Getting ready for the cotillion dance

I was in London this week so Marcy had to manage the puppy and the kids all by herself. While Olive is doing great she is a 9 week old puppy and as such is a lot of work. The good news is that she is sleeping well.

Yesterday both Jude and Anna had their soccer games and then last night one of our neighbors did a sleepover with Anna. Then today, Anna and I took Olive to Paw School for some pre-agility training. She did well and Anna had fun leading Olive through the obstacles.

The opening dance at cotillion

Then this afternoon we all got dressed up and went downtown to the ballroom at the Brown Palace hotel for the end of term cotillion dance. Parents and siblings were invited.

Two siblings dancing together…warms their parents hearts

When it came time for Anna to chose a partner from her family she chose Jude. He reluctantly agreed and they danced the first number together. Then it was my turn.

Dancing with my girl

Afterwards, we celebrated with dinner at Elways. Marcy had to leave early to tend to Olive who had been left alone for the longest time since we had got here.

Olive still loves to stick close by most of the time

Jude and Anna play with Olive for the first time

After over a year of thinking about it and weeks of planning we finally picked up our new puppy on Wednesday. Marcy and Anna drove up past Fort Collins to pick up Olive and brought her back to her new home. The kids fell in love with her right away with Jude calling her an angel when he first saw her. Anna met her last week and then did the drive with Marcy.

What a cutie

I was in New York until Thursday night so I missed the first 24+ hours. But Marcy got a decent night’s sleep that first night, it certainly could have been worse. In fact she has been a great puppy so far. Marcy has spent a lot of time reading up on dog training and we have her on a schedule and we get her up once a night to go to the bathroom and she has been pretty good then sleeping through until sunrise.

In full flight…Olive loves to run

Needless to say our weekend revolved around Olive. We took her to Anna’s soccer game but unfortunately dogs were not allowed on the ground. So Jude and Marcy took turns looking after her. Jude’s soccer game was a 45 minute drive on Saturday so Olive stayed home. And then Anna, Jude and I went to see Avengers End Game on Saturday afternoon which we all enjoyed. That was actually the second time in two days Jude saw the movie, he also went to a Friday showing given he was off school all week for Spring Break.

My favorite photo of the week

This morning, while Marcy was at the gym Anna, Jude and I played with Olive for a solid 90 minutes. She loved it but tired herself out and she was pretty listless for the next several hours. She was happy to be in her crate for the rest of the morning.

Olive loves to bite so Anna is trying to get her to chew her stick

We forgot to celebrate Anna’s half birthday on April 7 and I was out of town anyway. So, on Friday we all went to the donut place by Anna’s school where she enjoyed her now traditional half-birthday donut.

Anna with her half-birthday donut

Easter morning, excited to get some treats and presents

This weekend was all about soccer on Saturday as both Jude and Anna had games. We all went to both games and this took up most of the day. Both kids played well and enjoyed their games.

But this weekend was all about Easter. The kids were both really excited about it and even though we told them to not get out of bed until 7am they were both up by 6:30am and keen to get downstairs. Marcy had created beautiful Easter baskets filled with treats and gifts as you can see above.

Jude eating treats and reading his new book with Picky

There was an Easter egg hunt in the backyard with dozens of eggs filled with treats or money. Again Marcy was up until quite late getting all this together. And the kids were just as excited as ever to go racing around the backyard collecting eggs.

Anna doing a performance on the Karaoke machine with our neighbor Elsie

We usually get the kids one big gift at Easter and this year Anna got a Karaoke machine which she loved. She spent half the day singing along to her favorite songs. Jude got a Nintendo Switch, something he has been wanting for a long time. We played FIFA 19, the soccer game, for much of the afternoon.

Anna with our new dog Olive Rose

The excitement has been building in our family for weeks now. This Wednesday we officially become dog owners when we pick up our new addition to the family. Olive Rose Renton will be eight weeks when we bring her home and we are all excited (except Pickles the cat, who has no idea how her world will change). Next weekend we will report how our first few days have done. We are going in with our eyes wide open expecting this will be a challenging first year.

Opening up the LendIt Fintech USA 2019 conference with my partner, Bo Brustkern

My annual conference happened this past week so I have been out of town for the past eight days. Marcy came out and we went down to Half Moon Bay again after the big event. Our annual conference went well but as always I was glad when it was over as it was a huge amount of work.

On the 16th tee at Half Moon Bay Ocean Course

Marcy’s parents arrived in Denver on Tuesday and then she flew out to San Francisco the following day. I met her at the airport and then we drove down to the Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay. We had a wonderful time. We spent a lot of time in the spa, we went for walks around town and up and down the coast.

