Anna at her birthday breakfast at “berries and cream” aka Original Pancake House

The excitement built up all week in our house as we all got ready for Anna’s 10th birthday. We had a whole weekend of activities planned. Anna had a day at Elitch’s planned with a school firend, this was her third visit this year which means she used all six kids tickets that she won earlier in the summer. This was also the first time she was tall enough to go on any ride and she was particularly excited to go on this crazy roller coaster called the Mind Eraser.

Anna with a school friend at Elitch’s

When Anna got home from Elitch’s she received a surprise. Baba and Grandpa had driven from Iowa to surprise Anna for her birthday and stay for a few days. Last night we ordered pizza and watched a movie.

Baba and Jude celebrating Anna’s birthday dinner at home

This morning we went to our traditional breakfast at a place the kids call “berries and cream”. It is actually called the Original Pancake House but we always get berries and cream when we go there and we have been going there for birthdays for almost 10 years.

Anna celebrating with her old and new school friends

Anna decided she wanted a small birthday party with just a few friends from both her old school and new school. They had a blast playing games, including four square on the street. We also setup a piñata on the play set in the backyard and that was a big hit.  We had burgers and hot dogs for lunch and then, of course, there was cake,

Anna getting ready to take a swing at the piñata.

After her own party Anna was actually invited to another party at this climbing gym. So, by the time she arrived home around 5:30pm she was exhausted. We were going to go out for a fancy dinner but we decided to wait until Wednesday when I am back from my trip.

Jude after his cross country run at Colorado Academy

Jude was a trooper this weekend. It is never easy when your sibling is getting all the attention and for the most part he was pretty good. You could see he was happy for Anna which was nice. On Saturday morning we went to a cross country meet for Jude at Colorado Academy. He ran his heart out and finished first in his team and 107th overall. Not bad considering he was competing against eighth graders.