Oh boy, I thought as I was reading to my 4-year-old daughter, this is going to be bad. Pook was about to be killed. We were on chapter 12 and Pook had become her favorite character. He was crystallized, turned into a gemstone, by the evil Rusful, and I watched her eyes become shiny and…
There’s a little pair of tennis shoes on the top shelf of my closet. I should probably pass them along. Siri’s feet are more than twice their size. My younger daughter Quincy last squeezed into them around Christmas. They are orange and have cute frogs embroidered on the sides. The construction is solid, the tread…
One of the most common criticisms I hear about raising kids in Telluride is the lack of culture. This always puzzles me because I’m fairly certain that if I lived in a city, I wouldn’t be taking my children to the symphony, the opera or the local Korean meat market. But I’m open to criticism…
I’ve been counting down our spring break trip to Hawaii since January. I’m not kidding– on the January page of our calendar, Siri and I actually wrote the numbers “85, 84, 83….”, numbers that made us both sigh and snuggle down into her bed. It was fun to dream about, even though it was a…
Parenting is a pretty selfless endeavor. Most of the time. But there are days, when it’s sunny and warm, and I just need to get out and put my skis on, that I actually force my kids to ski. They are only four and two years old, so by ski, I mean “ski.” They put…
There seems to be two names for many things in Telluride—the actual name and then what everyone calls it. Sometimes I find myself in hilarious situations as I recommend restaurants and give directions to visitors or tourists in town and on the Mountain. Turns out the local dialect does not always translate directly. Case in…
As a child, I would do anything to get out of yard work. Time to rake leaves? Oops, sorry Dad, I forgot about the massive science project due tomorrow. Time to weed the garden? Sorry, Mom, I feel ill. As an adult, I found even better excuses. Sorry, honey, I just can’t seem to focus…
It’s easy to dismiss Valentine’s Day. It falls quickly on the heels of Christmas and can feel tacky and commercial. But dismiss it you should not. Valentine’s Day is a great reminder to shower the people around us with love. Here’s a quick list of fun things to do, buy, and see for Valentine’s Day…
My friend is spending the winter in Telluride, trying to improve her skiing, she says. To this end she has prevailed upon all of her friends and even her brother-in-law to ski slowly with her and give her some pointers. But not her husband. There is a good reason for this. Haven’t we all had…
No doubt about it: the Telluride Academy is a wonderful institution. Our roughly 30-year track record of happy families and young people and our growth from six campers in Wendy Brooks’ backyard (literally) to the 800 or so kids we serve today underlines that point. But the truth is we had very little to do…