Our Family & Our Life

Dear Diary, The ski resorts in Vail, Aspen, Copper Mountain and others opened today for the new ski season but we didn't go skiing, instead we spent the day driving through the mountains looking at the snow from the comfort and heat of the van. The first snow storm of the season came earlier this week so there was still some nice white stuff further into the mountains. Denver, unfortunately, is snow free albeit the temperature is noticeably falling. The drive along I-70 is lovely and relaxing. It travels right through the valleys and the ruins of old silver and gold mines dot the mountain sides in the little towns of Idaho Springs and Georgetown. Georgetown was our first stop, again. We made a previous visit on July 4th when it was about 100 degrees warmer! Today the lake was frozen over although I don't think the ice was very thick so no ice skating or games of shinny. After a break we travelled through the Eisenhower Tunnel where it was like another world from

Dear Diary, We've been back in Colorado now for nearly two weeks and we're slowly getting settled and back into a regular routine. The boxes are nearly all unpacked (just waiting to buy a bit more furniture) and I'm working on decorating Isla's room. Since we rent we can't paint the walls so I'm adding bits of colour through wall hangings and her bedding. It's coming along and I'll take a photo maybe next week if I get it done. No snow yet in our area in fact just the opposite, the weather has been amazingly beautiful for this time of year. Today is November 1 and it was 75 degrees! We've trying to make the most of it by spending time outside when we can because I'm sure it'll be a long winter in the apartment. Last Saturday we visited Andersons's Farm and Corn Maze in Erie, Colorado with our church family from Park Hill OPC . The corn maze is huge ~ check out the link! We strolled through the maze and made it to about 6 of the 13 check

Dear Diary, Yup, I got bored last night and changed the blog again... may change again soon but I think I'll leave it like this for awhile. Will post again sometime soon....

Dear Diary, Isla LOVED her excersaucer that she had at my parents house but when we left Canada, we didn't have room in the van to take it with us. We knew we had to get something for her to jump in so I went shopping and found her the Rainforest Jumperoo! She loves it! She is a bit short for it but she can still jump to the moon and back again The Jumperoo is the second Fisher-Price Rainforest item we bought. We also have the high chair but it's not that we planned it, it just sort of happened. Don't worry Mom, she doesn't miss her saucer.

Dear Diary, I've missed posting on the blog but we've been busy... First of all, Isla turned 8 months on October 17, she had a baby wellness check up and she got another 3 teeth, all in one day (more about that later on in this post). Here she is on her 8th month birthday. Mom and I decided it would be nice to take her to the pumpkin farm and apple orchard down the road. She loves going for walks and "sings" while we walk... My little pumpkin in the pumpkin patch: With her mom: With her doting Oma: She loves animals whether it be cats or dogs, yes, even Tasha!! Before we left for Denver I took her to the dr. for a wellness check up. She is a peanut at 27 inches long and weighed 17.5 lbs ~ that is 1 stone 3.5 lbs. for those Brtis! She is right on track developmentally and is sitting quite comfortably but not crawling in the true form of crawling if you know what I mean. I wish I had a photo to post but the new thing is to go on all fours and "stand" on

Dear Diary, This morning when I was speaking on the phone to beloved in Denver, he mentioned that he hasn't seen Isla's two teeth yet. I think he's seen at least one but has forgotten. It's sad, isn't it, he can't remember how many of his daughter's teeth he's seen. That just goes to prove how much time we've spent apart the last four months. Anyways, here you go dear, two teeth.... And even one of me - a self-portrait with the little pean ut. Yes, I know, more chins than a Chinese phone book as they say.... Our beautiful little sweetheart, everyone who meets her, loves her. I was feeding her this morning and I'm sure she said "Oma"~ to say the least, my mom was tickled pink! She's been "talking" a lot lately, there has been a lot of "Dada" but no"Mama" yet. I'll try not to be offended but I think she's a daddy's girl, what do you think? She's also started sitting up and she's quite

Dear Diary, A few bits of good news: 1. Isla's amended and correct Canadian citizenship card arrived. Hooray!! Now I have to go back to the Passport Office in Hamilton and request a passport for her. When I was there earlier in the month they told the processing time was 2 weeks but others are telling me they got it within a week. Cross your fingers it's a week 'cause we plan (plans are made to be broken as per my husband) to leave for Colorado after Thanksgiving on October 14. That at least is the plan. Colin still has to have his holidays approved for two weeks and he has to book a flight before we make arrangements not to mention we still don't have the van... Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit, eh? and..... 2. We're thankful Colin arrived safely in Denver on Friday night and he has a business visa issued for 6 months. The Border Patrol officer suggested that he have his employer write a letter to Homeland Security and ask them to extend it for a year. It's

Dear Diary, I am on my way back from England, however I have to go direct to Denver to help the guys out there until things settle down at Metro Taxis. They have been working 12 hour shifts recently. The system went live last Monday at 3.30am mountain time and since then Metro have done nearly 10,000 jobs on our system. Initally there were a few issues with people not really knowing what they were doing, but the more they use it the smoother it becomes. I hope to be able to fly up to Heather and Isla as soon as I can and then take a few days with them and drive back down to Denver in the Pontiac Montana van with some of our belongings and the 2 cats. That will be interesting getting over the border. Anyway the important thing is that I have my visa and I am on my way back to them. I do dearly miss them and when I call Heather I hear Isla in the background making all sorts of noises now. I guess she'll be saying 'mommy' soon.. Here is the picture that I had taken for the vis