In the outdoor hot tub at Keystone the night before the last ski team

A two week update this time as I was on my way to London last Sunday. That weekend marked Anna’s last on her ski team. She had a great final day and was sad to have the season end. She has progressed so well as a skier this year and is now pretty much the fastest skier in the family.

I enjoyed these ski team weekends as I took Anna to the majority of them. We would hang out on Friday night and then I would drop her off to ski team bright and early on Saturday morning. Then I would usually do some work in the morning and then head out to the mountain after lunch and meet up with Anna where we would ski a few more runs together after ski team.

Yesterday was my birthday and even though I had just got back from London late on Thursday night I decided that I wanted to spend my birthday weekend in Keystone. So, on Friday night we drove up to the condo. We awoke Saturday morning to 6″ of fresh powder so we made an earlier start than usual, getting to the lift by nine.

It ended up being a perfect ski day as far as conditions go. It was warm and sunny and we had fresh snow. At the top of the Outback in Keystone they have a Snowcat ride where they take you to the outer bowls where you can make fresh tracks. This is my favorite type of skiing so I wanted to do it given the great conditions. It was challenging for the kids but I had a great time skiing the fresh powder.

Anna happy to be skiing the fresh powder at the Outback in Keystone

We had a pretty full ski day and we all tired and sore by the time we called it a day. We all went to my favorite Mexican restaurant right by the condo for dinner and then we came home and watched a movie, Apollo 13. It ended up being a bit of a late night but it was a thoroughly enjoyable birthday.

Enjoying my birthday margarita with my two favorite kids

This was the first time we had left our cat, Pickles, at home by herself. We left her extra food and water to get through the two days she would be alone. She seemed to do fine. I think some of us missed her more than she missed us.

Jude was very happy to be reunited with Pickles again

Jude and I like to go for runs around the local park here. A lap around the park is about half a mile and Jude and I have done some races there. He is now officially faster than me at that distance and he is getting stronger all the time. We had another race last weekend just before I left for the airport.

Running a lap around the park

In the hot tub at Keystone the night before ski team

I have been taking Anna to most of the weekends for ski team. We originally thought all four of us would go up to Keystone most weekends but Jude decided this year he really didn’t like skiing any more and so we only did that a couple of times.

Anyway, on Friday night Anna and Marcy drove up to Keystone. Our condo was booked out so we used some points to get a place at Keystone resort right on the lake for Friday night. As you can see they spent some time in the hot tub and pool. Saturday was a cold and miserable day in Keystone so Marcy decided not to ski. And then they had the drive back from hell, taking four hours to get home, a drive that takes an hour and fifteen minutes with no traffic.

Anna takes a selfie on the long drive home

Jude and I watched a movie on Friday night, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and then on Saturday we had a free day. We ran some errands, went to Chipotle and played football in the park with some of the neighbor kids. Marcy and Anna finally got home at 8pm on Saturday night.

Today, we went to watch the new movie, A Wrinkle in Time, which we all loved. It was such a great movie. Marcy and Anna had listened to the entire book on Audible in the car yesterday on their very long drive. This afternoon we hung out at home, did the family crossword puzzle and played some soccer at the park.

Doing the Family Crossword in the Denver Post with lots of clues the kids know

We had some sad news in the Dahlen family this week. They had to put their beloved dog Buddy down. He was an old black lab that had been part of the family for 15 years. The kids both loved him and were sad to see him go. Jude talked about Buddy quite a bit this weekend.

Doing a toast to the Dahlens dog Buddy while out for dinner on Thursday night

Jude is very happy that Spring soccer is under way

This weekend marked the kickoff of the outdoor soccer season in Colorado. Yes, it is still winter but the Colorado Rapids begin their season every year with the Ice Breaker tournament on the first weekend of March. Jude was excited because he was promoted to the White team for this tournament after spending last year on the Blue team.

While Jude’s team won this tournament last year this year they did not do as well this time around. Jude played really well but his team did not do so well losing all three games in the Round Robin. But that didn’t bother Jude that much. He knew he played well and played hard so he was happy with the performance. Hopefully, this will mean during the regular season he will be promoted to White – we find that out this week.

Anna worked on crafts a lot this weekend, finshing her diorama and other things with her clay

Marcy got a call at lunchtime on Friday that Anna wasn’t feeling well. She had been coughing a bit all week but on Friday it got really bad. So, she had to miss ski team again. On Saturday morning while Jude was playing his first game Anna and Marcy went to the doctor. No strep or flu but they gave her some antibiotics because she had fluid in her lungs and we definitely want to prevent an infection. She is doing a bit better today.

Today, Jude had another morning game but we were back home by 10:45am. The rest of the day was spent at home watching a movie and relaxing.