In the times of the Rona

  As we are living thru this historic time, I have been thinking about documenting what my little corner of the world has been going through.   Just so my kids can look back on this and remember. We entered March thinking we were going to have a very busy spring, as most do with little kids. The end of the school year is always fast and filled with lots of projects and final concepts to learn. Cooper was going to play in two flag football leagues and Lauren working hard in her gymnastic classes to improve her skills. Cooper was also in the final weeks at his elementary school before entering middle school, with many of his classmates going elsewhere, so it was a very interesting transition time.  I also work at the school, so my job was also up in the air.

Crazy Hair day at school - Mr Cruger did a great job of keeping us connected

 

   School was sent into home learning on March 13. Sadly Cooper never got to go back to Superior Elementary.  The teachers made herculean efforts to complete the year as best as we could, but it was HARD. Lauren is not self-motivated in her school work, so my days were filled with "What are you doing?", "Have you finished that yet?", "Do you need any help?"(with NO, sometimes yelled, being the answer always). Cooper being the nerd, was always on task, but being an 11 year old boy, was always finding ways to cut corners."I already know that" being the response I got when I asked if he completed things.
   My job became mostly to keep my two students on task and learning, but I also did run several groups with the 1st and 2nd graders. Not lessons, but more just checking in, and allowing them to talk to friends, and keep in touch. I was able to help at the end of the year, by helping pack up and pass out the work that had been left at school that last day back in March.

  

 Lots of reading

 Thankfully once school was out, Cooper was able to go back to  Boulder Junior Cycling mountain biking and Lauren's swim team started training again. Sadly no races were allowed, but we were in the pool. Our local community pool opened on a limited capacity and mandatory reservation basis, and Joel has been diligent in signing up for times. Hiking and biking are still happening and we try to get out when we can. We also have been baking cookies and cakes, making summer clothes tighter.

     I must confess that I have not been the best at, as I tell my son "embracing the suck".  I have dealt with my issues, but I must say that I have been angry a lot. I feel as though I have lost so much of my life, and all that my kids lost is what makes me the most angry. I pray( and believe me I have prayed A LOT) that in a few more months this will all just be a memory and we can move forward to the full lives that I want for myself, but mostly my kids. Thankfully we are still blessed to live in a wonderful country and one of the most beautiful places. Here is the pictures of survival mode we have been in the last few months.

Cooper was supposed to sing the National Anthem at a Rockies Game -(note we had to finally order hair clippers from Amazon to get rid of that mop)

This was a school project - not quite sure what we were going for, but Lauren liked it,

Hiking helped keep us sane (or at least more sanity than we would have otherwise)

Obi was glad we were home, but not really happy to share the couch

On pretty days we would do our homework on the deck.

More of Obi helping

Still made time for last day of school pictures

I feel like I have aged 2 years in the last few months - and with lots of baking, maybe added lbs

Handsome Joel still looks the same

The 5th grade parade, which made me SO grateful for our amazing community. Tons of people came out to cheer on the kids as we drove through the neighborhood

  We are not out of the woods,  but I see glimmers of hope. School has not officially been called, but we keep praying and our hopes are up that we will be back together in the fall. We are headed out to Idaho next week, and hope to have a great time hiking, biking and playing in some mountain lakes. 

Everything is bigger in Texas

        So it was long weekend time, and I love to take quick trips. We can see new cities and sights without to much fuss and muss. So the kids decided they would like to go to Texas. Which for February is a pretty good choice. So we got the kids out of school just a few  minutes early and headed to the airport Thursday afternoon. Landing in Austin around 7, we found a local flavor burger, which was delicious.
    The next morning we headed south towards San Antonio, and the Natural Bridge Caverns. We as a family have been to quite a few cave tours in our lives, but this one was pretty great. It had several large rooms, and lots of stalagmites and stalagmites, with underground water. We enjoyed it, and as a bonus they had just opened last fall a ropes course which the kids loved.

