Anna with her Kindergarten graduation cape

Tuesday of this past week was a special day for Anna – her graduation from Kindergarten. It seems like she has been in Morning Glory forever. She has actually been a student there the past two years but with Jude in this same class the two years before that she has been around this class for four years. But she was thrilled to be moving on to first grade – she is ready.

They had a beautiful graduation ceremony where each child sat in the front of the class and showed off the weavings they had made. The teacher then told a few anecdotes and gave each child a “graduation cape”.

On a Jude and Daddy date hiking on Green Mountain

Jude had one extra day of school, finishing on Wednesday. Then, on the first day of summer vacation I woke Jude up early (at 5:30am) and went on a Jude and Daddy date. It was Jude’s choice to do this hike and he loved it. We did an hour hike around Green Mountain and then to breakfast at Snooze, Jude’s favorite breakfast place. The hike was gorgeous. With all the rain we have had the mountain was truly green and the wildflowers were out in full force.

On Friday we headed up to Keystone for the weekend. It was our first visit for several months and the reason for going up was that Marcy was doing a Spartan Race in Breckenridge on Saturday. A Spartan race is an obstacle course that involves ropes, walls, water, mud, fire and this case snow and some pretty severe elevation changes. Marcy and her friends were doing the “Beast” – the longest course at almost 13 miles and 30+ obstacles.

Rachel, Marcy & Tina – the night before the “Beast”

Friday night we all went up to the top of Keystone Mountain for dinner and to enjoy the views. It was the first time they had Friday Afternoon Club this year and with pretty decent weather we gave it a try. While it was a little chilly the kids as well as the grownups all had a great time.

Jude running in the Kids Spartan race

Saturday, it was over to Breckenridge for the Spartan Race. Jude and Anna were enrolled in the kids race which was a half-mile version of the Spartan obstacle course. They had to maneuver over fences, crawl through the mud, throw a spear and run. Jude was very determined to do well and he ended up coming in sixth place for his race. Anna also did very well in the race.

Anna going over an obstacle during the kids Spartan race

Anna, Griffin, Jude and Brody- muddy kids after their Spartan race

We had Marcy’s friend, Tina, and her family staying with us for the weekend. Their kids also went in the Spartan kids race. After their race we saw the mom’s off on the Beast and then we all went over to Peak 7 at Breckenridge where they have the kids area. The race is not much of a spectator sport as everyone goes off up the mountain on the obstacle course and we knew we wouldn’t see Marcy and her friends again for several hours. So, we had lunch and the kids went on the roller coaster there before lightning closed everything down.

Marcy gives Anna & Jude thumbs up just before she finishes the Beast

We then went to the finish line of the Spartan course and waited. After about an hour or so we spotted Marcy coming in looking pretty good considering everything she had been through. The kids and I cheered her on over the last few obstacles, which were all extremely challenging. Marcy just got done when the race had a long lightning delay. So, we didn’t see Tina and Rachel for some time.

Eventually, everyone made it in and we had some elated but very tired racers. I was really proud of Marcy. She had been feeling a little under the weather the couple of days before the race but she came through the race feeling strong. I am sure she will be sore for a few days but she had a blast and wants to do it again next year.

Tina and Marcy – what an effort