Hockey – Pellegrini Page

Another Disney Countdown

For those who are familiar with this blog, or just our family, you will know that we’ve been trying to take a trip to Disney World in Orlando for about a year now. Our original plan was to go in April 2020, for our 10 year wedding anniversary. We had been keeping it a secret for 6 months, then broke the news to the kids last February. The world, however, had other ideas, so we ended up rescheduling the trip multiple times. At one point last Summer we were even considering doing a cross country road trip in order to make this vacation happen, but every time we started getting close to making it happen, the pandemic would interfere and we would find ourselves rescheduling for some arbitrary date in the future. Every time we would reschedule the trip it would seem like surely things would be fine by then, right?

When we last rescheduled the trip we chose the week of May 9, 2021 as our date. We hadn’t thought much about it until a couple weeks ago, but we’re getting close enough now that we had to make a decision on what to do. Our general thought was that Disney World has been open since last Summer, and although crowds are down (which is nice), they seem to have stabilized their operation. We’re more than willing to play by the rules, and early May is a great time of year to visit Florida, so we’re going for it. With pretty much everything already in place, all we had to do was purchase new airfare, and luckily for us, airfare is much cheaper now than it was the first time we booked the trip.

At the time of this writing we have 76 days to go until the trip. Obviously you never know what may happen, and as I’ve said many times, nothing will surprise me, but our plan is to stick with this schedule and have (most likely) the most memorable Mother’s Day ever. We’ll see what happens between now and then, but obviously we’re all very excited, especially the kids. I expect to have more updates on this in future posts as we get closer to the trip.

One of the other exciting things going on around here lately was the blast of snow we got last weekend. Between Friday night and Sunday morning we got over a foot of snow, and the best part about it was that we got our fun for a few days, then in a matter of just a few days, it was all gone. The weather warmed up a bit and the rains came in to wash it all away.

It was 2 years ago exactly that I totaled my car in Snowmageddon 2019, so I was much more cautious this time around. I did drive a little during the snow this year, but only on major roads that are plowed regularly. Part of the reason I chose the car I ended up getting was that it has all wheel drive, and you can really feel the difference when driving it in the snow. I may only need it every couple of years, but when you do need it, it’s so nice to have.

In looking back at the crash I had 2 years ago, it was a perfect trifecta of bad conditions: it was a steep hill, in a neighborhood (meaning it doesn’t get plowed), and there was a previous layer of snow already on the ground from earlier that week which had frozen and turned into ice. I definitely learned a lesson from that one and will never make that mistake again.

This year’s snow was all about playing outside with friends, having snowball fights, and sledding on tiny neighborhood hills. We did a nice family walk while it was coming down heavy on Saturday and enjoyed all the scenery. It was perfect, and again, it was all gone in a few days. The fact that we had Monday off for President’s day made it even better. A nice wintery 3 day weekend was ideal for everyone.

A couple weeks ago Ava had her first actual hockey game of the season. Only one parent or family member per player was allowed to come, so only I could go, but I really enjoyed watching her play. Unlike previous seasons, where I’m either on the ice or watching every practice, this year has been completely different. I’m not allowed to come in and watch practice, so I hadn’t seen all the progress she’s been making.

Based on this I didn’t really know what to expect, considering it’s a new team, a new age bracket, and it’s coed now, but I was pleasantly surprised to see she was the starting defender for her team. They only send out 4 skaters and a goalie at this age, meaning there’s only one defender per line, and Ava was chosen for the first line! She had a really good game and I was so happy to get to watch her. She plays tough defense, makes good passes, and shares the puck, which always gets the attention of the coaches.

Elise and Enzo have been back in their Saturday morning hockey classes, but Elise recently admitted to us that she’s not really into it. Honestly Jessica and I were relieved because hockey is such a commitment, and multiplying that by 3 was already starting to stress us out. Elise really loves Jiu-Jitsu and wants that to be her #1 athletic activity, which we’re thrilled about. Enzo is still enjoying hockey but we’re not sure what the future holds for him. I’m not worried about it but I’m really hoping BMX racing resumes this Spring and that he gets really into that. It’s clear that hockey will always be #1 for Ava, which is great, but I kinda like the idea of each kid having their own athletic specialty. We’ll see how it turns out over time.

Home school continues to go well, and the results are speaking for themselves. The personalized instruction Jessica gives to the girls is so much better than they were getting in public school, and I’m not knocking public school at all, it’s just that they have to teach an entire class and can’t afford to tailor everything to our children’s learning styles the way Jessica can. We’re still not sure what the plan is for next year but I’d be shocked if Ava didn’t choose to continue home school. We’ll see what Elise and Enzo want to do when the time comes.

The other exciting recent events for us were based on getting to spend some time with family. We were able to do a group birthday celebration for Enzo, Uncle Jim, and Beto at Kristy and Beto’s house a few weeks ago. It was the first time we saw everyone in several months so it was great. Most of the time was spent in the kitchen putting together some excellent vegan dishes. Madi is really into cooking vegan food these days so it was great seeing her working so confidently in the kitchen.

Last night my sister Dana and her son Kallan came over to spend the evening with us. Dana is up here visiting from California and I’m so glad we got to see her. The kids see her every Tuesday morning for a tutoring session on Zoom, so they were super excited to see her in person. Kristy, Beto, and Madi had gotten us a great vegan cookbook for Christmas, so we made a mushroom stroganoff recipe from that book for Dana and Kallan. It was delicious, but more importantly it was great just getting to hang out. Kalland and I played guitar, and Dana gave Jessica and the girls a lesson on how to crochet. She even made the kids a bunch of cool stuff that they’ve been wearing all day.

Speaking of the whole vegan thing, it’s now been 6 months since we made the switch and at this point I don’t think either Jessica or I could imagine going back. I could see us eating something with real cheese every once in a while at some point, and certainly when we’re traveling it may not be possible to adhere to a strict vegan diet, but that’s about it. Eating meat is totally out of the picture and we haven’t had any cheat meals or anything like that. For me, the only time I’ve cheated at all was a total accident – I had a bowl of ice cream about 4 months ago which I thought was dairy free, but turned out to be real. I was actually bummed about it because if I was going to cheat on purpose it would be something with cheese (like pizza), not ice cream, but whatever. It was still good and luckily didn’t make me sick.

To build on the vegan thing, about a month ago Jessica and I implemented the concept of daily intermittent fasting. We use an app called Fastic to track when we eat, and ultimately we fast for 16 to 18 hours everyday. It’s been really easy because neither of us ate breakfast anyway, so we were essentially already doing it, we just weren’t keeping track.

Now we’re keeping track and loving it. I feel so good at the end of each fast everyday, and there are many health benefits associated with intermittent fasting, but the main thing that attracted me to it was how beneficial it is for your body in terms of healing. As a 40 year old guy doing Jiu-Jitsu 3 days a week, I’ve always got a strained this or a pulled that. It’s to be expected, but I was looking for a way to accelerate my body’s healing process to get over these little injuries faster. Jessica has her own version of this with all the HIT (High Intensity Training) workouts she’s always doing.

