Dad Time

This time of year can be pretty dull.  We've gotten through the holidays and back into the swing of things, yet there really isn't much going on in the month of February.  At least in January you're still riding the holidays and getting back on track, and March brings a changing of the seasons and Spring Break! Even still, here are a few pictures of some of the things we've done lately.

I took Julia to the pottery painting store in the mall one Saturday afternoon. We had fun hanging out and painting together. Julia painted the cupcake and I painted the cat to look like Freckles. I don't want to brag, but the cat was a big hit with all the ladies at the store. They all thought it was really cute and one of the better ones they've seen.

Two weekends in a row now Jonathan and I have hopped on our bikes and made the five mile round trip down to the new park nearby. Usually we stop for coffee on the way and lunch at the grocery store on on the way back. At the park we play catch with the baseball and football and sometimes kick the soccer ball around. Jonathan's favorite activity is to play me in a game of tackle football.  I don't really tackle him, but he sure goes all in when he tackles me. He has won both games by a touchdown. I think he's still a little bit too young to realize what's going on and honestly thinks he's beating me fair and square.  Soon enough we'll be be able to go head to head and eventually he'll start beating me for real! I'm looking forward to the day when the roles are reversed and he tells me that he let me win that game. That'll be funny.

Cripple Creek Ice Sculpture Festival

This kids spent this weekend up at the cabin with grandpa and grandma. One of the days they drove up to the old mining turned casino town of Cripple Creek for the Ice Sculpture Festival.  Apparently, the festival was pretty cool. Get it? Everyone had a great time, including mom and dad who were left behind!

Family DNA Test Results

For Christmas this year my family had a spitting contest.  I don't remember who filled up their tube the fastest, but everyone finished, which was most important.  About a year ago I did my own 23 and Me DNA test and I was curious to compare my results to my own parents and to my sister, Michelle.  In addition, we also had Stacey participate so that we will be able to compare our children's results to both of ours in the future.

After several weeks we got our results back.  There really weren't very many surprises. My parents results were what I expected and consistent with what I had assumed I inherited from each.  However, for me there were a handful of very interesting things that came up as a result:

1) After the results were made available, I was able to add my parents to my profile.  As soon as I linked their accounts, I received a message saying that my own results were being reanalyzed. This technology is continually changing, so I think now they had more tools available to them.  However, what was probably the biggest cause of this reevaluation of my DNA was that with my parent's results they were able to better fine tune their assumptions and smoothing of the data. In other words, they were able to get a better picture of me with more data at their disposal.  This resulted changes to my own results.  Specifically, about 2% of British & Irish was reclassified as Scandinavian (thanks Mom!), and about 13% of my Broadly Northwestern European was reclassified as French/German (thanks Dad!).  Although the numbers are close, this switched the largest grouping of mine to Scandinavian. 

2) My Dad is very strong in British & Irish at over 50%.  No real surprises there as that was assumed based on family genealogy and my own results.

3) My Mom is the purebred at 70% Scandinavian.  That was completely expected due to the recent immigration from Norway on her side of the family.

4) Michelle is actually the same proportions as me.  Almost exactly the same numbers for Scandinavian and British, with a slight edge to Scandinavian. One really interesting advances in this technology is that they are now able to tell what country within these regions your DNA came from.  On her results it lists Norway, which is accurate.  Soon these country specific results will be pushed out to all users, even for people like me who took the test a year ago.

5) Stacey is 35% French and German.  This was expected, but what wasn't expected is that this was classified as being from Germany, even though her grandmother was from France. It was an interesting development and something that would be interesting to look into further. However, given the history of this region, people and territory have flipped back and forth numerous times. For example, her grandmother came from France but her ancestors could have moved there from Germany. Stacey was also 30% British.  So, the fact that both of us have a sizable chunk of British probably means that this will show up when we do our kid's tests in the future.  We already suspected this, as we all vaguely resemble Hobbits.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2018

Our third Daddy Daughter Dance at the community center was yesterday. Julia loves going, so although I was feeling sick we still went and had a good time. I am not sure what her favorite part is, but getting a new dress and fancy shoes is definitely near the top. This year's theme was masquerade, so Julia decorated her own mask.  Other than the mask, there was a station to make glitter slime.  It was mostly about dancing this year. Fun!

