A snowy day at Vail as we head to the back bowls

This past week was a challenging one. Jude and Anna were both supposed to be back at school on Tuesday but Jude was not feeling well and Anna needed a negative covid test to attend school and her result didn’t come in until Tuesday night. So, she went back Wednesday. Jude, unfortunately, felt crappy all week. He had a covid test on Wednesday but the results didn’t come back until Saturday night.

This meant he couldn’t come skiing with Anna and me so he stayed home with Marcy. We headed up on Friday night and skied Vail on Saturday. This was my first day at Vail in almost 20 years and Anna’s first day ever. It was cold, snowy and a bit windy but the snow was great. I took Anna to the back bowls for a few runs and visibility was terrible. But it cleared up around 3pm and we had one of the best runs I have had in years. Nothing beats powder on the back bowls of Vail.

Saturday was our first food group in more than six months and the first one we have had at Kevin & Brigid’s house in Vail. They live in a beautiful home right at the base of Vail, literally less than 200 yards from the gondola. It was a bummer Jude and Marcy couldn’t go but we had a lovely night.

Sunny day in Keystone skiing the Outback

Today, we skied in the morning at Keystone. It was a beautiful sunny day but very cold. We could only ski in the morning because Anna had to get back for cheerleading practice.

When we got home Jude was feeling much better and back to his usual self which was great to see. He was really bummed to not get to ski Vail and go to food group. I said I would take him skiing next weekend.

Setting off confetti bombs on new year’s eve

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year in Iowa, as we have done every year for the past 15 years (except last year because of covid). The kids looked forward to spending time with cousins as they hadn’t seen them since the summer.

The kids all played this game a lot, keeping the ball in the air

There were a lot of games, cards, football watching and just hanging out. Lily is 16 now and has a full drivers license, so for the first time, she drove Jude and Anna to the movies where they saw the new Spiderman movie. I was asleep before they get home.

Jude enjoyed chowing on the leg of ham, caveman style

It was a cold week, so there was not a lot of outside time. I took Jude out to play soccer once but we spent most of the week indoors. Anna decided that she wanted to spend the week staying at the Dahlens house so she left us every night.

We watched quite a bit of college football, particularly on New Year’s Eve and New Years Day. And every evening we would join Jude’s grandpa and watch one of his British detective shows. Yesterday, we also played a family game of bingo with all 11 of us with prizes for the winners.

Kids champagne toasts for New Year’s

On New Year’s Eve we started with confetti party poppers, then a countdown with kids champagne, and finally a balloon drop. This was all over before 7:30 pm because the twins don’t like to stay up (and really, neither do any of the grown-ups). Jude and Anna both wanted to make it to midnight but since Anna was staying down at the Dahlens she stayed up by herself watching YouTube. Jude and I watched the ball drop in New York and then part of a James Bond movie. We saw the clock hit midnight, wished Anna a Happy New Year and then went to bed.

It was all over too quickly and today we made the big drive back and were home right at 6pm.

Walking around Washington Park on Christmas Day

No white Christmas for us this year. We have had just one small snowstorm so far this season and that was a couple of weeks ago now so it all melted long ago.

Ready to open presents on Christmas morning

My Christmas fruit salad

Fresh off his new juggling record: 1,471.

The birthday girl receiving lots of love

It was Marrcy’s birthday this past week, on Wednesday. I actually began Wednesday in California where I was hosting a dinner the night before. I made it home by early afternoon and we had a family celebration that night. Marcy decided she wanted to make herself lasagna and a chocolate mousse cake instead of going out or getting delivery. So, we had a delicious meal and I think the chocolate dessert was the best she had ever done.

Anna with her poster from Canva

Anna has been reading this book called Rules for Being a Girl, a book for teen girls by Candace Bushnell (of Sex and the City fame). She really resonated with this one passage in the book so she made it into a poster and ordered it on Canva.

The work on our basement is almost done so this weekend we focused on getting some stuff back in the house from the garage. We have been using it as a storage unit for the last three months while the work was being done. Marcy has done the lion’s share of this work but the kids chipped in (reluctantly) when asked.

Both kids are on winter break now and we are planning on heading to Iowa the day after Christmas.

After the big gymnastics meet with some of her teammates

The last big meet of the year for Anna was the Xcel State Championships. This is the biggest one of the year and because had done well she moved up to a more competitive level. She was the only one on her team to move up so she had to compete by herself.

All of her teammates competed in the morning so I drove Anna down to the gym bright and early so she could cheer on her team. When we arrived back to watch Anna perform we were so pleased to see that all of the team stayed to cheer Anna on in the afternoon.

At the end of a fantastic balance beam routine

Anna did really well. She was nervous beforehand but she battled through the nerves to have her best scores ever. She came in second on the balance beam and fifth overall for her age group. She put a lot into this and was so pleased with the way it worked out.

During her floor routine

We all came and cheered her on and were so happy for her. Anna’s coaches really helped her perform well and she continues to improve each time she competes.

Not much else this weekend. Jude continues to work on his juggling and he shot this video this evening as he was working on a trick.

