Sorry for the poor service...

As we don't have the cable for downloading pictures from the camera, i am afraid that will have to wait until we are home. In the meantime we are enjoying our holiday a lot, we have been up into the mountains to visit an old mining town (very high up, unpaved roads, no people and not much happening, but interesting). We have swum, hiked and shopped. Tomorrow we are off on another road trip into the mountains with J asleep in the back of the car (we hope) and then the final attack of the shopping mall is planned for the end of the week when the rain is expected.
This morning we hiked up a small mountain and on thursday our fancy new watches should arrive...
Sorry this is rambling, but so are we.
NORMAL UPDATES ARE DUE TO RESUME NEXT WEEK

Still having fun

We've bought a ruck-sack thing that J can sit in when we are walking so we went for a short walk this morning. He seems happy in it which is good. Yesterday we went to Boulder falls after a good breakfast at The Kitchen, but we are still basically taking it easy.
I hope to be able to get some photos sorted out at some point

Boulder

We have survived the journey and Boulder is a really cool place, the people are friendly and the atmosphere is relaxed.
Yesterday was a big shopping day and the bank was hit hard although we are now too cool to care with our new sun glasses!
Here are mine
Still on the cards are some hiking, biking and more shopping

End of term

The end of term is almost upon us, so I am thinking about packing, maybe this is the way to go...

Boulder baby!

Well there are just over 1½ days left at work, lost of loose ends to tie up and jobs to get sorted out at home and then we are off to Boulder.
The journey is likely to be interesting, but at least we are allowed to take some hand luggage above and beyond nappies and baby food although I expect that it will all be taken up with J accessories.
I am still agonising over spending a fortune on a watch with my bonus, I have permission from the boss, but I am just not sure...
The first one costs half as much as the second, but the seconds is SOOOOO much more desirable for so many reasons (it's a real moon watch, not a look alike cheapo version) and the weak dollar means that I will probably never get one cheaper.

Too busy...

...for this today.

Windows

Given the amount of money that we can save by stripping the paint off the window frames ourselves, I will mostly be spending all of my evenings this week with a scraper in one hand and a hot air gun in the other. The first of the 4 windows is done thankfully so progress is on track. I must take some before and after pictures.


Training will not be going well this week either then...
It seems that Heathrow is less panic stricken than last week so maybe our flight will be closer to normal than we had feared and finally I have my rearranged meeting with CVL today. Hopefully that will be a positive experience and we can then go on holiday with some idea about the timescales for any future career changes.

Autumn arrives early

Standing up allows a whole new dimension of mischief
Cold and wet here, thankfully we are off to Boulder next weekend for our well earned holiday! The rain has meant that we have not achieved much this weekend, including wimping out of a bike race yesterday. I simply couldn't face driving all that way to get wet, then get dropped... again!
J is crawling around like a mad-man which is fun.
Big(ish) meeting at the Business School this afternoon, so update on that to follow tomorrow.
Here is J with his Great Grandfather on a boat trip last week (before the end of summer as you can see)

Flying to the US looks like such fun!

Well we can only hope that the new rules concerning what we can take on the plane are relaxed a little before we fly next week otherwise we are in for 14 hours of travel with a 10 month old baby and nothing to entertain him at all!!!

Chaos came to visit...

...thankfully I was at work!
J and some small friends found the bookshelf yesterday and had fun clearing the shelves off, next job is to teach them how to put things back.

Newspaper also holds a deep fascination with him so we are having to be increasingly careful where we put the unread ones as he is getting pretty adept at reaching things himself. We are looking forward to our trip to Colorado in 10 days, but the prospect of 15 hours of traveling with the hyperactive mini-wrestler is getting increasingly daunting as it seems that BA have banned all hand luggage on flights from the US meaning that there will be NO toys or distractions for us to use to entertain him during the short 9 hour hop from London to Denver!

The next step...