The Fam in front of a large tower - Note I am not that short - I am leaning over and down to get Coop in the pic :)

                          Jill, Cooper (11yrs) and Lauren (8yrs) in Natural Bridge Caverns

                                                    Lauren In front of the Watchtower

Happy Campers

  We had a great time and then had some Lupe Tortilla's for dinner.  The next morning we arrived at the Doseum in San Antonio. This was a great children's museum. They had just opened an Spy Academy exhibit, which had the kids solving puzzles for about an hour and a half. It was very well done and interesting even for the adults. Lauren loved that they had a small laser room, that if you hit a laser you set off a buzzer. She spent about 30 mins in that room alone.
   After Shake Shack for lunch we headed to The Alamo. We did the audio tour and it was nice, but I feel like to tour Joel and I had taken years ago was a little more informative. This tour was more about the other people in the Alamo then those who actually fought in  the battle. Still I love my history.

Here is Lauren's code name - Ms Pineapple - ready to start her first mission

Our Agents

The Alamo - 1836

    I decided we need a little more history, but this was much more kitchy. We visited The Buckhorn Saloon Museum, with had Texas Rangers history, along with outlaw history. It was cheesy and a little silly, but the kids seem to like it okay. Lauren found some saloon swinging doors which she has to try out about 15 times.

I'm innocent

                 

Illusion of water going uphill - and big brother not being sure about his sisters hug

 On our last day in Texas we went to the Austin Aquarium. It was so cool. This was more like a Science hands on aquarium, where you are encouraged to touch the animals. They had lizards, coy, lemurs, the small shrimp that clean off your skin, and the be all end all of the octopus. Cooper had been fascinated with octopus for years, even writing a paper in 4th grade about a fictional field octopus.  We did have one misstep with when Lauren was bit by a ring tailed lemur. We were warned that they had had a long day the day before and it was a juvenile female, which saw Lauren as a threat. She was not hurt, but sad since it happened a few seconds from entering the enclosure. She did later in the day get to meet the Ruff Lemurs, which was great experience. Joel and I both think it is a great story. She was happy to tell all her friends when she got back to school. Then with the persistants of wonderful Joel we were able to feed an octopus. We also fed sand sharks and stingrays. It was the coolest experience, with being able to feel it's tentacles, and him blowing out water.  It was great.

Cooper Pus

Watch out Lauren

                                        

Lauren holding a bird

Otto the Octopus !

The cute lemurs before the bite - Again not the fault of the animal   

Not a happy camper, but has a really great story

Not a great pic, but the kids with the ruff lemurs - had a really neat experience

Neptune and the Mermaid

Shrimp cleaning the skin - felt very interesting

    We had a good trip to Texas, and as always am thinking of the next place we can go. My kiddos are getting older by the day, and want to have as many experiences as possible before they go.

Christmas Time

  I am not starting off the year very well keeping up with blogging. So I will try and recap the holidays.

    We, as usual, kept the Christmas holiday low key. But to have a little variety, we went over the the Gaylord Hotel for one night. They had a holiday themed experiences, so we signed up for several of them

Very pretty hotel - if not for the sun you can see the mountains out the window

First we saw the Cirque  Holidaze Show

  The show was really great, with some amazing acrobats. These guys/gals were very impressive. Some of the acts were couple on roller skates, guys doing flips off a seesaw, jump ropes, balancing on small things. The kids really enjoyed it.

The weather on the first day was not great, so we kept to the indoor activities on Saturday. The next thing we did was an escape room. Thankful with the help of all of us,we were able to find Santa's naughty list and get our names off the list. 

As you can see the weather was snowy and cold, but not cold enough to miss smores.

The next morning we had tickets to see Rudolph on Ice. They had larger then life ice sculptures  following the story of the old claymation show of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. They house all the ice in a 9 degree warehouse they had attached to the hotel. They gave us parka's to wear, but we also were wearing our own coats underneath. It was really cool to see, but it was cold.

The Abominable Snowman

Santa's Here..... I know him!

We made a great decision to wait on the outdoor activities. The weather was much nicer on Sunday. We were able to ice skate and snow tube to our hearts content.

 We had a great time, for little effort. So all in all a great little break. As I always say we are blessed.

