Halloween Costumes

Can you guess the theme the boys chose this year??

Shiver me timbers !!

Volcano erupts in Broomfield

A few weeks ago we got Tyler a volcano kit and over the last few days we assembled and set off a small volcano.

Stage 1 was to construct the Volcano itself, so Tyler and Siew Gin spent a Sunday afternoon getting their hands dirty...

Adding more strips to the volcano

Daddy we have finished

Once it was finished, we had to let it dry, then on Tuesday we got to paint it.  Tyler chose some funky colors but it turned out okay, and we let it dry again ready for the great volcano eruption.

After finishing off all their food and milk, Wednesday night was volcano night and both Tyler and Cody enjoyed seeing the eruption.  Cody kept calling it bubbles and asking for more.

More bubbles please

Having seen the real thing in Hawaii and the Philippines  this was much smaller by comparison, but all in all the three kids seemed to enjoy it..

Rollerball the movie comes to life in Broomfield

Siew Gin has been talking for weeks about rollerskating, and this Sunday was the first chance for her and Tyler to go rollerskating.  As she had some spare tickets, Damith, Sabrina and Addy also joined her on the rink..

It wasn't exactly rollerball but there was nearly as many injuries.  Tyler surprisingly tried this and although he couldn't really manage it he did do several laps with the help of Daddy.

Here are the rollerball gang getting ready to skate

And Siew Gin getting a helping hand from the boys

And Siew Gin finally skating

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, next time inline skates may be an easier option though..

Mateo 4th Birthday Outing

Mateo had his 4th birthday party at Anderson Farms and Tyler and Cody enjoyed their day on the farm.

After playing on the wooden train, and going through the maze, the kids sang happy birthday to Mateo before visiting the pumpkin patch

Happy Birthday Mateo

Tyler and Cody enjoyed looking for pumpkins after taking the tractor ride past the giant pumpkin man.

This pumpkin is bigger than me !!

This one is rough mummy

Then to finish off Siew Gin took them on their own red wagon ride..

Faster Mummy, Faster

Baby Sitting Duty

We agreed to look after Sienna for the evening so her parents could go out and paint the Mona Lisa 

I think we got the better end of the bargain as Sienna is easy to look after compared to the Millser boys...

Here they are enjoying a snack on the sofa

Cody loves to say cheeeeese..

Day out with Thomas

Every year Thomas the train comes to Golden Railroad Museum and when Tyler was nearly 2 we took him to ride the train, now that Cody is nearly 2 we took him to see the train as well.  We also had the company of Sienna, Uyen and Jim who we roped into joining us on the day.

Around 8,000 visitors per day come and visit, and today they all seemed to arrive just as we did.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the train ride as well as seeing the small trains and other attractions.  Sienna and Siew Gin enjoyed the petting zoo, Tyler and Cody spent most of the time hiding behind Daddy outside the zoo area.

Here are some shots of the day

All Aboard

Is that Thomas?

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Someone stop that train

Are Tyler and Cody in the Guinness Book of records?

Are Tyler and Cody in the Guinness Book of records?

Possibly.  Today all the Goddard schools tried to break the Guinness book of records for Simon Says...

I am sure it will be some time before we found out.

Here are Tyler and Cody getting ready to start the game

Tyler and Cody ready to play

Wedding Anniversary Meal

To celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary we persuaded the ChandraSomethings to look after our two tearaway kids and went out for the evening to a new restaurant call Tag

Siew Gin looked great of course

and we were both looking forward to a nice night out and a break from the kids.

The food at Tag is described by them as continental social. Not sure what that really means but suffice to say the food covers a variety of countries and styles.

I don't think this was the best food we had ever tasted, but it was interesting and tasty. There are a lot of new restaurants in downtown Denver which we haven't visited so they may be first on our list before we go back..

Here we are just about to start our main course.

Geocache Number 600

BK, we used to do a lot of caches, well okay Alan did, but we don't do so many now so our rate of progress is visibly slower. We got to 599 caches this week, so we went out and did a family cache for our 600th cache.

Here are the Millser team with the cache, you can just makeout Tyler...

Weekend in the Springs

BK... Before Kids we used to go away for more exotic locations to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but this year we only managed to get as far as Colorado Springs.

We booked a 'nice hotel' and tried to do a couple of things with the kids as well as have at least one nice meal while we were there...

On our arrival the kids got their own shared bed and they enjoyed reading books before finally going to sleep

Saturday morning after hotel breakfast we took a trip to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This is a small but really nice zoo where the star attraction is the option to feed the Giraffes Cody was brave and didn't mind feeding them, but Tyler wasn't keen at all.

