It's been a long time. Again!

Can you believe how quickly time flies? We certainly can't. And that's why our blog posts seem to go for a long time between updates. Life is racing us by and before we know it, another month has gone by.




Can you also believe that we've been here two years already? So that's one more to go as it stands at the moment. Our "bucket list" has not had too much more crossed off it so we have to make more of a concerted effort this year as we kind of relaxed on it last year, having been pretty diligent in ticking things off in 2008.



So what's been going on in CT lately then? Well, Ian made the local TV news whilst fighting a fire in Glastonbury near the ferry crossing. A barn went up quite well and Company 2 were called as the nearest station. Ian was out in the car with Maddy, so by the time he reached the station, the engine was just pulling out so he decided to follow it straight to the scene. With the sirens going on the engine, Maddy decided to give Ian his own, living version of a siren :-D As they followed along behind, our hound howled her heart out in an attempt to not be out done and clear the route for them!


Once at the scene, Ian was manning one of the hoses when the TV crew turned up. On that evening's newscast, he was front and centre for all to see. He then got some added air time when one of his colleagues was being interviewed and Ian was in the background getting his kit off (wolf whistle!!). Although we are unable to share the TV footage of the incident, see if you can spot our hero in these pictures.



Speaking of Maddy, she's now graduated from obedience training :) We've come to realise that dog training is a lifelong exercise and she certainly needs it. When you are out with her and have food then she's a totally different dog to the one you take out without food! She's getting the hang of some things that are totally against her nature, like impulse control around food (there's a theme here!) and she's not jumping up as much. But she's still a beagle at heart.



This was demonstrated recently when she stayed with one of our friends while we were both away for a few days. Vicky has a fenced yard and the curious, scent-sniffing beagle managed to find the one weak point in the fence and escaped. She went on a solo excursion around East Glastonbury before a kind lady picked her up. She tried to call Annalie but she was in India with work so the phone didn't connect that well. By the time Annalie knew what was going on, she finally managed to get in touch with the lady concerned who told us she'd ultimately called the dog warden. So Maddy had a few hours in doggy jail until Ian got over there to pick her up. Not such the angel she makes out that she is!



Winter here in CT has been a strange affair. We've had nowhere near as much snow as last winter. And the snow that we have had has disappeared within the week as the temperatures have been incredibly mild, bringing more rain than white precipitation! We haven't been up on the slopes at all this winter, although we do have our little doggy to consider too, but she has plenty of fans who would look after her for the day if we asked nicely. Apparently the snow in Vermont has been OK, but then it's much further north.



Talking of the more Northern states, Ian took a few days out to go up to Maine with some of his fellow firefighters to go snowmobiling. Even the snow up there was patchy, forcing them to change the location of their trip at the last minute. Their original destination, Eagle Lake, didn't have enough snow for them to make the most of it, so they moved their trip to Kokadjo, which had better conditions. Here there was lots of fun to be had with boys toys, covering 200-300 miles a day.

The trips they took meant that Ian encountered many unusual sights. These included a pair of antique steam train engines, just sat in the middle of nowhere. They also rode across frozen lakes that were several miles wide and a few moose dotted here and there. But really, it was just like the rest of Maine. Miles and miles of nothing!

During the winter there is also a national ritual called the Superbowl. The whole country comes to a standstill as friends host parties for each other and the nation focuses on what the best adverts were. The ad slots in the Superbowl are probably THE most expensive slots in the world/year. A 30-second spot can cost millions of $. But it has to be said that this year's fayre was pretty poor compared to the normal standard. The biggest news was who wasn't advertising, after Pepsi pulled its usual ad spots and decided to spend £20 million on a social media campaign instead.



Anyway, Ian and Annalie had different offers for the night. Annalie headed over to Vicky's for a girlie Superbowl with Suzanne and Wendu, while Ian headed over to Mickey's. Having just got back from Singapore, Annalie was pretty jet-lagged, so part way through the third quarter she started to fade and was nodding off throughout the remainder of the game! We were all rooting for the Indianapolis Colts (for varying reasons!) but as Rolls-Royce has a big site there, we only thought it was fair. Unfortunately, despite being a close game, they lost out to the New Orleans Saints.