At the top of Keystone with Lake Dillon and the Gore Range in the background

We have broken a record here in Denver with the latest measurable snowfall. We still have had no snow here and the previous record was November 21. It has been unusually warm most of the past month. The same is true in the mountains where they have had to rely on 100% manmade snow.

Thankfully, Keystone has a good snowmaking operation and they had a few runs open. So, Anna and I decided to go up and give it a try on Saturday afternoon. We skied five runs in less than two hours and that was enough. The snow was ok but there was not enough terrain open to make it a great day. Still, it was good to strap on skis again.

Anna showing her style on one of the few blue runs that were open

Today, I decided I wanted to go for a long run. I really enjoyed the trails of the Greenland Open Space where we did the Bolder Boulder in May. So, we went back there again today and did an even longer run. It was a tough 8 miles with some decent elevation change. Jude came along as well and as always he was much faster than me (although he did take a wrong turn that slowed him down). Marcy brought Olive and walked one of the inner loops. It was pretty empty for a Sunday so Olive was off the leash pretty much the whole time.

Olive and Pickles sharing the couch with Marcy who is under the blankets

Jude celebrating 15 years (11+4)

Jude turned 15 on Tuesday this past week. As is usually the case he was on Thanksgiving break so he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted. So, he played some soccer in the park and some basketball in the alley, watched some Simpsons and played video games.

Because Anna had gymnastics practice that night we celebrated with a birthday lunch. Jude decided that he wanted Outback Steakhouse delivered so he had a steak feast. And, of course, there was cake. Dairy Queen ice cream cake for dessert.

Off to run the 2021 Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning

On Thanksgiving Day Jude and I were able to run the Turkey Trot (it was canceled last year). It was great to get some solid exercise before our feast. I ran the best race I have done since I took up running again three years ago, coming in 3rd in my age group (out of 155 people). It is a big race with 8,000 registered runners.

We had some time in the park before the big feast

It ended up being a really nice day on Thanksgiving, beautiful sunshine and reasonably warm. We had a little family time in the park while everything was cooking, with Jude and me playing a little football.

Sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner

I cooked the turkey and made gravy, Marcy and Jude made some fantastic twice-baked potatoes as well as cranberry sauce and the kids prepared the green beans. And Anna made the brioche bread rolls that were delicious. The whole meal was fantastic.

The rest of the four-day weekend was spent around the house for the most part. Anna’s friends were all away and Jude was content playing in the park, watching football and soccer and playing video games.

Ready for the Blue Debut – her first Cheer performance

The highlight of the weekend was Anna’s first cheer team performance, known as the Blue Debut. Her Cheer Athletics team did a performance they had been working on for months. It was our first time seeing Anna in action and it was really cool to see all the things they could do.

Anna forming the base (she is in the middle looking up)

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. Jude and I watched Australia play New Zealand in the T20 World Cup Cricket final this morning which was a blast. It was a close game but Australia prevailed in the end for their first-ever world cup title in that form of the game.

Jude and I watching the T20 Cricket World Cup Final – go the Aussies!

The cool weather suits Olive and she loves to run at the park. Here she is returning her ball during a game of fetch.

Fetching the ball in the park

Anna doing the vault at her gymnastics meet

Anna had another gymnastics meet on Saturday and she did great. Her back was bothering her in the lead up to this and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to compete in everything. She even adjusted her floor routine to make it easier on her back. It was undecided whether to do the vault but she was feeling ok and went for it.

Anna comes 2nd in the vault out of dozens of girls

Anna performed really well, above expectations. She placed second in the vault, fourth on beam and fourth in the all-round (with a score of 34.95). This was the best performance on her team and she was really happy.

Raking leaves in the yard with Baba

On Saturday evening Baba and Grandpa arrived from Iowa for a few days. The kids were so excited to see them again and as always they arrived with lots of goodies.

Today, the kids had a quiet day. They played games with Baba, did a little yard work and then Anna had Cheer practice in the afternoon where she received her new competition uniform.

Showing off her new Cheer Athletics uniform

Getting ready for the Halloween parade

We started this weekend with Anna refereeing. Then I picked her up and drove her to Cheer practice. My car was being rented on Turo so I decided to rent a Tesla Model 3 for the day. Mainly because Jude and I were booked in to do the Manitou Incline (hiking 2,000 feet in elevation in around a mile – 2,768 stairs).

So after we dropped Anna off Jude and I grabbed some lunch and then drove down to Manitou Springs in the Tesla. It was so much fun to drive, it was the performance model and it was the fastest car I have ever driven.

It was a gorgeous day, 68 degrees and sunny, and Jude and I had a great time on the hike. Jude made it to the top in 31:56 and I tool 46:21, the fastest time I have done.

At the top of the Manitou Incline

Halloween arrived today as a cold and cloudy day. While the kids still like Halloween they are not as super excited about it as they once were. Still, they got dressed up and did a little trick-or-treating.

Our block did another afternoon Halloween parade and we laid out the candy on the ground in our front yard (like we did last year). We were done by 6 pm and there was only a couple of trick-or-treaters that came by in the evening.