We learned that fasting everyday is a great way to help your body heal quickly because it reduces inflammation, and all the energy your body would normally reserve for the digestion process can now be redirected to the healing process. Basically we just eat a nice full dinner each night, then we don’t eat again for 16-18 hours, meaning lunch the next day. If you’re going to snack, you do that between lunch and dinner, rather than before lunch or after dinner. If you’re going to eat dessert, that’s cool, you just have to do it right after dinner rather than waiting a while.

You can drink as much water, black coffee, and tea as you want during each fast, but you want to focus mainly on water. It’s been surprisingly easy to adjust to, and at the end of each daily fast the Fastic app asks you how you’re feeling. For me personally I’m always feeling either good or happy, so I see no reason to stop. Doing HIT or Jiu-Jitsu in the morning has been fine as well, meaning we’re not lacking energy, so we’re all good. It is causing me to lose more weight, and I recently had to get rid of most of my jeans, but I have to assume that it will table off pretty soon.

Overall life is good and I’m so proud of all the healthy changes we’ve made in the past year. I know it’s been a challenging 12 months for many people, but I will always look at this period as a time of positive change for us. It’s funny because I haven’t even put 3,000 miles on my car in the last year, but we’re still finding ways to stay engaged, do things that make us happy, and constantly find new forms of self improvement.

That’s about it for now. Here’s some recent family pics.

Working on some home science experiments

Enzo’s snow tube wouldn’t hold air. Love the expression.

Elise looking adorbs with her new haircut

Peach and Spencer have gotten so big! They recently got spayed and are recovering nicely.

Hitting Our Stride

Getting settled into our fall and holiday activities

Compared to last month’s update, where we had just gotten the cats, just restarted the school year, and just gotten going on our vegan diet, this month feels like things have really settled in. The cats have already doubled in size (if not more) and have explored pretty much every little nook and cranny of our entire house. They’ve got all kinds of great hiding places and are quite funny to watch when playing together. I honestly don’t know who in this house loves them the most, but it was definitely a great decision to get them, and they seem very happy as well.

I can’t remember if I mentioned this last month or not, but Elise has officially withdrawn from school and is now a full-time home-schooler, just like Ava. The difference was that Ava already had her mind made up before the year even started, while Elise wasn’t so sure at first. She ended up starting the year in a class, but after a few days of being on Zoom calls all day and not getting to participate with Mom and Ava, she quickly decided to change course.

At this point Enzo is the only one still enrolled in school, and it’s actually going quite well for him. Sometimes it’s difficult for Jessica to balance all 3 of them at once, but luckily I’m home all day with them and have started regularly working with Enzo on some of his Kindergarten projects. It’s nice to be able to contribute a little bit in that way, and we enjoy the time together.

Overall school is going well for all three of the kids, and even though our district is starting to bring some kids back into the classroom, we’re not even considering that for Enzo. He will remain virtual for this entire year without question. I honestly don’t understand why suddenly now they think it’s time to start bringing kids back, as daily Covid cases are getting back to the 70,000 range in the U.S. and a second (or is it third?) wave is upon us, but we’re not going there. We’re just fine as we are and consider ourselves lucky to be in the position we’re in.

As far as extra curricular activities go, in addition to our Jiu-Jitsu school, the kids are now all in hockey of some sort. Ava is on the 10U team with Seattle Junior Hockey Association, while Elise and Enzo are doing the Learn To Play Hockey class with Everett Youth Hockey. Between both of these activities and school, we’re pretty busy these days, but we prefer it that way. We had plenty of down time earlier this year so it’s nice to have some resemblance of normalcy back in our lives.

Certainly we realize that exposure to anyone outside our house carries some level of risk, but we feel much better about these contained one hour sessions compared to sending them to a classroom all day long. Plus getting to interact with kids from beyond our house and neighborhood is good for them. It can be tricky trying to find that balance but we’re doing our best.

In addition to having a couple activities outside the house, the kids have recently gotten their wish of having their own Pellegrini Kids YouTube channel! They had been asking about it for a while and we recently finally got it setup for them. We only have 14 subscribers at the moment, but we’re regularly adding videos and the kids love making them. Anything from homeschool to homemade slime is liable to end up on one of their videos, so we encourage you to subscribe!

It’s been about 8 weeks since making changes to our diet and overall it’s going great. The way we’ve settled into it is Jessica and I are fully vegan, while the kids are vegetarian. They still eat cheese and yogurt, but that’s about it in terms of animal products. I sometimes find myself missing cheese, but there are so many good plant-based alternatives to cheese and meat that it hasn’t been a problem.

Definitely my favorite part about this change has been all the new foods and dishes we’ve been discovering. Whether it’s something we ordered on Purple Carrot, a recipe we found, or just something we threw together with the different types of ingredients we’ve been purchasing, food has never been more fun or exciting. I assume people would expect the opposite in regards to a vegan diet, but in our experience nothing could be further from the truth.

Halloween is just around the corner, and obviously that always makes us think of a visit with Nana because it’s her birthday, but things are going to be different this year. Snohomish County declared no trick-or-treating this year, so we’re just going to do a little party for the kids here in the neighborhood. We got our pumpkins yesterday and are looking forward to carving them next weekend.

Regarding the holidays, we’re very excited to have Nana coming out to spend Thanksgiving with us. She will be arriving on Tuesday night, which is the day before Ava’s 9th birthday, and staying until the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We’re working on planning some fun stuff to do while she’s here, so that should be great. Then for Christmas we have Amy and Tom coming out for a visit, so that too should be a lot of fun. I’m sure it will all be here before we know it.

I guess that’s about it for now. I’m not as long winded as usual today, but everything is good. Even though it’s been a strange year, Fall is still my favorite season. I love cooking on the weekend while watching sports, getting the fireplace going, and relaxing at home. We’re glad to have hockey back, as that has become ‘normal’ for our family, and being home together everyday is something we’re thankful for. I could do this work-from-home thing forever if they let me…

Back on the mat

Last Tuesday we took the kids to their first Jiu-Jitsu class at a relatively new school in downtown Snohomish called Bulwark Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Although Enzo didn’t really enjoy it and decided it wasn’t for him (at least for now), Elise and Ava very much did enjoy it and were excited to go back. We ended up attending another class on Thursday and once again the girls loved it, so based on that we decided to sign them up for regular classes. Additionally, based on how much they were enjoying it, and the fact that the school could use some help in the kids class, I decided to sign up as well. It’s been 5 years since I last did a Jiu-Jitsu class, and in some ways it bums me out that I quit after making so much progress, but I’m really excited to be back into it now, especially since this is an activity that I can enjoy not only on my own, but with my kids as well. Regarding the 5 year break that I took, it was during that time that hockey made a grand entrance into our lives and I honestly couldn’t imagine what our lives would be like without it at this point, so I’m perfectly happy with how everything has turned out.

