The local community pool where we are staying is only about 200 yards away. So we have been there almost every day in the last two weeks. The days have been very hot so it has been really nice to have the pool so close by.

We have also visited some other pools in and around Denver. Last weekend we went out to visit Marcy’s good friend Valerie and her daughter Skyleah. Jude and Skyleah are only three months apart in age and they always enjoy playing together. We went to their local pool where Jude and Anna were introduced to diving boards. They had a small one-meter board at this pool and both kids just loved jumping off it.

Speaking of diving the very next day we had a food group (our regular dinner party get together) at Skyline, a swimming and tennis club in Denver. There they had a three meter diving board and both Jude and Anna just jumped off it without hesitation. By the end of the evening Jude was even jumping off backwards and doing twirls in the air.

Of course, it hasn’t all been pool time the last two weeks. In fact, Jude and Anna have picked up a new activity…rollerskating. Marcy bought the kids rollerskates and they have both been out in them several times. Jude has been very patient in learning how to do it but he also wants to know when he will be as good as Red – a character from the PBS show Super-Why who wears rollerskates. I told him about 100 practices and so after today he asked how many were left and he seemed unperturbed when I told him 96.

Jude has now completed his first illustrated novel. It is true. Jude loves water color painting and drawing and he has done quite a few paintings lately. Every painting tells a story in often intricate detail and so this this week Marcy decided to bind 11 of these pictures together into a book. Then Jude described exactly what was going on in each picture and Marcy wrote it down on the painting. His story is about wolves and antelopes. Here is Marcy reading it to him.

We have loved staying here at the Ferguson’s. It has been the perfect place for us to stay while we get ourselves organized after our six month trip to Sydney. While we have stayed here we have bought a new car, a 2010 Mazda CX-7 and we have signed a one year lease on a new house in Park Hill – about 4 blocks from our old place. The kids have loved having lots of new toys to play with and a huge backyard to run around which is what they did for about an hour after dinner this evening.

Soon after we arrived in Sydney we drove over the Anzac Bridge. For some reason Jude really liked this bridge and whenever we drove over it from then on he would always tell us it was his favorite bridge in Sydney. He has wanted to walk over the Anzac Bridge for some time, so on the last Jude and Daddy date in Sydney he did just that. We walked all the way across and then back again.

The last week was time for farewells. I spent some time with friends I wouldn’t be seeing for a while and we had a big family farewell lunch at Ian & Leila’s house. We had the whole family there, other than mum because she is not really well enough these days to leave the nursing home.

A couple of days before we left we gave the kids the opportunity of visiting their favorite place one last time. Predictably Jude chose the Australian Museum and Anna the Powerhouse Museum. They are both in the city so we were able to do both places. While Marcy packed up our apartment I took the kids on the ferry one last time into Circular Quay where we hopped on a train for the short ride to Museum station. As soon as we got there Jude gravitated towards the dinosaur area, his favorite part of the museum.

We have loved staying in Cremorne Point on this trip to Sydney. It is one of the most beautiful parts of Sydney with the harbour right at our doorstep. I already miss watching the ferry boats go back and forth towards Mosman. Coming home from both museums that day it was a picture perfect winter evening in Sydney and with the full moon the scene was truly spectacular. This photo doesn’t do the scene justice but it was the best I could do.

We moved out of our apartment last Tuesday and we spent the final night of our Sydney trip at the Miers house. They have been good friends for a long time and their kids, Alicia and Emily, just adore the kids and the feeling is mutual. Alicia was the only babysitter we had during our six months in Sydney and the kids like Emily equally as much.

Wednesday, July 4th, was the big trip back to Denver. The trip over was relatively pleasant but at San Francisco there were a few problems. There was a huge line at immigration and then our flight was canceled. After waiting in line for half an hour we were able to get on a new flight to Denver and get all our 11 bags retagged and on their way. It took two and a half hours from the time we walked off the plane from Sydney until we arrived at the gate for the flight to Denver. The kids were quite well behaved considering all the waiting and they had only half a night’s sleep.

Here we are now staying at the Ferguson’s house just outside Denver. The Sydney trip already feels like a long time ago. Today I took the kids to the Denver Museum just six days after their last trip to the Australian Museum. They loved playing on the wolves outside the museum – I let them stay there for an hour this evening.