On Friday Jude’s kindergarten held a Mother’s Day party. There was a cute ceremony where all the kids handed their mothers a present they had all made. Jude had created a beautiful metal trivet with a star on it. Then they had morning tea and danced around the maypole outside.

Yesterday, Jude and Anna did a kid’s fun run with one of Jude’s school friends. After being a bit unsure about it at first, when all the kids started running Jude wanted to join in. He did great and ran all the way around the lake there. They also had lots of kids activities there including a kids climbing wall. Jude always likes to practice his climbing skills.

Today was Mother’s Day and Marcy called the shots all day. We went out for a picnic lunch in the park and then afterwards biked (Anna and me) and scootered (Jude and Marcy) to our favorite local gelato place. It was a beautiful warm day so after that we decided to go to the pool at the gym. Then it was sushi for dinner. A fine way to spend Mother’s Day.

We have discussed before Jude and his love of making things with popsicle sticks. Well in the last few weeks I would say that love has only increased. He plays with them every day making all kinds of dinosaurs, animals and insects. He will often make several in one scene and then the “meat eater” will eat the “prey” which Jude demonstrates by the breaking of the popsicle sticks in two. It is quite the process. Here he is with a giraffe he made earlier this week.

I have been in Sydney for much of the past two weeks so Marcy has been a single parent for most of that time. I missed Marcy and the kids terribly and it was great to see them when I flew in on Friday afternoon. They were waiting for me as I came off the train and I don’t know who was more excited, me or the kids. I have been a bit jet-lagged this weekend but the gorgeous weather here helped get me outside and feeling a bit better.

While I was away Marcy took the kids out to Dinosaur Ridge west of Denver where they have a bunch of dinosaur footprints as well as a small museum. Here is Jude sitting in the footprint of an Iguanadon.

This morning we went to the Butterfly Pavilion where Jude and Anna both got to hold Rosie the tarantula. Jude had done it a few times before but it was Anna’s first time so here he is showing Anna how to do it.

Spring in Colorado means great skiing as well as the beginning of the golf season. But first to skiing. The first week of April we spent up in Keystone. Here we achieved a family first – all four of us skiing together. After a day of lessons we took the kids up the gondola and practiced on the kids slopes. Then it was down Schoolmarm – at 3.5 miles the longest green run in Colorado.

Jude and Anna did great. While they fell down a few times they always got back up and when we got the bottom after 50 minutes they wanted to catch the gondola up and do it again. But we didn’t want to push our luck – that was a lot of work for a four and six year old. Here is a picture of Jude showing his style on the mountain.

Funnily enough, though, we didn’t actually get to skiing until Friday. Ice skating was what they really wanted to do every day. The main skating area was closed due to thin ice but they had a small rink at River Run that great for the kids. Because of the warm weather it stayed open only until around noon every day but we went there three mornings in a row.

Both kids progressed well during this time period and they were even a little reluctant to give up ice skating to go skiing. Jude, quite the competitive one (especially with Anna) wanted to make sure he could go fast. Here he is tearing down the ice on his third day.

After a two-week Spring break it was back to school this past week. Although Tuesday was a snow day and Jude was sick on Friday so it was a bit of a short week. Jude has been fighting some kind of GI illness for a few days now and he has been a bit lower on energy. But he was well enough to head to the golf course yesterday.

This week was Masters week and my favorite weekend of the year. I spent both afternoons this weekend glued to the TV and was delighted to see Adam Scott, a fellow Aussie, take his first green jacket. It was a very exciting finish and I had both kids on my lap as he sank the winning putt. What fun.

Last weekend it snowed. But Jude had been really wanting to roast marshmallows again so just before the snow came we got out our little fire pit and did some roasting. Jude wanted to use his wooden reindeer we bought at Christmas for the fuel and it burned quite well. By the time we were done the snow came down.

