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