A final pic from Christmas day at Aunt Sarah's House

It's Showtime

    Superior Elementary has been putting on a 5th Grade Musical for 23 years. At the end of Cooper's 4th grade school year, I had asked him if he thought he might try out for the play. He told me, he was not sure, but thought he might just do backstage support. I am very glad that he changed his mind. Once the time came, he decided he would try out for the role of Genie in Aladdin.  He did his work and practiced the song and dialog. When he came home that day, I asked how it went, and he said he thought he did okay. He noted that his friend Tyler was a great Genie, so he did not think he would get that part, but had a few other backup roles that he thought he might get. I was proud that he tried, since I am guessing there will not be many other chances in his life to do this. Well, a few days later he came home excited. He told me that he has been offered the role of Aladdin (Genie did go to Tyler :) ). He had some hesitations since he was playing Flag Football, and in Cyclocross, both which take up a lot of time.  But decided it was too good of an opportunity to turn down.
    The next month and a half was full of days of rushing between play practice and sports. I must say I think I saw Cooper maturing before my eyes during this time. He had a great attitude. Never complained about finishing homework at 7 PM after a long day. Just did all that was required of him to take care of the things he signed up for.  He always said that play practice was fun.  I went thru the dialog with him once and he had a good handle on it, so I kind of left him alone for the most part. 
   The rest of the community, as it always does, really stepped up and created amazing sets and costumes for the kids. It really was a great experience that I know Cooper will remember fondly. So when the day came , we were all very excited. Jack, Martha, Joel and I were able to make it to the daytime show, and it was really fun to see the whole production come together. Then Sarah's bunch was able to make the night show.  What these kids created,with a herculean help of the teachers was really special.  We loved every minute of it.
  Here are a few pics from the show (again thanks to another spectacular teacher Jen Lehman)

 One Cute Aladdin

 

Abu, Aladdin, and Genie

Prince Ali, Magic Carpet and Genie (I told you the costumes were great)

Jasmine and Prince Ali (aka Aladdin)

Mrs Higgins 5th Grade Class

Super proud parents and sister

Ready for showtime

    One side story that has made me laugh every time I see the video is Cooper "trying" to direct his castmates. Jasmine and Prince Ali were suppose to look at each other at the end of "A Whole New World". Well Jasmine either forgot, or was not persuaded of Prince Ali's affection so Cooper decided to remind her by kicking her..... the look on her face is priceless.

   Joel and I are so very proud of what Cooper and all his classmates did with his musical. Now for the next adventure in the 5th graders year. Calwood, which is an outdoor education camp they go to next week! These are some blessed kiddos!

Living on Mountain Time

      We were lucky enough to borrow our friends condo in Summit County again this summer and had a great weekend riding and hiking in some really beautiful country.   We headed up Thursday night ,  hoping to avoid the Friday traffic. Sadly I starting having a little trouble with my asthma and had to run back home early Friday morning to get my inhaler. Thankfully I was also able to help Joel out with a malfunctioning bike part and saved us some time to get it fixed. Joel worked on Friday and the kids and I hung out at the condo to hike and swim.
   Early Saturday morning we headed out to get some mountain biking in.  Lauren was not super thrilled with the first hills, but once we got into the trees, she really started to enjoy it. Since Cooper has been biking all summer, we pretty much never saw him again, until we headed back to the parking lot. I had not been on the trails in way too long, and it was so much fun.  At one point we took a wrong turn and got on a Blue rated trail (think Green, blue , black like skiing), but both kids rode it well. Lauren had a small crash, but nothing major. All in all it was a great time, and I hope we can do it again very soon!

Lauren getting the hang of it

Mom and Lauren bombing down the hill (might be a little exaggerated)

11 year old in his happy place

Lauren rocking the technical parts

   I had started looking for a hike to do on Friday when we were hanging out at the condo.  I try to find things that will challenge us, but not destroy us. I also have to consider which trails we can take Obi on. He is great on trails and REALLY loves it. So I had found a trail that started right at the bottom of the West side of the Eisenhower Tunnel. Which I thought sounded pretty cool to hike up to the continental divide. So Sunday morning we headed up. It turned out to be a really cool hike.  We had a blast. Not super long (I think about 5 miles back and forth) but we did get up to 12600 feet.  

Getting ready to head up - Some confusion on grabbing Ren's Coat, so she is wearing Joel's

Family Selfie - The building in the back is the top of the Eisenhower Tunnel

A boy and his dog - What an amazing view!

Almost to the top - was starting to get windy

Happy Girls 

     Once we were about 1/2 mile from the top it started getting pretty windy, but it was cool to get to the peak. It was a fun hike, one that I might to again.  After getting back to the car, we had to head home for a friends birthday party. But as always it was a great time in the mountains. We are so blessed to live in such an awesome place. 

While we hiked just under 6 miles, Obi must have gone 12. (in this pic we had just seen a Marmot)