I was a little bit surprised that Enzo didn’t take to it, but I think he may still be a little too young. He was paired up with an older boy who was pretty experienced, and although the boy did his best to teach Enzo, he just didn’t like being taken down to the mat, sat on, held down, etc. He told me he would rather stick with hockey and bike racing for now, and I thought that was totally fine. His next hockey class starts in about two weeks and he’s excited for that. Then when the class ends, bike racing season will begin, so I think he’s in good shape as far as activities go. Since we still have nice Jiu-Jitsu mats at home, I’m planning on working with the girls and teaching them many of the things I learned when I first started, and Enzo definitely wants to join us for that. I’m sure after a while he will become more interested and may end up wanting to join the class at some point in the future.

In all honesty, the one I was most concerned about in terms of enjoying it was Elise. We have been wanting to find a good physical activity for her to get into and so far she’s loving it. I knew Ava would love it because it’s right in her wheelhouse – this type of physical activity comes naturally to her, but the fact that Elise also loved it made me so happy. We ended up getting both of them a gi (Ava chose a white one while Elise wanted a pink one), then went back for our third and fourth classes this week. I’ve been helping out with the kids classes and sticking around for the adult classes afterwards.

I was feeling quite sore after the first class, but it was great training and rolling with people again. Overall I feel like I’m coming back at it with a new mindset. When I first started Jiu-Jitsu back in San Diego, I was in a bit of a hurry to move up. I went to every class possible so that I could test for my blue belt as soon as possible. While I did receive the highest score (at that time) on my blue belt test in our school’s history, I wasn’t doing myself many favors when I ended up at other schools in Seattle. The program I went through in San Diego was based entirely on self defense (it was called Gracie Combatives), but when I got to the schools in Seattle I was training with people who compete in tournaments, and as a blue belt I was a target for them. Consequently people worked me over a lot, and I nearly got my arm broken, so it put a sour taste in my mouth which eventually caused me to quit. This time around I’m in no hurry and am happy to be starting over as a white belt. Even though I have some experience and legitimately earned my blue belt, at this point I’d rather be a good white belt than a weak blue belt.

Overall I’m just glad to have this activity that we can share and enjoy together. Jiu-Jitsu is very much like playing human chess, so it’s just as good for the mind as it is for the body. Each of us will benefit from it in our own way, and I’m excited to share what I do know with the kids at home. Related to that, I’m thankful to have such a supporting wife who was so encouraging not only to the kids, but to me as well, in terms of taking on yet another activity. For now the girls and I will continue going to classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and when scheduling conflicts arise (most likely next hockey season) we’ll just figure out a way to make it work.

Speaking of hockey, we were just up in Canada earlier this month for another tournament. This one was called Wickfest and it’s run by Hayley Wickenheiser, a Canadian Olympian and recent Hockey Hall Of Fame inductee. It’s a huge tournament featuring girls hockey only, and this was their tenth consecutive year holding it. They normally run it in Alberta, but for the past few years they have also held it in Vancouver, and our Washington Wild 8U team was the only team from our whole organization to make it in!

As always the tournaments are so much fun for everyone, players and families alike. It’s a great bonding experience for everyone, and so much fun to watch the kids take on new competition. Our team won the first 3 games convincingly, then went up against a very tough team in game 4 and we lost pretty badly. Every team we faced was Canadian, so it’s great for the girls to face international competition like that. Ava has proved herself to be the main defensive specialist on the team and plays a very physical brand of hockey. As I like to put it, she’s the closest thing to an enforcer you’re going to see in 8U girls hockey, and I mean that as a complement. She’s big, fast, and intimidating out there. While she generally prefers staying back and stopping the other team in their tracks, she still managed to get her first tournament goal in the third game. It was a beautiful shot and I was so excited that I turned to a mom next to me (whose daughter played for the other team) and said “That’s my daughter!”. She was like, “woohoo”.

I had made a deal with Ava before that game that if she scored a goal she could push me into the swimming pool afterwards. We had already been swimming once that day and I wasn’t exactly hoping to go again, but I had to follow through with my promise. Obviously she got a big kick out of it, and I’m all about giving fun motivation like that. I know you have to be careful with how you incentivize kids, but something like pushing me in the pool or dumping a glass of ice water over my head is funny and memorable, so I’m fine with it.

Not only was I proud of Ava, but Jessica and I were both so proud of Elise and Enzo for how they conducted themselves throughout the weekend. It’s not easy to go and support their sister the whole time, but they’re so good and always find a way to have fun with the other kids. Their good attitudes and maturity when the spotlight wasn’t on them was really impressive, and honestly Ava could benefit from learning a bit of that. She’s going to have to as they get further into activities of their own. Overall it was a great weekend, and I even found time to take Enzo to The Hockey Shop in Surrey, where we fitted him for his very own red hockey helmet. He’s been wearing Ava’s old helmet so far (which I covered with black and red tape because he didn’t want to wear a pink helmet), but since he wants to stick with hockey I promised him we’d get something he liked. The selection in Canada is so much better than what we have around us, so he got to pick out a bright red helmet and white facemask that fit him perfectly. I love how he’s only 5 years old and already wears an adult size small helmet!

There’s only about a month left in Ava’s hockey season, and we’ll be capping it off with one more trip to Canada near the end of March. Grandpa Rick will be coming out from Iowa to join us, so that should be a great time. Also our friends the Palmer’s will be coming up for a day trip to cheer Ava on. It’s been a great year, and I’ve really enjoyed helping out as an assistant coach, but we’re ready for a little break after this. In addition to Jiu-Jitsu, Ava is looking forward to the bike racing season this Spring/Summer. A lot of people have their kids specialize in one sport these days, but it’s not good for their bodies and leads to injuries that wouldn’t happen if they were more well rounded athletically. Between hockey, martial arts, and bike racing, we feel good about the mixture of activities for our kids, and love seeing them enjoying themselves year around.

In addition to all this activity, the girls have been making so much progress with mom at home on reading tutoring. It’s been nearly two months now and the improvement is really impressive. I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record on this topic, but I’m so impressed with how Jessica has taken this on. Her dedication is the sole reason why it’s working out so well. Ava and Elise are both moving up through levels at a nice pace, and more importantly, they’re enjoying it. We still have a way to go to get caught up to where we want to be, but based on this new trajectory I have no concerns.

Jessica has not only been busy with tutoring, but has also been working a lot more over the past couple weeks due to Valentine’s Day. It’s always busy this time of year after a very slow January, so she has been taking advantage of that as much as possible. Lately it seems like one of us is always working, but that allows for a lot of good solo time with the kids, and before long we’ll be on our first big family vacation.

