Anna and Reed floating down the creek near Lyons

I had my first work trip in more than six weeks as I had to go to New York for three nights this week. And the kids ended up with nothing scheduled so it was a completely open week. They went standup paddle boarding one day at Bear Lake but they got rained out after an hour or two. They also took a trip to Lyons to go tubing with Anna’s friend Reed, They went down the creek many times and also did some cliff jumping off about a 15 foot cliff.

Anna started soccer practice at Skyline this week and she had her first friendly game this weekend against one of the really good teams. Anna was able to hold her own and played really well, setting up her team’s only goal.

Jude had refereeing class today. He is training to be a referee which you do at the Rapids once you are 12 years of age. He will start refereeing his first games after Labor Day, for 9 and 10 year olds and he gets paid $8 per game. If he likes it, when he turns 13 he can get certified and earn $20 per game. Jude is quite excited about this as an avenue to make some money.

Teeing off on #18 at Bethpage Black in New York

While I was in New York I took a morning off to play golf with my work colleague Todd. He lives just 5 minutes away from Bethpage State Park which has five golf courses including the famous Bethpage Black Course, which has hosted several majors including this year’s PGA championship.

Olive trying desperately to play with Pickles

Olive is starting to get along a little better with Pickles. She tries to play with her but Pickles, being a typical cat, is generally not interested. But that doesn’t stop from Olive from continuing to try to play.