The 2010 season of Ian's favourite sport starts fairly soon, but we got to experience a treasured piece of baseball a bit early. The World Series trophy, won last season by Ian's beloved New York Yankees, was on show at Mohegan Sun one Saturday, so we duly headed down there to get a close up view of the famous silverware. The queue to take photos with it was tiny so we duly took a shot. Don't you think Ian looks like a security guard with the way he's standing?! Annalie is sure it is just pride though ;-)

And finally Annalie has been getting more involved in her football team (she refuses to call it soccer!). There have been socials arranged to try and bond the team. The first of which involved a night out in Hartford. Annalie played out until nearly 1am, and then got up at 6.30am to go to boot camp at the gym! Now that's dedication for you! Or is it just because she wanted to work off the Guinness she'd been drinking the night before? ;-)

What Christmas brings in CT

December was upon us immediately following our trip back to the UK. Although it is typically a quieter month for Annalie at work, there was still a lot going on. First and foremost was the IAE Holiday Party. After plenty of searching, Annalie finally found herself a dress which she was willing willing to make do with. She'd been determined not to wear black, but she did in the end! But she decided to accessorise it instead to liven up the outfit, opting for red hangbag and shoes. The only photo we have is the official one, and we must get that electronically to show you! Of the photos that we took, Annalie is in none of them, mainly because she had the camera all night!

There were plenty more festivities including team dinner, lunch with Annalie's ad agency, a departmental lunch, and more and more eating. But finally work came to an end for the Holidays and the festivities began. Firstly, on Christmas Eve, everyone was invited to Kate and Jason's for a few drinks. Then on Christmas day we went over to Chris and Wendu's for a scrumptious dinner of beef and yorkie puds :) followed by some fun and games on Bop-it and Uno Extreme once Suzanne had arrived. On Boxing Day it was over to Hazel and Wayne's for yet more drinks and then the calm descended.

Annalie had made a comment a few weeks' earlier about wanted a real Christmas tree for the first time ever. As neither of us have had one before, and because we were spending Christmas here in CT, it seemed that it should be a case of when in Rome. The farm stores around here are abundant with trees throughout December, but Ian left it until just over a week before Christmas to pick one up and surprise Annalie with it when she got home that night :)

After a couple of days to ourselves, we had booked ourselves a couple of days away in Washington DC to go and be proper tourists for a change. We got Southwest flights into Baltimore, which is just a 30-minute train ride to DC, and booked ourselves a hotel for less than $100 a night. Over New Year as well! The hotel wasn't amazing but it was really well located for all of the major attractions, including a pub that we'd seen that we fancied spending New Year's Eve in.

So we hit all of the major attractions - the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Memorials on the Mall, the White House, the Newseum etc. We killed more time than we thought possible! But my was it cold?! We had queued up for Washington Monument tickets early in the morning and got some for 12pm. We turned up at the site at 11.30 thinking we'd have to stand outside for half an hour, only to find that they were running about 30 minutes behind schedule as it was. By the time we finally got inside, our noses and hands had lost their feeling! The view from the top gave us something to take our minds of the numbness, and Annalie also found a fan heater to stand in front of!

Despite the cold we really enjoyed our short visit. New Year's Eve was spent in Fado's Irish Pub, just a stone's throw from our hotel. They did a very good offer for dinner and included a glass of champagne for starters and also at midnight. We went for a late booking so that we could drag dinner out to near enough midnight, but we gave up in the end and saw in the New Year with a coffee in our hotel room - we must be getting old!!

We were back in CT late on New Year's day, for a relaxing weekend before work started for Annalie again.

December was not the end of our Christmas celebrations. The Fire Department had failed to find a date suitable to everyone in December so they settled for a Holiday Dinner in January instead. They chose 2 Hopewell, conveniently located opposite the Fire House! Strangely the spouses were free but all the guys had to pay. Not that we're complaining, at least it's something for free!