Before I go I want to take a moment to pay my respects to a close family friend who is no longer with us. Paul Harper has been a good friend of my mom, Uncle Jim, Aunt Brenda, and other family members for longer than I’ve been alive. I’ve known him my entire life and although I didn’t know him like they did, I always loved and respected him. When I was a little kid I thought he was the coolest guy simply because he drove such a cool Porsche. I remember going to his 40th birthday party when I was a bit older, but it was when I started really getting into music in my teenage years that my appreciation for him reached a new level. Not only was Paul an accomplished jazz pianist, but he ran his own recording studio and worked with many of my heroes from the Seattle music scene. I had the chance to visit with him recently while holding a birthday party at the house. Jim invited him to join us because he lived close to me, and I’m so glad he ended up coming. It ended up being the last time I would see him, but he was the exact same guy I had looked up to as a kid. Full of life and laughter. Hearing that he had passed away from liver cancer was very sad and shocking, but I’m thankful to have known him, and will certainly never forget him. He touched the lives of multiple family members in a very positive way and for that we will always be thankful.

Here’s a few recent photos to ensure you go out with a smile.

Is Elise happy or sad here? I’m not totally sure.

Enzo enjoying a rare sunny Winter day in the PNW

Elise loves her new pink gi – and Jiu-Jitsu!

This pose has nothing to do with Jiu-Jitsu but it cracks me up. Classic Ava.

One of my better shots of Ava from Wickfest

A fellow dad with a lot more photography experience than me took these 2 shots of Ava in the tournament

The girls wearing their Valentine’s Day outfits

Happy 5th Birthday Enzo!

Today our amazing little boy turns 5 years old! I know I say something similar to this on each of the kids birthdays, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but I just cannot believe he’s already 5! I also can’t believe our youngest child is now 5. I know it’s super cliche, and I say it every time, but time is flying at a relentless pace and the older I get the faster it seems to go. Overall he’s doing great with all of his activities and school, while also enjoying his final year at home before entering school full time as a Kindergartner in the Fall. He loves monster trucks, racecars, video games, bike racing, listening to music, dancing, and getting out on the ice to play hockey.

To everyone who got him a present or wished him a happy birthday, thank you all so much. Some of the highlights this year included various cars and monster trucks, a red leather jacket, and his very own Nintendo Switch! We got our first Nintendo Switch about a month ago for Christmas and we all love it, but it’s probably safe to say that Enzo loves it the most, so it felt appropriate for him to have his own.

Although today is Enzo’s actual birthday, we primarily celebrated on Sunday by going to an Everett Silvertips hockey game, which they won 4-1 over the Spokane Chiefs. We were joined by Kristy, Beto, and Madi, plus our good friends the Palmers and the Browns. They were supposed to announce Enzo’s name during the second period, and I had my phone out filming when they started calling out the birthdays, but for some reason Enzo got skipped. Obviously he didn’t know the difference but we were a bit bummed and confused. Either way it was still a really fun evening, then afterwards we went out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Much like his first birthday, after dinner they brought out the sombrero and sang to him before enjoying a bowl of fried ice cream.

It was a very hockey-filled weekend which began with Ava’s practice on Friday night. Then on Saturday morning Enzo had his final class from his first Hockey 1 session that he began a couple months ago. He made great progress during this time and after the final class I told him he certainly didn’t have to stick with hockey, but he could if he wanted to. His response was “Daddy, I want to keep playing hockey until I’m good.” So, on that note, we’ll be signing up for another session in the spring.

Saturday afternoon Ava had practice and a game, which she played very well in, then Saturday night we met up with a few other families for the University of Washington’s hockey game against Oregon. Sunday afternoon Ava had a special practice in preparation for the Wickfest tournament we’ll be attending this weekend, then Sunday evening was the Silvertips game. So yeah, lots of hockey this weekend!

In addition to Sunday’s birthday celebration, we were joined this evening for dinner at home with Auntie Dana. She wasn’t able to make it to the game but wanted to see Enzo, so it worked out perfectly. I figured it would make sense for us to have Cioppino (our dad’s specialty) for dinner, and luckily my favorite grocery store Central Market sells a really good Cioppino base, which makes it quick and easy to prepare. We’ve been getting to see Dana a lot more frequently over the past couple months and that’s been really nice, so we appreciate her coming over.

As briefly mentioned already, we’ll be up in the Vancouver area this weekend for the Wickfest tournament, which is an all-female hockey tournament put on by Canadian Olympian and recent Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser. It’s a very popular tournament and is so tough to get into that our 8U team was the only team from the entire Washington Wild organization to actually get in! We’ll be attending the “Let’s Glow Girls” opening party on Thursday night, which will be filled with food, music, neon lights, and lots of glow sticks. In addition to playing 4 games throughout the weekend, there will be all kinds of events going on for the kids to participate in, plus we always enjoy hanging out at the hotel and going swimming with the team.

In addition to all this hockey with Ava and Enzo, Elise has recently joined a Lego club at school and is enjoying that. She’s looking forward to trying a Jiu Jitsu class soon, as are the other two, after we get back from Canada, and I also just found a kids cooking school in Bothell called Frog Legs that we’re interested in checking out. She went really out of her way to make Enzo the sweetest birthday card, Pikachu ears, and gift basket (full of his own toys that she found around the house), then was the first one downstairs this morning wishing him a happy birthday. Overall she’s doing great and looking forward to a weekend in Canada. I have to give Elise credit because she’s so good at going with the flow and having fun with whatever we’re doing, but at the same time I want to make sure she gets to go and do things that specifically cater to her interests. So far she’s loving the legos, so hopefully we can ‘build’ from that… (get it – build??)

Earlier this month we made our annual trip to see the monster trucks at Monster Jam in Tacoma. Our next door neighbor Jim came along with us and everyone had a good time. It’s just loud mindless entertainment but I enjoy this new tradition we’ve made and look forward to doing it again next year. Then the very next day we received about 7 or 8 inches of snow, which was enough to cause the kids to miss 3 consecutive days of school. They basically spent all day everyday outside sledding, building a snowman (whom they call Bob every year), and dumping snow down each other’s backs. It didn’t take long to warm up and all get rained away, but they enjoyed it while it lasted.

I hate to mention a somber topic in this post, but I have to admit I’ve been pretty shook up over the past couple days due to the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in that helicopter crash. I always looked up to Kobe and his death has been really bothering me. The fact that they and other families were going to their daughter’s basketball game hits close to home. I can’t help but make a connection with Ava and I regularly going to hockey practices/games together. Obviously we’re not traveling by helicopter, but anything can happen, and their deaths were a sad reminder that you can’t take anything for granted. It was all over the TV during our dinner on Sunday night, so we used it to have a good family conversation about life, love, and appreciating every day we have together because you never know what may happen next.

