Anna shows off the new dress she hand made

The first week of summer break is in the books and it was a good week. No major plans so the kids had lots of downtime which they appreciated. There were bike rides, a trip to the museum, ice cream outings, swim team, and library trips but the highlight was probably a day trip to Keystone.

At Loveland Pass (12,000 ft) and a chilly 41 degrees

The kids, especially Jude, loves the tennis lessons in Keystone. So Marcy made sure they made it to the 10am lesson and then it was off to River Run for all the fun kids activities there like bungee, bounce house, climbing, putt putt, mining for gems and more.

Anna puts on her game face for putt putt

Today was Father’s Day and I had a really nice day. I got to choose the activities so we went to Commonground golf course and played on the kids Par 3 course there (where kids play free). While neither Jude nor Anna love golf they did pretty well although they were very happy to be done after nine holes.

Enjoying my Father’s Day dinner

In the afternoon we went to the gym pool and then watched the US Open golf. It was a super hot day, almost 100 degrees, so I decided a sushi dinner was in order. After we got back the kids still had lots of energy so they played in the backyard to wind down the day.

Jude jumping off the swing in the backyard

Tomorrow I am heading to France for work where Marcy will join me and the kids get to spend a week in Iowa.

Hiking the Evergreen Mountain trail

The school year ended for Jude and Anna at noon on Friday. At 11am we all gathered in the main school hall for the end of year Rose Ceremony. This book-ends the year because on the first day of school we had the opening Rose Ceremony. On that day the first graders are paired with an eighth grader who presents them with a rose to welcome them to the school. On the last day of school the first graders present the eighth graders with a rose and well-wishes as they move on to high school.

Anna loved her eighth grader, she has even come to babysit a few times. In fact, Anna was crying after the ceremony because she said she will miss her eighth grade buddy so much. They had lunch together every two or three weeks and formed a bond during the year. It was a really sweet ceremony and a great way to end the school year.

This weekend we went for a hike at Evergreen Mountain. This is a popular trail about 45 minutes from our house that is a 5-mile roundtrip that goes up to 8,500 feet. Saturday was hot so we wanted to get up in elevation. Jude really didn’t want to go, he wanted to stay home and he was very grumpy at times during the hike. In the end I hiked with Anna and Marcy stayed with Jude and that worked out better.

One thing that Waldorf talks about is the nine-year change. This happens around the age of nine where they go through a transition of being a little kid and doing little kid things to moving to a more mature stage of life. We have really noticed it with Jude these past three months or so. Before he would play with Anna all the time, they were best buddies, and would play imaginary games together sometimes for hours on end.

Now, Jude turns up his nose at those kinds of games, saying they are for little kids and he is not interested in that any more. He main interest these days is soccer and he kicks his soccer ball around at every opportunity. He also likes to watch soccer and talk about soccer. Beyond that, he also likes to read, play Uno and chess as well as play with his football and table soccer games. But he does not like to play imaginary games any more. This has been hard for Anna because she feels like she has lost her best friend, the one who has been her playmate from the very beginning. Because of this nine-year change summer is going to look quite different for both of them this year.

Anna with her new skateboard

Finally, big news for Anna today. She has a new skateboard. This is something she has wanted for quite some time. She bought this out of her own money and for now at least she absolutely loves it. She played on it for several hours today and she is slowly getting the hang of it. I think this skateboard will get quite a lot of use this summer.

Jude went to his first international soccer match: Brazil vs Panama

Last weekend was the long Memorial Day weekend but I was away in China. We are gearing up for our first conference in China and I needed to be there to move things along. On the Sunday night I was supposed to take Jude to see his first ever soccer international – a friendly match between Brazil and Panama. Since I was away, Marcy booked a babysitter for Anna and she went with Jude. She said she had a great time – it was much more fun than she expected. Jude, of course, loved it. He is quite the soccer fanatic these days.

Speaking of soccer Jude did tryouts this week for next season. He is moving into the competitive league and he very excited about it. He made the blue team which was the second highest level for his age group. His teammates made the level below and while Jude was disappointed not to be on the same team as them his competitive spirit meant that he was also pleased to have ranked above them. The season will start in the late summer/early fall.

With our Chinese partner in Shanghai with the iconic TV Tower in the background

I arrived back from China on Wednesday afternoon and we didn’t have a whole lot scheduled this weekend which was nice. Saturday, we went for a hike in the morning and just hung out at home in the afternoon. It was a warm day so our neighbors pulled out their slip ‘n’ slide in the front yard.

Hiking at Lair o’ the Bear

Jude on our neighbor’s slip ‘n’ slide

Sunday Jude had flag football in the afternoon and in the morning I took Anna out to get the car washed and then to the playground for an extended 90 minute play. She is in to “training” these days. She is strong and wants to get stronger so she pushes herself as she is playing. She spent a long time on the monkey bars, doing chin-ups and just going back and forth.

Then when we got home after Jude’s football she wanted to continue her training. This time doing handsprings in the backyard. I caught this action shot of her below.

Anna doing hand stands and handsprings  in the backyard