At the Colorado Rapids home opener

We have been blessed with some great weather these past couple of weekends. Last weekend I took the kids to the Colorado Rapids (our professional soccer team) home opener. It was a gorgeous day, it was actually hot sitting in the sun for a couple of hours. Jude was glued to the match, which was a good one, while Anna would have been happy to leave at half time. Her favorite part of going to these games are the treats – she loved the blue cotton candy I bought her.

I had to do another quick trip to New York last week and actually flew back to Denver on my birthday. After the kids got home from school we celebrated with apple pie & ice cream (my favorite) and then we played some soccer in the backyard before heading off to Benny’s, my favorite Mexican restaurant.

My birthday celebration at Benny’s

For over a month now there has been a major sporting event happening that most of America is oblivious to. I am talking about the Cricket World Cup. This has been played in Australia and New Zealand and included the 16 best cricket playing countries in the world – these are former British colonies for the most part. I have introduced Jude and Anna to the World Cup by having them watch the 5-minute highlights online of every Australian match.

This weekend was the World Cup Final and Australia played New Zealand in Melbourne. I was delighted to see when I woke up this morning that Australia won the game quite convincingly and were world champions. After watching the highlights of the final this morning Jude asked if we could play cricket in the backyard. We just happen to have a kids cricket set from when we lived in Sydney in 2012, so we dusted it off and had a 1-hour family game of backyard cricket.

Playing some backyard cricket

Today, Marcy took the kids to the craft store because Jude wanted to make a diorama. Jude spent most of his savings on some caveman and prehistoric animal figures and then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon working on his creation. Anna followed Jude’s lead and put together her own diorama.

Jude created this diorama from a cardboard box, paint, clay and some little animal toys. It is a work in progress, he has plans to complete the sides and back tomorrow.

Ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq with the LendIt team on March 11.

Well the good news this week that I am starting to feel better and I was able to make the trip to New York to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq on Times Square. This was a huge honor for LendIt, a company that has been in existence less than two years, but one that is at the epicenter of the fast growing peer to peer lending industry.

I got back to Denver late on Thursday night and left my suitcase open on the couch. Anna discovered it when she got home from school and thought it would be funny to wear some of my clothes.

Anna trying on some of my work clothes

This weekend we worked around the house and got some projects done. We had a short brick wall under our carport that we decided to knock down, so Marcy and the kids went at it on both Saturday and Sunday. The kids worked really hard, they carried every brick down to the sidewalk, and they were able to get the wall demolished by lunch time on Sunday. I was not much help in the process as I spent a good chunk of this weekend working on our taxes.

Jude hard at work demolishing our brick wall

Marcy showing Anna how to use a chisel and hammer

The weather was gorgeous this weekend. Today was the warmest day of the year so far and the kids spent pretty much the whole day outside. After working on the brick wall they played in the backyard and we went up to the playground for some soccer and frisbee. And they also spent some time climbing trees.

Climbing the tree in our front yard

It has been quite the week and weekend. I have been sick with the flu since last Sunday, only starting to really feel better today. Marcy and the kids were hit with it as well. The kids both had a couple of days off school although the flu didn’t hit them as hard as it hit Marcy and I. For me, it was the most sick I have ever been as an adult – I lost 7 pounds in less than a week and I am nowhere near 100% recovered eight days later.

The week wasn’t all about sickness thankfully. Anna showed off her yoga style below.

Anna doing the “crow” yoga pose which takes tremendous upper body strength

I had promised Anna that we would have a special Anna and Daddy date on Saturday. I bought tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters in the afternoon and while Anna enjoyed it somewhat we were both too sick to really get much out of it. We both complained that it was too loud and we left at halftime.

Anna and me at the Harlem Globetrotters at the Pepsi Center

Jude barely left the house all weekend so this afternoon I made them both head to the playground. Jude had enough strength to climb some of the bars and that was about it.

Jude lets a butterfly land on his face at the Butterfly Pavilion

The week before last the kids were off school and we decided to stay in Denver for a change. This is the week we have been going to Mexico for the last couple of years but with our big trip to Australia coming up in April we decided a Mexico trip would be too much.

So, one of the activities that Marcy planned was a trip to the Butterly Pavilion. It had been a while and the kids had a great time. Anna and Jude were both brave in letting the tarantula crawl over their hand. But most impressive was Jude who as you can see in the photo above he let a butterfly land on his face and let it stay there for 10-15 seconds. Marcy was so impressed with how still he stayed for it, something she would not let happen (nor I).

Anna lets Rosie the tarantula crawl over her hand (with adult supervision of course)

After a pretty mild January with virtually no snow February hit us with a steady flow of snowstorms. Last week the school had a snow day and it was so cold that Marcy stayed around the house all day with the kids. They ventured outside for shoveling and to build tunnels in the snow.

Jude digging a tunnel in the snow in our front yard

The other major pastime of the past couple of weeks has been Monopoly. We have probably played 10 games of Monopoly in the last two weeks and that is saying something given they can last for 3 hours or more. Jude is really into it, he gets so excited that sometimes he can barely control himself. He is quite the competitive game player. But having said that, he is learning to lose graciously, something we have had to work on a lot. Win or lose Jude loves to play often talking about the game for hours afterwards.

Anna likes it as well although she is probably not quite as passionate as Jude. What she has taken to is being the banker. She needs help but she takes the job very seriously and likes to help out in this way. She is also much more fair. If someone has run out of money she will want to give them some so they can stay in the game.

We love Monopoly because it really helps build many important skills. They obviously get to learn math, but with Jude starting to read, he gets to practice reading the Chance and Community Chest cards. Even Anna is starting to try reading for just that reason. It also teaches about spending money and delayed gratification.

Monopoly has been the game of choice in the Renton household lately

With so much inside time the kids can get a bit antsy. So, after our Monopoly game yesterday we said they had to get out of the house and run around the block. Today, they did the same thing. Jude ran 7 laps around the block with is roughly 2 miles and he ran hard and strong. Anna ran the better part of 4 times around, with some rests in between. We are going to continue to encourage this activity.

Anna in full stride running around the block outside our house