Enjoying a wine tasting bar on Friday afternoon

We did a lot of walking. It was almost a four mile walk along the coast into the town of Half Moon Bay and we did that walk pretty much every day.

Walking on the trail south of the hotel, the ocean views are spectacular

Meanwhile Jude and Anna were with Baba and Grandpa. Of course, they had school Wednesday to Friday but that didn’t stop them from going out for ice cream every day.

Enjoying ice cream every day with Baba and Grandpa

They also watched a lot of movies as many of the rules were relaxed with Baba and Grandpa in charge.

More ice cream

We arrived home this afternoon just in time to see Anna get off to Cotillion class. Jude had a soccer game so I drove up to Boulder to watch the second half of that game.

It was ’50’s night at Cotillion

Snow shoeing is hard work

Anna was on Spring Break this week so she and Marcy stayed up in Keystone on Monday and Tuesday. Monday they went snowshoeing up near Montezuma and then they went tubing in the afternoon back at Keystone. On Tuesday, they both tried cross country skiing for the first time. The nordic center at Keystone is the golf course so they both rented skis and skied down the open fairways.

Cross country skiing on the 10th hole at the River Golf Course

They arrived back Tuesday afternoon as I had to fly to DC for work. After a very active four-day weekend, while back in Denver Anna and Marcy saw a couple of movies, had a mani-pedi and both thoroughly enjoyed the week.

Enjoying the mountains on Spring Break

We had snow on Friday night, just a couple of inches, but it was enough to cancel all soccer games on Saturday. So, we ended up with a quiet weekend at home. Jude and I played some soccer, Anna ran errands and cleaned out her bedroom with Marcy and then on Sunday morning we went to the car show.

Sitting in a purple Dodge Challenger they both thought was cool

We got there right as it opened and the kids got to sit in some of the cars. They had a Jeep terrain park which was fun and I got to see some of the latest cars. But they were a little bored after about an hour or so. But they both want to come back again next year.

With the AAA robot who was amazingly life like

At the top of the Outback in Keystone

The four of us had not been up to Keystone all ski season. So, when my my birthday weekend came around (today was the big day) I said I want us all to go and ski both days. Jude was not that happy about it because he had to miss a soccer tournament for it and he said he didn’t like skiing any more. But it was my birthday so up we all went Friday night.

My two favorite kids wishing me a happy birthday

Yesterday, we took it pretty easy as it was Jude and Marcy’s first ski day of the season. And I was recovering from being sick on Thursday. Marcy cooked a nice dinner last night and we had my birthday pie (I prefer it to cake). This morning the kids were super excited about my birthday and gave me my presents before breakfast.

Then it was on to the slopes. What was crazy is that Keystone was pretty empty today. The longest we waited in line all day was 2 minutes and most of the time we just skied straight on to a lift. We went all over the mountain including a couple of epic runs through the trees on the Outback.

The kids did great skiing the trees

The kids also wanted to race against each other so they did the race course both days. While Jude won both times what was interesting is that their times today were four seconds faster than yesterday. And this was at the end of an epic day. We skied 15 runs and over 20,000 feet of vertical today, longer than either of them had ever skied before. And Jude ended up having a blast and said he wanted to ski again next season.

The start of the kids official ski race

We had a snow storm on Wednesday that ended up closing school for two days although it really wasn’t that bad, barely 6″ of snow. But the kids were excited because that meant two snow days. Anna spent the time building a fort in the basement with one of our neighbors, where they napped, watched movies and hung out during the bad weather. Of course, there was also lots of sledding to be had.

The completed five-room fort in the basement

On Thursday Anna woke up not feeling well at all. She threw up a few times so she had a very quiet day in bed. Jude was unaffected and played outside quite a bit as well as enjoying more than the usual amount of screen time including a few movies.

This weekend Marcy had class and Anna was feeling a bit better although, as often happens with her, the illness had spread to her lungs and she was wheezing a bit. The little exercise she did left her coughing and feeling worse. So, we were back on the schedule of nebulizers several times a day and that did make her feel better.

Anna showing Jude her latest ipad game

Jude gets a bit antsy when he doesn’t get a lot of outside time. And his soccer game was canceled this weekend because of the snow. We did manage to play in the park each day and on Saturday Jude stayed out a bit longer and played in the standing water that was on the field. He came back completely soaked and full of grass from sliding on the snow-soaked ground. But he was happy.

Playing soccer in the park this weekend

Preparing the Arsenal poster together

We started the weekend bright and early, leaving for Jude’s first of two soccer games at 8:30am on Saturday. Jude played quite well in both games but they lost both of them. Saturday afternoon Jude played with the neighbors and Anna had a gymnastics function. Both were exhausted by the time they went to bed.

