christmas 2012

Paul only gets Christmas Day off from work, but he took a day of leave on Christmas Eve.  With the weekend, we got four lovely days together as a family.  The weather was very cooperative, giving us both days warm enough for walking in light coats, and fresh snow for Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve.  

Christmas morning with our blow up snowman actually upright.  The snow helps keep him anchored and we've had so little this year thanks to El Nino that he's spent a lot of time lying down on the job.  We bought a timer for the lights, so he blows up and the lights on the porch come on every evening at 4PM just as the sun is starting to set behind the mountains.  At 11PM, when most of us are in bed and asleep, our lights and snowman also shut down for the night.  

Walking near Dixon Reservoir, about a mile from our house.

 Tim's discovered the benefit of sunglasses on clear, snowy days and is wearing a pair of mine.  Luke is too put off by hats and glasses to appreciate the shade they provide, so he looks on the world through half-closed eyes.

The reservoir appears well frozen, but we stayed close to the bank just in case.

Christmas Eve, the stocking were hung by the chimney with care...Santa has already filled them with treats, and set up the BBQ and BatCave for the boys so that they have instant access to them in the morning.  Tim is already voicing some doubts about Santa.  Last week, he said he didn't think Santa could make something like the BatCave.  On Christmas day, he spotted the box for the BatCave in the garage and said he didn't think Santa brought the BatCave because there was a box.  I told him that Santa knew how much he and Luke both liked the pictures on the boxes, so he gave them the box and put it in the garage for safe keeping. I think he bought it...Most Americans put out milk and cookies for Santa.  Tim said that Santa didn't like milk and opted for wine instead.  He also thought Santa would like the toffee and peanut brittle that I made better than cookies, which was good because we didn't have any cookies.

Basking in the joy of their many Christmas presents.  Thanks to Aunt Melissa, Gran and Grand-da, Aunt Cinder and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Scott, GG and Gramps, and the Viners for all wonderful the wonderful gifts.

Watching our new family favorite: Wallace and Gromit and the Were-Rabbit.

Yes, they are actually sharing.

Paul got a new down coat and took a walk in the foothills to test it.  

Merry Christmas Everyone!

thanksgiving

One of the benefits, and there are too many to list, of being married to a foreigner is that Thanksgiving is important to Paul only because it means a day off of work to spend with his family.  I get to decide if we're going to go traditional or think outside the box.  Thanks to Mom and Dad, we get a little of both this year.  We spent Thanksgiving Day at home, just the four of us doing some of our favorite things, like cooking in the backyard.  The weather was glorious.

 Why would anyone want turkey when there are fillets in the fridge?

And building forts out of the furniture.

Wicked, man.

A very good place for lunch.

Paul took the day after Thanksgiving off, not to fight the crowds in the shops, but to spend even more time with the family and enjoy a traditional meal at Mom and Dad's.

halloween

Happy Halloween

work honeymoon

A new job always has a bit of a honeymoon period for me because I like change and new things.  I enjoy that time when what's right about the place is in the foreground and what's wrong is invisible.  I imagine that will last here for about a week, maybe two.  There are some things that will always be 'right' for me.  Such as the architecture.  I like attractive buildings.  They don't have to be old, just attractive.   I also like it when the grounds are pretty.

This is Spruce where my office is located and where I park my bike.  The interior was completely refurbished over the summer.

This is the walk I take every morning to my class in Alder Hall.  I haven't done any touch ups or color changes.  It's really that green.  I'm looking forward to the color changes of autumn.

I like this faculty staff room because it's all new, has a dishwasher, and especially because of what is in the boxes under the window.

And possibly best of all, I like teh bottom shelf of the faculty fridge.  Yum, yum, yummy.

Me on my work honeymoon.  The sun is in my eyes.

family together again

Jenny and Neville arrived on June 25 and left this morning.  We had an amazing month with them and went to Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone for our annual camping trip.  They were kind enough to give us two weekends away from home and the boys.  I'll get around to posting about all of it soon.  Right now we're feeling a bit lonely with them gone and they boys miss the love and attention already.  Roll on summer 2013!

first night together

Tim and Luke often watch a DVD in our bedroom before they go to bed in their own rooms.  Luke falls asleep listening to music with one of us, and Tim falls asleep watching a DVD in his own bed.  Last night, Luke was wide awake when the movie in our room finished, but Tim was ready to go to bed.  Luke joined him and we left them, expecting either Luke to leave after getting bored with Tim's choice in movies or Tim calling to us demanding that Luke leave.  Instead, we found them asleep.  