Considering how fast the kids are growing, I’ve recently taken up another creative hobby – photography. It’s not something that I’ll ever dive as deeply into as I have with guitar, but it’s another form of creative expression, and I love capturing all these special moments with our family and friends. I’ve been watching videos on YouTube to learn the basics and look forward to getting lots of shots this weekend in Canada.

The other big thing going on in my world has been based around transitioning into a new role on my team at work as the lead engineer working on experimentation, analytics, and personalization of the azure.com site. It’s the same team I’ve always been on (hard to believe my 5 year anniversary is only about a month away) but I’m now working with a relatively new group within the team to gather data and deliver more personalized experiences for our users. It’s a huge opportunity for me and should become a turning point in my career, so I’m very excited.

Jessica has been staying very busy tutoring the girls and things are going so well. They’ve been at it for about 6 weeks now and the progress speaks for itself. Ava and Elise are both on the cusp of finishing level 2 of the Barton system and it’s so cool to see them getting excited about reading! Not surprisingly their teachers at school are noticing a difference as well. Overall I just have to give Jessica so much credit and respect for taking this on. Her dedication has been amazing and we’re already starting to see it pay off. She’s a natural teacher too, so we have already decided to have Enzo go through the course when the time comes. Who knows, tutoring may even be a potential career for Jessica at some point in the future, but she’s not worrying about that for now. It’s all about our kids at this point, and I just can’t thank her enough for all the dedication and effort she continues to put in. The kids will thank her someday as well, but for now seeing them learn, and enjoy it along the way, is all the thanks she needs.

Before I go I just want to once again wish Enzo the happiest of birthdays. I still remember my fifth birthday and I hope he always remembers his. I couldn’t be more lucky to call him my son. Happy birthday buddy – we love you more than you’ll ever know.

Sporting his new red leather jacket. Happy birthday Enzo!

A Ball in Fall

As per usual with our family, things have been very busy for us lately, and I mean that in a good way. Since returning from my trip to Japan, we’ve been to a wedding, had multiple visits from family, had a very fun Halloween, and taken a trip to Canada for another hockey tournament! I’ll go in chronological order, starting the very next weekend after returning from Japan.

Not only was it an honor for me to stand up as a groomsman in Kristy and Beto’s wedding, but it was a pleasure for our whole family to attend. The wedding was held at a farm in Buckley, practically in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. We got lucky with beautiful weather, and enjoyed a full day of dancing, eating, and in the kids case, lots of running around playing with friends.

It was a pretty large event, with at least 100 guests, many of whom we had never met before. Since we had already done the wedding party weekend in Lake Chelan at the end of summer, it was great to see everyone from that group again and get caught up. This was my first time standing up as a groomsman in any wedding and I enjoyed it. I really liked the whole group of guys and would definitely call all of them friends at this point. Hopefully we can all get together again sometime soon.

The ceremony itself was beautiful and very memorable. Ava had been saying for months that she was going to cover her eyes when the bride and groom kissed, so I made a point of looking at her right at that moment to see if she followed through. As it turned out, the emotion of the moment had gotten to her and she was weeping just about as much as anyone, and she did not cover her eyes for the kiss, which I was glad to see. It was great seeing our kids all dressed up, enjoying the moment, and making friends.

After the ceremony most of our afternoon and evening was spent on the dance floor. They had a great DJ who was really funny and playing all kinds of good music. Unlike our kids, I’m not normally that into dancing, but that always changes at a wedding. I’m more than happy to make a bit of a fool of myself on the dance floor, and it was fun watching the kids cutting it up all night long. They also had a fun photo station with all kinds of props to hold, so we took advantage of that and got some pretty hilarious shots.

Overall it was such a fun and memorable day. We’re very thankful to Kristy and Beto not only for inviting us, but for making us a part of the event. We couldn’t be happier for them, and are very much looking forward to hearing about their upcoming honeymoon in France and Italy! They leave at the end of this month and will be back in early December.

At the end of October we were paid a visit by my Mom for Halloween, which is also her birthday. We were all very happy to see her, and the kids were especially excited to see what her costume was. She gave them a hint, which was that it had a tail, and Enzo couldn’t get off a water theme with his guesses the whole time. Shark, mermaid, and whale were some of my favorite guesses of his, but it turned out to be a cat. Not just any cat either – she had the most realistic cat mask I’ve ever seen! It was almost a bit creepy because it had the most unrelenting stare ever. I found myself having to look away after a bit because I felt like it was peering into my soul.

In addition to Nana’s cat costume, we dressed up as the following: Enzo was Darth Vader (or Dark Vader as he says it) on Halloween night, and Captain America for his school party earlier that day, Elise was Belle from Toy Story, Ava was a mermaid, Jessica was Princess Leia from Star Wars, and I was Blippy, a popular kids character on YouTube.

Instead of trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood, we decided to switch it up this year by heading over to the Silver Firs neighborhood by the kids school. It wasn’t that different from our own neighborhood, but was still a nice change of pace. I was particularly surprised by how many kids were mesmerized by my Blippy costume. One parent even went so far as to ask me if I would pose for a picture with their son, which of course I was happy to do.

It may have been a bit chilly, but it was our first dry Halloween in a few years, so we were all happy with that. Overall we didn’t get a drop of rain for nearly two weeks straight, including all of Mom’s visit, so that was really nice. Several houses were decorated quite nicely, but there was one in particular that went above and beyond. They had a full graveyard in their front yard, a pumpkin at the very top of the streetlight out front, creepy videos playing in windows, lights in storm drains, and even a weiner dog dressed up as a dinosaur to greet everyone. Kudos to that family for doing such a great job!

In addition to going out Halloween night, Jessica took the kids to a costume party at their school the previous weekend. There was a cupcake contest going on, and since Elise has been saying lately that when she grows up she wants her own pastry shop, we thought it would be fun for her to make her own cupcakes and enter them in the contest. She worked really hard decorating them, and as it turned out, she ended up winning the contest! We were so proud of her, and of course she was ecstatic. I love the idea of her getting into baking so we’re definitely encouraging her to keep it up, and getting this kind of positive affirmation can only help with that.

We kept Nana busy with various activities the whole time she was here. She carved pumpkins with the kids, read lots of books with them, attended Enzo’s class party, went to the ice rink with us 3 days in a row to watch Ava’s practices and games, and got to spend an evening with Kristy, Beto, and Madi, who came over one night for dinner.

Another really special visit took place on her last day in town when we got to visit my Aunt Norma and cousin Ken, whom we hadn’t seen in far too long. Norma is my Dad’s sister, and she has always been so good to me. I have the fondest memories of her throughout my childhood, and lately I’ve been in regular communication with her son Ken, so it was really special to be able to set this up with them while my Mom was in town. Unfortunately Jessica, Elise, and Enzo weren’t able to join us because they already had tickets for Disney On Ice that day, but Ava came along with Mom and I, then we went straight to hockey practice after. I was really proud of Ava because I had given her the option to either go with Mom and her siblings to the Disney show, or come with Nana and I to visit Aunt Norma, then go to hockey. Without hesitation she said “Anytime I can be with Daddy and Nana, then play hockey, I’m in!”

