A belated birthday celebration for Jude and Anna

The day after Christmas, Boxing Day as I refer to it, we were up early and off on the 10-hour drive for the annual New Year’s trip to Iowa. It was a chilly day to say the least with the temperature not getting into double figures the entire way. So, there was no outside time possible on this trip. We arrived around 7:30pm Iowa time and were greeted by Baba at the bottom of the street in festive gear.

The next day the cousins all came up and as we do every year, we celebrated Jude and Anna’s birthdays. Baba had baked birthday cakes with their age and we all enjoyed singing happy birthday again.

Lily, Anna and Ella horsing around in the living room

As usual the week was full of fun activities. It was very, very cold so there was not much outside time although the kids did go sledding in the front yard a couple of times. There were lots of card games with Baba, plenty of great food, other games and a couple of outings.

The regular cousins trip to Perkins for breakfast…look at those yummy pancakes

The cousins all played together well for the most part with the occasional fight of course. They did best when it was not all five together. The twins loved playing with Anna and Jude did ok one on one with Lily. One morning Lily and Jude went down to help Uncle Nathan build a ramp for their old dog Buddy.

Jude and Lily helped Uncle Nathan make a ramp for their dog Buddy

We also had our regular boys night although this time it was a boys lunch. Jude, Uncle Nathan, Grandpa and I went to watch the Iowa State football team play their bowl game yesterday at a local sports bar. It was a fun game and a great time, Jude really likes his time away from all the girls.

Doing the kids countdown for New Year’s at around 6pm as we get ready for dinner

We had the annual New Year’s celebration with party hats, shakers, balloons, streamers, confetti poppers and some great food. The confetti poppers were the biggest hit.

The kids celebrate New Year with some confetti poppers

Happy New Year!

Confetti everywhere

The first afternoon of winter break was spent decorating gingerbread houses

The kids ended the school term on Thursday at 12 noon. Marcy took them to Chipotle and then it was home where they were greeted with their first present of the season: gingerbread houses. They proceeded to spend the afternoon decorating their new houses. By 4pm I was home and it was off to see the new Star Wars movie. We all absolutely loved the movie.

At the Brown Palace celebrating Christmas tea

On Friday we had a lovely Christmas dinner at the Briere’s house and then Saturday we had the long awaited Brown Palace Christmas tea. Anna decided to forego ski team to visit the Brown Palace for a special Christmas tea. We went for the first time last year and we all loved it. They do a fantastic job with special tea, sandwiches, scones and an assortment of sumptuous desserts.

A couple of inches of snow was just enough for some fun sledding on the hill by our house

On Saturday night we went to the Mile High Church for their Christmas service. It was pretty impressive. It is a big church and they gave everyone a candle as we came in. There was lots of music and singing and at the end everyone in church (probably over 2,000 people) got to light their candle and with the lights dimmed it was an amazing spectacle. It was a lovely service and we will be going back again. On the way home it started snowing and we woke up on Christmas Eve to about 2″ of fresh snow, our first significant snow of the season. So, the kids put on their snow gear and went out for some sledding on the hill by our house.

Gathering by the tree before the opening of presents on Christmas morning

Christmas Day finally arrived and the kids were super excited. Even though this was our first year the kids knew about Santa it didn’t reduce their excitement for the day. We started at sunrise with both kids ready to go downstairs and discover what presents they had.

Anna with her beautiful new red coat she got for Christmas

We had our traditional Indian lunch as we went to our local Indian restaurant for their lunch buffet. And I made fruit salad and whipped cream for dessert, just like I used to have at Christmas when I was a kid. We went for a family walk around the park in the brisk winter air and we finished off the day with Star Wars: Rogue One since the kids had never seen it.

Jude reading his Big Nate book, taking a break from playing soccer in the basement

Anna about to start her first school concert playing the cello

Every year the Waldorf School has a Christmas concert. All the kids from Grades 3-8 participate. So, this was Anna’s first and she did great. The third grade all use string instruments, Anna chose the cello at the start of the school year. They have been practicing for a while and they played three songs well.

Jude having a blast after playing clarinet in his 5th grade Christmas concert

Friday was Marcy’s birthday. We met for lunch downtown at a great new restaurant Marcy has been wanting to try. We had left over Indian food for dinner and then we went out to buy a Christmas tree.

Marcy and the kids celebrate her birthday dessert assortment

This weekend Anna had ski team again and Jude didn’t want to go so I took Anna, we drove up early Saturday morning and then stayed the night in Keystone. She had another great day on the slopes with more terrain open and then at the end of the day Anna went for a few extra runs with me. Jude stayed home with Marcy and went to a synagogue, something he has been wanting to do for a while. He and Marcy both enjoyed it and want to try again there, as well as other places of worship. Jude has been wanting to watch more movies that are not appropriate for Anna, so Marcy indulged him with Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean. Jude was excited to share Pirates with Anna (after he and Marcy decided it wouldn’t be too scary), so Anna got to watch that one on Sunday.

No photos this week as Marcy and I both forgot to take any. It was another busy travel week for me with a trip to both DC and New York. Thankfully, I made it back by midday on Friday this time so we were all able to head up to Keystone together on Friday afternoon.

Anna has ski team every Saturday from now until March. Yesterday, she had an evaluation by the lead coach on the ski team and she said she did well. It seems like Anna is the fastest in her group but she needs to work on her form which they will be doing a lot over the coming weeks.

Jude was a reluctant visitor to Keystone this weekend. He would have rather stayed at home even though he had a good time when I took him up the mountain.

We have started looking at new schools for Jude for next year. He is looking for a change from Waldorf and we agree that it is a good time for him to look at other schools. He will be going into middle school next year so many parents are looking at new schools. We have already been to open houses at two prospective school: The Denver School of Science and Technology and the Boys School of Denver. We think both would work well for Jude.

On Wednesday this past week Marcy toured the International School of Denver. Unfortunately, I was out of town and couldn’t make the tour. Marcy liked it and she thinks it might be the best fit for Jude moving from Waldorf. He will spend the day there shadowing just after the New Year.

Selfie with the Rentons and Miers outside our condo in Keystone

This week I was in New York for work and when I flew into Denver on Friday night I drove straight to the mountains. We had some dear friends from Australia visiting, the Miers, and we spent the weekend with them at our condo in Keystone. They had actually been there since Monday, we just joined them for the weekend. This was their third visit to Colorado but the first in 14 years and the first without their kids (who are now adults).

The first morning of Anna’s ski team in Keystone

Saturday marked Anna’s first time on Ski Team. She loves skiing and loves to go fast so she was excited to join the team at Keystone. She is with a small group of other nine-year-olds and they will practice together every Saturday until mid-March. They will also compete in some formal races starting in January. Anna loved her coach and her group, she said she had a great day and is already looking forward to next Saturday. The rest of us skied all day on Saturday and we actually caught up with Anna’s group on their last run of the day.

Anna, Elaine, myself and Scott at the top of Keystone

Today, we went up the mountain just for the morning. Jude didn’t want to go so he stayed back with Marcy but the four of us went up for some runs. It was way less crowded than Saturday which meant short lift lines and more open spaces on the slopes. I took a video of Anna as she was flying down the mountain.

The weekend was over all too fast and we said goodbye to the Miers after lunch today. We won’t see them again until February, 2019 when we are back in Australia for my sister’s wedding.

Anna loved snuggling with Elaine on the couch