Anna all ready to go with her lemonade and cookie stand

It started with an idea that Anna and a friend of hers had at school. They were going to make rainbow loom rings and sell them at home. Anna remembered that Baba had given us a lemonade stand a few years ago and so Marcy found it in the shed. (She didn’t have to look too hard; Anna knew exactly where it was and had been wanting to use it for quite some time).

That evening Anna sold a couple of rings to neighbors and a few passersby. Then on Sunday she decided to get serious. She and Marcy baked cookies and muffins and they had the stand all set up to catch the crowd after church. And while I wouldn’t say we ever got busy on the stand today Anna did make $15 from her efforts which she was quite pleased with.

Apart from that it was quite a busy weekend. We had soccer most of Saturday and then we hosted our quarterly “food group” dinner on Saturday night. Today, we had to wrap up the lemonade stand to go and watch Jude’s first flag football game of the season.

Anna gets her new glasses

The kids have been back at school for a couple of weeks now but they had a bit of a treat this past week. I had to leave for my big annual conference and spent nine days away in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Baba came out from Des Moines last Sunday and stayed at our house so Marcy could come to San Francisco. So, right after the conference ended Marcy came out and we spent a few days relaxing in the beautiful city.

Before that, though, Anna had to get new glasses as you can see above. She went to the eye doctor and they recommended it – she loves accessories so she was excited about her new fashion statement.

Jude playing soccer in the backyard by himself in the pouring rain

The soccer season started last weekend and Jude was so excited about it. They had a couple of practices and they had a successful first game. They won 9-3 and Jude scored a good goal. I didn’t get to see it unfortunately but got the full run down from Jude after the game. Then they came home and he continued to play soccer in the backyard despite the pouring rain.

We rode bikes to Sausalito from downtown SF – going back and forth on the Golden Gate

When Marcy came to visit we had the LendIt team dinner so she was able to finally meet everyone that I work with. But then I took Thursday and Friday off so we had some time to relax. We decided to go for a long walk on Thursday – we walked around 15 miles around the city. Friday we had massages and had a relaxing afternoon catching up on our favorite TV shows. Then Saturday we rented bikes and rode to Sausalito, going back and forth along the Golden Gate. It was a beautiful ride, particularly going over the bridge, and the weather was perfect.

Having lunch on the water at the Trident in Sausalito

Baba brought the kids to the airport to see us as she had an afternoon flight. It was so great to see Jude and Anna again – I had missed them terribly after being away from them for so long. We had a nice reunion lunch and then Baba had to take her flight back home.

The crazy thing is that we left warm 80 degree weather in San Francisco and came back to 35 degrees in Denver and 6″ of snow on the ground. It meant all sport was canceled this weekend and we were lucky to make it home on time.

Jude with a kitten at Lily’s friend’s house

On Tuesday we all took an Uber ride to the airport (in a Tesla no less) and I went off to New York to work while Marcy and the kids went to Iowa. I then joined everyone when I flew from New York to Des Moines on Friday night.

The Iowa kids were in school so Jude and Anna got their grandparents to themselves through Friday. They went to the zoo, the Science Center, helped Grandpa work on his car and had many indulgences. On Friday night the big kids (Lily, Jude and Anna) all went with Uncle Nathan to see the Iowa Wild hockey team play and they stayed to the very end – not making it home until 10pm. They all had a great time.

Anna with one of the new kittens

On Saturday I took the kids to Glow Golf and then they went to a friend of Lily’s who had a cat that had just had kittens. They loved playing with the little kitties.

Today we had a wonderful morning at the park – the weather was warm and there was not a cloud in the sky. We played some soccer and before we knew it was time to have a quick lunch and be off to the airport.

The kids enjoying a group goodbye hug

While there is always some arguing and bickering the kids all love to hang out with each other and are always sad when it is time to go. While we were at the airpot Lily sent us this sweet picture she had drawn for us.

Lily’s love picture of her family