As expected the visit was very special, and they were so impressed with Ava. She conducted herself so well and made me very proud. Since Jessica, Elise, and Enzo couldn’t make it, I promised Aunt Norma that all 5 of us would be out again very soon for a holiday visit. It’s important to me that she gets time with all of our kids, and I know they will love it just as much as she does.

After hockey practice that day we took Nana to the airport and had to say goodbye. It was a really great visit with her, but they always go by too fast. We really appreciate her coming up and look forward to another one sometime soon.

A couple weeks after Nana’s visit we were paid a visit by Grandma Amy and Grandpa Tom, who ended up joining us in Canada for our first travel tournament of the season. There are a total of 4 tournaments this season, and we’re planning on going to 3 of them. For comparison’s sake, we only made it to one last season, but it was so much fun that we really wanted to ramp it up this year.

We were in Burnaby, which is directly connected to the eastern part of Vancouver. You don’t even realize you’ve left Vancouver because it’s such an urban area. It’s in an area called Metrotown, which has a big shopping mall and more Asian restaurants than I’ve ever seen anywhere, other than Asia itself. We drove up Friday evening, checked into our hotel, and ended up at this awesome Chinese restaurant for dinner. It wasn’t your typical American Chinese restaurant, but instead was so much more authentic. Some of my favorite dishes included the pan fried pork dumplings, and salt & pepper fried shrimp, which I followed customs on by eating the whole thing, head first.

Our first game was at 7:00am Saturday, and players had to be there 45 minutes before gametime, so it was an early start. We were caught off guard by the way this referee was doing line changes, so the other team got the first goal while we were switching players and had basically no one on the ice. Even though we took 3 times as many shots as them, they had the best young goalie I’ve ever seen, and we ended up losing the game 2-1. It’s okay though because the loss lit a fire under our girls and they played amazing in the other two games, crushing our next two opponents by about 10 goals in each game.

After the early game on Saturday we had the whole rest of the day to ourselves, and it was raining, so we decided to go to Science World in Vancouver. This was the best science center I have ever seen, with so many activities to enjoy and shows to watch. We ended up spending about 3.5 hours there and everyone really enjoyed it. The rest of that day was spent relaxing at the hotel, and going swimming, although we were caught off guard when we found out our hotel pool was outside! It was heated, so the kids were fine with it, but the adults all had to sit there wrapped up in towels trying not to freeze. It was pretty funny and memorable, but there was no way any of us were getting in that water. That night Tom, Jessica, and I had a really authentic Japanese meal at a Ramen restaurant while Grandma stayed at the hotel with the kids. I had been craving Ramen since leaving Japan and this place really hit the spot.

Our game on Sunday morning wasn’t quite so early, so we all got to have breakfast together at the hotel before heading to the rink. Five seconds into the game Ava got the puck on her stick, passed it to her teammate, who was right in front of the goal, and scored. That was her first of two assists that game, and she ended up playing great. That night at the team dinner everyone kept talking about how well she was passing, and how tough and physical she was. She’s the second biggest player on the team, and spends most of her time these days playing defense, which is a natural fit for her. We’re not really supposed to be checking at this age level, but Ava plays a physical game that way, and gets so much praise for it. She made a couple physical, but totally clean plays, during this tournament that left her opponents in tears, but you never get complaints from any of the Canadian coaches or families because that’s the way they prefer to play as well. We ended up winning that game 12-1.

Later that afternoon we met up several of her teammates and their families at another hotel and went swimming. This time it was an indoor pool, so that worked out nicely, then that evening we went to the team dinner at Boston Pizza. It’s always chaotic when you get that many kids together at a restaurant, but it was a good bonding experience for everyone, parents included.

Since it was Veteran’s Day yesterday, we had one more game to play, and again Ava did great. She stuck back on defense the whole time and did really well stopping shots before they even got to the goalie. She was cutting off opponents and forcing them outside to the boards, and played a very tough and physical game. We were up by 12 or 13 goals at one point, then started to lay off a bit, which allowed the other team to come back a bit later on. We ended up winning by 9 or 10, which doesn’t matter because you don’t keep score at this level, but still feels good, especially to be dominating Canadian teams like that.

Not only did our girls do well, but so did all of the teams representing Washington Wild, and our 14U team actually won the whole tournament for that age bracket! After the final game we said our goodbyes to the rest of the team and got on the road. Luckily crossing the border wasn’t too bad and we made good time getting home. We got to spend one more night at home with Grandma and Grandpa, and enjoyed watching the Seahawks pull off a nail-biter over the undefeated 49ers on Monday Night Football.

Today Grandma and Grandpa head home, and the rest of us are back to our normal schedules. As usual, it was a really fun getaway weekend, and we look forward to the next one. All 5 of us always love going to Canada, and staying in hotels is always a special treat for the kids. Next up we’ve got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rudd coming for Thanksgiving, so that should be fun. I love Thanksgiving, and just hope there are no food debacles this year. I’m leaving the turkey to Grandpa Rick and will focus on the sides, which are always my favorite part anyway. Enjoy the recent photos, as well as a montage of video clips from Ava’s tournament.

Thank you Kristy and Beto for such a great day!

The girls looking beautiful in their purple dresses

Elise had so many props on you can’t even tell who it is!

Elise making the cupcakes that ended up winning the school competition!

Elise doing her best “Belle” from Toy Story

We had so much fun spending Nana’s birthday with her! And getting lots of candy…

Visiting with Aunt Norma and Ken was such a treat

Ava wearing the perfect shirt for posing under a T-Rex skeleton

Ava’s photo from the Veteran’s Day tournament

Go Ava! #12! Go Wild!

Christmas in Colorado

The 5 of us recently returned home from the winteriest and snowiest of Christmas vacations one could possibly imagine. We spent a week at Grandma Amy and Grandpa Tom’s house in the mountains of Colorado, and were joined by: Joel & Melanie, Emily, Derek, and their son Cole, plus Tom’s son Trevor. Although the house was full, Amy and Tom went out of their way to make sure everyone had what they needed, and we ended up having a great week to remember. Before getting into it I just want to thank Amy and Tom again for everything – we had a great time and will remember it forever.

Although the week was good, it started out a little rough. We would normally fly out of the small airport up in Bellingham, but that wasn’t an option this time, so we were stuck with SeaTac. It was a work day and traffic was unreal, so it ended up taking us two hours just to get our car dropped off and shuttled to the airport. On our way down, a metro bus shot a rock into the windshield of our new van, leaving a decent size crack (repair coming tomorrow).

