First night out to a restaurant in 15 months. Jax was awesome!

Last week I flew to New York for our big annual conference. While it was a virtual conference we were using a production studio in New York City and so we needed to be there, It was my first flight since March of last year and it was a little strange. But I managed to get there and back without incident. It was great to get the event behind me as it has occupied so much of my time and energy since the start of the year.

Toasting the end of another successful LendIt event

This weekend was all about rest and recreation. It started when I picked Anna up from school and we went to get Ben and Jerry’s. Then we had a Friday night picnic in the park which was just lovely. Saturday, Jude and I went for a hike in the foothills in Apex Park, it is the closest hike to our house that is rated as hard on AllTrails. It really wasn’t that hard and we did the 8+ miles in around 3 hours.

On the top of the mountain at Apex Park

We arrived back at home and then an hour later we were all riding our bikes downtown for dinner. We went to Jax, known for the oysters, a place we had been several times but not for several years. It was a fantastic dinner, I was commenting to Marcy afterwards that I think it might have been the nicest meal we had ever had out as a family. It was so nice to be out at a restaurant again.

Jude running strong in the Cinco de Mayo 5K

This morning we had the Cinco de Mayo 5K in Wash Park. Jude did really well with a time of 22:22, coming second in his age group and 20th overall (out of 600 runners). I was several minutes behind in 27:12 but it was good to be out racing again.

Taking a break in the hammock with Olive

Marcy spent much of the weekend working in the garden. She got a lot done and the yard is starting to look good.

Hiking the Red Hill trail outside Carbondale

We found out on Tuesday of this week that Jude was going to be playing soccer in Glenwood Springs on Saturday, a three hour drive. It turned out to be lucky for Jude because Denver got 6″ of snow on Thursday night and all games here were canceled. But Glenwood Springs just got a dusting and the game was on. So, Jude and I made the long drive leaving at 9:15am for a 12:45pm kickoff.

I didn’t want to drive all that way without getting at least some time on a hiking trail. So, after his match Jude and I found a hiking close to the soccer ground and did a nice 90 minute hike before heading home. On the way back we stopped at Jude’s favorite restaurant, Chimayo in Dillon.

Getting ready to shoot audition videos

Marcy got her second covid shot on Saturday in Colorado Springs so Anna went along and they did some shopping along the way in Castle Rock. Then Anna went to Defy, a trampoline place, in the afternoon with her old Waldorf friend Reed.

Today, Anna had to shoot her audition videos. She has been taking these acting classes for the last several months and graduation is coming up in a couple of weeks. Before they graduate they need to shoot a few videos of themselves acting and talking about themselves. Anna did a nice job and I helped her get everything uploaded this evening. She is excited to start acting in commercials which will hopefully come later this year.

Anna enjoying her half-birthday donut

Anna turned 12 1/2 this week and as we have done every year on April 7, we celebrated her half birthday with a donut. She chose an apple fritter. As Marcy pointed out this makes her half way to 25.

Anna’s 6th grade class at their school social

On Friday night Anna had a school social, the first organized activity they had all school year. Anna helped organize the event and had a blast doing it. It brought a little sense of normalcy to the school year.

Anna with one of her best friends

On Saturday it was all about Jude’s soccer. He refereed two games in the morning and in the afternoon he played his own game. This is the first game I have watched this season and his team is really quite good and they won a hard fought game 3-2.

Today, Jude and I ran the Donut Dash 5K, the first one of the season. It was good to get out there and a beautiful day for it.

Playing with water balloons on the trampoline

Meanwhile Anna spent a lot of time with the neighbor kids this weekend. For some reason, they decided water balloon fights on the trampoline would be fun.

Easter morning with their packed baskets

Easter weekend was very much a home-bound affair. Although Saturday we went our separate ways with my driving to Colorado Springs to get my covid vaccine (the J&J, one shot!) while Marcy took Jude for his soccer match. I was bummed to miss his match but super excited to get vaccinated. Marcy got her first Pfizer shot last weekend.

