Testing out the new hot tub

We got back without incident on Monday afternoon. We were all desperately tired but we managed to make it to our normal bedtime before we all crashed. The kids had the next day to relax and ease their way back into the normal school routine.

Before we left for Sydney we had ordered a new hot tub from a local company. We have been thinking about this for years and now with Marcy and I having more aches and pains we decided it was time. They installed everything this week and we had it up and running by Saturday. So far, it is fantastic. My muscles are noticeably less tight after spending 15 minutes in the hot tub.

Our car getting loaded onto a tow truck

Jude and I intended to go skiing for our first day of the season on Saturday. We dropped off Anna just after 11am and were looking forward to getting a few runs in on Saturday afternoon. But fate had other ideas. We hit a major pothole on our way out of Denver and the Tesla blew two tires, both on the left side of the car. So, we had to call a tow truck, which took 90 minutes to arrive and then we got a tow back to our local tire place. Maybe next weekend we will be more lucky.

Anna, on her first day learning the guitar

We had some late Christmas presents for the kids that we gave out this weekend. Anna had been asking for a guitar for a long time so Marcy bought one for her and gave it to her today. Anna was instantly hooked. She played it for more than three hours and downloaded a couple of apps and by the end of the day was playing Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift albeit a little slowly, and singing along confidently. She sounded great and more importantly, she was enjoying herself.