A maestro of the Rubik’s cube of all sizes

When Jude was cleaning his room a few weeks ago he found an old Rubik’s cube. He decided to try to solve it, watching some YouTube videos and working on it constantly. After about a week he had solved the 3x3x3. Then we got him a 2x2x2 which you solved pretty quickly and then just recently a 4x4x4. That was a lot more difficult but he got there in the end. He has been working on speed and his record for a 2x2x2 is 18 seconds and for the 3x3x3 is 55 seconds.

Snuggling with her favorite dog

We had a pretty quiet weekend here. Jude and I went for our weekly run, the kids spent several hours on the trampoline with the neighbors, Marcy put up Christmas lights and we bought our Christmas tree. And of course, Jude watched lots of soccer and football.

Breakfast with a friend

With LendIt doing layoffs as we have struggled this year with the pandemic we needed extra help but couldn’t afford more staff. So, Marcy has started chipping in. She is going to put in a few hours a day from now on which we are grateful for and she has enjoyed getting back into the workforce.

14 candles on his cake

Jude turned 14 on Monday. He was supposed to be in school but ISD closed for the entire week due to Covid. So, he was able to have a relaxing day at home. He had a nice pancake breakfast, then Mustard’s for lunch and at dinner he wanted Indian food takeout. He had not one but two birthday cakes, an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and Marcy made a combo carrot/red velvet cake. He spent most of the day playing Minecraft and watching The Office, but he did get to have cake with Anna and the neighbors and they jumped on the trampoline for a while.

Sharing birthday ice cream cake with the neighbors

Thanksgiving was just the four of us again this year. It was a chilly day, but sunny, and Jude wanted to start a new family tradition: a relay race at the track. We did two 4x100m races doing it in 1:13 both times. It was fun to get out and do something physical together.

After a family race at the track

Marcy was in the kitchen most of the day and I helped with just the turkey and gravy. We had a delicious feast that included a wonderful pumpkin pie for dessert.

Getting ready to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner

We decided over the Thanksgiving break that we would take a summer trip in an RV. Marcy has been talking about this for years and given that we had no vacation this year beyond the usual trips to Iowa and Keystone, we thought we should take a decent trip next summer. So, we started looking at RVs online and we went and saw one on Saturday which looked really good, it was a trailer we would tow with Marcy’s car. It was also way out southeast so afterwards we went for a hike down near Franktown.

A Saturday hike outside Franktown

Today was a quiet day to end the long weekend. Jude and I went for a run but most of the day was spent watching football. I also baked some bread for the first time in several months. I am going to get back into baking sourdough every weekend.

Jude taking his first shot on his new basketball hoop

It is Jude’s birthday tomorrow. And what he really wanted was a new basketball setup in the alley. About a year ago we bought a cheap backboard and hoop and put it on the garage. We thought this might be a case of Jude will use it three or four times and then lose interest. But he has played a lot and the cheap backboard is falling apart. So, we got him a much higher quality setup that we installed today (when I say “we” installed that is being generous as Marcy did the bulk of the work).

Drive by birthday celebration for Brody

When Marcy was pregnant with Jude we used to take 6am yoga classes at the gym with Tina Porter. She was also pregnant and they ended up having their babies two days apart. Brody was Tina’s second and Jude obviously our first. Tina and Marcy became good friends and they have done a couple of Spartan races together as well as an untold number of yoga classes.

Tina and her husband Jeff are great people, and they received the news earlier this year that every parent dreads. In June they found out their son Brody had a brain tumor and it was inoperable. Since then they have been doing a whirlwind of treatments and he is doing ok and about to enter a new experimental program in Seattle. Anyway, yesterday was his birthday and they had a drive-by celebration. We had to take part.

Hard at work on Anna’s school project (with matching jackets)

Anna has taken on a new project at school for her elective. It is a “passion project” as the assignment was to take on something you love. She has been sewing for years and she thought it would be really fun to create outfits for her good friends in her class and herself (five outfits). She is doing everything from scratch including designing the outfits, selecting the materials, then cutting the fabric and sewing it all together. She has even kicked Marcy out of the back room as she is using that as a sewing table now.

It is a huge project that she will do over six weeks. She got going in earnest this weekend and she has the whole week off school this week so she will be working on this every day.

