Howdy Well we have come to the end of our 8 day spectacular in Vale - the trip from NYC took a whole day with our first flight sitting on the runway for about 90mins before taking off - which resulted in us having under 10mins to transfer so i had to actually run thru the airport only to arrive at the gate to find out that there was a delay on that flight too. We have been staying with David, Irene, Harrison and John in a sweet house situated up in the mountains - we are about 9,000ft and u can sometimes feel the air being pretty thin - but the scenery is great. On first day we went down into Beaver Creek with the boys and played mini-golf - the king of mini-golf - yes thats me martin - got 2 holes in 1! We then went to the pool at the country club then to the local Rodeo which was awesome - they had the usual stuff like bull-riding blah-blah but they also had mutton bustin - this being where wee kids would be timed riding on the back of sheep and then there was an event where loads of kids chased calfs around trying to pull flags of thier tails - it was hillarious! Next day we went mountain biking - there are 3 different degree's of difficulty green = easy blue = medium black = solid so we started of on a green then went onto another course whci turned out to be a black and i ended up going over the handlebars - i am ok tho! We went to watcha LaCrosse game in the evening whcih was quite interesting - they fairly belt each other with the sticks. Next day went to Minturn Farmers market then we went into Vale and just farted around for the day. Next day we went on a hike we got up to about 11,000ft - the air was really thin and due to our quite poor physical shape we were both knackered. The scenery was really amazing tho and there were piles of snow all over the place. IN the afternoon we played tennis and have decided that we shall enterWimbeldon next year and dominate the mixed doubles - truthfully we sucked and we have the filmage to prove it! We then saw the 4th of July fireworks from Avon in the evening - they were done in cinjunction with songs played on the radio - lots of John Denver and Born in the USA. Following day I went golfing with David and the boys - wasn't all that bad but not that great either. Emma went to the spa at the Ritz and got a manicure. In the evening we went for pizza then to an outdoor ice-rink to do some skating - we were playing tag and emma landed on her butt - this nice lady skated past and tolfd her thats what she gets for trying to tag the martin! Next day we went white-water farting on the Colorado river - there were Grade 3 rapids whci were pretty wild - we both really enjoyed it and would do it again - we got totally soaked and I fell in but that was cause we were playing a game where u had to stand on front edge of boat and try and keep ur balance while they spun it - the water was freezing! Following day we went back into Vale and i purchased a rather fetching Cowboy hat - Yeeha! Then we went paddleboating in a lake where the boys were pushing each other into the murky water - our boats collided and i to fell intot the murky depths - Emma managed to avoid the water! Today i went mountain-biking with the boys again whilst Emma and Irene went to the pool. We've had a really great time in Colorado and head back to NYC tmrw. See everyone soon Cheers Martin & Emma