Bus Rider

This new place that we live now (since September) comes with anual passes for the Denver/Boulder area bus system.  I've found that I love riding the bus.  It is relaxing, and it makes me feel like I am connected to the world while I traveling around rather than being isolated from it in a car. We ride the bus frequently around Boulder, especially when the weather is too bad to ride bikes.  I ride it to work and on trips to Denver whenever it works out logistically.

On a different topic - Martha just found a quote that I like:  "Be more concerned with your character then your reputation.  Your character represents who you are, rather than what people think about you."

The Wrestler

Nina finished up her wrestling season early in March.  She had a great time and we are very proud of her for having the guts to go out for the team, and for how well it went for her.  They had six meets where she wrestled three times in each meet.  It turned out that everyone she wrestled were boys.  She won one or two matches in every meet, pinning some of her opponents.  Right before her last match, her opponent made some derogatory comment about having to wrestle a girl.  This was upsetting for Nina and she was actually crying a bit during the match.  I was so proud of her when she beat him!  She recently said that she cannot wait for track to start because she is so bored after school now...

Around that time, it seems that wrestling was everywhere.  Martha and I saw the movie The Wrestler.  Then we went to see our nephew Gus Marker Wrestle in the high school state meet in Denver.  Then we learned that the brother of one of the teachers at Martha's school was a start WWE wrestler!  Pretty funny how themes like that seem to emerge in life from time to time.

Good day sunshine!

February is kicking off with more unseasonably warm weather in the

 Boulder/Denver area.  The last couple of days have been in the 70's. 

Every week for homework Charlie has to read 5 spanish-language kids books and then he has to write up a short description.  So we typically take a trip to a local library each weekend to find five new books for him to read.  Often times we ride our bikes on the Boulder Creek path to the Boulder Public Library, as we did on Superbowl Sunday, below.

This was the first time that Charlie has really been interested in the Superbowl.  It was really fun watching it with him, even though we were both rooting for the Cardinals...

Leden - The Ice Month

The Czech word for January means 'the ice month'. In Boulder, January is not turning out to be the ice month. We have had recent daily temperatures in the upper 60's and lower 70's. The warm weather made for great spring-like skiing conditions last weekend. Martha and I skied at Copper Mountain on Sunday. It was the first time that I have gone skiing since my knee surgery in November so I was a little nervous. But I felt great. Then I went Skiing with Charlie and Nina at Eldora on Monday as a part of the Manhattan Middle School ski club. Both days were sunny and warm and it felt more like March than January.

We have all been busy with work and school, getting back into the swing of things after the holidays.  Nina has joined the wrestling team at school.  She is having a great time and they have had two wrestling meets so far.  In each of the meets she has won one of her three matches.  Here is a photo of Nina after winning her first match:

Nina's birthday is on Friday.  We will be skiing with the Manhattan Middle School ski club on Saturday, then Nina is inviting some friends over for a sleep-over that night.