It was also my birthday last weekend. As we have done the last couple of years I have foregone cake for pie, by far my favorite dessert. So, Marcy puts a candle in my pie and everyone sings happy birthday. This time we had apple pie and ice cream at 10:30am – who needs to wait until lunch.

Both kids said today that Easter is their favorite holiday. That may be true but every holiday we get to these days they say is their favorite. But they did have a good time with Easter that is for sure. It started with coloring of Easter Eggs yesterday.

Then this morning when they woke up it was time to go hunting for Easter eggs. The Easter Bunny had left them all over the house as well as outside in the backyard and the race was on. Jude sprinted around the yard gathering as many eggs as his basket could hold.

Inside the eggs was either chocolate or money. They had quite the stash by the time it all ended. And it didn’t end at home. We also went over to the annual Easter gathering at the Briere household where more eggs were hunted down. Here is a cute photo of both kids with their Easter baskets as they were getting ready to go.

On Jude’s fourth birthday he received this dinosaur book from Aunt Mandy. For the next 2+ years he has been pretty much inseparable from it. It has been quite staggering to me how much he enjoyed looking through this book.

So when we went to Mexico last month naturally the book came with us. But then tragedy struck. When we went to the bathroom at the Denver airport we left it on the counter, not realizing our mistake until we were already on the plane. Marcy called Lost and Found from Mexico but no one had turned it in. I tried looking for it on Amazon but couldn’t find it.

But Aunt Mandy came to the rescue again. She found the book on Amazon and sent us a replacement book. Jude was very happy to be reunited with his very favorite book again.

Jude and Anna have been going to creative movement classes for the last few weeks and today they had their performance. They were both pretty excited beforehand so they took to running around the dance hall as we waited for the performances to start. Both kids did great in their routine and seemed to enjoy themselves.

Last weekend we were in Keystone where both Jude and Anna spent Saturday in a ski lesson. This was their 5th lesson and I think they really made progress. Jude is very confident now and can turn and stop with relative ease. Marcy and I had the day to ourselves to ski and then we checked in on them late in the day and they were both doing great. Here is Jude powering down the slopes.

It has been a busy three weeks since the last Renton family blog update. A couple of weeks ago Marcy and I went on a snowshoeing date, something we hadn’t done together since the kids were born. It was part of an organized group that also included dinner and wine afterwards, although we had to pass on that because some bad weather moved in and we didn’t want to be stuck 50 miles from home on a Sunday night and have the babysitter stay very late.

The big part of the last three weeks, though, was our trip to Mexico. We went to Puerto Vallarta for 8 days staying at the Sheraton Buganvilias resort through the timeshare deal with Marcy’s parents. It was great to be by the ocean and in some warm weather again. The Sheraton is walking distance to downtown Puerto Vallarta which we took advantage of one day – this photo was taken on the boardwalk that runs through downtown.

While Anna wasn’t feeling the best during our trip Jude was completely fine. He stayed out late a couple of nights with me and we watched the sun set over the Pacific. Perfect.

While we spent quite a bit of time at the pool every day the beach was the bigger draw for the kids. Jude could literally amuse himself for hours looking for rocks, playing in the sand and chasing waves. The water was a perfect temperature for swimming although the onshore break was a bit rough at times. There were hawkers on the beach trying to sell us everything from trinkets, hats and clothing to whale watching trips. One day we were lucky and enjoyed our very own whale watching from the beach. A couple of humpbacks came in close to shore and I was able to zoom in on them and got this great shot.

But the highlight of the trip I think for all of us was the visit to Dolphin Adventure. The last time we were in Puerto Vallarta was over two years ago but Jude remembered it well and wanted to go and see the dolphins again. One of the places had a great kids program where they could touch, feed and even swim with the dolphins. So we signed them up.

This place also had sea lions and when we arrived we were greeted by this guy. The trainer asked Jude if he wanted a kiss from the sea lion and Jude being the brave one around animals said yes.

It was the dolphins, though, that everyone came to see. And they didn’t disappoint. Both Jude and Anna had wide grins on their faces the whole time and when Jude took a ride on the dolphin he could barely contain his glee. We bought the official video afterwards that you can see here on Youtube.

