easier and managed to get a good second hand back carrier. Money well spent :)

We also squeezed in some test drives on cars to try and work out what we wanted to buy. We have spent a lot of time driving round car parks, looking at the various cars and working out if that is what we want!!!
Generally we had a very relaxing weekend doing a little bit of everything and just enjoying time together as a family. Which was a good job as our third week here proved to be a particularly busy week.........

The exploring begins

Weekend number one (well the first weekend we were with the land of the living anyway!) and we finally have the chance to go out together and do some exploring.
Our main objective for the weekend was to try and familiarize ourselves with some of the local towns in order to try and work out where we want to live.
On Saturday we started our day visiting Superior, which had come highly recommended! Mmm lots of brand new housing estates, consisting of huge houses, and not a lot else. We did find our first American round about there though :-) We weren't particularly impressed although it seemed ideal for the American lifestyle of many. The final test was done; Andy and Steph did a thorough inspection of the playground, and then we moved on.

Louisville was our afternoon destination, again this had come highly recommended, but for different reasons.  Louisville is lovely, I can see why so many people recommended it. It's a small town with a really good high street, lots of green areas and a thriving community. The final test was carried out; the park was very successful due to it's water area. Steph was very funny when playing in it as she kept running in, then out again and saying "bit cold, bit wet!"

Sunday brought with it the slightly cooler weather of which we decided to take advantage and head up into the mountains for a walk. The road our street is off leads directly up into the mountains, within 5 minutes of leaving the house we were on the mountain road and heading up. Such a novelty to just jump into the car for a brief drive to get to a decent walk rather than the several hours of driving it would take in the UK. We enjoyed a scenic drive before stopping at Goes reservoir for our picnic and a short wonder. Again we were slightly limited on the walk as munchkin doesn't seem particularly keen on walking much on her own at the moment and the back carrier is in the container. We enjoyed the views and some rock /gravel investigations before the weather closed in and the thunder could be heard rumbling overhead.

We finished the day by heading back to Louisville to investigate the ice cream cafe we found there - yum yum
All in all it was a lovely weekend where we really started to get a feel for the area and where we might live. I'm still struggling to take in the beauty and splendor of where we are and how lucky we are to have it virtually on our doorstep.

End of Week 1!

Wow, we've made 10 days, which in some aspects seems to have flown by and in others to have gone very gently and slowly.

It was a very strange week last week. Part of me thought I would be crawling the walls very quickly and would therefore spend most of the week out and about and exploring. I think that was the part of me that remembers visiting new places without a child, a bump and reality of day to day life!

Back in the world of reality we had a very quiet and gentle week last week. Monday started with Andy heading off to work and Steph and I settling in for a morning of quality time together. Steph was still very tired from the flight and catching up on sleep and Andy and I both felt that quality time with her had been somewhat lacking over the last few weeks due to the move and everything that involved. Therefore we really felt that last week needed to be all about her.
Once Steph woke up from her nap we packed up the pushchair with a water bottle each and headed out to walk to the park. Little did I know that 2 / 3 ish in the afternoon is the hottest part of the day over here. 15 minutes later a very hot and sweaty pair of us reached the park. Wow, it was more a huge open space with a lake, with geese on, much to Stephs' delight. There was a track round the edge of the park for runners with exercise points every hundred yards or so. This was all surrounded by beautiful houses on a gently sloping hillside.

Down one end of the lake was the playground. Living in a bungalow has clearly deprived my daughter as she then spent the whole time we were there playing up and down the steps to the slide!
As can often happen when meeting new people the visit to the park sparked off the chain of events that filled my week. We met Olivia at the park with her three children, who told us about Pyjama Story Time at the local library the next day, where we then met more local Mum's who were able to put me on various mailing lists for the area and who introduced me to Megan, who has a two year old boy, is a realtor and 37 weeks pregnant. So by the end of last week I had met several people with children Steph's age, been to the library and hosted my first American Mum at our house, Megan, where I could pick her brains re: baby's and hospitals etc.
It was a strange week as one part of me felt like I was on holiday, thoroughly enjoying the sunshine, - yes sunshine!!!! - walking to places with Steph and having the time to play with Steph and pop out and get the things we needed. But the other part of me has been very keen to get on and do stuff like find a car, a house and sort the 101 things that need doing. Add to this pregnancy emotions and I found it quite an emotional week.
We did mange to sort our Social Securtiy Numbers out on Thursday. This has been our big stumbling block as we are very limited with what we can do until we have them through ie. we can't take our driving tests, so can't buy a car etc. Anyway we went to the office and hopefully they will appear in the post in the next week or so.

Thursday was a big day for me as regards to driving too. Up until that point I had let Andy do all the big drives and had limited myself to bimbling around where we live, firmly staying within my comfort zone. Following our visit to the Social Security Office Andy needed to be dropped off at work which meant I then had to get Steph and I home! In preparation for this I drove there and then onto Andy's work with him in the car. By the time we got to his office, which is right in the middle of Boulder, I was feeling quite confident. I knew where I was, the roads were OK and not particularly busy and driving on the right seemed to be working quite well. Therefore when we dropped Andy off I was in no rush to get home so suggested to Steph we visit the shopping centre across the road from the office. I loved her reply ''Go to shops to buy Mummy some shoes'' :)
A little while later after a bit of exploring and some lunch we decided to head for home - I did not buy any shoes I hasten to add!. Mmmm, half an hour of driving what felt like round in circles as I tried to get into the right lane and onto the right road and in the right direction I was feeling slightly less confident. We did eventually get home and now I can safely say I know the area around the shopping centre particularly well!
Last week was apparently one of the hottest weeks so far this year, we managed to hit 39°c at one point on Friday. It was lovely, if a little warm. This heat came to an abrupt end Friday evening with an amazing thunder storm.

We watched sheet lightning light up the sky over and over as thunder rumbled and grumbled overhead. When the rain did eventually come it came in the form of marble sized hail stones! We did attempt to take some photos but didn't manage to be particularly successful as in trying to take them we discovered that we had completely failed to bring any batteries for Andy's camera!
Will end the essay there for the moment and add the weekends adventures and photos another day, when I can find the time in between all the relaxing........