The red sun appears through the smoke at sunrise

With fires burning in Colorado we had a very smoky start to the week. Every day this week was in the high 90s until Friday and so we had to keep the windows closed and the a/c running. But we actually had our first rain in weeks and the smoke cleared and we actually saw our first blue skies which was so nice. And I was able to do a run around Wash Park run for the first time in several weeks.

Anna showing off her handiwork in my office

We had a pretty quiet weekend with nothing much scheduled. Marcy did have a Ridhwan weekend and Jude had soccer practice on Friday night and Sunday morning but apart from that we were home a lot. The kids ended up playing a lot with the neighbors in the park and then on Saturday night we had dinner with the neighbors.

I had one project that Anna helped out on. I had no photos on the walls in my office and so ordered some frames and prints and Anna helped put everything on the wall. She did a great job I think.

Olive at her favorite vantage point

Anna holding Socks, one of the new kittens

Marcy and the kids decided to do a surprise visit to Iowa a couple of weeks ago. The main motivation for the trip was to see the new kittens but it was also the last full week of school holidays and there was nothing else on. I had a lot to do at work so I stayed home and Marcy drove all the way by herself with the kids and Olive. Everyone did really well on the trip and they made it in record time to surprise Baba, Grandpa and the cousins during dinner.

Jude with Boots, the other kitty

It was another fun-filled week. They went to their favorite breakfast place, Perkins, and Jude learned how to make Monster cookies from Baba. They also had a lot of time in the pool as always and then the Anna and the twins decided to spend 24 hours in the garage just for fun. They even set up beds, played games and listened to music. They didn’t last through the night but they did make it all the following day. Jude made everyone dinner that night, spaghetti bolognese.

Getting ready for 24 hours in the garage

They were supposed to come home last Sunday but the air quality was really bad in Denver with the fires in the mountains so they decided to stay until Tuesday which was the last day of their summer break. So, they arrived back home around 6:30pm on Tuesday night and it was back to school on Wednesday.

Back to school…in person no less!

We are lucky that both kids have in-person school this year. Both schools went back on the same day, Wednesday, and they were SO happy to be back in class. Things are obviously different than it was last year but they don’t mind, they are just happy to have a semblance of normalcy.

At the top of Mt Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado

This weekend Jude and I did our annual fourteener hike. This is now the sixth year in a row we have done a 14er and Jude chose Mt Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado. We hit the road early, around 5:45 and we were on the trail by 7:15am. We took 7 hours 20 minutes not including 30 minutes at the top. It was a grueling hike but we had a great time and the smoke wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected. We were going to stay up in Keystone Saturday night but the smoke was too bad so we came home and had a quiet day today at home.

Marcy and Anna color their hair and have a dance party

With Jude off at camp Marcy ana Anna indulged with some special girl time. They had a spa day at home with painted nails, dyed hair and makeup. They went to Boulder one day where they rented bikes to get around town and had some delicious gelato. They had a dance party with karaoke and snacks. They did some bike rides around Denver and they did a Gilmore Girls marathon.

Anna made herself smoothies every day this week

This weekend Anna and I went up to the mountains. I got a new screen for my phone in Silverthorne while we were staying up there and I was having trouble with the new screen so I needed to get it fixed. They needed the phone all day so Anna and I decided to go to Leadville and scout out some camping spots for our Labor Weekend camping trip. We found some good places to stay. Then we did a short hike along the Colorado Trail, something I have become a little obsessed with this year.

Hiking the Colorado Trail near Turquoise Lake

Jude really enjoyed his camp in Wyoming with Avid4 Adventure. They did some rock climbing, standup paddle boarding, white water rafting and mountain biking. Jude also did some cliff diving and what they call “cowboy camping” which basically means sleeping under the stars (no tents). Jude loved staring up at the stars in the middle of nowhere and so he got very little sleep those nights. He was in good spirits when he came home although he was really tired. So, he had a low key weekend just playing soccer, video games and watching some of his favorite shows.

Jude’s camp group doing some rock climbing (Jude has the yellow face mask)

Everyone on the hammock!

With Anna away at camp Jude was an only child for a week. Every day Marcy would encourage Jude to go and do something and every day he would say he just wanted to stay at home. He is very much a home body and so he played a lot of soccer, did some runs and of course, played Minecraft. He and Marcy did play lots of SkipBo, and Marcy took him and Olive to go for a hike one day this week which he actually enjoyed.

One thing that we did this week was get a key to the All City Stadium training field. With the soccer goals now gone from Veterans Park Jude was getting most despondent about the lack of good soccer training options and Marcy did some investigating. For $25 you get a key to the training facility which is just 300 yards from our house. They have a full athletics track AND four soccer goals. Interestingly, Jude has most wanted to do some running at the track. He has done several 400m runs and 100m sprints at the track.

Hiking at Beaver Brook in the foothills

Anna came back from camp on Friday afternoon and she had a great time. She said many times that her camp counselors were the best ever and she loved the kayaking in the rapids. Anna’s camp was actually right by where we did white water rafting just a couple of weeks ago, she even recognized her campsite. Anna wanted a pretty low key weekend and today we just basically did some back to school shopping.

Great to have my girl back with us

This morning Jude went off to his camp. He is heading to Wyoming where they are having a multi-sport camp. This is also an Avid camp and Jude actually has some of the counselors from Windy Peak (his sleep away camp last summer).

Jude goes off to camp