Luckily once we made our way into the airport, things started getting better. Although I generally try to avoid SeaTac airport whenever possible, I have to give credit where it’s due – they did a great job with security. No one had to take their shoes off or pull any electronics out of their bag, you just had to go through a single-file line and allow a dog to sniff you. It was really efficient and they got everyone through security really quickly.

Emily and family had flown in an hour or so before us, so Amy and Tom were there in a big 15 passenger rented van to pick everyone up. It was Thursday the 20th, meaning it was the first day of Winter and the shortest day of the year. By the time we had a quick bite to eat and started pushing through Denver traffic towards the mountains, it was already getting dark. It was pitch black out by the time we reached their house, but Trevor had a fire going and every light in the house was turned on, so it kinda glowed like a beacon in the night.

This was our first time visiting their house, so they gave us a nice tour. It’s a very unique house because it was hand built with logs, and the logs weren’t local, they’re from British Columbia. The house was initially built up there, then deconstructed and transported to Colorado, then reconstructed. Every log had to be sanded and treated, and the house is pretty huge, so the amount of work that was put into building this place just blows my mind. The main living area downstairs is really open, and there’s windows everywhere, so during the daytime the views are gorgeous in every direction. There’s also decks going around the whole house, so you can sit outside anywhere (including the hot tub) and soak up the mountain air. Upstairs is mostly bedrooms and a tv area, but they also have a pool table up there, which I enjoyed.

Just across from the house is Tom’s garage/workshop, and it’s incredible. The RV is parked in there, along with the motorcycles, four wheelers, dune buggy, and pickup truck. There’s a nice full-sized bathroom, kitchen, and laundry. There’s a woodworking shop, an office, a huge closet, a loft with couches, tv, and workout equipment, plus a full ski shop with everything you’d ever need for a day on the slopes. There’s two bedrooms: one full of bunk beds for the kids, then one for Jessica and I, then the RV ended up being Joel and Melanie’s bedroom. I’ve never seen anything like it, but it was very cool. Kinda like the ultimate mother-in-law meets the ultimate home garage.

Their house is somewhere between 8,500 and 9,000 feet elevation, and that type of elevation is no joke, so we intentionally had no plans for the first two days we were there. You basically just need a bunch of downtime to allow your body to acclimate. For me I couldn’t sleep at all the first two nights because I couldn’t shake these splitting headaches. I was drinking a ton of water, but it didn’t matter. The difference for me came when Amy gave me a canister of pure oxygen to breathe from. That thing saved me and killed my headaches. After a few days your body gets acclimated and you don’t need the air, but it was crucial during the early part of our trip.

Anyway, Joel and Melanie weren’t going to be there until Saturday, so the plan for Friday was to take it easy around the house. The kids went out sledding that morning (the first time of many), and proceeded to get spoiled by having an adult on a four wheeler there to tow them back up the hill each time they went down. Then later that afternoon Jessica and I decided to take the truck down into town and experience some real pond skating. We went to the community pond, which was right across the street from Silverthorne elementary, and ended up sharing the ice with kids who were out there playing around for their P.E. class.

I had never ice skated outdoors before, and didn’t really know what to expect. What I quickly figured out is that ponds that aren’t groomed with a Zamboni are quite bumpy and hard to skate on. It soon became a game of just trying to stay on your feet and not run into any of these kids, who were all just running around the ice in just their boots. Since everyone in our family now owns ice skates, we just brought all of them along for the trip, and this was the first of multiple times using them.

Saturday was the day Joel and Melanie arrived, and it was also the beginning of all the activities Grandma Amy had planned. We started at the sleigh in Frisco, and were unexpectedly greeted by horses (and riders) who were there doing photos. After meeting the horses we all took turns doing photos on the sleigh, then headed over to this cool little art/pottery shop in town. Basically we had a reservation in their studio to do any kind of painting/glass etching/wood burning activity you could want. Jessica, being the professional art teacher she is, was quite at home in this environment and dove right into helping the kids, as well as making stuff of her own. I’m not quite as comfortable in this type of activity as she is, so I stayed back to take photos, help wash hands, and compliment the various pieces being created.

As things were winding down, Ava and I took a chance to go for a walk around downtown Frisco. There was so much snow everywhere, so Ava kept stomping her boot and yelling “Footprint!”. I’m not sure why I asked, but for some reason I said “So what do you think Aves, you really want to play hockey in the Olympics someday?” and without hesitation she responds “I’m never giving up on my dream Daddy. I’m never giving up.” She had this dead serious tone that was so genuine, it must have brought a tear to my eye because she later told Jessica she made Daddy cry on our walk.

Sunday was without question my favorite day of the trip. Basically most of us headed out to the Keystone resort that morning, then split up. Tom and Trevor went skiing, while our family, Amy, and Emily’s family stuck together. First we visiting the “Chocolate Village”, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s probably 25 feet long and 5 feet deep, featuring a chocolate waterfall, a working railcar system, tons of famous characters and superheroes, huge nutcrackers, and all kinds of random things to try and spot. Everything was made of chocolate and it was unbelievable!

After that we headed down to the Keystone ice rink, which is this enormous outdoor skating area on a frozen lake, but unlike the free pond Jessica and I had visited a couple days earlier, this one is constantly being groomed by a Zamboni. All I can say is it was the best ice I’ve ever skated on. You’re looking down and it’s actually kinda scary because it’s clear straight down. You can’t help but worry for a second about falling through, but when that huge Zamboni drives by without any issue it gives you a little peace of mind.

I ended up renting a hockey stick and puck, just to skate around with, but when we got out there I saw they had an entire area set aside just for hockey. It didn’t take long before I made my way on over there and found myself getting into a pickup game with a bunch of random people. Besides my skates the only gear I had were elbow pads, but it didn’t really matter. No one was geared up, although I quickly figured out that most of these guys I was playing with were much more experienced than myself. It took all I had just to keep up with them, but when you play with people better than you it elevates your own game. The pinnacle for me was scoring just a single goal in the game, even though I’d been out there nearly 90 minutes. You’re up there playing at like 10,000 feet, on the best ice you’ve ever skated on, with unreal mountain views in every direction. As our kids like to say, I was living my best life out there.

My second favorite part about playing hockey that day was breaking my rented stick, which was just a cheap wooden stick. Before getting into the game I was using it to practice slap shots, which probably wasn’t good for it, then after playing in the game for a while, I was battling for a puck, and snapped it like a toothpick. I came skating back into the lodge with the stick in two pieces and Amy busts out laughing. Then Jessica gets this worried look on her face like we’re going to be responsible for it. I just went to the counter and asked for a new one and it was no big deal. After another half hour of hockey, Jessica had to come get me and say she knew I was having the time of my life, but everyone else was hungry and ready to go, so I had to call it a day. It ended up being a day of skating and hockey that was so unique and memorable, so I’m very thankful we were able to make it a part of the trip.

