Anna with our neighbor at their mountain cabin

This weekend was the first really cold snap of the season. I mean really cold. The temperature never made it into double digits all weekend and the high today was 5 degrees (which I am not even sure we hit). As I write this it is -4. That’s Fahrenheit folks, for the metric enthusiasts that is -20C. Needless to say, the only time I went outside today was to get the newspaper this morning.

Anna had other ideas, though. When the neighbors said they were going to their cabin in the mountains today she jumped at the opportunity. They have a great remote cabin that is off the grid and Anna braved the cold to play outside with them. They went sledding, ice skating on the river, exploring and Anna learned how to whittle a stick.

Anna had a sleepover with some school friends

On Friday night Anna invited some school friends over for a sleepover. They played games, watched a movie and generally had a good time. The next morning they all painted photo frames for this photo here. They even slept reasonably well.

Hard at work on his Rubik’s cube

Jude had a quiet weekend. It was too cold to ever play soccer. He went out once, but was back five minutes later. He went out today with some of the neighbor kids but again only lasted a few minutes. So, this was an inside weekend for him. There was lots of soccer on TV which Jude enjoyed and then he spent a lot of time on his Rubik’s cube. He can solve it regularly now in under 40 seconds but he wants to get faster so he has been trying a new method.

Finally, we received Jude’s school photos recently and I couldn’t resist including it here.

Jude’s official photo for the 2020-21 school year

A gorgeous Superbowl Sunday had us at the park throwing the football

Every year for the past 20 years we have hosted a Superbowl party at our house with chili and brownies. But covid put a stop to that this year. So, what we decided to do is make our chili and brownies like we do every year and deliver it to some of the regulars who come. So, we drove around town making deliveries before the game.

Before that, though, we spent some time outside. We played catch with a football in the park this morning while Olive went for a run. Then I took Jude for his second drive in my car, still just around the local parking lot. And before the game we went for our regular Sunday run around Wash Park.

Jude practicing his shot at the sports ground.

Since the summer Jude has been going to the South High School sports field to practice. They have a football field and track with multiple soccer goals set up. We have a key so we can go and practice at any time. It is only a five minute walk and Jude has been going multiple times a week. I try and get out at least once with him every weekend but he is also happy to go by himself. He likes to practice and he is getting so much stronger. I can even tell he has a more penetrating shot than he had even over the holidays. His soccer team just started practicing two nights a week which he loves. With all of his practice he has progressed to become probably the best player on his team now.

Hitting the slopes in Keystone

This weekend Jude, Anna and I went to Keystone. Marcy is still recovering from foot surgery so she decided to stay home with the pets. We skied a full day yesterday cruising all over Keystone and then today Jude and I just skied in the morning so we could get back and watch the Packers game that started at 1pm. The kids continue to get a lot better and Anna likes to go off by herself these days. She knows the mountain pretty well and she spent this afternoon by herself skiing, doing five extra runs.

Socially distant lunch at the Outpost

You can only do lunch on the mountain by reservation and they keep the restaurant at 25% capacity. It worked out really well, you get seated at your own table instead of having to fight for a lunch spot as in previous years.

Jude’s first time behind the wheel

Last weekend Jude had his very first time behind the wheel. While he has driven a golf cart from time to time he has never driven an actual car. He is only 10 months away from when he can get a learners permit and he is keen to start learning. So, we went to the local parking lot and I gave him his first lesson. He circled the lot successfully about four times, pulled into a parking space and reversed the car out. He said it was a lot of fun and wants to do it again soon.

Anna working on her school project

Both kids went back to school on Tuesday, Jude with online school and Anna went in-person. Jude is back tomorrow with in-person school which he is very happy about.

Anna had to do a passion project for school which involved cooking several dishes. She baked scones, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, hot cocoa cupcakes and thumb print cookies. She also cooked a dinner with salmon, green beans and potatoes. She had to do a presentation to her class on her project and her teacher sent us a note afterwards telling us how great she did. She worked really hard on it so it was good to see it come together well in the end.

Jude cheering on the Cleveland Browns tonight

We didn’t do much this weekend. The weather wasn’t great, it was a cold and snowy Saturday but Jude was fine – all he wanted to do was watch football. While he didn’t watch every minute of all three games each day he did manage to catch some of every game. And it all culminated with the Cleveland Browns beating the Steelers on Sunday night. We are all Browns fans here, since Marcy spent the first eight years of her life there. We got Jude a Baker Mayfield jersey for Christmas which he proudly wore for tonight.

The kids did get outside some. They went sledding this morning with the neighbors, jumped on the trampoline with the neighbors a few times, and Jude and I went to the soccer field to play both days.

Setting off party poppers on New Years Eve

Like everyone we were all very happy to see the end of 2020. We celebrated with a sushi dinner and party poppers that shot confetti all over the dining room and kitchen. It was a lot of fun but Olive did not like it at all, going upstairs and not wanting to come back down.

Jude and Anna decided they wanted to stay up to midnight this year, so I stayed up with them. We watched the Avengers and then just before midnight switched to NBC to watch the (delayed) Times Square ball drop. At 12:05am it was off to bed.