In their matching cozy Costco jackets with Olive

It had to happen eventually. With the rise of Covid cases in Colorado it was only a matter of time before it impacted us directly. Anna has been doing cheerleading class for a few weeks now and one of her classmates tested positive. Anna has to quarantine for two weeks which ends this coming Thursday. So, she has been doing online school since she found out about it on Wednesday this week. About half of Anna’s class is doing online school now either because they are in quarantine as well or have decided to be safe at home.

Anna went to get a covid test today, she has no symptoms but we want to be sure. Jude is also very concerned about covid and didn’t want to go to school on Thursday after doing online school Monday to Wednesday. But Friday he was back and so far everyone feels good. We will get Anna’s test result back this week.

This weekend we decided to stay close to home. The highlight for Jude was a new haircut. It was so windy and cold yesterday we didn’t want to leave the house. Today, was a bit better, so Jude and I went for a run around Wash Park but we didn’t do much else.

Showing off his new haircut

After watching CNN all week we finally get news of Biden’s win on Saturday morning

We were all looking forward to election night but we went to bed that night extremely disappointed. Jude was devastated, to say the least, and he only got about four hours sleep that night. Marcy and I didn’t do any better as were both upset at the thought of another four years of Trump.

Anyway, we watched way too many hours of CNN every night last week and then on Saturday we were greeted with the news that Biden won. We were overjoyed. Anna and the neighbors organized a celebratory dinner with the on Saturday night where we watched Biden and Harris give their victory speeches.

The kids having dinner on the neighbor’s trampoline

We had some strong winds this weekend which meant most of the leaves came off the trees. So we spent some time raking this weekend and the kids enjoyed playing in the leaves.

Jumping in the big leaf pile

Jude decided he wanted to be buried in leaves

Jude had his last weekend of soccer with two games. We are so glad he was able to get a season in with all school sports canceled. He had a solid season, I watched pretty much every game, and Jude was one of the best players on his team.

Watching football with his favorite cat

Getting ready for the Halloween scavenger hunt

With the pandemic we all knew that Halloween was going to be very different this year.  Anna suggested a scavenger hunt, which of course she couldn’t plan because she wanted to participate, so Marcy helped plan that with our neighbors. Saturday morning we gathered at 9am and Anna read the scroll with all the instructions. Then the kids were off all over the neighborhood gathering clues at the 13 stops on the hunt. It took then about an hour to complete. At the final location each kid found a package of candy, and then we all had hot chocolate and banana bread with the families. The kids all had a blast, and we are excited to continue the tradition next year.

All dressed up on Halloween evening giving out candy at our house

Trick or treating was highly discouraged so we were delighted when one of our neighbors sent around a flier with a socially distant Halloween parade idea, including suggestions for safely handing out candy. In the end, about 50 kids participated from the immediate neighborhood. We all got dressed up and it was a lot of fun. I made some chili and we had dinner at a neighbors house that evening,

A gorgeous afternoon at the golf course

The weather was gorgeous this weekend. I decided it was time to play some golf, I wanted to get one more outing in before it gets really cold. Anna and Jude were game so we did the par 3 course at Kennedy Golf Course.

Today, Jude and I ran the Day of the Dead 5k in Wash Park. It was our first and only 5k of the year and they did a good job making it safe. We did the same race last year and there was probably only 10-20% of the number of people. Jude took it easy and ran with me most of the race as he had a soccer game in the afternoon. It was my fastest 5k, at 26:22, since I got back into running a couple of years ago.

At the summit of Mt Morrison near Denver

This week started off with me heading to a hotel room because of the need to get up very early for our Europe event. With two mornings in a row of 3am wake-ups I needed to go to bed early and get uninterrupted sleep. Our event started at 3:45am Denver time from our office so it was a challenging start to the week.

The event went well and I was happy to be able to sleep in and take Wednesday off. Marcy and I decided to do a hard hike in the foothills, Mt Morrison, with Olive. It was challenging near the summit and we had to carry Olive over a few rocks where there was no foothold for four feet of smooth rock face, but she did great overall.

Out two cute kitties at the park

Jude had all week off school for fall break and Anna’s break started at lunchtime on Wednesday. Jude and Marcy did the Incline on Tuesday (Marcy did it in 38:53 and even beat Jude to the top). Anna decided to do some face painting one day with some cat whiskers. Then one day they tossed an egg up in the air and then headed it – just because.