And they slept in these positions the entire night.  Luke doesn't sleep through the night very often.  He likes company.  Tim was an unknowing provider.  Because of the High Park Fire, not far from here, we had to shut the house up tight.  It was cool enough to sleep but warm enough for few clothes and no covers.

triple crown

I am now married to a South African, a Brit, and an American.

embracing fort collins

We started hoping for a job overseas again last autumn when my friend Mark who works in Switzerland told me that a position might be opening at his school.  The allure of life abroad seeped into our subconscious and seeded itself.  We already know that we want to live in Europe again, if possible, splitting the distance between our parents in America and South Africa.  It's closer to some of our dearest friends who have children close to Tim and Luke's ages.  Europe remains full of romance and adventure for us.  Familiar enough to be comfortable but foreign enough to be exciting, we both put our hopes in the job coming through.  Switzerland is regularly ranked in the top ten places to live.  They have a thriving economy and Paul would get more leave.  They've mandated health care and seem to have found a system better than both the US and the UK.  Plus, it's Switzerland: the Alps, chocolate, fondue, neighbors with France, Austria, Germany, and Italy.  But the job didn't materialize.

Without much down time, another job presented itself in Europe, this time in The Hague, Netherlands.  We thought we wouldn't find another place more desirable than Switzerland, but the Netherlands quickly became even more attractive.  The bike is king, and we'd like to become voluntary vassals to that rule.  I don't know of a more bike friendly place than the Netherlands.  They give a 52% tax break if you buy a bike there.  The pay and benefits were such that we could have lived on my salary, giving Paul a chance to be a stay home dad until he found work.  The boys would have learned Dutch with Paul able to help them so easily at home.  I got a call to arrange an interview the day that I submitted my application.  Two interviews followed quickly and then silence.  They hired someone internally, saving on an overseas salary (a significant savings) for both the job I wanted and the job created by the shift.  That cushioned the blow to my ego, and I'm feeling fine about the whole thing.

Because we're embracing Fort Collins.  This really is a wonderful place to live with young children.  For years, it has been on Forbes and Newsweek's list of the top ten places to live in the US. The schools are fantastic.  Our problem, if we're here when Tim starts school in August 2013, is narrowing the choice from so many desirable places.  Bike's aren't king here but they are first class citizens, and we're spoiled for trails that allow us to navigate the city away from the noise and threat of cars.  We have a house and garden that we won't be able to afford in Europe, in a neighborhood so safe and friendly that we often forget to lock up when we leave.  Our friends help us raise our boys and celebrate the weekends.  Paul just passed his citizenship interview and will be sworn in 2 May.  He'll get to vote this November.  And he likes it here.  He'd like more leave and a better health insurance system, but he likes it, more than I like it, I think.  Golf is affordable and, in Colorado, nearly a year-round sport.  My parents are close and my in-laws like to come here.  If we were from another country and I had  a chance at a job here, we'd spend our time day dreaming about this place. Oh, and the local school district has four English jobs posted for this autumn.  One is even at Fort Collins High School where I'm currently working as a long term sub for someone's maternity leave.  So, as I said, we're embracing Fort Collins.  

Yesterday, we loaded the boys into the car with their new and much improved bike carriage folded neatly in the back and our bikes on the rack and drove to the Poudre River Trail parking lot on Taft Hill Road.  In five minutes, we were on our bikes and on the trail, headed west for Bellvue and the Bellvue Bean, our favorite cafe.  It only took us 20 minutes, so we'll bike from the house next weekend.  After coffee, we road to Watson Lake, about 1/2 mile away, then returned home.  The boys love the bike carriage.  When we got home, they played in the back yard while we relaxed and talked of how much we love it here. 

