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Happy Birthday, Abbie!

Our awesome daughter, Abbie, turns 20 today! She's a sophomore at the University of Colorado in Boulder and lives in her sorority house this year. There are around 100 girls living in the house, and she recently ran for president. She didn't win but became the VP of Operations as a consolation prize. We're very proud of her for reaching for opportunities and taking full advantage of college life.

The photo below shows Jack, Abbie, and Abbie's boyfriend, Joseph. I took it just before the Broncos vs. Seattle game to start the season. We were all pretty optimistic about the Broncos back then. 🥴

Today, we'll be reuniting (and adding Trish) in Boulder for the CU vs. Oregon game. Our expectations are low, but our spirits are high! After all, they won when we attended the last game for parents' weekend! Yes, that was the only game they won this year.

Happy Birthday, Abbie! We can't wait to celebrate with you!! 🥰

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Our youngest child turned 18 today. He's embarked on his senior year of high school and has a good group of friends he likes to hang out with. They celebrated his birthday last night at the Kid Cudi concert followed by an after-party with additional friends at the ranch. Trish had fun decorating our downstairs with his friends and surprising him when he arrived home.

Tonight, we celebrated with a family dinner, had lots of laughs, and enjoyed solving a puzzle together for a good hour. Thanks to my sister, Kalin, for sending such a fun gift!

Happy Birthday, Jack! We hope you have a wonderful senior year of high school and make many lasting memories. 😊

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

Our daughter, Abbie, turned 19 this week. She's having a fun freshman year at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She's in the Business and Computer Science Program, has a good attendance record, and sends me Venmo invoices for good grades every couple of weeks. I had a "proud Dad" moment recently when she told me she wanted to learn Python and asked me how. After getting advice from my co-worker Joël, I sent her Learn Python the Hard Way.

Abbie's sorority had a "Dudes Weekend", so I drove Hefe to Boulder yesterday to participate in the festivities. She gave me a tour of her sorority and we marveled at the views from their rooftop patio.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack turns 17 today! He's an ambitious kid these days that's interested in going to a hard engineering school for college. He mentioned this morning that he's going to try to and get into some of the harder ones. If you have suggestions, please leave a comment!

Happy 17th Birthday, Jack! 😀

I think you're going to have a fun year being the solo kid. We look forward to helping you continue to be the awesome person you are.

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

Abbie turns 18 today! Our little girl is now an adult. I couldn't be more proud. 🥳

I can't imagine being a high school student right now in these pandemic times, but she's handled it well. She lost her job at the Gap this spring due to staff reductions, but she's been babysitting a lot to make up for it. She's also back into horseback riding with Trish. They both got back into it this summer at Abbie's request and are leasing a horse from a friend. They've both competed and won in the last couple of months!

Abbie has been applying to colleges for the last year and got an acceptance letter to Colorado State University last week. Her heart is set on the University of Colorado in Boulder, but she's still waiting to hear back from them. At first, I encouraged her to go out of state for college, to get away and explore the world. I reminded her about this a few weeks ago and she brought up that Boulder is the #1 best place to live. I can't really blame her for wanting to go to school in Colorado. I did and I'm still in love with the state!

One of my proudest moments of the last year was reading her essay that she's been using on college applications. It's all about our trip to Devoxx France 2016. Here's how it begins:

As I walked up to the stage of the bustling auditorium, the only sound I remember was of my heart, throbbing in my chest. If I had to define a single moment that matured me, it was my first public speaking event in Paris, France. I was 13 years old in April of 2016, and my dad insisted that I attend the Devoxx France Conference, one of his many computer programming conventions. I was beyond thrilled to experience Paris for my first time and thought nothing of the actual convention… until we boarded the airplane. My father informed me that I would be introducing him on stage. I was an anxious bundle of nerves with fearful thoughts of speaking in front of hundreds of adults from all corners of the world. The previously insignificant convention was now consuming my mind and rapidly becoming the most intimidating experience of my life.

Happy 18th Birthday, Abbie! You're super awesome!! 🥰

Happy Birthday, Jack

Yeehaw - today is Jack's 16th birthday! 🎉 He's been driving a lot in the last year and has a driver's license driving test this afternoon. If he passes, he'll be getting his license next week. I feel like it's a big milestone because a driver's license has the notion of freedom, especially when you live out in the country as we do.