After skating Amy took everyone out for pizza, which ended up being delicious even though our server was clueless. We were able to meet up with Tom and Trevor, then head back up the mountain. Later that night, Tom made a deep fried turkey outside, and I swear it was my favorite thing we ate all week. Same for Jessica. We couldn’t believe how good it was, and if I wasn’t afraid of burning my house down, I’d do it at my house as well. Either way props to Tom, because that turkey was the bomb.

Sunday was Christmas Eve, and we woke up that morning to a heavy blanket of new snow. It must have been going all night because we had gotten dumped on. The plan for that day was to go on a Christmas train with Santa down in Georgetown, which is about halfway down the mountain towards Denver. The problem was that due to all the fresh snow, we didn’t have a safe route down the mountain towards I-70, which is the main freeway you’d take to go towards Denver. So we had to go the long way, with all 13 of us in the rented van.

Jessica and I sat in the furthest back bench seat, which was stupid on our part. There’s no suspension back there, so every bump is jarring, and the good ones make you wonder if you were minorly concussed. The heat was blasting back there, the windows were all fogged up so you couldn’t see out, and it was so bumpy, that for the final 20 minutes of that trip I was just trying to concentrate on not throwing up in the van. It ended up taking 2 hours and 45 minutes to get there, and I think everyone was a bit miserable when we arrived.

As we walked down towards the train station, they had all these fires burning. There was even a guy roasting chestnuts on an open fire, which was incredibly authentic for a Christmas train. It was all quite picturesque, but when the smoke from those fires reached my nostrils, my nausea battle went into overtime. I held it together, but was miserable for the next 15 minutes. Once we got on the train and I was able to sit down and drink some water, and things started getting better. But between that and the altitude sickness earlier in the week, I was hurtin’ a little bit.

The Christmas train ended up being a big highlight of the trip. The kids got a bunch of interactions with Santa, and the views were incredible. It was a bummer trip getting there, but worth it in the end, and something we’ll always remember. We ended up getting a family photo on the train to signify it, then we lucked out on the way home because we were able to take I-70 back up the mountain, meaning the trip home was much shorter than on the way out.

After we returned home from the train, we all had to put it in gear to get setup for a little holiday gathering we were hosting with the neighbors. Everyone started working on putting food out and getting things together, and within 30 minutes the place was ready. It actually felt like we were running a little restaurant together for a minute there.

Their neighbors (and associated family who also came) were all great and I found myself in multiple engaging conversations. We didn’t end up seeing them again during the trip, which was a bummer, but that night was so much fun and we had plenty of delicious food to snack on.

Christmas morning got started early, which was by design. We all met at the tree at 7:00am, which for Trevor (the college kid) was borderline torture. The plan was to open presents early, then have the rest of the day to play, nap, and just hang out. We ended up never even leaving the house, which was fine with everyone considering how busy we’d been. Christmas Day was the sunniest and warmest day we had, so the views that day were insane.

I knew Tom was doing a prime rib that day, and since I had nothing else to do, I decided to basically take on the rest of the holiday meal. It wasn’t that much, but I made a ton of garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and a vegetable stir fry. It ended up being a really nice chill day, capped off with a nice family meal.

Wednesday was our last full day in town, so Jessica and I decided to get away that morning and do a bunch of outlet shopping in Silverthorne. We ended up getting a bunch of clothes, shoes, and a new suitcase, before enjoying a delicious lunch at Sauce on the Blue. That evening we all made pizza’s at the house, then went out for our last group outing (which ended up being another highlight of the trip) – the Ice Castle in Dillon!

The Ice Castle is this huge castle made entirely of ice, filled with ice slides to go down, tunnels to climb through, enormous icicles hanging in the air, and light shows being shown on ice backdrops. It was cold, but so cool and unique. Everybody enjoyed it, and it was a really cool way to punctuate the trip. After exploring the castle for over an hour, we all went inside to enjoy hot chocolate and compare photos.

Thursday was our travel day, but our flight wasn’t until 9:15pm. It certainly wasn’t ideal to have such a late flight, but the only other option was early in the morning, and we didn’t feel like we could make it. So we basically just hung out that morning and let the kids go sledding one last time. We ended up leaving in the early afternoon, and obviously that was tough. Leaving is always emotional, but in a good way because we really did have an awesome week.

We left early that day because we wanted to head down to Denver and explore a bit. Even though this was my 4th or 5th trip to Colorado, I’d never been to Denver. We took our time driving down the mountain, then started our Denver evening by having dinner at an awesome diner called Steuben’s. I had found this place online and it looked like the perfect place for us, which ended up being the case. It’s a classic American diner originally from Boston that had been redone to have a cool modern feel. The food was excellent (Jessica had the fried chicken and I had meatloaf), great service and atmosphere, very reasonable prices – it was perfect.

After dinner we decided to drive around downtown Denver so we could see as much as possible. A bunch of the buildings were still decorated for the holidays, and there were tons of lights, so we really enjoyed checking everything out. Overall my impression of Denver was that it’s a really cool town with lots of good restaurants and lots of cool stuff to do. I’d like to spend more time there next time if possible.

We ended up arriving early to the Denver airport, which was good, because unlike SeaTac a week earlier, they had us pulling everything out of our bags and taking our shoes off. It’s all typical and makes getting through security with kids a bit hectic, but to their credit, the kids did very well. Unfortunately we found out upon arrival that our flight had been delayed until 9:50, which was a bummer, but there’s obviously nothing you can do.

The flight home was smooth and uneventful, but waking the kids up at midnight to drag them through the airport and wait for our bags was not fun. The bags were delayed, and we were all getting a bit grumpy. Including our ice skates, we had 7 checked bags, plus our carry ons, and we had to catch a shuttle to take us to our van. By the time we got home it was nearly 2:00am and the kids were zombies. We were hoping that they would sleep in the following day, but that simply wasn’t the case. By 8:00am they were all up, because that’s just normal for them.

Friday we were all pretty out of sorts due to sleep deprivation, so we just stayed busy unpacking, cleaning, and trying to get things in order. We went to the gym in the late afternoon, then Costco after. Poor Enzo was so exhausted that he was passed out and drooling all over Jessica’s coat in the shopping cart. Needless to say we were in bed early that night and everyone slept for about 12 straight hours.

Then the following day we drove up north to the Palmer’s house and enjoyed a day of relaxation and football, while they treated us to an incredible holiday meal. Talk about a nice homecoming! By now everyone is officially back to normal, but we still have a few more days to enjoy at home before getting back into our routines.

As expected, it has been an excellent winter vacation that we are very thankful for. Overall I’d say 2018 has been a great year for us. Unlike some recent years, there have been no surgeries or broken bones, we’ve picked up some good healthy new habits, and have had a lot of exciting firsts. If we’re lucky 2019 will go about the same, but I hope it doesn’t go too quickly. To all our family and friends, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!