Sunday, Jude was super excited about the Arsenal game. One of our neighbors are big Manchester United supporters and they put up a sign in front of their house. Jude said we had to do an Arsenal sign (they were playing each other in a big game in the Premier League). Anna wanted to help so both kids worked on the poster and we had it ready to go before the game. BTW, Arsenal won 2-0.

Showing off their creative work before the big Arsenal game

Later today, Anna went to a friend’s birthday party and then Jude and Marcy went to see Captain Marvel which they both loved. While they were doing that Anna went to cotillion where she learned manners, eye contact and the foxtrot.

All dressed up for cotillion

Jude had Friday off this week because of parent-teacher conferences (he is doing well in school) and he went with Marcy to Anna’s school where they were doing a presentation on a big group project they had been working on. It was on the respiratory system and Anna talked about what they did.

Anna presenting her school project

The entire Renton family at the Heath-Renton wedding

We thoroughly enjoyed our week at the beach on Manly. The weather was pretty good for the most part and we spent part of every day on the beach. Both kids got really good at catching waves on their boogie boards as they spent many hours honing this skill.

Jude catching a wave on his boogie board at Manly

We also did some ocean swimming and Anna did her first Shelley Beach to Manly swim, over half a mile in the ocean. Jude did several runs along the beach and there was a lot of just playing in the sand and surf. Then, of course, we had the daily trip to Moevenpick for ice cream. We also had an afternoon of standup paddle boarding on the calm harbour beach of Balmoral. Marcy had a bit of an issue one day that led to three hospital visits in a ten hour period. She dove under a wave and came up with something in her eye. And then she couldn’t close it. She was in a lot of pain so we got to the hospital where they said there was some loose skin in her eye and a abrasion on her cornea. She is ok now, thankfully.

Stand up paddle boarding at Balmoral

The reason for our trip back to Sydney was for Robyn, my sister, and Mark’s wedding. On Saturday morning we drove about 2 hours to the small town of Moss Vale for the wedding. Anna was a flower girl in the wedding and was beyond excited about it. We dropped her off a couple of hours before the wedding so she could get ready with the bridesmaids and Robyn.

Getting her hair done with the bridesmaids just a couple of hours before the big event

I had the honor of walking Robyn down the aisle given our Dad passed away six months ago. She was a bit nervous but carried herself well. The ceremony was beautiful and funny at the same time. The celebrant was quite the character and he put everyone at ease.

Walking Robyn “down the aisle” and across the bridge at her wedding

Robyn arrived at the wedding, along with Anna and the bridesmaids, in a horse and carriage. And Marcy actually hitched a ride as well. It was an outdoor wedding on a country estate and they got married by a lake. Anna had a basket of flower petals and she walked in front of Robyn and I throwing out rose petals. Then she stood with the bridesmaids through the entire ceremony.

The flower girls, Anna and Sarah, with the bride and groom in front of the horse and carriage

After the ceremony they had some outdoor games setup which helped Jude stay amused. There were not many kids there but Marcy and I played with him. I thought that Jude and possibly Anna would be bored by the time the dinner came. But they actually both had a great time. Jude loved playing with his cousin Sarah and Anna was happy to be at the center of it all. By

Jude showing Sarah a Pez dispenser

By the time the dancing started it was quite late but Anna was raring to go. I had several dances with her and Jude joined in as well. Little Sarah was also tearing up the dance floor with her dad, Ian.We ended up staying to the very end and we got back to our hotel at about 11:30pm. The kids did really well and slept soundly that night.

Celebrating Sarah’s fourth birthday

The next day we drove back to the coast and celebrated Sarah’s 4th birthday. She was actually turning four on Monday but we celebrated a day early since we were all together anyway. Ian chose this beautiful restaurant overlooking the Wollongong beaches.

Jude taking a last swim in the Pacific Ocean before heading to the airport

We spent the last two nights at Maroubra which was the closest ocean beach to the airport. On our last day we drove to Coogee and Bondi where the waves were perfect for boogie boarding. The trip was over all too quickly and on Tuesday morning we had one last swim in the ocean before heading to the airport.

Anna in the cockpit on the plane from LA to Denver

The trip back was ok, but long of course. Anna has often said she would like to be a pilot when she grows up so when we boarded the flight to Denver from LAX I mentioned this to the flight attendant and they let her in to the cockpit. She was thrilled.

This weekend was a cold and snowy one. Jude’s soccer tournament was canceled but he did have a sleepover birthday party on Saturday night which kept him entertained. Anna also had a sleepover on Friday night. Then this afternoon Anna had her first cotillion class so she got all dressed up for it.

Anna all ready to go to her first cotillion class