After 8 days it was back to Denver where we were in for a shock to the system. After enjoying sunshine, the pool and beach every day in glorious 80 degree weather we got hit with the worst blizzard of the season so far today less than 24 hours after getting back. So, it was time to get out the snow shovels.

There is some excitement brewing in our house these days: Jude has not one but two loose teeth. He is ecstatic to be catching up with some friends and a cousin who have already lost some of their milk teeth.

Most of the time Jude and Anna are great buddies. They can play together sometimes for hours on end with barely an argument. Of course, like most siblings they have their moments when they can barely stand each often but for the most part they are really good buddies. This was clear during Anna’s recent two-day hospital stay. Jude stayed home with me and couldn’t wait to see Anna at the hospital each day. And you could see the unbridled joy in Anna’s eye when she saw Jude had come to visit. Then there is the photo above taken by Marcy as they walked through the zoo on a recent visit. Jude just spontaneously put his arm around her shoulder.

When Anna was sick last week we had a Jude and Daddy date at the annual stock show. He was a little reluctant to go at first but when we got there he had a blast. The petting zoo was his favorite part. They had baby pigs, goats and sheep running around that you could feed and pet. Jude was particularly fond of the baby pigs. We also did a pony ride which he seemed to enjoy but not as much as in previous years.

The big news in Jude’s life recently was the start of Knights Club at his school. At the Denver Waldorf School they have two-year kindergartens and each January the older kids get to join a “club” where they go and do big kid kind of activities. Jude has been looking forward to this for the last 18 months. The transition to 1st grade is a big deal at Waldorf and they try and prepare the kids for it. Every Tuesday afternoon for the rest of the school year Jude gets to participate in Knights Club.

Jude still loves nothing more than making up imaginary games and stories in the backyard. Yesterday he had a lengthy discussion and game with the little boy statue in our yard and the reindeer.

Finally, I have been meaning to get a picture of our new car on the blog. We bought this fun little Audi TT in December and have been having a blast driving it. We haven’t had the top off much but in Denver you do get the occasional 60-degree day in winter where you can take advantage.

We have spent every weekend in January in the mountains as the kids started their four weekly ski lessons. Both Jude and Anna seem to be enjoying themselves and making progress. We hope to be able to take them skiing with us when their four weeks are up.

Last weekend I did something I had never done before – stay in a hotel with just me and the kids. Our condo was booked (or so we thought) and Marcy had class so I took the kids and we stayed at the Inn at Keystone, pretty close to the slopes. We all had a great time and the kids managed to get a good night’s sleep before they got to ski school bright and early on Saturday morning.

This weekend we went up to the condo and invited one of Jude’s school friends to come as well. We were having a nice evening and then Denise & Phil (our co-owners in the condo) showed up with their kids. They had invited some friends of theirs as well. So on Friday night we had eight adults and eight kids staying at the condo. That was pretty much at capacity. We had Jude and Anna sleeping on the floor of the master bedroom closet – something they didn’t really enjoy. Consequently, no one had a great sleep.

So, the kids had their weekly ski lesson that went well and Marcy and I have had the chance to ski together for the first time in many years. It has been great and we hope to have the kids ski with us after their lessons are done. They both seem to enjoy it which is the main thing.

But being in the mountains isn’t just about skiing. Today, we all went sledding. Jude had one of his friends from school staying at Keystone as well, so they joined us for some sledding in Frisco today. You can check out Jude’s style in the video here and below is a photo of Jude and his school friend hurtling down the hill (Jude is in front).

Jude has been progressing well in his swimming lessons. Both kids had weekly lessons for most of the last year and it shows. Jude can now pretty much do freestyle and he is even trying his hand at backstroke which he is doing in the photo here.