The result of “heading” an egg

This weekend was pretty quiet. Jude had a day of refereeing on Saturday while Anna went to a friend’s house to work on Halloween outfits. Today, we had an arctic blast of winter with a top temperature of 16 degrees. We had about 3″ of snow with more coming overnight tomorrow. Jude’s school has already been canceled for tomorrow.

Olive playing with her BFF Zoe at the park

Olive, of course, loved the snow. She could spend all day out there playing in it. Of all the dogs she plays with at the park, her current favorite is Zoe, a 9-month-old lab who lives down the block.

At the top of the Manitou Incline

This weekend we decided to do something active. It had been a while since we did the Manitou Incline as it was closed down for several months this summer because of Covid. They opened back up a few weeks ago with a reservation system which actually made it more enjoyable as there were fewer people on the climb.

Marcy and Anna reaching the top

The Manitou Include goes up 2,000 vertical feet in less than a mile. It is basically 2,768 steps straight up without a break at average grade of 45% (getting as steep as 68%). It is such a great workout. Jude crushed it climbing to the top in 31:28, I also did pretty well in 48:01, beating my record from March by six minutes. Marcy stayed back with Anna who was having second thoughts halfway up but she pushed through to make it to the top a second time.

The obligatory family photo at the top of the Incline

There are bunch of doodle-mix dogs around us these days. There is often an impromptu doodle-fest at the park around mid-morning and Olive loves playing with the other dogs.

Meeting up with Olive’s friends at the park

Today was a very chilly morning, humid and 38 degrees. Jude had his soccer game and was unfazed. He had to be convinced to take a jacket and hat. He had another solid game and scored his first goal of the season in their 2-1 victory.

Anna with her birthday cheesecake and 12 candles

Anna turned 12 on Wednesday. She got to call the shots, apart from having to go to school, of course, and she decided on a cheesecake instead of a regular birthday cake. Marcy does make a fantastic cheesecake so we all enjoyed her birthday dessert. She decided she wanted steak and baked potatoes for dinner.

Showing off the birthday cake

Anna decided she wanted a birthday party this year. It was going to be an afternoon party with an early dinner. Anna and Marcy spent a lot of Saturday making a special rainbow cake for the birthday dinner. But no candles on this cake, one of the bummers about the new world we live in.

Playing games in the backyard

Anna had an afternoon of games organized and judging by all the laughing and screaming they all had a good time. She decided on Marczyk’s burgers for dinner and, of course, a delicious rainbow cake for dessert.

A birthday dinner with close friends

Finally, Jude has been playing with the Rubik’s cube for the past month. He watched some YouTube videos to help figure out how to solve it. And now he has been working on solving it fast. His record before this weekend was 1:45 and after many timed tries he managed to get his time to solve it down to 58 seconds.

Jude has become quite the expert at solving the Rubik’s cube

At the TV studio where the big LendIt conference took place

I have been insanely busy the last few weeks (which is why it has been a while since our last update) with our big annual LendIt conference. It happened this past Tuesday to Thursday at a TV studio in Denver. It went pretty well and it was great when Marcy and the kids came down after it was all over and got to see how it all came together.

Jude in his refereeing uniform

Jude is back refereeing again. He passed his exam in February but them the pandemic hit and all spring soccer was canceled. Now, they have started back up again and Jude is doing a couple of games every weekend. The pay is excellent once you become fully qualified, he gets $25 a game and the little kids (U9 or U10) are over in a bit more than an hour. For a 13-year-old that is great money. But the most important thing is that he really likes doing it.

Anna washing my car

Anna has been doing some babysitting but she is keen to earn more money. So, this weekend she washed both Marcy’s and my car (including vacuuming) and she mowed the front and back lawns. She is saving up for her own iPad mini and with the work she has been doing she is already 15% of the way there.

Anna has also started cheerleading class. She really missed gymnastics and they still hadn’t restarted classes at DU yet so Anna went searching for cheerleading classes and found one down in Highlands Ranch. So far, she loves it.

Helping out with some computer work

Marcy has been doing some volunteer work for the election. And we know Olive likes to stick close so she tried to help Marcy with her work.