After the Giraffes we saw a bunch of other animals, and arrived at the budgie feeding area where Tyler was finally persuaded to interact and feed the birds.

The boys then spotted a train and went for a 'lap' or two while Siew Gin and Alan looked on.

Then we went to see the grizzlies. There were two of them and the exhibit is nicely set up with a river area and rocks so we saw them in the water as well as on land playing/fighting with each other.

A quick stop for lunch, then off to my backyard to sit in the giant chair

And then off to see the hippos eat watermelon in a single bite., and then Tyler decided he wanted to feed the Giraffes, so we went back for another feeding session.

The zoo also contains a castle, and we just got back to the car in time to drive to the castle, and while Cody and Mummy slept, Tyler and Daddy visited the Will Rogers Shrine which has a great view of Broadmoor hotel, Garden of the Gods and downtown Springs.

We then came back to the hotel to try the pool, it was outdoors and cold, so we spent some time in the bubbles as Cody calls the hot tub.

Cody is a natural in the water and doesn't mind splashing around, diving in and so on. Tyler is almost swimming without help and is also pretty confident in the water as well.

Saturday night we went to eat San Chang House, which is the Millser's favorite Korean restaurant in Colorado and is always on the todo list when we are in town.

After a hotel bacon breakfast, we went to visit cave of the winds. The kids have been in a few caves before, but this was the first one where they were walking and exploring with us. Siew Gin and I had been before and neither of us remembered it being so long and having so many things in it, so either we are getting old or they have changed it around.

The kids seemed to enjoy it, and after quickly feeding Cody, the kids went to sleep as we drove back home.

All in All, things take much longer with the kids, but it was nice to spend some time as a family and for sure I think we will be visiting the zoo again..

Come on Kumon !

Tyler has been taking reading at Kumon for the last few months and is working his way through the different levels, he started in 7A, then did 6A, 5A and is now on 4A.

This week he completed his 5A test and scored 97% in 11 minutes. Not sure if this is good or great, but he is certainly getting much better at reading and writing..

Giant Spiders invade Broomfield

Okay, we didn't see any giant spiders, but we did see a giant spider web in the back garden. This one was at least 2 feet in size, maybe more..

Mooncakes and Lanterns

Monday was a very full moon which just happened to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival so we invited the ChandraSomethings to celebrate with us.

We didn't have the best quality lanterns and we did have to put out at least one lantern fire, but everyone seemed to enjoy the tradition..

Pink Panther Strikes Again !!

Watch out, watch out there is a pink panther about...

Ahoy Matey!

It's nearly that time of the year when i have to try to prep Tyler for birthday costume. It takes a little bit of convincing and build up! :) So, i show him some outfits and non-chalantly said, "Look the pirate's got a cool sword!" ha.. sold!! From then, no matter how cool Ironman or Superman is, he wants to be a pirate!

So, this weekend i convinced him that he needed a moustache(he hates getting his face painted). But i must be a much better convincer than i thought. He actually agreed!

We rushed upstairs, got my eye-liner and i started drawing him a moustache. I was nearly done with the first moustache when i got the giggle bug and laughed for 5 mins before i managed to hold still to finish up the rest.

Anyways, he's my little french pirate!

Another 14er in the bag - Quandary Peak

Got early this morning to go climb a 14er. Steffen came with me and we chose Quandary Peak at 14, 265.

We hit the trailhead at 7:08 and powered past a lot of people to summit after 1 hour and 53 minutes. The first mile and a quarter is an easy climb, then elevation kicks up and you gain around 3,000 feet in the next 2 miles..

A quick stop at the summit for a picture.


Then we headed down over the boulders (there are a lot on this trail) and got back to the trailhead in 1 hour and 37 minutes..

Here are the stats from my Forerunner 60 showing around 2mph up and down..

Burgers and Cars

Friday night we got an invite to the Markers house for Burgers. They live next door to a park, so Tyler and Cody enjoyed playing their first. Not sure why I have kids who 'dont like sand' and have to be carried to avoid the sand in the playground...

Here are the kids driving their car..

Hiking Betasso Preserve with the boys

Tyler and Cody had the day off from school today, so we woke up early and headed to Betasso Preserve for a hike.

We didnt manage to hike that far today, but both Cody and Tyler spotted a lot of animals on the trail.

The boys at the start of the trail..

Walking down the trail

Ready for our closeup

Wildlife..