The last fortnight started in Des Moines where Jude and Anna went to the zoo there. Then it was back to Denver where it has been hot and dry. We have had some bad forest fires and a few days ago the smoke was so bad in Denver that we decided to head up to the mountains to get away from it all. So, we spent a couple of nights in Keystone. Marcy bought the kids some backpacks and we went for a short hike while we were there.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day and after a wonderful sleep in I wanted to head up into the mountains for another hike. Marcy packed a picnic lunch but unfortunately, the weather was not the best when we get up there so were not able to have a picnic there (it rained pretty hard). Not to worry, we decided to have our picnic back at home in front of the TV where I could watch the US Open golf.

This weekend we headed into the foothills to Lair o’ the Bear – a popular hiking destination for kids. They have a river, hiking trails and this tremendous climbing tree that Jude always likes to climb. While we were there we went on the longest hike we have ever done as a family – over two miles.

Thursday was a big day for Jude, his graduation from kindergarten. At the Denver Waldorf School they have two year kindergarten’s so even though we spent six months in Sydney it feels like he been in Morning Glory (the name of his class) forever. And in their second Kindergarten year they call the boys and girls Golden Knights and they have a special Knights Club on Tuesday afternoon where they practice getting ready for first grade.

Above is a photo of the ceremony where the teacher, Mrs Clark, gives each Golden Knight a golden cape to wear and she says a little something about each kid. Before the ceremony all the Golden Knights get to perform a puppet show in front of all the parents and other kids. It was really cute.

In the last two weeks there has been a lot of bike riding in our family. Anna wanted her training wheels taken off and this motivated Jude to get back on his bike again – we took his training wheels off last year but he hasn’t shown much interest in biking since. But now Jude has made great strides – he can start and stop by himself and he is quite a strong rider. Last weekend we rode all the way around the lake at City Park where both Jude and Anna learned to start riding by themselves for the first time.

Jude’s imagination has been very rich for a long time. We have described many times where he will tell a story that will last literally an hour or more. That was the case after we came back from our bike ride last weekend. He wanted to eat some almonds and cranberries but instead of eating them he told this elaborate story of battles between the soldiers that were almonds and the cranberries who were trying to attack them. Everything got eaten eventually after about 90 minutes. Below the almonds are lined up on the window sill getting ready for battle.

On Friday morning, the first day of summer vacation, Marcy, Jude and Anna flew to Des Moines for a quick visit. I couldn’t go because I have so much to do to get ready for my big conference in 10 days. But I have had reports that the kids are having a great time, below is Jude giving Lily, his 7-year-old cousin, a big hug during a visit to the Science Center.