Christmas morning and ready to open presents

Christmas day arrived in Denver and the kids were excited as usual. After a flurry of present opening we spent some time outside. It was another relatively warm day in Denver so Jude and I went for a run and then we spent some time in the park in the afternoon.

Enjoying the park on Christmas Day

On Boxing Day we packed the car and started on our trip to Iowa. We stopped halfway in Kearney, Nebraska and arrived in Des Moines in the afternoon of the 27th. The kids were so excited to see their Des Moines family.

Sharing presents with the cousins

With just over a month to the Iowa caucuses every Democratic politician is coming through Des Moines right now. We saw that Pete Buttigieg was in West Des Moines on Saturday night so we decided to go and see him speak.

Waiting for Mayor Pete to come on stage

Marcy was really keen to get there early so we ended up with a spot right near the front. We all enjoyed his speech and afterwards he came around and shook hands with people at the front. Both Marcy and I got to shake his hand.

Listening to Mayor Pete in West Des Moines

Yesterday was a day of watching football for Jude and I, the other kids went to see a movie. Today, all the kids went to an escape room and managed to make it out with a few minutes to spare.

Making it out of the escape room

Olive being cute

After our long weekend away in Mexico we decided to have a very low key weekend. We spent pretty much the entire weekend at home, stayed in each night and watched a couple of movies (Breakthrough and Sleepless in Seattle). And, of course, spent some time with the wonderful Olive and Pickles.

Jude and I went for a run yesterday, mailed our Christmas cards and we watched a bit of football. We volunteered at the local Unity church today and that was about the extent of the weekend.

Pickles taking it easy

Happy to be at the beach again

This weekend we spent in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Sunday was Marcy’s birthday and a few weeks ago I asked her if she was interested in going somewhere warm for a birthday. After a couple of Denver snowstorms she was fully on board, so I cashed in some airline and hotel points and we were off Cabo.

We played a lot of football on the beach (and in the pool)

We stayed at the Sheraton Grand Hacienda Del Mar right on the beach. We had a fantastic room, thanks to a lucky upgrade, that had separate bedroom for the kids. But we didn’t spend much time there with the kids making the most of their beach time. They went swimming in the ocean (it was really calm when we we there, and warm), played football, played games they just made up and raced after waves. And we spent quite a bit of time by the pool and hot tub as well.

Jude and Anna playing a game on the beach

As is typical in Mexico, there were all kinds of people selling their wares on the beach. Marcy got some great jewelry and Anna had her braided.

Showing off her new braids

On Saturday night we decided to go into downtown Cabo for dinner. We wanted to get off the resort and we found a popular restaurant on Yelp. Afterwards we walked around town and both kids, particularly Jude, was struck by the poverty with old people trying to scratch out a living selling cheap trinkets. We also found a guy with an iguana who let Jude put it on his head for a dollar.

Jude making new friends in downtown Cabo

One of the highlights of the trip was the turtle hatching. The hotel nurtured some turtle eggs through hatching and kept them in a covered box on the sand. Just in front of the hotel is a natural egg-laying location, and the hotel has protected that area and help get the turtles to the sea. They tried a couple of times to release the turtles into the ocean but they weren’t mobile enough. Then on Sunday night they let the dozen of so hatchlings out and they slowly made their way into the ocean. This was about a 30 minute process, and at least 20 people were watching and cheering on the little guys.

A baby turtle trying to make it to the ocean

Speaking of Sunday, it was Marcy’s birthday. Unfortunately, I picked up a bout of food poisoning on Saturday night so I spent most of the day in bed. We had an afternoon activity planned of snorkeling, kayaking and standup paddle-boarding. I could barely move so I had to skip it but the kids and Marcy had a great time.

Water sports with Cabo Adventures

They got back to the hotel quickly because they wanted to make it for the 5pm turtle release. Then we had Marcy’s birthday dinner at the hotel, I was able to rally for that.

After Marcy’s birthday dinner at the hotel

The trip was over all too quickly but we all really enjoyed it. We have had a cold fall with more snow than usual in Denver so it was great to get to the warm weather (it was 80 every day) and beach. The kids were especially sad to leave but Marcy vowed that we would try to have another beach vacation for her next birthday (a big one).

Our new Christmas tree

The first part of this week I was in Miami for our Latin American conference, I got back late Wednesday. The highlight this weekend was actually Marcy and I going on a date to the Ridhwan Christmas Party and, for the first time ever, we did not get a babysitter. Anna had a birthday party to go to so Jude was home by himself. He actually played with the neighbor kids for a while and spent the rest of the night watching Minecraft videos on YouTube. He was happy for us to leave for the night.

This morning we went to get our Christmas tree. Jude, Anna and I went to Whole Foods and Home Depot (we chose Whole Foods) and then and Marcy decorated it beautifully as she always does.

Anna getting some makeup at the Waldorf Holiday Fair

Yesterday was the annual Waldorf School Holiday Fair and Anna really wanted to go. So, Marcy and her spent most of the day there (stopping for gymnastics but then returning). Jude was even open to going so he and I stopped by for about an hour in the afternoon.

Jude playing with Olive in the snow

Anna had the entire week of Thanksgiving off school but Jude was supposed to go on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday afternoon a big snow storm came through, dumping over a foot of snow – the biggest storm in three years in Denver. This meant a snow day for Jude on Tuesday which he was thrilled about.

Anna doing some shoveling as the storm continued

After the storm the weather continued to be cold and cloudy most of the week. So while the kids spent a lot of time indoors they were also able to get out and do some sledding at the park. They also took Olive out a lot who just absolutely loves the snow. The neighbors also came over and played on the trampoline after Jude shoveled all the snow off.

Heading off to do the Turkey Trot 4-mile road race around Wash Park

Thanksgiving morning was another cold and cloudy day. But before we feasted Jude and I had a race to run. We entered the Turkey Trot which is a large road race around our local park. It is a big race with close to 10,000 people and it was a little bit treacherous given the snow and ice on the roads. But we both finished well with good times.

Then it was on to Thanksgiving dinner. Marcy spent a good part of Wednesday and most of Thursday preparing the meal. My job was the turkey and gravy. We sat down to our first family Thanksgiving dinner in Denver since 2013 and it was really nice to spend the holiday at home.

About to dig in to our Thanksgiving feast

We didn’t have a whole lot planned the rest of the weekend and as I said the weather was not great. Anna and Elsie had an entire camp planned with the neighbors with a range of activities so that occupied quite a bit of the long weekend. One of the activities was community service which involved us taking trash bags out and cleaning up trash in the neighborhood. It was not an easy task given all the snow but we did manage to half fill a couple of trash bags.

Doing community service over Thanksgiving weekend

The other big job this weekend was hanging our new TV. We bought a new 55″ OLED TV last weekend and installed it this weekend. We had a couple of issues with the installers so Marcy and I ended up doing it ourselves. The TV looks fantastic hanging on our wall now.