Jude attending his first Colorado Rapids soccer match

Jude loves soccer these days. So, I decided to take him to a professional soccer game this weekend. I bought tickets to the Colorado Rapids game on Saturday night where Jude and I both attended our first Rapids game.

Jude loved it. It was a close match, it ended up tied 1-1, and Jude was thrilled to be a part of it. And one of the great things about the game is that behind us was a lovely elderly couple who just loved Jude. So, they gave Jude a Rapids scarf to wear and help cheer on the team.

We had the a typical fall weekend here with lots of sport – soccer and football for Jude and soccer for Anna. A special treat for the kids is that Baba came to visit from Iowa for a few days. There is a grandparents day at school this week that Baba will be attending.

This afternoon, after Jude’s football, we went to check on our house and then on to the Park Hill Fair. There were plenty of neighborhood stores attending and a bounce house for the kids. We enjoyed our favorite gelato from Eis and both Jude and Anna had a snow cone.

Anna loves her snow cone at Park Hill fair

On Friday night we went back to Benny’s for the first time in many months. It is always so good.

Anna, the little rock star, enjoying drinks at Benny’s

Jude puts some effort into his kickoff

School is back in full swing and now soccer season has begun. Jude has been very excited for the season to start ever since the World Cup and his newfound devotion to the sport. He has had three games now and this past weekend was the first time that his team was evenly matched with another team. It was a great match, Jude scored a goal with his left foot, and the team notched their first victory of the season 5-4.

Anna takes the ball up the field

This is Anna’s second season of soccer and she still seems to like it. This weekend was by far her best game ever. She has always been content to hang back a little and let the other girls score the goals. But not yesterday. She was aggressive and strong and was rewarded with three goals, her first goals ever.

Our two adorable children after their Saturday soccer matches

Enjoying pizza in our hotel room and temporary home

After the Labor Day weekend we moved into our new “home”, the Hyatt House extended stay hotel in the Denver Tech Center. It is actually pretty good as far as hotels go, we have two bedrooms and two bathrooms and it is not cramped but we are staying here far longer than we expected. We thought we would be here two weeks but it now looks like being closer to six weeks as the construction on our home is taking longer than anticipated.

Speaking of our home, we had a picnic dinner there in the back yard on Friday night. They are clearly making progress as you can see from the photo below. But there is still much to be done and it looks we will be back in there in mid to late October.

Construction on our house is progressing

This weekend Marcy did her second “mud race”. This is where she gets together with some girlfriends and they do an obstacle course/run that involves going through a lot of mud. This one was called the Dirty Girl and that was how Marcy turned out at the end. She said the race was only ok, not nearly as good as the Spartan race she did in the Spring.

After completing the Dirty Girl race

Finally, we have been singing the state song quite a lot lately. On our road trip to Mt. Rushmore it was sung dozens of times and the kids will often spontaneously start singing it whenever they hear a state name mentioned in conversation. So, recently Marcy recorded Anna singing the song from start to finish. So adorable.

Jude on his first day back at school taken in the dark in Keystone

It has been quite a big week in the Renton household. It started in Keystone as we were winding down our summer vacation. We all thoroughly enjoyed having an extended stay in the mountains and we plan on doing it again next year. We probably would never have done it but for the fact that we were renovating our house. So, as difficult as that process has been and continues to be, it did have the silver lining of forcing us up into the mountains this summer.

It was back to school this week for Jude and Anna. The school moved over the summer, so it was a whole different campus for the kids to get used to. We had to leave bright and early on Jude’s first day. We didn’t want Jude to be late so we left Keystone at 6:30am and made it to school by 8am. While Jude was looking forward to heading back to school, the first day was met with tepid enthusiasm.

Anna on her first day outside the Hyatt Place hotel in Denver

We decided to stay at a hotel in Denver last week, so on Anna’s first day it was a only a short drive to school. She was very excited to be a Golden Knight this year – this is what they call the kids who are in their second year of kindergarten. She loved her first day.

This weekend we decided to leave Denver and head to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Marcy picked the kids up from school early on Friday and we hit the road. It was just over six hours of driving and we had a few stops on the way so it was dark by the time we got there. We stayed in a cute cabin at a campground just a few miles from Mt. Rushmore. We drove out to see it on Saturday morning. Being Labor Day weekend it was packed. Anna decided she did not want to be there and was very grumpy all morning. We saw the Crazy Horse monument in the afternoon. It still has at least a couple of decades until it is completed and when it is done it will be spectacular.

At least Jude was excited to see Mt. Rushmore

On Sunday, we drove south to the town of Hot Springs. Here they have a natural heated pool, heated by the warm springs that gives the town its name. The town also has the largest mammoth archaeological site in the world and we did a tour of that. Jude was mesmerized by a lot of the information and Anna also enjoyed it.

Outside the Mammoth site in Hot Springs, SD

One of the great things about South Dakota is the wildlife. We saw many bison and deer during our time there and we got up close and personal with a large herd that was crossing the road as we were driving back from Hot Springs.

Up close and personal with some bison in South Dakota

We enjoyed our little cabin in the woods. We were tucked away in the corner of the campground and it was very peaceful and quiet – especially considering it was Labor Day weekend. The campground had a pool and a putt putt golf course, both of which the kids loved. On our last night we made a campfire and cooked burgers – it was delicious.

Relaxing by our campfire about to start on dinner