Jude solved the megaminx, a massive 12 sided Rubik’s cube-type puzzle

New Year’s Day was quiet and the kids were a bit irritable after staying up so late. One of the themes of this year’s holiday season was solving Rubik’s cubes. Jude has conquered the 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, 5×5, the pyraminx, the megaminx and a twisted 3×3. He has become quite the expert and enjoys the challenge of trying to solve them quickly.

Anna solves the skewb

Meanwhile, Anna has been getting in on the Rubik’s craze at the Renton household. She took it upon herself to solve the “skewb” (yes, it is a thing) pictured above. She is the only one who has figured that puzzle out so far.

On the Santiago lift at Keystone

Today, we had our first ski day of the season. It was one of the few activities I have done during the pandemic that didn’t feel that much different. The lift lines are better spaced and the crowds are smaller but overall I would say it is a better ski experience. We only skied for four hours and did over 17,000 vertical feet. Apart from the first lift of the day we didn’t wait more than two minutes in a lift line. The kids had a blast, as did I.

Marcy continues to recuperate from her foot surgery and that is actually going quite well. However, she had a tumble down the stairs a few days ago and when she went to get x-rays found out that she had two fractured ribs. She is in a lot of pain when she sneezes, laughs or moves around too much. So, it means she is stuck with an even lower key recovery than planned.

Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner on the couch, fondue this year!

No white Christmas for us this year. While it did snow about 10 days ago pretty much all that snow was melted by Christmas Day. It ended being sunny and 62 degrees which meant we could all get outside.

Nothing like lying in the sun on Christmas Day with a foot rest

Marcy was very keen to get us all outside to the park. She has been recovering well but has not been able to get outside much. With the nice weather on Christmas Day we all went to the park and Marcy reveled in the sunshine.

Christmas selfie in the park

Jude enjoyed catching the football at the park. He would run and I would pass him the football on the fly.

Another great reception from Jude

The weather was also nice on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) so we headed to the park then as well. This time Marcy went one better. When she saw a couple people setting up a blanket to watch the sunset and mentioned what a good idea it was, Anna ran home and returned with a blanket and a glass of champagne for Marcy to enjoy the sunset.

Champagne at the park at sunset

Yesterday, Anna decided to get her ears pierced. This will be the third time she has done it and she third time’s the charm. She is very excited about it and has some beautiful earrings to show off.

Anna just got her ears pierced

Today was a bit colder so no park time and we got a lot of errands run. We had our good friends Rich and Maggie visit which is nice and I made Jude’s favorite chili. To top off a great weekend the Packers won so Jude was a happy camper when he went to bed tonight.

Celebrating Mom’s 50th birthday, still able to cuddle on her lap

It was a big week for Marcy. On Tuesday she turned 50 and I took the day off work to celebrate with her. It was a pretty low key day because it was cold and we had quite a bit of snow on the ground. We went for a walk around Wash Park with Olive and watched a couple of episodes of The Crown. Marcy did not want anything special for dinner other than a chocolate cake which she wanted to make herself. We all watched My Octopus Teacher that night, with both Olive and Pickles joining us on the couch.

Enjoying a family movie on Marcy’s birthday

Now, two days after she turned 50 Marcy decided to get major surgery on her left foot. She has had a bad bunion on that foot for decades and has talked about doing surgery to correct it for years. Well, with nothing happening over the holidays and me not traveling for a while she decided now was the best time. So, on Thursday she went to the hospital to get it done. The surgery was a success and she begins the long, slow recovery process. This involves being on crutches for two weeks, and then a boot for 6-10 weeks after that.

Olive helps the healing processShe is supposed to keep her foot elevated for the first two weeks and obviously staying off her feet as much as possible. She is actually doing pretty well. She has kept the pain in check and has been surprisingly mobile, even volunteering to do the dishes after dinner tonight. She has also figured out a way to get a good upper body workout in.

Enjoying an upper body workout

We really didn’t do much this weekend. There is still a lot of snow on the ground so no runs or games at the park. Our big outing was to the farmers market for lunch on Saturday. And we watched a lot of football all weekend.

The kids are both officially on winter break with nothing planned other than one day of skiing.after New Year’s.

First ice skate of the season in Keystone

Saturday was a cold and dreary day. It felt like we were back in Iowa with clouds and high humidity. We had a little snow Friday and again on Saturday night but it was below freezing all weekend.

We just realized this week that the kids skis were still in Keystone and we needed to exchange them. So, Anna and I made the drive up to the mountains. We had renters and with the reservation system we couldn’t ski. So, it was just a day trip and a good opportunity to do some ice skating. And best of all, when you bring your own skates the Keystone rink is free.

A winter wonderland outside our front door

The second snow storm moved in Saturday night but we awoke to beautiful blue skies this morning. But it was cold, about 12 degrees when we woke up. It was a good day for watching football, which Jude did all day for the most part. Although we made him do some shoveling and he had a ride on the Peloton as well.

Peeling a pomegranate while watching Sunday Night Football

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.