My excitement turned to misery today as I woke up feeling horrible. Every muscle ached and I had no energy. I was no fun to be around and I spent the day watching tv and doing taxes. Thankfully, Marcy was 100% and had a wonderful Easter planned. She worked until late last night packing eggs for the Easter egg hunt and also filling their baskets with goodies.

Starting the Easter egg hunt

Anna is still really into the Easter egg hunt and Jude got into it after it started but said he would be ok if we skipped it next year. Marcy included poker chips this year instead of change which made it easier to put together.

Anna and Elsie leading the three-legged race

Anna and one of the neighbors put together a whole program for the afternoon that included a treasure hunt, three-legged races, an egg and spoon race, and egg tossing. I was feeling so horrible that I couldn’t really participate but everyone else had a blast. They put in a big effort and did a really nice job. As you can see it was really nice weather, in fact, it was a record hot day for April 4.

Snuggling with Olive

Anna skiing the powder on Keystone’s North Bowl on my birthday

On Wednesday of this week I had a birthday. I decided to take the day off work and go skiing with Anna who was on spring break. We drove up in the morning with a bit of a late start but we had a fantastic day. Keystone had received 7″ of fresh snow in the previous 36 hours so it was pristine. We hiked back in the North Bowl where there was a ton of untracked powder which was so fun. Anna skied really well on it.

Celebrating with my two favorite kids and some birthday cheesecake

We finished around 4pm and then it was back to Denver for my birthday celebration. We ordered Thai food which was delicious and then Marcy made her classic cheesecake with some cherry sauce. Yum!

This weekend it was back up to the mountains. Jude’s soccer on Saturday was canceled because the ground was still too wet from the last snowstorm. He did manage to get a game in on turf on Friday night, his first game of the season which made him happy.

We met up in Keystone with an old friend of Anna’s from Waldorf and his dad. They were also good skiers so we did more powder and tree runs as well as some cruisers. It was a a full day and I was beat by the end of it. It was my third ski day in the past seven days.

Hiking on a snow covered trail was hard going

This morning I didn’t want to go skiing so Jude and I decided to try a hike on the south facing mountain behind our condo. Anna wanted more skiing so we dropped her off at 9am and told her we would meet her back at 11:30am. We wanted to leave for home by lunchtime to avoid the traffic.

Jude and I had an adventure. The first mile the snow was really packed down and it was easy hiking. But at the four wheel drive road after going about half a mile it became impossible. Each step would sink me down to my thighs so we decided to turn back. Keystone has had over 18 feet of snow so far this season and even on the south facing mountain there was still plenty of snow.

Anna’s official school photo for sixth grade

We end this week with Anna’s school photo that we received this week.

Building an epic snowman in the park

Last Monday arrived and it was a Snow Day for everyone. We ended up with about 18″ of snow and the snow day was good timing as Jude and Anna could hang out with their cousins for the day. They worked on a huge snowman in the park and played in the backyard for a lot of the day.

Tuesday it was back to school and then Wednesday, Baba and Grandpa, along with Ella and Chloe drove back to Iowa. Of course, Baba left a bunch of gifts for the kids, including candy, which they have been enjoying all week.

It was a nice warm ski day in Keystone

With so much snow it took a while for it to melt so consequently Jude’s first soccer game of the season on Saturday was canceled. I had a feeling this would happen so I booked us a day of skiing at Keystone.

Unfortunately, Jude woke up on Saturday with a sore throat so he decided to stay home. Anna and I had a great day, it was warm and mostly sunny, it really felt like Spring skiing.

This morning Jude was still not feeling well and he was really stuffy, So, Marcy took him to get a covid test but thankfully it came back negative. So, today was a quiet day for him, he did try to kick a soccer ball in the park this morning but he didn’t have much energy.

Anna is so surprised to see her grandparents

On Thursday afternoon the kids had a major surprise. Their grandparents had driven out from Iowa along with their two ten-year-old cousins. They had no idea and were both so excited to see everyone.