Speaking of the Fire Department, Ian had his first real fire call over the Holidays as a two-car garage went up in flames. The owner had installed some expanding foam insulation earlier in the day and something had caused it to ignite. So finally Ian got his first fire under his belt. This was followed by a second fire call a few weeks later as a house sun room somehow ignited in the early hours of the morning. He returned home just in time to bid farewell to Annalie as she was about to be picked up for a flight to Singapore.

Maddy has been growing in confidence and cheekiness daily! She's nothing like the dog that arrived with us six months ago. Although she has a great disposition and is pretty well behaved, we decided early on that we would put her through obedience training, as much for us as for her. So far she's been the star pupil and has been defined as "super demo dog" as they use her the most to demonstrate drills. It's a reward-based training programme, which equals lots of food/treats. She's a beagle. It's a match made in heaven! As usual, everybody there loves her and she does such a good job. She's very trusting of people so she will go easily with the trainers and they lavish her with attention (which she also loves!).

We've also been frequenting the dog park more and Maddy is becoming a lot more playful now. It is still a bit of a people park (as opposed to a dog park) to her, but her behaviour is significantly more dog-like now! She's confident around other dogs and lets them know when she's not happy (the good old beagle "bay" comes out) but equally she picks her play buddies and gets on with it. We've also used a local "pet hotel" at PetSmart while we've been away and put her in doggie day camp while she's been there. The report cards we get when we pick her up show she enjoys her social time.

And we've finally got round to ticking another item off the "US Bucket List" when we took a drive out to Cape Cod. It was very much out of season so very quiet in many areas. But we thought we'd introcude Maddy to the sea and beach. We found a dog beach in Provincetown (P'town) and took her down ot the water's edge. At first she confidently approached the water, then she decided to drink it! That didn't go too well (obviously!) and she didn't like the water after that! But she did like some play time in the sand!

Well, we think that's enough for now. Sorry we couldn't be more detailed about some aspects and we promise not to leave it so long in future.

Sorry for the delay!

We guess that's probably a bit of an understatement! It's been over two months since we put pen to paper/fingers to keyboard so we've slapped ourselves on the wrists and promise to keep things more up-to-date from now on. Naturally there's a fair bit to update you on and, considering some of it was so long ago, we may be lacking on the details somewhat.

So, taking you back to November and just after our last blog post, it happened to be Annalie's birthday. Rather than go for a big night out, she opted for one of the many weekday "Happy Hours" in Glastonbury, choosing Sakura Garden to get a bit of sushi and other Asian delights. A few of our friends turned up to share the low-key festivities and wish Annalie well.

The following day we had scheduled to fly back to the UK for a whirlwind visit in order to attend Annalie's graduation ceremony in Leeds. One thing we hadn't considered was that it was the afternoon before Thanksgiving and, much like the UK Bank Holidays, there is a mass exodus on that afternoon. So we gave ourselves three hours to get to Boston, twice the usual time needed. As we set off, we started to hear about 40+ mile tailbacks on the I-90, or Mass Pike as it is affectionately known. Not knowing it too well though, we couldn't figure out which direction the traffic build-up was. So we feared the worst and just kept on heading for the airport.

Luckily for us, the problems were actually going Westbound and we were heading East, so we escaped most of the issues. It seemed that the exodus was headed out of Boston on the roads rather than escaping the city via the airport. When we got to Boston we found the terminal to be pretty empty, another surprise consdiering the extended weekend ahead. But on speaking to some of the BA staff, Americans don't tend to travel internationally at Thanksgiving, instead aiming for domestic travel to visit friends and relatives. So we had an easy journey through security.

Upon landing in the UK, the whirlwind hit. We touched down and headed straight for our hire car. After picking that up we went straight for our favourite breakfast spot near where we used to live in Hillingdon. After a good old Wonder Cafe meal (that would be a sausage sandwich on doorstop for Annalie and a Big Breakfast for Ian) we set off up the motorway to Derby. There we headed straight for our old "local", the Bonnie Prince, to meet up with some of Annalie's former colleagues for lunch. It was lovely to catch up with some of the old crew, but there were almost too many people and it was hard to get quality time with them all.

