Anna celebrating her successful race in Breckenridge

I spent the entire weekend with Anna in the mountains. We drove up Friday night and went to Anna’s favorite pizza place and then ice skating on Keystone Lake. Saturday, we were up bright and early for ski team. It was a cold day but Anna was toasty warm she said. I joined her for a few runs after ski team ended at 3pm and she took me on some really challenging black diamonds.

One of Anna’s closest friends at school is Reed. His family has a place in Breckenridge so we stayed there Saturday night. It meant we could sleep in a little later but it was still another early start to be there for the race meeting at 8:15am. It was a bitterly cold day, I think it was the coldest day of skiing I have had in over 20 years. The high was 11 and there was a 30 mph wind blowing. But Anna was a trooper the whole time.

She had two runs down the race course. The first run she was really pushing it hard and fell going over the jump. The second race, which I recorded below, she started slower and made adjustments and finished the race well.

Reed and his dad came to watch Anna race and we skied with them most of the day. It made for a really fun day that was about more than just the race. It was quite a long weekend away from home, we didn’t arrive back until 6pm Sunday night.

Meanwhile Jude stayed in Denver and chilled at home quite a bit. Our old neighbor Graham came over on Saturday, and Sunday he spent quite a bit of time with our current neighbors. Otherwise, he and Marcy watched movies and old Star Trek episodes. The original show is currently on Netflix and both kids are enjoying it.

Jude going up the climbing wall

Both kids had the past week off school so Marcy organized quite a few activities for them both. Earlier in the week they went to a climbing wall again.

Finally, Marcy took this cute photo below of the two of them watching Youtube videos. It was nice to see them getting along as that has been somewhat rare lately.

Watching YouTube videos on Marcy’s iPad

Anna on her school field trip to the indoor farm

Once a year I go on one of the kid’s school field trips. On Tuesday, I joined Anna’s third grade class on their trip to the Growhaus, an indoor farm in North Denver. It was a fascinating place where they grow a ton of vegetables indoors and they introduced the kids to concepts such as hydroponics and indoor gardening. I think I got more out of it than Anna did, I thought the place was great.

Jude and Anna tackle the climbing wall at REI

This weekend I had class so Marcy took the kids to REI to do the climbing wall. They also did a bit of shopping there.

A game of mini golf in shorts and a t-shirt on a mid-February day in Denver

Today, was the warmest day of the year so far, almost hitting 70 degrees. So, I left my class a little early and took Jude out to play some mini golf and then we went to the park to kick the soccer ball around. It was a little windy but apart from that it was a beautiful day.

Anna shows off her new library card

There has been a lot of sickness floating around the school and Anna came down with a bad cough on Wednesday morning. She didn’t feel that had but we decided to keep her home from school for the rest of the week. And she missed ski team this weekend.

On a positive note Marcy and Anna used the time to go to the library and get Anna her very own library card. She was SO excited about this. She took out three books and since she had a lot of time on her hands she read them all in one day.

Early in the week Anna tried out stilts at school

Jude managed to stay well although he complained of a bit of a sore throat. So far, this school year he has not missed a day of school for illness.

We had some snow on Saturday and it was a bitterly cold day. I had to go to work to get caught up on some things and the kids spent most of the day at home. Jude worked on his school project on the state of Mississippi. We spent a bit of time watching the Olympics and we saw the USA get their first gold medal in the snowboarding.

Cheering on the US team as we watch the Olympics

Today was a bit warmer and sunny which was nice. Jude had a birthday party downtown and then we went to our neighbor’s guitar recital which coincidentally was at the Waldorf School. Jude had a short kick of the soccer ball in the backyard but for the most part we stayed inside.

Catching a little outside time on this cold weekend

Finally, the kids bought these tiny little Pacman games out of their own money. They played with them obsessively for a couple of days and now the novelty looks like it has worn off. Below is a picture of Anna with her new game sitting in a special chair.

Anna sitting on the chair that was made for her grandma (Baba) when she was a little girl

Anna playing her cello with her teacher during her school recital

I spent a few days in New York City this week but I was back late Thursday night. This time Marcy took Anna up for ski team and I stayed home with Jude. We got take out Italian and watched The Waterboy. Jude laughed hysterically at parts of it but overall he said it was only average.

On Saturday, Jude went to a playdate at our old neighbors house so I was able to get caught up on some work. Marcy and Anna came home late afternoon and we started preparing for our annual Superbowl Party.

With the Superbowl I am in charge of cooking and I make three different chilis. Before the Superbowl Anna had a cello recital at her school. Thankfully, she was one of the early ones on so we made it home in time for me to finish cooking and to get ready for the big game.

And what a game it was. The entire house was cheering for the Eagles and were so happy to see them win. It was one of the best games I have ever seen.

It was pretty loud at our house throughout the game so Pickles spent the evening under our bed.

Anna giving Pickles some love this week