Anna likes it when I lift her up over the waves

We had a glorious week in Cabo San Lucas. The weather was unseasonably warm – with the temperature creeping towards 90 degrees on a couple of occasions.

We were lucky on this trip because Baba and Grandpa were also in Cabo for their annual trip away from the Iowa winter. We were not staying at the same resort but they were just a few miles down the road. The kids were so excited to have their grandparents there that they were very happy to go and stay at their place for a couple of nights. This worked out well for everyone as Marcy and I got to have an extended date and the grandparents and kids had some special time together.

We all got together for dinner at the marina in Cabo one night

Most days we headed down to the beach. It was far less crowded than the pool and the kids preferred playing and swimming in the ocean anyway. And by the ocean there were many Mexicans selling the typical tourist wares. But one thing that caught Anna’s attention was a lady who could braid hair. She also sold colorful dresses that Anna fell in love with. So, we got a combo deal.

Anna getting her braids put in

They had plenty of beach activities as well. You could go horse back riding, jet skiing and kayaking. The kids decided they really wanted to go kayaking. So, on our last day there we rented a kayak and went out into the ocean. It was actually the biggest swell we had all week so we had to be careful. We had all four of us in the one kayak but we managed to get through the breakers and into deep water quite easily. The kids had a blast. We would take it in turns with the boys then the girls paddling. Before we knew it two hours had past and all four of us could easily have gone longer.

Getting ready to launch our kayak with our resort in the background

Yesterday, sadly our beach vacation came to an end. This was our fourth trip to Mexico and Marcy and I decided that we want to make this an annual event. We have been using Marcy’s parent time share weeks for every visit but we thought it was time to get our own. So, we went online and were surprised at how inexpensive the timeshare resales were. We connected with a reseller office in Cabo and ended up buying a one week timeshare at the Pueblo Bonito Rose for just $1,500. We will be staying there next year and every year for the foreseeable future.

Today, we stayed around the house all day. Jude and Anna were happy to be home and didn’t leave the house once except to play in the backyard. Jude and I ended up playing a marathon game of touch football (almost two hours) with Anna joining in from time to time.

Jude practicing his punting in the backyard

Marcy helping the kids look for fish in Cabo, Mexico

This week started off at Keystone after a huge snowstorm hit the Colorado mountains. We decided to drive back Monday morning to avoid the Sunday afternoon rush and boy are we glad we did. The drive is normally about an hour and a half in decent weather but we heard stories of 5+ hour drives on Sunday. On Monday morning the roads were still a little treacherous but there was not much traffic and we made it back to Denver in two hours – just in time for school.

It was a short week at school because on Friday morning we flew to Mexico for our annual winter beach trip. This year it was Cabo and we have been really looking forward to this trip after what has been an unusually cold and snowy winter in Denver. When the flight touched down in Cabo and the pilot announced it was 85 degrees in Cabo everyone was happy.

Jude loves playing in the sand and the water

While we have quite a decent pool at the hotel the kids prefer to spend their time on the beach. Jude in particular loves playing in the waves. And we have a good setup here where there is the ocean beach with waves, although it is too rough to swim there, and also a little inlet where the water is calm and it is perfect for swimming. And snorkeling. The kids put on their goggles today and discovered all the fish swimming around in the little bay.

Anna enjoys the waves too

The weather has been fantastic since we got here on Friday. Sunny and mid-80’s every day. This has meant lot of beach time so far. We have our little spot down on the beach where it is not crowded and we can easily walk to the inlet and the ocean beach.

Anna is doing her best to stay healthy in Mexico

Anna has been fighting off a cough since we arrived. We actually noticed her coughing on the way to the airport on Friday and we thought, “Oh great, here we go again.” Last year in Mexico Anna was really sick for about half the trip. This time she is managing ok and not getting any worse. I think her daily inhaler helps and she has also been sleeping well. Fingers crossed for the rest of the week.

Anna skiing Keystone mountain on a powder day

We spent this weekend up in Keystone where Jude and Anna had another all day ski lesson. This time they spent the entire day on blue runs. How quickly they progress beyond the beginner phase. Whereas last time Anna was scared of blue runs, by the end of this weekend she was disappointed if we had to stick to green runs. She is already a fast skier and she skies with good control. And most importantly, she loves it.

Jude skiing down a blue run at Keystone with Marcy right behind him

Jude also loved skiing this weekend. Today was a family ski day after both kids were in ski school yesterday. We skied a couple of long runs before lunch and both kids skied really well. Jude is good at getting back in control once he starts to go too fast and he is definitely the more careful of the two. What is great is that both Jude and Anna ski at the same pace – this makes for a much easier family ski day. By the end of the day Jude wanted more so he and I went up for a final run while Marcy and Anna walked back to our condo.

On the lift heading up the mountain on our family ski day

It was quite an amazing weekend at Keystone. We had 11″ of snow yesterday and probably close to the same today. We decided to delay our drive back to Denver until tomorrow morning because the roads were bad and the traffic was awful. It was probably a 3-4 hour drive heading back tonight. Much better to have a nice relaxing evening here and head back in the morning.

Jude after a hard day on the slopes

Today was the annual Superbowl party at our house. I have been hosting these parties since before I met Marcy and today was a special day because the Broncos were playing in the big game. We had a full house and were all very excited when it came time to kickoff. But for the Denver fans it soon turned ugly.

Jude, on the other hand, was rooting for Seattle and he was joined by a couple of Seattle natives in the crowd. Jude is learning more about the game every time he watches and he asked questions throughout the game. But most of all he was just very happy that Seattle was doing well.

Anna watched some of the game with us but Jude watched the entire game and by the end of it he was the only kid left watching. He celebrated with Melissa, who is from Seattle.

Yesterday when I was running errands for the game I stopped in to Target. Anna really wanted to try on shoes so I let her loose in the kids shoes area. I had to drag her away after half an hour of trying on virtually every kids shoe in her size.

Anna doing her favorite pastime – shopping for shoes at Target