at the bellvue bean

they had a little help getting in this tree

watson lake

throwing rocks in the water

luke found some fishing line and tim found stick: instant fishing rod

the new carriage on the poudre trail

bridge over the river on the trail

watching a bed time movie in mom and dad's room

The plan is still for me to attend a hiring fair in January of 2013 and for us to move abroad in the autumn of 2013.  It could be China, South America, or elsewhere, but we hope it's Europe.  We'd like to find a school with a package that is good enough for us to stay until Tim and Luke can tell us where they want to go to high school.  They may want to stay where they are, but they'll have other options that are like home such as Cape Town and Fort Collins if they want to change.  

st. patrick's day

We have so many people in the US with family ties to Ireland that St. Patrick's Day is celebrated nation wide.  This year it fell on a glorious spring Saturday, so we rode the bikes down to Old Town and watched the parade, ate some ice cream and visited a couple of microbreweries before heading home to play in the garden and fill ourselves full of corned beef and cabbage that Mom brought to us. I think we were outside for at least ten hours.  We have this silly tradition, that I believe is entirely American; please correct me if I'm wrong: if you don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day, you'll get pinched.  The most interesting explanation of this is that leprechauns, can be invisible, pinch people who don't honor St. Patrick by wearing green, so we pinch people to remind them to get their green on before a leprechaun shows up and not only pinches them but causes general mayhem.  If you get pinched but can prove you're wearing green, you get to punch the pincher.  I think that only school children practice these rituals, but I made sure everyone had some green  clothing (albeit rather muted shades of green) just to be sure.

on the poudre river trail

at the parade, we saw no pots of gold

in old town

enjoying the parade. my shoes are green (sandals)

part of the parade

part of the parade

yes, that's a cat on his shoulder (in the parking lot of new belgium brewery

tim made friends with tony, luke played with the wood chips and we enjoyed some  craft beer

in the back yard after the parade

awaiting the much anticipated fire for marshmallow roasting

livin' large with amy d

Amy has been living in Steamboat Springs for about three years now, but always with the idea that it was just temporary, so she never bothered to buy a home.  This made it very easy to move into million dollar accomodations when she was made an offer to rent/house-sit that she couldn't refuse.  A family living on the east coast bought a stunning log home in Steamboat last year but won't be ready to move in until this summer.  They knew Amy and asked her to live there while they got their things in order.  She's had a run of visitors non-stop and we were among the lucky to be invited. 

If you've ever wondered what a million dollars can buy you in a small resort town in the Rocky Mountains, the answer is 'a lot.'  The wow factor on this place just does not stop.  The ground level consists of a two car garage, an entry/lobby perfect for depositing all kinds of winter equipment like skis, clothes, snowshoes and boots, two large built in closets and a huge bedroom suite with jetted tub.  Our friend, Martin, who was with us for a ski holiday from London, got to enjoy that room.  It has French doors leading out into the front yard and a small pot bellied stove.  Very cozy.

The first floor houses two living areas, the kitchen, the dining room, the master suite, a sauna and acesss the deck and hot tub.  Luke took to the hot tub immediately, but it took Tim a day before he decided it was something worth exploring.  We kept the temperature down for their visits in the afternoon while the men skiied, and Tim told me that it wasn't a hot tub but a warm tub.  When Martin and Paul joined them, they slowly increased the heat so that by the time the boys were ready to leave the men were able to enjoy a long, hot soak with mulled wine to boot.

the front room with walk around fireplace

the tv room with deck out to hot tub, taken from the loft

the tv room

the boys enjoying the hot tub - the outside temperature was below freezing

tim and luke with their new best friend martin

The second floor has two bedrooms, a full bathroom, and a loft all connected.  There is another loft off of the tv room that can only be accessed from the tv room.  The amount of space in the house is disturbing at first but by the middle of the following day, we'd grown into it and were full of ideas for how to use the now empty lofts.  My favorite room is the kitchen with a connecting laundry room.   I could spend whole days there and not even cook a thing. 

paul enjoying the famous champagne powder of steamboat springs

There hasn't been much snow in our mountains this year, but as usual, Paul's luck held and Steamboat got several inches of fresh snow just in time for our trip.  While he and Martin got to know every inch of the slopes, the boys and I luxuriated in Amy's home.  Thank you Amy for a great holiday.