After a couple of hours there we carried on Northbound to get to Annalie's parents'. After a short break and a brew, we all went out to meet Andrea, Greg, Jack and Lucy for dinner (noticing the eating theme here?!) and our only chance to catch up with the "clan". The kids grow up so fast when you're not around to see them regularly. We hadn't seen them since they were over in Orlando in April.

On Friday it was over to Leeds to go to Annalie's graduation. After getting kitted out in all the formal garb for the second time, we wandered around a little, grabbed some lunch and then found our way to the ceremony room.

Thankfully it was all over pretty quickly, just 30 minutes stood between us and a glass of cheap wine! We didn't hang around for too long, having had a better offer from Annalie's old uni buddy James. He lives in Leeds at the moment so we met him and his girlfriend in the bar in Harvey Nics (oo er!) for a glass of more expensive stuff. With bubbles! We had a lovely dinner for the six of us and some more wine before a late drive home.

The following morning was a relatively early getaway again as we headed for Bristol this time to meet Ian's parents. We'd arranged to meet at Cribbs Causeway shopping centre as Annalie wanted to hunt for a dress for the IAE Holiday Party. Her rationale was that, if she bought something in the UK, there was less chance of wearing the same dress as someone else. Last year there had been one noticeable style that was replicated a lot so we didn't want any of that. Sadly her quest was unsuccessful and she left Cribbs empty handed.

However we successfully located Ian's parents and had a couple of hours shopping with them before we headed into Clifton in Bristol for our overnight stop. We'd all booked into the Avon Gorge hotel so that we had easy access to the delights of this trendy part of town. What we hadn't counted on was the weather - it absolutely bucketed down so we didn't get to make as much of it as we would have liked.

Annalie and Ian were most impressed with the fact that their room had been upgraded from a Village View room to a Gorge View so we had the spectacular sight of the Clifton Suspension Bridge right from our bedroom window. The downside was that, despite requesting a quiet room, it was adjacent to the lift shaft. Not being the complaining types, we didn't bother making a fuss and were just glad of somwhere to rest. After dinner, and a few more drinks, the party in the hotel was still in full swing, creating yet more noise to prevent a proper sleep. Upon our return to the US, a well-worded email complaint has yielded complimentary accommodation next time we wish to travel through Bristol. Might have to make the most of that before they forget about the offer!

Our final stop on our UK tour was to Wokingham to have Sunday lunch with TC, James, Elly and Matt. A fabulous feast is always guaranteed and this was no different. A wonderful three-course banquet was lavished upon us to set us up for our journey back to the US. It was a long journey, arriving back home at about 1am Monday morning. Annalie had to get up for work the next day, so it was a tough trip with all the travelling involved, but worth it.

For ease of reading, we'll split up the rest of the blog entries. At least then you can take it one step at a time!

Back to reality

Well, it seems we hit earth with a bump after our amazing three week trip to NZ. No sooner were we back on US terra firma than Annalie was back to work. It was exceptionally hard for her to get motivated after such a long break, but she had some issues to deal with that needed her to be on the ball. Thankfully we didn't suffer too badly from jetlag and we managed to get our body clocks back on the right timezone quickly enough.

Maddy seemed ever so pleased to see us, even though she'd had a great time with Shannon and Steve, who looked after her so well, despite her picking up another bladder infection. She really bonded well with their dog, Dexter, and apparently he was acting like a big brother, all protective of her while playing in the dog park! Now we had never seen her play with other dogs, so we haven't taken her much. However, we have now witnessed her in full play mode, usually taking on dogs that are at least twice her size, and she appears to have a thing for Boxers! So maybe the dog park should be on our itinerary more often?! She's also been doing other unusual stuff, like finally sleeping on a dog bed/pillow that we bought for her before she arrived. Finally she's discovered that it's comfortable. And if she can't get on the furniture, maybe it's the next best thing!

