Playing kickball at the Keystone Science School camp
We were up in Keystone all week as the kids had another week of camp at Keystone Science School. This time the theme was sports and they played all kinds of different games, learned about new sports and learned some the science of sports. Jude went to a Rockies game in Denver one day and Anna went ice skating one day. On Thursday they have Family Night so Marcy and went and we all played a big game of kickball.
Family night at the Keystone Science School
It had been a while since I had taken the kids on a special date. Saturday was the day. Jude told me that he wanted to climb a mountain on our date so we got up bright and early on Saturday for that. I found a hike that looked reasonable, a 2 mile climb up Revenue Mountain (elev. 12,889 ft), outside of Keystone. The first half was relatively easy, following a four wheel drive trail. But the second half was tough. We couldn’t find the trail so we just scrambled up the steep slope and the rocks were unstable at times. We took it slowly and made it to the top in 2 3/4 hours. It was a tough hike but Jude barely complained and had plenty of energy left.
Jude on top of Revenue Mountain (12,889 ft), his longest and hardest hike ever
One of the great things about this hike is that we went past many abandoned mines. They used to mine silver in the area in the late 19th century. Jude was very curious about the old mines so we stopped and looked several times at some of these ruins. In one of them Jude found an old tin can that had been opened. Since mining has been been gone from here for over 100 years we estimated this was quite the old relic.
Jude holding a 100+ year old tin can
Jude declared after the hike that it was the best Jude and Daddy date ever. He did great on the hike and he had more energy than I did on the way day down. He even broke into a run at one point near the bottom. We completed the entire hike in 4 hours and 20 minutes. I said to Jude that I think he is ready for a fourteener which we will try and do later in the summer.
Ice Skating on an Anna and Daddy date
We drove back to Denver on Saturday afternoon and then it was time for an Anna and Daddy date. Anna wanted to go ice skating so we went to the DU hockey rink. Anna really loves skating so we had a nice time, she is more steady on her skates than I am. After skating I took Anna out to a nice restaurant on Old South Gaylord.
Today the kids had a swim meet and then hung out at home for the rest of the day.