Anna building a snowman in the back yard

Normally, by mid November we have had a few snowstorms, but not this year. It has been a warm and dry fall so far and it wasn’t until Wednesday of this week that we had our first storm. Anna was excited about it and decided to go out and build a snowman before school.

Jude jumping in to a pile of leaves he had just raked

It was only a quick storm with 3-4 inches of snow and by Wednesday afternoon there was not a cloud in the sky and the ice began to melt. So much so, that by Saturday the snow was all gone and it was time to rake leaves. Jude and I did some raking and filled our compost bin.

The big outing this weekend was The Lion King. The musical is playing in Denver for the month and we bought four tickets for the matinee on Saturday afternoon. Jude was not happy about it, to say the least, because it meant he had to miss his indoor soccer game this weekend. After complaining about it bitterly he ended up being a good sport about it.

With young Simba and Nala of The Lion King musical

The Lion King was fantastic. It was the first show or movie we have ever seen where all four of us loved it equally. Even Jude who was so against going really enjoyed it. Although, he pointed out afterwards that we would have still rather gone to play soccer.

Anna in her 25 yard breaststroke race

Today it was up bright and early for another swim meet for Anna. Marcy left at 7am to get Anna there in time for warmups. Jude and I followed a couple of hours later to see Anna’s last few races. Anna swam her heart out once again and she did well especially considering she is racing against girls who are sometimes 18 months or more older than she is.

Anna as Laura Ingalls Wilder and Jude as Darth Vader about to go Trick or Treating

Last weekend was Halloween and we had another unseasonably warm night for trick or treating. Anna’s costume was a big hit with everyone they visited – the cute pioneer girl. Regardless, they both had a large stash of candy by the end of the night. They kept a small amount of this for themselves and the rest went to the “switch witch” who comes during the night and takes the candy, replacing it with toys.

Anna with Chad Wonder, the magician at the 1st grade birthday party

Anna’s 1st grade class did a group party on Halloween for all the kids with October birthdays – there are four including Anna. While Anna had her own party earlier in the month, the rest of the class organized a group gathering in the park with a magician for them all. We actually hired the same magician, Chad Wonder, for Jude’s 7th birthday a couple of years ago.

Carving pumpkins for Halloween

My travel schedule has been truly crazy of late. I have been away for most of the last three weeks with trips to London, Las Vegas and New York – all for conferences. But now I am home for a while and very happy about it. It has been a grueling few weeks and now I can settle in for some time at home with the family.

This weekend was busy but it was also nice that I did not have to rush off on another trip like I had to do the past three weekends. Jude had his first game of indoor soccer yesterday which he loved. Then one of his school friends came over for a playdate in the afternoon. Anna had ice skating on Saturday and today we were up bright and early for Anna’s swim meet that started at 7am where she swam in five events. Then it was Jude’s last flag football game of the season.

Anna is ready to go for her next race

With their new pumpkins fresh from the local pumpkin patch

The days are getting shorter and the nights are downright cold these days and the countdown to Halloween has begun. Today we went to the pumpkin patch after Jude’s football game. They have some good pumpkins to carve this week.

I have been away in London this past week for the annual LendIt Europe conference. It went really well but it has been an exhausting few days. This is just the beginning of my crazy travel schedule right now: London last week, Las Vegas this week and then New York the following week. All for P2P lending conferences.

Giving the opening speech at the LendIt Europe conference in London

For several months now we have been listening to all the Little House on the Prairie stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We listen to these books in the car on Audible and we also have the physical books now. Suffice it to say that we have all become big fans of these books.

Anna in her Little House on the Prairie outfit

Anyway, when the kids were thinking about what to wear for Halloween this year, Jude decided he wanted to be Darth Vader and Anna decided she wanted to be Laura Ingalls. So, Marcy went an ordered a 19^th century Laura Ingalls outfit for Anna, and they used some yarn to make braids, just like Laura.

