Trick or Treat

We took the boys and Grandma trick or treating for Halloween.  Tyler and Cody were reluctant at first, but by the end of the night they were racing across peoples lawns to go grab candy.  Grandma was a little bit more reticent but looked good in her tellytubby outfit once she had put it on the right way round.  Alan and Siew Gin both got compliments on their costumes, probably for different reasons.

For those who want to see how we decorated our house click here !!

A selection of before and after pictures

Can we just go and get the candy now
instead of all this  picture taking?

Keep up Grandma !!

Come on Cody, hold Mummy's hand

That is some crazy decorating

Happy Birthday Tyler - 4 years old today

Tyler is 4 years old today.  We had a big party on Saturday to celebrate and today we will be trick or treating later.

Here are a couple of early morning pictures...

Happy Birthday !!

Tyler - 4 years old today

A Trip to the Zoo

Not quite sure how a trip to the zoo ended up with us going bowling, but it was something to do with the kids being ill and it was too cold for Siew Gin to venture outside..

We haven't been bowling as a family for a very long time, and I am pretty certain that Cody hasn't bowled prior to today but we did make it out the the lanes and at least some of us managed to score over 100...

Here are a few pictures..

Ready to Bowl

Mummy, don't drop it on my foot..

I missed again !!

What is my number?

Based on the BBC Estimator my number is 3,380,867,504 out of 7 billion. So since I have been born the population has almost doubled and I have only contributed 2 to that number, so it must be someone else making babies like crazy.

For comparison Siew Gin is 4,120,091,665th, Tyler is 6,685,375,668th and Cody is 6,842,892,141st.

The website also gives average age,  which didnt seem very accurate, so I checked out living to 100, and based on that I am supposed to make it to 93..  So in theory I am just coming up to halfway through life..

WOW Children's Museum

After trying for a week, we finally made it to WOW Children's museum.  Tyler has been here before a few years back, but this was the first time Cody had been there.

They seemed to enjoy the exhibits, Tyler really liked the bank tube and the pulley where he could raise himself up.  Cody on the other hand seemed to like the tiny toilet and bed inside the doll house and I am getting more convinced that he is left handed.

Here is Tyler halfway up or down the pulley chair..

I can do it Daddy

Cody and Tyler build a snowman !!

Cody hasn't really seen snow, when we came back in April we visited Estes Park and there was snow on the ground, but this is the first time he has really seen it and gone out to play.

I quickly made two snowmen so that the boys, Evelyn and Patrick could decorate them..

Can we go outside now?

They liked decorating the snowmen, Cody needed a little help..

Where does the nose go?

Do you like it Daddy?

Grandad, can you do the nose please?

Tree Down

A few years ago we lost a tree to lightning, this year we lost another to the snow.  Evelyn and Patrick didn't believe that yesterday it was shorts and t-shirt weather and today it is a winter wonderland, but that is Colorado for you.

We woke up to probably 6 inches of snow on the grass and trees, the roads seemed fine from the comfort of the house, but when we looked more closely out of the back window we saw that we had lost one of the tall aspen trees.

After clearing a path, I cut the tree into smaller pieces and moved it off the grass.

Here is the snow and the tree..

Snow Tree

Dinosaur Museum

This week we had a chance to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as Tyler loves the Dinosaurs.  This time Cody seemed a lot more interested in the exhibits and they both had fun walking round.

I had a chance to take the health profile, normally with two kids in tow I cant do this.  No great surprises as my heart rate showed low, but I did only score 0.962 on the Ape Index..  Looking at the picture I am pretty certain this is because I didn't have my arms parallel, so next time I go back I will need to have a do-over.

Pumpkin Carving - The results are in

Some may claim the election was rigged, but the winner of the 2011 Harvest Party Pumpkin Party was an entry from England.  Some may claim this was beginners luck, or a sympathy vote but Patrick was the winner in a vote off..  He was so inspired he even brought some carving equipment back to England with him so he could practice on scrumpy apples for next year.

Can you guess which pumpkin was the winner..

Many pumpkins - only 1 winner - The wolves

Volcano Leaves

This morning the kids got to play with their Grandparents today.  They repainted the volcano, then while it was drying they helped tidy up the leaves...

Painting the Volcano

Tidy those leaves boys !!

Book Stores, Caches and Petes kitchen

Patrick and Evelyn are visiting from England and Siew Gin told me that I had to stop making them do jobs around the house and take them out. They wanted to go to a book store, so I took them to one of the oldest bookstores in Denver to make them feel at home.

Tattered Cover has been around for 40 years and has a lot of books, upwards of 1/2 a million.  It didn't have all the books they were looking for, but they did find some books they wanted.

Then after we had fed Cody, we went to another famous Denver landmark, Petes Kitchen  Cody really enjoyed pouring water and ice on Daddy, then cleaning it up and starting all over again.  We all had big plates of food before driving back home to rest..

Enjoying our lunch

Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Ranch

When grandma and grandad just got here, the kids and I took them to a pumpkin ranch to introduce them to american pumpkin farms and such. But instead, we just brought them to be sucked in to spend a ton of money on silly rides for grandkids!!

Here are some pictures from the event:

The circus is in town

The Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus was in Denver for a few weeks and i thought it'd be cool to take the kids since they've never been to one.

It turned out to be quite spectacular(but i'm easily impressed). Lots of costumes and lights and animals and Tyler liked the clowns. Cody kept asking for more elephants.

We invited Mateo and Adam to come along and the boys had a good time goofing about and actually sat thru almost all of the 2.5 hrs! Impressive!!

All in all, i think Tyler really enjoyed it and Cody.. hmm.. maybe just a little.

The boys getting a tattoo

The starting show

I was particularly impressed by this.. hehe..

Tyler with the world's most expensive bag of cotton candy

Dental Dash 5K - In the rain and up the hill

We have had great weather for the last few weeks, so when I signed up for the Dental Dash 5K it was with the expectation of setting a fast time...

Then I got an email this week from the organizer explaining that the weather was going to be rainy, cold (close to zero) and the course had a lot of hills with the last 300 yards basically straight up..

I was definitely in two minds about doing the race, but in the end I bit the bullet and did the run.

I managed to put in a decent time despite the weather and the hills, 23 minutes and 43 seconds, which gave me 6th place overall and 2nd place in my age group.

My medal finally arrived

Tough Finish

Next week I will be back on the expresso bike which should improve my stamina !!

Tyler and Cody take on a Cougar

This weekend we had a badminton tournament in Colorado Springs. Tyler and Cody came along and were actually pretty well behaved during the day considering it isn't that exciting for them.

When we finished we took this picture of them with the school mascot..