Monday morning with Lily, Jude and Anna off to their first day of Keystone camp

We have been up in Keystone all week and, as they do every year, Marcy’s Des Moines family came out for a visit. Lily came out early with Baba and Grandpa so she could attend the Keystone Science School camp for the week. The theme for the week was the Physics of Flight so the kids had all kinds of activities around flight including indoor sky diving, zip lining, learning about helicopters, catapults and more. The kids had a blast.

Dinner at the Ski Tip Lodge with Marcy’s parents

The big deal with camp this week is the Wednesday night sleepover. It was the first time that Jude and Anna had ever had a night away from their family and so we all approached it with some trepidation. But they had a good time although we think they did miss us and it wasn’t all that easy being away from home for the first time. But we took advantage of the night and went out for a sumptuous adults-only dinner at the Ski Tip Lodge in Keystone. Marcy and I had not been their since our second anniversary when Marcy was pregnant with Jude.

Celebrating Lon & Connie’s 45th wedding anniversary atop Keystone Mountain

The wedding anniversary for Marcy’s parents is on July 3rd. We all vividly remember 10 years ago going to a fine dining establishment, Alpenglow Stube, at the top of Keystone mountain. This was before kids when there was just six of us. Now, with five kids under the age of 10 the celebration is quite different. This year we caught the free gondola up to the top of the mountain and had a wonderful burger dinner outside. And with some cupcakes to finish the meal off.

Jude, Anna and Lily getting ready for the July 4 bike parade in Keystone

Every year Keystone has a bike parade for kids on July 4. We have been participating in these parades now for many years and this year for the first time we had all five kids on bikes with no training wheels. Jude, Anna and Lily were the most keen, finding their way towards the front for the start of the parade. We spent the rest of the day at home and instead of going to fireworks that evening the kids decided to stay and roast marshmallows in the fire pit and just hang out by the fire.

Jude and Lily kayaking at Keystone Lake

Today, we rode our bikes down to Keystone Lake. All nine of us made the bike ride down and then we went out on paddle boats as soon as we got there. They let the kids kayak by themselves, so after the paddle boating first Lily and Anna and then Lily and Jude went out in the kayak on the lake with no adult supervision. They thought that was very cool.

Anna giving the thumbs up at her manicure

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Anna is going through a major transition these days with breaking the long habit of sucking her thumb. She has done amazingly well with literally no slip-ups since seeing the doctor (actually an orofacial myologist) about this over four weeks ago. Today was a milestone because she had completed her calendar – with stickers filled in for every day and night she has spent without sucking her thumb. So, as a reward Marcy took Anna to get a manicure. And this was the first time that Anna had ever been able to get all 10 fingers done. Previously, we had always not included Anna’s left thumb because that was the one she sucked. It was a big deal for Anna to get all ten fingers done today.

To close out a great long weekend we all gathered around the TV this evening to watch the women’s World Cup Final. We all delighted to see the US team win – Jude most of all. He watched every minute of the game and was very excited with the win.