Playing on the trampoline with their cousins

Baba and grandpa came into the house first and the cousins were hiding in the back yard, jumping on the trampoline. Jude saw the girls first whereas Anna just thought that Baba and Grandpa had come to visit. She was even more surprised to see them and then it was straight out to the trampoline to do some jumping.

Getting ready to go sledding and snowboarding

This weekend we had a monster snowstorm. It snowed a little on Saturday but by Sunday it was coming down fast. The sledding hill had plenty of snow so they took the sleds and snowboards this morning and had some fun.

Chloe getting some snowboarding lessons from Anna

Then it was home to warm up before heading outside again this afternoon.

Ella and Anna were covered in snow when they came in

This afternoon we told the kids they needed to clear the snow off the trampoline and off my car as well. We thought they would be out there for 20 minutes or so but they ended up being out for more than two hours. They built some snow steps up to the trampoline and then some snow chairs and were well on their way to building an igloo before they decided to call it a day.

Clearing the snow off my car (they did a great job)

As of tonight the snow was still falling. The official tally was 16″ so far in Denver with another 3-6″ expected overnight. It was a good night to stay in. Baba decided to teach the kids how to play poker. We had all four kids playing for a while and then after dinner Jude and Anna had Baba to themselves. They were getting the hang of it by the end of the night.

Baba teaching the kids how to play poker

Anna in the photo shoot

For the past few months Anna has been taking acting and modeling classes. She really wanted to do this because she wants to start acting in commercials and other things. She really enjoyed working on the school musical and was extremely disappointed when it was canceled this year (and last year). So, this has been a great outlet for her to learn more about what it takes to be an actor.

Part of the course is a photo shoot that Anna actually did several weeks ago but we finally got the photos this week. There are many great photos, we are just including two from the more than 60 photos they took.

My favorite photo from the shoot

It has been 10 days since a foot of snow fell here and this weekend was warm and sunny with today being the warmest day of the year so far. So, the snow has all melted. Whereas last weekend we we trudging through snow at the park this weekend Jude was out in shorts and t-shirt and no shoes.

Catching the football at the park

Jude had his first refereeing game of the season yesterday, it was good to get back into it he said. Today, with the warm weather Anna and the neighbors decided that they wanted to hook the hose up to the trampoline and jump. It was kind of like a trampoline shower and as you can see they are having a blast.

Cooling off on the first warm day of the year

It was a bit too much snow for Olive

On Wednesday night we had a big snowstorm. It was supposed to only be 3-6″ but we ended up getting around 12-14″ at our place. They said it was Denver’s biggest snow storm in five years. The kids loved it because they called a snow day for both schools so it was a fun day in the snow for them.

Anna on her snowboard at the local sledding hill

It ended up being a sunny day, although it was pretty cold. The kids spent time on the sledding hill with their snowboards and then Jude tried to chase Olive around the park. Olive was her usual perky self in the snow, even though she had to work hard she just loved it.

Olive is a bit too quick for Jude

Yesterday was Olive’s birthday, she turned two. To mark the occasion Marcy and kids took her to the pet store and bought her some new toys. Then they went to our favorite ice cream place, Glacier, and got some special doggie ice cream which Olive enjoyed. Of course, there was ice cream for the humans, too!

Eating her birthday ice cream

Skiing the trees on the Outback

The kids were really looking forward to getting back in the mountains again. So, on Friday night after dinner we drove to Keystone and were greeted with a warm day when we woke up on Saturday. We had a great day, skiing all over the mountain. Jude really liked skiing the trees on the Outback and he even preferred going to where the trees were really tight rather than more open. They both have improved dramatically this year, particularly on the moguls. I did the most bump runs (around 7) I have done in probably 10-12 years and my knees were hurting by the end of the day.

Anna doing a jump in the terrain park

Today was much colder and it was windy as well. We had a bit later start but we were all ready for a lunch break by 1pm. We had cold feet and hands and Jude wasn’t feeling well. So, after lunch we just did one run and called it a day. This was fine with me as I was still sore from yesterday.

Jude had the week off school this past week. He spent the days playing soccer in the park and playing video games.