Enjoying a birthday hike in the foothills

Tuesday was my birthday. With Anna on Spring Break we were going to go skiing in Vail that day but that plan was thwarted by the coronavirus as the ski resorts all closed a couple of weeks ago. So, I had a quiet morning and then we went for a hike in Apex Park in the foothills. Olive came along for her first mountain hike. Jude had to stay home because of school. Then when we got home he and I went for a bike ride downtown.

Anna goes on the roof of the garage to retrieve basketballs

We have been playing a lot of basketball lately. We setup a net on our garage and Jude has been playing almost every day for the past couple of months (since Kobe Bryant died). Anna joins occasionally but Jude is developing a passion for it. He is getting really good, far more skillful than I ever was, and he is always asking one of us to play.

Anna and Elsie making candles from wax crayons

Today, Anna and Elsie decided they wanted to melt crayons and make candles. This was a major project that took up the entire afternoon. They cut up about 15 crayons, melted them down (in the microwave and on the stove) and made six candles. They were dedicated to their task and were really happy with the results.

Anna testing out one of her new candles on the front porch

Marcy spent some of the weekend trying to install a new storage rack in our garage. I helped out a little as it was quite the project and we still have more to go. But it did give Marcy a chance to do a bit of spring cleaning in the garage.

With so much of the afternoon taken up with candles Anna had the idea to roast marshmallows over the candles. They turned black pretty quickly but the kids didn’t seem to mind.

Roasting marshmallows on an open candle flame