J seems to have taken to crawling pretty well and is climbing up the furniture with increasing ease and confidence so how long until he is trying to walk? My guess is another month or so before he tries his first steps, but it is truly frightening how quickly things change.
My back is aching again, I think it is related to the tidying up in the basement so I will be careful to avoid doing that again. Biking home from work last night was purgatory for the last 20 or so kilometers. (This represents the beginning of the excuses for the bike race at the weekend...)

Crawling mania

Our sunflower is coming along nicely (actually I can take no credit for this)
Last night I finally completed the arduous task of building the shelves in the basement and getting the boxes off the floor, it's not interesting, but the basement now looks pretty big when there isn't a layer of crud all over it.
J is making his way all around the house, it is easy to know where he is as he shouts continuously when he is crawling announcing his movements. We have tidied up a lot of things, but we are dreading the moment that he finds the bookshelves and magazine rack thing. The study and bathroom doors now have to be kept closed as well.
Sorry this isn't very interesting today is it? There should be some new pictures in the next day or so, but I am biking home today so the computer is staying in the office. When I am working at home there is sometimes a little help available as you can see...

... and he's off!

We have had a very busy (and sleep deprived as ever) weekend. J has taken to standing himself up with just about anything he can get hold of intent on clearing any baby height surface of papers and electrical equipment. This is itself has not been such a problem so long as he was out of reach of the tables, sofa etc. However, on Saturday morning he learned how to crawl and is now whizzing around the house making a lot of noise. We are lucky so far as he cannot get over the door steps, but as they are only 1cm high, I don't think that will last for long.* I'll get some crawling pictures up as soon as I can.
Along with feeding the lawns, oiling the bench and doing other DIY type things, we have been bed shopping this weekend so we will be getting new beds delivered when we get back from Boulder. Hurray for that, now all we need is a baby that sleeps better!

*Update: He managed to get over the step this morning

Only 20 weeks until Christmas

Seeing as Christmas will soon be upon us (or at least the decorations) we have booked our flights to Blighty for the festive period, thankfully bagging a bargain on the way.
The toy shopping was pretty unsuccessful, all I got was a frog glove puppet and a barking vibrating dog thing, we'll have to keep our eyes open for other options.
I have so far resisted the temptation to purchase any shiny bike bits, only time will tell if I can hold out until the urge passes. Perhaps all I need to do to overcome my desire to upgrade my cockpit is to cut the steerer tube to the right length. (Note that this is not rude to those who understand bike gibberish although it may seem as though it is to others)
Finally here are some pictures of the royal visit.

This is what happens when you can only realy move backwards and don't like confined spaces.

Toy shopping

Having sat with J on my knee for 20 minutes yesterday, I am now more acutely aware of the challenge that we will face during the 9 hour flight from London to Denver. As a result I am off to the Toy Shop in the way home this evening to find some suitable distractions that are:

• infinitely entertaining and interesting
• Silent
• Inexpensive
• Small enough to carry
• Educational
• Inedible

I am not too optimistic of ticking all the boxes, but I will try. Perhaps it will be somethinglike this!

I am also fantasy bike part shopping to fill time at the moment, I am getting carried away longing for carbon fiber goodies such as integrated handlebar/stems, wheels and of course seatposts...

Bye for now...

It was a sad morning this morning, we had to take my mum to the airport and say good bye for a few months. We haven't made any plans yet, but we hope to see her again in the autumn. She has had a wonderful affect on young J who has suddenly taken to sleeping through the night. It was lovely to have her staying and we have enjoyed the last week, I hope that we can do it again soon. ( I am not only writing this because I know she will read it). We enjoy having visitors, especially when they help with the washing up.
Yesterday was fun, we visited an old house somewhere and had a picnic. I am afraid that is all the information I have about the house other than that we had to wear blue plastic things over our shoes. There is something that happens to me in old houses, I suddenly become a bored 10 year old and cannot get out fast enough.
Pictures will be posted tomorrow as they are still on the camera.
More exciting posts to follow tomorrow...