The other new activity the kids are doing these days is a creative movement class. These are kids only classes and Jude and Anna do it together along with two of their school friends. They both seem to like it and it fits in well with their schedule. They still both have plenty of free time with only doing half days at school. And we want to expose them to as many things as possible to see what grabs their interest.

To say it has been a busy last two weeks would be an understatement. It started off on Christmas Eve with our annual trip to the Denver Zoo to see the lights. As always they were spectacular and the kids enjoyed it as well.

Then Christmas Day finally arrived. Both Jude and Anna were very excited about Christmas this year. So excited that we were a bit concerned they make wake up in the middle of the night, or worse still, while Santa was delivering gifts and putting it under the Christmas tree. Fortunately though, Anna didn’t come to our room until 6:15, and waited patiently in bed with us for Jude to awake 25 minutes later.

One of the many gifts that Santa brought were some stilts. Jude thought it was pretty cool to walk around the house with them.

The kids didn’t get a lot of time to play with all their new presents because on December 27th it was off to Des Moines. Both kids were excited to be visiting their cousins and family there. With all the snow Des Moines had received there was plenty of snow for sledding the front yard and they went out a couple of different times to enjoy it.

As usual Jude loved seeing his cousin Lily and the feeling was mutual. Lily slept with Jude and Anna every night we were there except for one. And that was the night we tried to do a sleepover at Lily’s house, but that didn’t work out so well.

That was on New Year’s Eve. Jude and Anna said they wanted to sleep at Lily’s house but after we had put them to bed they both decided they wanted to be back at Baba’s house. This was a bit of a bummer because we had a game of cards planned for all the grownups but we never really got it going. Well at least we got a cute picture of the kids in their matching pajamas.

Marcy and I enjoyed a night away while we were in Des Moines. We just stayed at a hotel near the local mall so we could walk to dinner and a movie. We hadn’t seen a movie together since our last visit to Des Moines over the summer so it was a treat to have an entire afternoon and evening.

New Year’s Day was our last full day there and Baba made a delicious turkey dinner. But then it was time to say our goodbyes before our long drive back.

We arrived back after a smooth trip on Wednesday night and it was straight to Chipotle, the kids favorite restaurant. Then two days later it was up to the mountains for the start of ski school.

We were very curious to see how the kids would do and thankfully it went well. We booked them in Keystone ski school for the whole day – from 8:30am until 3pm. It is a long day for them both. It helped to have a schoolmate of theirs in class with them. Parents are encouraged not to hang around but we did sneak a peak halfway through the day to see how everyone was doing and thankfully they were both enjoying it. Here is a couple of videos I shot on the phone – one for Jude and one for Anna without them knowing I was there.

The great thing about having the kids in ski school for the day is that Marcy and I had the time to ourselves. We went back to our condo and read for a while before heading up the slopes for our first day of skiing together in many years.

We arrived back at ski school a little early and both kids were exhausted. Jude had had enough and just wanted to go and Anna was so tired her eyes were bloodshot. Afterwards, they were both in good spirits and wanted to do it again next week. Good thing, because it is every Saturday for the next four weeks.

Here is Jude at the end of the day posing with the ski school mascot.

Last weekend was Marcy’s birthday and she decided that we would go to a Christmas party at our old neighbor’s house. So, we all got dressed up and I took this cute birthday photo with Marcy and the kids.

The other big activity last weekend was getting the kids reindeer. Both kids picked out a reindeer to decorate and then displayed them proudly at home. Here is a photo of Jude doing his best “I am not smiling” face.

This weekend we made the two hour drive from Denver to Canon City to take the Santa Express Train. Marcy had heard other parents talking about how great the train was for the kids so we thought we would give it a try. We weren’t disappointed. The kids loved it. Santa came by and chatted with the kids and an elf gave them both special reindeer bells that they treasured. Then they got to sit on Santa’s knee for an official photo.

We hardly ever get a decent photo of the four of us so when we all got dressed up to go to the annual Briere Christmas party on Friday night I thought I would give it a try. So, here is the Renton family in front of our tree.