Anna and our neighbor having dinner on our back patio

Our neighbor Graham is a frequent visitor, both Jude and Anna enjoy playing with him. Once night this past week he stayed for dinner. Anna made a Halloween lantern, so they had candlelight while dining on the back porch.

Anna modeling her new outfit

Yesterday while Jude was having a play-date with one of his school friends Anna went shopping with Marcy for some new clothes. Anna loves clothes shopping more than just about anything else and she was so excited to try on new clothes and to make some purchases. She came home with this outfit above that she wanted to model for me right away.

Anna with her school birthday cake

The birthday extravaganza continued for Anna with two more celebrations this week. On October 6th Marcy and I were invited to Anna’s classroom for a special birthday lunch. It was fun seeing Anna with all her school friends and to be there when they celebrated Anna.

Anna with her birthday donut

Finally after what seemed like months of build up Anna turned 7 on Wednesday this past week. She decided she wanted to do a family picnic in the park, particularly given the weather was supposed to be nice. She also decided she wanted a birthday donut. Now, we didn’t realize that donut shops even make birthday cake sized donuts but sure enough they did and Anna was very happy. We had a nice time in the park on a glorious fall evening and Anna got to try out her new rollerblades.

Anna testing our her new birthday rollerblades

After Jude’s soccer game on Saturday Jude and I went on a big trip. We promised Jude that for his 9th birthday I would take him on a trip and he decided he really wanted to go and see a Packers game at Lambeau Field. So, we jetted off to Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon and drove to Green Bay today for the game. We stopped along the way because Jude really wanted to see Lake Michigan.

On the shores of Lake Michigan half way between Milwaukee and Green Bay

It was a glorious day in Green Bay, sunny and 75 degrees. We had good seats, although calling them seats is generous. We sat on a hard metal bench but neither of us minded. Jude was thrilled to be in Green Bay and he was completely wrapped up in the game – he watched every single play of the game. The Packers won which was good and all the action happened down our end of the field.

At Lambeau Field

Truth be told I had just as good a time as Jude did today. Even though I love the Broncos, I have been a Packers fan for many years and they have always been my #2 team. And it was a great experience being at Lambeau Field with Jude – it was a perfect day.

Anna at Glenwood Springs with Marcy

While Jude and I were going on this special trip Marcy decided that she and Anna would have an adventure as well. They drove to Glenwood Springs and stayed in the same hotel as they did with Jude last summer. They have had a fun weekend of rollerblading and soaking in the springs.

Anna helps with the frosting on her birthday cake for the party

We are into the first week of October now and that means only one thing in our house: Anna’s birthday is almost here. This year Anna decided she wanted to do an ice skating party. She invited all the girls from her first grade class as well as a few other select school friends and we headed to the DU ice rink late on Saturday afternoon.

Skating at Anna’s birthday party

We had about 16 kids join Anna on the ice, some were complete beginners while others had skated many times like Anna. But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Anna who was so excited all day about having her party.

Anna and her friends at the skating rink

After an hour on the ice it was upstairs for some dinner and cake. Anna chose Chipotle, so the food was good a hit with pretty much everyone. We all sang Happy Birthday, Anna blew out her candles and we all enjoyed some of Marcy’s delicious home made vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, per Anna’s request.

Just after Anna had blown out her candles

By 7pm it was all over and we had to leave. The DU staff were fantastic, they were all current students and they were friendly and very efficient and proactive. Most importantly, Anna had a great time.

Anna about to taste her birthday cake

Jude has been very patient with all this attention on Anna, much more so than in previous years. He really gets it this year, that the attention will move to him after Anna’s party but right now Anna is the center of attention a lot of the time.

Enjoying the ice at the DU hockey rink

This weekend wasn’t all about Anna. Jude had his regular soccer game on Saturday and flag football on Sunday. Their soccer team had their best game of the season and recorded their first win. Jude played quite well, but more importantly he had a good time.