Color Me Mine w/Julia

January in Pictures

January has flown by, as it usually does.  For us it's usually the month we recover from the November through December stretch and get back into our regular routines.  With lots of events happening the prior two months, we also don't do a whole lot in January.  But, we still live life, so here are some pictures from this past month.

One weekend Julia and I put the leash and harness on Freckles and took her to the park. She actually did really well, and I think somewhat enjoyed being outside one she was comfortable with her surroundings. One step into the snow was enough.  Too cold for her soft paws.

The kids were "scared" to go to bed, so Jonathan joined Julia in her bed to fall asleep. At this point we're good with whatever works, since we just want them to fall asleep and get some rest.

On a rare snowy weekend Jonathan and Julia got into the bin of Julia's baby clothes and found Julia's newborn sock hat (the little ball on the top is missing). Panda was soon warm and toasty.

I took Jonathan bowling and had the best game of my life. I had a perfect game going into the 5th frame. In the end my total score wasn't great (175 out of 300), since I wasn't able to pick up the spare nor get many more strikes. I still hit most of the pins, but missed out on those bonus points.

Here's a shot of the Air Force Academy on one of my bike rides outside. We've had really good weather this year, but the spring snow is probably still going to come.

Finally, here is a really good picture of Mom and Dad!

Pierced Ears!

Julia got her ears pierced!  She recently turned ten, so we figured it was about time she was able to wear earrings. What kicked this off is that Jonathan bought her some earrings for Christmas at the school store. After she opened them, we told her the other part of the present was that she could have her ears pierced!

There are a few local doctor offices that will pierce ears for a small fee. The first picture is Julia waiting (happily) for the topical anesthetic to numb her ear lobes.  The last picture is Julia thinking, "what a great idea!".

Christmas 2017

We had a great Christmas this year. The kids scored some serious Lego sets and some fun unexpected stocking stuffers. I always have a fun time trolling Target and finding little stocking gifts for $5 - $10 each. Even Freckles scored some loot this year. 

We did the typical schedule this year. Christmas Eve service at church in the afternoon then the entire family at our house for fondue. Afterwards the kids opened their pajamas, popcorn, and cocoa, and we watched the movie Elf. During the first half of the movie I played around with the big present to myself, a Wahoo Kickr Smart Trainer for my bike. I have been doing a lot of indoor riding on Zwift since "opening" it. Santa, I know him.

After Christmas morning at our house we went over to my parents. We grabbed everyone coffee and hit their house for round two of presents at about 10:30. I say round two, but it was really round one for the adults while the kids handed out gifts.

As I've mentioned before, this year was all about Legos. Julia and Jonathan got several sets, many that included over 1,000 pieces and manuals the size of a typically magazine. It was pretty impressive how diligently they persevered through each one. It was so intense that many times we had to force them to stop building to eat food or simply to just take a break. They are still too young to realize that they need to take a break for their own well being. I was very impressed just how smart and skillful the kids were at putting the sets together. They are now ready for whatever IKEA brings their way in adulthood.

Breckenridge Videos

Breckenridge

This year the family decided to spend a couple of days up in Breckenridge. The winter has been mild and we haven't had any snow in town yet, so we had to head up into the mountains to have some fun. Additionally, the kids are at the age where three to four weeks off of school and no change of scenery is just too long. We decided to go the week before Christmas since the times around Christmas and New Year's was too busy, booked, and expensive.

I found a sweet mansion in Highland Hills on Airbnb. Each group of the family had their own wing of the house, and the living area/kitchen was very accommodating. We had a really good time.  We went cross country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, and tubing. We originally had reservations for snowmobiling, but they were canceled due to the lack of snow up there.

Although I don't have any pictures of sledding, this was by far the highlight of the trip for me and the kids. We found a great hill behind the elementary school and spent an entire afternoon there going up and down the hill over and over again. Everyone except Stacey had a turn on the sled, since she wasn't feeling well and stayed at home. The rest of the family only did a couple runs, which we appreciated by the kids.  I had a great time too.  Tell you what, I'll upload the videos of us sledding here in a bit, even though they won't show up on the blog book.

It was also nice to spend a couple of days in the mountains without having to make the 5 hour round trip in the same day off top of the activity. Although I could have stayed a couple of more days, it was nice to come back home and be out of the snow. I am glad I don't live in a place where it has snow all winter long. The only causality of the trip was Jonathan's blanket. Nigh-nights was left at the house and we are having it mailed back to us after about two weeks without it.