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........

We made it!

48 hours into our new adventure and I feel it's time to sit down and share our story so far.

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.

t-1

We're down to the final countdown! 

We've had a very busy few weeks since I last wrote. We've had the fullest social calendar that we've had in a long time as we have tried to say goodbye to as many people as possible. Thank you to all of you that have managed to squeeze us in. It's been so hard to say goodbye, it's made us realize how many lovely friends we have.
As well as this we have both been winding down at work and finally finished last Friday. Having both spent the last 6 years in our jobs I think Friday was a day of very mixed emotions. I know I was caught very much between excitement at moving forward, and onto something very different, and sadness. I was leaving a job that I have loved, in all it's different forms, and some wonderful colleagues, some who have become very dear friends and I shall miss so much.
Our two final weekends have been spent with family, making the most of our precious last moments and gathering as many photographs as I can manage.`

And now we find ourselves in our final week, very much looking forward. The 'magic men' arrived bright and early on Monday morning and very rapidly began boxing up our lives. In the meantime we, very optimistically, threw everything we hadn't yet packed, that we didn't want in the container, onto the bed. By the end of the day we had a huge mountain of stuff on the bed and decided we'd wave the magic wand the following day. Unbelievably it did all go into our bags with room to spare. I think at least one of the bags has the same properties as Mary Poppins' carpet bag!
It's actually been a rather relaxing few days. Steph has been staying at my Mum's since Sunday, thank you Mum, which has given Andy and I the chance to get organized. We've finally sorted the utilities, which proved more challenging than we thought. It seems most web sites for these things don't have 'I want to cancel my.........' buttons. We've also managed to loose several (important!) things and find them again, which does leave us in a quandary as to who should be in charge of the important documents when we fly tomorrow, not sure either of us can be trusted! (It seems what organizational abilities I had seem to have disappeared along with my one remaining brain cell, I blame 'the bump'.)
The grand cleaning mission has also started but in a very relaxed way as we can't do much until the men disappear. I've also finally had time to sit down long enough to write this, albeit sitting in the car :-) 
We took advantage of a child free evening yesterday and lack of anything to cook with in the kitchen and had an evening at Nirvana Spa. Highly unusual for us to do something like that and sit still long enough to enjoy it but it was lovely and so relaxing. Just what we needed. :)
Our container arrived just before lunch today, that really is like a tardis! Everything is just disappearing into it. Once it's packed we shall do a quick final clean and then head to the estate agents with the keys. Goodbye house, it's hard to believe we've been here 11 years.

Our final part of the day is to go to Mum's and enjoy a relaxing evening with her and Becks.

Then it really is goodbye as we head to Heathrow first thing in the morning...........

And so the adventure began back in November when hubby came home from work and happened to mention, oh so casually, that his company had an office in Boulder, Colorado and that it would be quite nice to work out there!
Now, 7 months later we find ourselves rapidly trying to get organised and ready for the 'big move' - 18 days to go!
Surprisingly there hasn't been as much to do as either of us thought (either that or there is lots we should be doing that neither of us has realised - entirely possible). We've had a fairly gentle few months of sorting through all our 'stuff' and giving away / selling various things, which has culminated in a grand final sort this weekend. We have been through everything again and now feel that everything we have is ready to be packed by the 'magic men' in a couple of weeks time. We're just left with a large pile of things to deal with, which basically means that anyone visiting over the next week or two will not be leaving empty handed!!!! Be warned!
The busiest part of moving has been the socialising and trying to see everyone or as many people as possible before we go and organising Little Miss's Birthday Party. It has been lovely to catch up with so many people, long overdue in many cases. We have two more weekends left, which mainly involve said birthday party, seeing and saying goodbye to family and marking dates in the diaries for those threatened visits. Such a nice thing, to go away knowing we already have visits from family booked in.
Last two weeks at work for both of us starting tomorrow, what I suspect are going to be two very busy weeks, again trying to fit in everything before we go - but also hopefully fun weeks that will leave us with some great final memories to take away with us.
Moving emotions are finally starting to kick in, great excitement, along with a mixture of everything else at the thought of leaving everything we know and love behind. But, no-one said adventure was easy, I know we'll have some very emotional moments over the next few weeks, but at the same time I know we shall have some great moments as we start our 'Family Adventure'.