Then today Jude had his best game of flag football ever. He was on fire. On the second play of the game Jude took a handoff all the way to the end zone for a touchdown. On their next possession Jude caught a pass and scored a key first down. Then shortly after that he scored another touchdown, this time on a pass, and he had to evade several defenders after the catch to reach the end zone. He also had several key defensive plays, two of which saved likely touchdowns. Jude’s team won and his coach named him MVP of the game. A good way to wrap up the weekend.

Anna had nebulizer treatments multiple times every day this week

It has been nearly a year and a half since Anna has had a bad enough respiratory illness that she needed the nebulizer. But on Tuesday morning this week Anna had a bad night coughing badly and her breath was really ragged. So, rather than wait and see how she did we decided to get aggressive and start her treatments right away. This meant keeping Anna home from school for three days and giving her treatments several times a day. And by the weekend she was pretty much back to normal.

Reading on a Saturday morning

Over the past few years I have spent many hundreds of hours reading with both kids sitting on my lap. It is one of my favorite things to do, but they are both getting so big now I am not sure how much longer we will be doing that. So, I asked Marcy to take this photo above.

Jude after his first flag football game of the season (that’s the mouthguard, not blue teeth)

Today was the first day of the the flag football season for Jude. He enjoyed the game, particularly given the fact that he scored his team’s only touchdown of the game.

Anna sporting her new visor

Playing one of their endless games in the basement

Most of the time Jude and Anna get along great. They will sometimes play together in the basement for hours creating imaginary games and adventures with their toys. These adventures will both have them sharing ideas with a sentence that begins with “How ’bout…”. It has become a bit of a standing joke with Marcy and I as we listen to them going back and forth with their games. This morning was one of those times. We had a quiet morning and Jude and Anna went down to the basement for several hours playing with their toys and once again creating these rich imaginary worlds.

Marcy and Anna share a kiss during a break in Jude’s soccer game

Today marked the start of Jude’s touch football season, although it was just a practice today, there was no game. For the next several weeks he is going to have soccer on Saturday and football on Sunday. While we were at Jude’s soccer game on Saturday Marcy snapped this really cute selfie of her and Anna above.

In front of Big Ben and Parliament House in London

I spent most of this week in London as we are gearing up for the next LendIt conference there is a few weeks. We stayed right across the river from Big Ben.

Jude in action in the first game of the fall season

After several weeks of practice, this weekend marked the opening of the soccer season. Jude is playing in a more competitive league this season with six players a side including a goalie. He enjoyed the game although he would liked to have had more playing time. With 10 players on the team he spends almost as much time on the sideline as he did on the field.

Jude showing off his new library books

Jude is settling in to school well. Every day when he comes home now he says that school was great. They are learning the Jewish traditions and holidays, so now Jude wants to do Shabbat on Friday nights where we bless some bread and have grape juice. He is also playing the viola now and this week the school library was opened to him for first time. He loves books and was excited to be able to go there and check out books. He has been practicing his reading every day and this weekend started reading through his new library books.

On the annual school field trip to Berry Patch Farms

Anna is also enjoying school. I chatted with her teacher this week, who Anna loves, and said that Anna is very engaged and is one of the most friendly students in the class. She is very inclusive and goes out of her way to make the others feel at home. She also says she enjoys school.

Last week they did the annual field trip to Berry Patch Farms. I think Anna has been there every year since she was two years old, because she used to tag alone with Jude’s preschool class back in the day. All the first graders picked berries and played on the farm equipment there.

Today, was the start of the football season and Jude was excited to see the Packers play and I was excited for the Broncos. But before there was any football we had to get out and do some exercise. I took Jude to the soccer field and we played a 30-minute one-on-one game (it is quite the workout for both of us). Then I came back and took Anna to the ice skating rink. Then we watched some football.

