ART'S FIRST SNOW

First stop for our real vacation: Denver Colorado. I think one of the main reasons we were so excited was being able to meet the Lancasters - Pete's cousins from his Mum's side. Especially Maureen. Of course, things only got better when the day before we jetted in, the news reported a possible freak snowstorm the next day. Needless to say, I was considerably more thrilled than people who actually lived in Colorado, who were completely taken by surprise that the weather was turning so early <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/10/national/main930518.shtml>. Sorry. Tropical baby. The coldest thing i've experience is the sucky aircon in the office. It was freezing by the time we went to bed, after a big family dinner at Liz', and I woke up that morning trying to "listen" for if it snowed. Okay. I know now. Snow doesn't make a sound. Ah well. I was completely ready to be disappointed when I pulled back the curtains at 7am.... and everything was white!! Ran straight out - in my jammies - and dove into the ground to make snow angels and pelt everyone with snow balls. I confess that I also walked around garden catching snowflakes with my tongue, which I am absolutely unashamed of as I have since been informed that it is di riguer first-snow behaviour. Bliss. Of course, Pete was freezing. As were most other normal people. But I didn't want to leave the outside and was contemplating breaking into the neighbour's frontyard to use his snow to make more angels. Again, di riguer first-snow behaviour. It was a great leg of the trip. Of course, we headed up to Boulder <http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/>, a beautiful University town that is home to the flat irons, and Sarah and Berrick, two more of Pete's cousins, and the next day (thank God) managed to find an Asian bistro that served half decent Chinese/Thai food. Thank god. If anyone had offered me another fajita or a burger, I would have died. Then it was to Fort Collins to hang with Frank & Jill (also cousins), where we cooked up an Indian feast with spices we brought with us all the way from Singapore. Pete (now better known as Ravi) set the bar ridiculously high with a rendition of his butter chicken (though he ended up having to settle for whipped cream because we could not find normal cream ANYWHERE. ha) Next day... we headed into the Rockies. Got up to 11,000 ft and made mini snowmen. It was utterly mind blowing (and completely made up for the fact that we then had dinner in a restaurant that only had fajitas and, sigh, burgers). The icing on the cake, literally, was the little surprise birthday party the family had for me when we got back... I couldn't have asked for more. Art