Jack is a sophomore this year and started school last week. Both he and Abbie attend in-person classes two days a week. They do school work remotely the other three days. Jack was just starting to blossom last March when he joined the track team, but they shut things down before the season really got started. I hope he'll try it again — I really enjoyed doing track when I was in high school. He's an excellent boater and happily rowed a couple of days on our Desolation Canyon trip last month.

Happy 16th Birthday, Jack!

For some photos of Jack through the years, see my Jack Turns 16 album.

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

Abbie turns 17 today! It's hard to believe, but true. For those that've followed me since the early 2000s, you might remember I announced her birth on this very same blog. It's crazy to think that I started this blog just a few months before she was born. Enough about me, what about Abbie?

You could say she's all grown up. She has a part-time job at the Gap, gets excellent grades, and is thinking about college. She's done a couple of college tours in the SE region of the US, and we're touring Tulane when we visit New Orleans in January. She's had a steady boyfriend for a while now. He even joined us on our family vacation in Montana last summer.

Happy 17th Birthday, Abbie! You're awesome!! 🥰

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Wahoo! Jack turned 15 today and got his learner's permit for driving!! His first DMV experience was short and sweet, and the drive home was nerve-wracking (for both of us). He was terrified to be behind the while, during rush hour traffic, turning onto a three-lane road. I was determined to maintain tradition and have his first drive be down Parker Road to Dairy Queen. The good news is we made it, and I got to see a lot of emotions he's been suppressing in his teenage years. 😅

Jack is a freshman this year and he's adjusting to high school nicely. It helps that his sister is a junior and offers advice daily. You can tell they're pals in their first-day-of-school picture.

Jack is now taller than me by a couple of inches. I'm OK with that since he's been helping me record Denver meetups lately. I especially like the one he did of Venkat's talk on Kotlin for Java Programmers at Denver JUG earlier this month. He and Abbie also taught a Devoxx4Kids Denver workshop in July. What can I say ‐ I'm a proud dad!

Happy 15th Birthday, Jack! We had a ball celebrating with you tonight.

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

OMG. My daughter, Abbie, turned 16 today! We celebrated all weekend with her grandparents in town and lots of smiles. Abbie hosted a birthday party at our house on Saturday night with a bunch of balloons, a campfire outside, and a plethora of friends around. On Sunday, we took my parents and both kids to the Broncos game, and tonight we celebrated again at Abbie and Jack's mom's house.

The highlight of the weekend was when Julie (her mom) and Dave (her step-dad) surprised her with her very own car. It was a complete surprise to her and very well executed by Julie and Dave. Let's just say it was an emotional event that won't soon be forgotten.

Abbie's favorite thing to do these days is to hang out with her friends. She's got a good group of girls and guys that she pals around with. When she's not giggling with them, she's horseback riding with Trish. Trish has had an incredible influence on her life, and I'm amazed at how good they are at riding. We have several walls in our house that are lined with ribbons from the two of them.

Abbie is a sophomore in high school this year, with excellent grades, and an eye on what's next after high school. It sure is fun watching her grow up and become an awesome woman.

Happy 16th Birthday, Abbie!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack turned 14 today. Last weekend we celebrated with his friends at our local Topgolf. I'd never been before, so I was eager to go, and we all had a great time.

However, the real highlight happened when we were cruising home in our '66 VW Bus amongst a gaggle of Lamborghinis. We had all his friends in the bus when four Lambos and a Bently pulled up alongside us. We cruised with them for a couple miles, grinning from ear to ear.

Jack's favorite thing to do these days is to play video games with his buddies, specifically Fortnite (a.k.a. "fork knife"). He's got some basketball skills too but doesn't play on a team. He excels at skiing because we make him go all the time and he's only a centimeter or two shorter than me. He's sure to be taller than me soon!

Jack is in 8th grade this year. This was the first year he traveled across the pond to visit Europe. He's getting in some miles: Paris in June, Crete in July, and we're heading to Ireland next week.

Happy 14th Birthday, Jack!