Quarantine Day 4

All kinds of homework going on for all the kiddos today. One of AJ's assignments was to bake something. We started macaroons, but that was an epic fail. Never whipped up to stiff peaks. So on to banana bread!

Ta da !

Another "Quarantine" Day

Kids are doing really well. Adults still crave Starbucks, thankfully they have drive-thrus. We all "went" to church online this morning (https://www.facebook.com/TimberCreekChurchCO/videos/2537379379814081/); that was a first. Excellent message, too.

Wingspan!

Quarantined on a Snowy Pi Day

Whadayado? See below... Today's donation was to buy everyone a meal at the Ronald McDonald House at the Stanford Hospital.

AJ has latched onto Lego Masters, bridge building in particular.
He's been at it much of the day. This one held 58 pounds!

Friday the 13th

I'll say. It's been warm and nice for about a week now. This morning? Snow. And as of today, school's are closed through March. Eight of the next eleven school days were going to be off anyway (conferences, Spring Break, etc.) so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. My show (Neil Simon's "God's Favorite") opens tonight. It's still on, but that may not hold. Fina got her Cheap Date Night improv show in last night as the final school activity before the "break." Everything big is closing. The "Big 5" churches downtown have already announced being closed this Sunday. And our theater being in one of those "Big 5" doesn't bode well for Sunday's matinee. Theaters all around are closing, big and small. Heck, Disney is closed worldwide. Thank you, coronavirus. We're in good shape here. Tracy's been prepping the past week or so. We can bunker in for at least a couple weeks.

Our many rays of sunshine include Nana getting some bulbs going on in the kitchen. Lexi is a big fan of these and keeps constant vigil.

AJ is Coding (as in software)

AJ wanted to "color" last night. That's code for "Papa, will you play with me." Last night's play was coding a game. A real game. That you can play right now (if it works). So, you bet, I'm in!

He logged onto a school-related website called Scratch (MIT.edu). There, using follow-along instructions in a book he had, he was able to build an asteroids-like game and see it come to life in bits and pieces until done. And the code was legit. Creating variables, setting values, changing values, looping (repeat-until), etc. Best form of teaching code that I've seen.

You move the Griffin up and down with your mouse trying to avoid the asteroid
and the dragon. The asteroid and dragon are moving from right to left,
starting out at different speeds and changing speeds at different rates.
If you manage to avoid them, they start over at the right.

Fresh Snow

It's been a bit like clockwork. We get a dumping or two of snow, then some warm days, some even warm enough to go to the pool. Then snow again. Well guess what, we were at the pool Saturday and last night we get a fresh dumping of snow. Lynn and I went over to the club for breakfast this morning (love their signature potatoes) and I couldn't help but take a few photos.

That's Pikes Peak far right.

We were swimming there on Saturday.

Wikiup

I stayed beyond library time at School in the Woods today because AJ wanted me to see his wikiup. And here it is!... Those are two of his wikiup-mates.

AJ reveals the Corn stash. Corn is currency.

Mixing clay.

Bonus shot. Sandy wondering what happened.

Back to the Future

The musical theater version is in production! Can't wait. Some production photos are here. And here's Trevor and I at a movie-themed space conference in Los Angeles, 2007.

If You Had To...

A Facebook question today: If you had to marry your partner where you first met, where would you get married? Turns out for us, it would the place we actually did get married: Village U.P. Church, Prairie Village, KS.

It did not look exactly like this back then.
But I did help paint that steeple once.

Wisping Snow

Mr. Weurth, the headmaster at School in the Woods (SITW), a real fave of AJ's, told his naturalists (that's how everyone at SITW refers to the students) that any time they see something interesting he wants them to tell him about it. At least that's what AJ told me this morning when he saw the snow wisps blowing across roads and sidewalks. AJ spent quite a while outside in single digit wind-chill temps to observe this phenomenon. I'm sure Mr. Weurth got an earful this morning!

Snow Squall

Last night when I went to bed, the weather forecast was pretty clear for the upcoming week. No precipitation and temps in the 50s by this weekend. Imagine my surprise when the weather alert went off (on my phone) this morning saying there would be a "snow squall" in an hour! And there was! The short definition: a moderate to heavy snow storm that comes up quickly, lasts a few hours or less, and may or may not produce any accumulation." Ya just never know...

There's a couple miles of road straight ahead you can't see. Whiteout.

Same spot about 90 minutes later, from a distance.
That's the same highway down there as pictured at top.

Friday Stuff

I drive carpool to School in the Woods and back on Fridays. And on half of those Fridays, I stay the morning to volunteer with Library Time. AJ often asks his teacher if I can read for the storytime portion, and she usually lets me. Brings back all kinds of teaching memories. Just this morning AJ chose the mineral he wanted in his pine needle basket in our rock collection display. It's a piece of labradorite. Then that evening, four of us headed to Ivywild School (repurposed into shops, eateries, and a little theater) for what turned out to be a great improv night, The Chicago Bring Backs. On the way we ate at Colorado Mountain Brewery located in an old railroad roundhouse. Imagine my surprise!

Library time at School in the Woods.

Labradorite in AJ's handmade pine needle basket.

Colorado Mountain Brewery in a roundhouse.
See photo on the wall.
That's Lynn and Fina under the two lights.

Snow Day, Again

Snow Day, again. But we've got this down...

My new favorite tree to look at while shoveling snow.
It's a weeping spruce.

Not everyone can get to work or school. But everyone gets to Starbucks.

Some recent new toys got exercised.

A few rounds of Wingspan.

That's Fina on the bottom.

Matteo on xylophone and David on triangle.

Jonathan loves these magnetic blocks.

Some baby time.

Caught in the snow. Again.

Valentines Day and Presidents' Weekend

Lots of miscellaneous happenings over the weekend. Starting with Fina's premier appearance on the high school's Improv Team. They do "Cheap Date Night" once a month; it's hilarious. Some of us went swimming on Sunday in 48-degree weather. Some rock climbing today at a new facility in town, Gripstone.

Here's Lexi while dropping AJ at his carpool stop on Thursday.

Cheap Date Night. This was after the show during cleanup.

Going to the pool with snow on the ground.

AJ (closer) and Matteo at Gripstone.

Cripple Creek Ice Festival

Eight of us headed out for the Cripple Creek Ice Festival today. Temperatures were right around freezing, which I guess was just about ideal for a combination of people and ice. It was small, but fun, and we managed to score some festival foods, too, like corn dogs, kettle corn, and fudge (which we always get from Cripple Creek Candy). We saved lunch for Fiesta Mexicana in Woodland Park on the way home (the restaurants in Cripple Creek were small and impacted today). Fiesta Mexicana has a huge menu, all of which is good (at least all that we've managed to try so far). A few more photos are here.