The week after we got back to the US it was that major American tradition of Hallowe'en to be enjoyed. The Fire Department makes a big deal out of this, so on the Friday night, we went down to the Fire House t help make up goodie bags of sweets to give out to the kids the following night. We also got creative and carved out a few pumpkins to create the right kind of mood. Then Saturday night Ian was part of the annual parade from the local junior school to the Fire House, where a show is put on. Little did he realise when turning up, he was going to have a much bigger than abticipated part!

In our attempts to avoid trick or treaters, we were invited around to our friends, the McCanns, for some dinner. There were a few others also around and we let the McCann children fend off the other children from the estate! This night was one of seven scheduled games in the baseball "World" Series, which this year featured Ian's beloved Yankees against the Phillies. Although there were three bug Yankees fans in the room, they managed to resist asking for the TV to be turned on. For a while at least. The Phillies took an early lead. Then when the Yankees equalised, all hell broke loose and the TV could no longer be resisted. With most of the other people in the room unable to understand the rules, it was partially an education session, but they were much more interested in the game than trying to teach others what it all meant. Eventually, after a significant rain delay, the Yankees prevailed. On that night and to win the entire Series. Let's just say it's like winning the FA Cup, or the League. But not quite!

One thing that has kept Annalie occupied since coming back from NZ has been the Dubai Air Show, so she ended up there for nearly a week. Despite the sun, she only managed to spend about 2 hours lazing by the pool as she was indoors working for most of the time. The evenings were mostly free though and this gave Annalie the opportunity to go snowboarding - yes, snowboarding - whilst there. Like in the UK, Dubai has an indoor slope that produces real snow. Only unlike the UK versions, it is that big it even has a chair lift! They are also geared up for all the tourists that turn up without any ski gear, so the price includes hire of clothing as well as boots and boards (or skis if you so prefer!). She took along two colleagues from Pratt & Whitney and one from Rolls-Royce and much fun was had by all.

Most of the other evenings in Dubai were informal dinners and drinks, but as is typical of an air show, there were too many late nights and too many drinks involved ;) At least it gave Annalie the chance to catch up with some of her friends from Rolls-Royce, specifically Zara, who regularly shares a drink or three on the road!

The other big milestone has obviously been Ian playing age catch-up with Annalie ;) For his birthday Annalie tried a novel restaurant idea by visiting a Brazilian Charruscaria in Hartford. These are based around meat, meat and more meat, so Annalie thought the carnivore in Ian would enjoy it. The concept is simple: you have an indicator on your table that has a red end and a green one. If you turn it up to have the green one showing, the servers will keep coming to serve you with freshly grilled meats. And they keep coming until you turn it to red. You can keep going all night long if you want, just turning the indicator as you require, and it is an Atkins diet dream! More meat than you dare to imagine. We don't think we actually managed to try everything on the menu! This is also supplemented by an all-you-can-eat salad and sides bar too. If you dare!

We also made a trip to the Bushnell Theater in Hartford to watch what is traditionally the start of the ski season, a documentary film about skiing and snowboarding by Warren Miller. This year's was Dynasty, and it featured some amazing mountains as the backdrop to short stories about skiiers and boarders from around the world. There were also some pretty amazing stunts as part of this that had the entire audience gasping. We didn't think it would be so popular, so we turned up just over half an hour before the showing started, only to find out that there were just 11 tickets left - phew! After the showing, we ventured to Tango in Glastonbury for a few drinks and something to eat, meeting up with some of Annalie's workmates there.

We finally managed to sort through our photos from NZ, all 3,000 of them!!! We whittled it down so that we could produce an affordable photobook to put on the shelves and also to show people. There's still several hundred to choose from, but Annalie spent hours creating a book to be printed, before having real trouble sending it to be processed! Ian managed to get that bit sorted though and the books (it was BOGOF!) have now arrived. And even if we say so ourselves, there's some damn fine pictures in there! We've actually uploaded most of them to the online album, but it doesn't quite have the same effect!

Other than that, it's all been quite low key and settling back into the swing of things here. Although we're off again soon enough.