Jude and me on top of Grays Peak at 14,270′

In Colorado we have these mountains that we call fourteeners. These are mountains that are all 14,000 feet above sea level, there are 54 of them. Marcy and I have done several of these hikes individually and together, and we started talking about doing a family fourteener this summer. We decided that Anna was still a bit young for it so Jude and I took up the challenge.

We had a practice hike up a 13,000 foot mountain a few weeks back and Jude did great. So, I thought he was ready for the ultimate Colorado hiking challenge. Last night Jude and I drove up to Keystone and stayed at the condo. Then at first light this morning we were off to the trailhead.

On the way up Grays Peak at around 13,300′

It was cold when we started at 7:15am. Very cold. The car said 35 degrees as we were parking but there was a stiff breeze so with wind chill it was a lot colder than that. But Jude did great. He did not complain once and was a trooper even when the wind really picked up near the summit. We arrive at the summit at 11:30am, Jude was thrilled to have made it to the top on his first try. He was given a lot of encouragement from all the other hikers as he was one of the youngest on the mountain.

We made it back to the car at around 3:10pm and Jude skipped/ran the last 100 yards when he saw the car. I think I was in worse shape than he was at that point.

While we were doing our hike Marcy spent the day with Anna. They did lots of bike riding, partly because one of our cars is still having repairs for hail damage. One of the many places they rode today was to get their nails done. This is becoming a favorite activity for Marcy and Anna when I am out with Jude.

At the nail salon

Back to school for our new third and first graders

After two and a half months of summer vacation it was back to school for Jude and Anna on Wednesday this week. Both were eager to start although Anna was excited and nervous about starting first grade.

At Waldorf they make a very deal about the transition from kindergarten to first grade. There is a whole ceremony that happens where the school welcomes the first grader into the school, and they get to meet their eighth grade buddy. It is a really moving ceremony and we just loved it when Jude started first grade.

Anna did really well. She met her eighth grade buddy who she will be having lunch with once a week for whole school year. Anna walked in front of the whole school and received her rose from one of the 12th graders.

Anna receiving her rose at the special Rose Ceremony for first graders on the first day of school

One other big event this week, at least for Anna, was the arrival of her new bed. Up until now Anna had been using our old guest bed, which was a queen size bed, on the floor. She has wanted Marcy’s old bed, which was also Baba’s old bed, and we brought it back with us from Iowa last week. This week we ordered new mattresses and installed the bed in Anna’s room. She absolutely loves it.

Anna going to sleep in her new bed for the first time

Marcy has been talking about doing a camping trip for several years now. Well, this weekend was it. After a couple of trial runs in the backyard the kids were eager to try out camping for real. So, we drove to Keystone on Friday night and spent just one night at the condo. Then, early the next morning we staked out a camping spot along Peru Creek, which was about 8 miles from the condo.

Enjoying our first family camping trip sitting by the fire

We went for a hike that day and then spent several hours just playing around the campsite. Jude must have thrown at least 200 rocks into the river that was right by our site. But his highlight of the day was the golf ball he found. It was an old range ball and Jude decided that he wanted to crack it open. He proved to be very determined to do this. For the next hour or so he slammed down rocks on to that golf ball. I even helped him for a little but that ball would not crack. Then Jude had the idea of heating it up in the fire. We did that until it sizzled and then in one go the ball cracked open. It was a great evening’s entertainment.

Jude proudly shows off his broken golf ball

The night went fairly well. I slept with Jude in the two-person tent and then Marcy squeezed in with Anna into the one-person tent. It got pretty cold during the night and neither Anna nor I slept well at all. While it didn’t freeze it must have been very close to it as we all had our ski gear on in the morning. We all endured a 60 degree gain in temperature as we went from mid 30’s in the morning to mid 90’s when we were back in Denver that afternoon.

Warming up by the fire on a cold morning

Finally, we need to mention Carrot, Jude’s new Leopard Gecko. He loves it. He takes it out every day and plays with it – he even kisses it now when he does this. He has such a soft heart for animals and it is brings him immense pleasure.

Jude taking out Carrot from her cage