Back in the swing of things

Harrison's having a nap which gives me some precious time to actually sit down and write a post. We have been back from our holiday for 2 and a bit weeks now but already it seems like a lifetime ago. It seems to have taken ages to get over the jet lag and the horrible cold that followed me home (which I then gave to Harrison). Finally though I feel like I can deal with everything that life throws at me, although things have been surprisingly quiet - compared to the stresses that we had to deal with in the previous 12 months. I have made a conscious effort since we have been back to focus more on my immediate family (Andy & Harrison) and to try not to worry about what other people do or think. This is very hard for me as I'm sure Andy will testify, but I am trying and I think family life is better for it.

As for Harrison, he is into absolutely everything, and I mean everything. I think Tumbletots is partly to blame because they encourage him to climb and so he carries on when he gets home. And Harrison being Harrison the word 'NO' does not register with him. Instead you have to forcibly move him from the forbidden object and then he has a tantrum which usually involves him kneeling on the floor with his face in the carpet (he looks like he is praying) crying. People say these things happen but it is not until it starts happening with your child that you realise just how annoying, yet ridiculously funny at the same time, it is. I must remember never to let him see me laughing at him whilst I am trying to tell him off :O) We still go swimming and are just about to move up to Ducklings 2 after the half term break. This involves, from what I've seen, the wearing of armbands and lots of jumping off the side into the pool. I'm slightly worried about that but I'm sure Harrison will love it. Whenever I go now I have to make sure he doesn't try to get in the pool by himself - he's really impatient! I have also started to let him eat his own yoghurt. It is incredibly messy and he always uses the spoon the wrong way up but he needs to learn otherwise I will be feeding him until he goes to University. He does grin while he does it because I think he realises he is doing something that I am proud of rather than being told off. I haven't quite resorted to letting him hold the yoghurt pot by himself yet though - that will come later.

Things to look forward to - just more of the same really. We have a very quiet life and I'm afraid that there is lots more quiet to come, until Granny and Grandpa make their big move back to Bath. Then hopefully we'll be able to make use of our Christmas present (a night out on our own just the 2 of us). This never happens so hurry up Granny and grandpa :O)

One week down

We head into the second week 0f our hols with great times behind us. The skiing/boarding at Copper is magnificent and we've all made decent progress with our respective abilities.


Having a couple of rest days over the weekend has enabled us to enjoy a couple of other activities most notably dog mushing in Leadville yesterday.


None of us had done anything like this before and the apprehension was tangible as we waited for our guide to lead us out to the dogs and sled. Kirby was a lovely chap and did his best to ease us into the techniques and skills required to take full control of the sled. To be honest, we were really just holding on but the lack of any 'skilled' person on the sled alongside the driver was quite unnerving.



We all took it in turns to 'mush', lay in the sled and ride on the trailer on the back of the skidoo, from where all the pics could be taken. There were a couple of hairy moments but we all came back safe and sound. An amazing experience.

Copper

Hey folks. After a long old trip we got here safely around 24 hours ago. Although it's been our first full day we've not hit the slopes yet - food shopping and jet lag put paid to that. Tomorrow the fun starts.

Here's a crappy pic from our balcony (which I can't imagine we'll ever use)...



More as the week moves on.

Bring on the snow.

As earlier advertised, Fi, Rach, Paul and I are off to Copper Mountain CO for a couple of weeks of skiing/boarding. Packing is almost done, which is a relief given the time of our flight tomorrow morning.

I'm hoping to be able to post here, and to my Flickr pages whilst in the US so hopefully more soon.

Blogtastic

You know there are so many good blogging tools available on the internet. Traditionally I've always used Blogger, but at the moment I think Microsoft have done a great job with the Spaces pages. Also, everyone's on MySpace right? So here's what I'm going to do. Blogger will continue to be my reference source for my blogs. Once I've posted there I'll copy to both my Live Space and my MySpace. Uber-blogging if you will.

To make this a little easier, here's the links to these pages:

My Live Space

My MySpace