It was off to Des Moines for a few days this past week. The kids went to the Des Moines library for a Halloween Party and Jude, ever the gentleman in his knight costume, escorted his cousin Chloe to the party.

All the kids decided to climb the tree in the grandparents front yard while they were there. Yes, there are five kids in this tree with Jude being close to the top with the American flag. Nathan was underneath just in case anyone had a misstep.

Back in Denver we had a Halloween neighborhood bike ride yesterday.  Jude got dressed up in his knight outfit and we went riding round the neighborhood. He is getting much better on his bike these days – I ran beside him most of the way but he hardly needed me. Here he is enjoying a red velvet cupcake, his favorite, on one of the stops.

We also had our weekly trip to the museum this weekend, it is still the kids favorite place to go. I snapped this photo of Jude yesterday as he was riding on the wolves outside.

Anna’s preschool is in a church. One day when Marcy was picking Anna up after school she noticed a piano for sale for $100. We had been talking about getting a piano for some time. Marcy grew up with one and I also had one in my early childhood years.

So we paid $50 for a piano technician to come and look at it and he gave it a thumbs up. He said it was built around 1930 and then completely overhauled in the 1970’s. The woodwork needs refinishing but other than that it was in great shape. Both kids have been playing on it every day since we got it.

Last weekend we went to City Park for the Chipotle Festival. It was a cold and miserable day but Jude was happy as could be. He had on his gumboots and was happy to play in the mud in the rose garden.

In the last post we talked about Jude’s new dinosaur dig – well he bought another one today with some money he had earned. This one was much bigger with more hefty tools and he spent a good chunk of the day digging through clay to get to his two velociraptor skeletons that were buried inside. This was great for us because we spent the day organizing the garage and getting ready for a garage sale in a couple of weeks.

Jude has gone off bike riding lately but he is really into his scooter. And he is getting fast. This afternoon he wanted to go on a quick scooter ride. We got 100 yards from home and he thought it would be fun to go the museum which is about a mile away. So off we went. I had to run at a full sprint just to keep up with him. Just a couple of months ago he was quite tentative still. Not now – it is a great workout trying to keep up with him.

Look at the concentration on Jude’s face. Last week, with his own money, he bought a little dinosaur dig kit. He then got home and for the next couple of hours picked away at his piece of clay. By the next morning he had uncovered several dinosaur fossils and he was most excited.

Tuesday is fish day at our house. And Jude has been enjoying eating the whole fish. So Marcy would go to Whole Foods and they would pick out a whole fish to bring home and eat. These dinners have become part science experiment, part dinner for Jude as he would dig away at the fish head, poke out the eye and do other things that five year old boys like to do. Here he is with Anna as they both enjoy fish night (Anna had a salmon fillet, though typically she enjoys the whole fish as much as Jude does).

There is a field of dandelions near our house that has become a favorite of Jude and Anna. They have ridden their scooters down there several times in the past week. Jude likes to pick up the dandelion seeds and blow them into the air.

Today we had the Fergusons and Brieres over for brunch and Morgan brought along their new guinea pig. Jude was such a fan of the guinea pigs in Sydney and he was excited to play with this one (named Zipper). Here is Morgan, Anna and Jude enjoying Zipper’s company.

Last week Marcy set up the pool in the backyard and the kids went bobbing for apples. Jude was able to retrieve an apple without using his hands and he was most annoyed when Anna cheated and picked an apple up with her hands.

We spent a great deal of time at home these past two weeks which I know Jude appreciates. One of the Jude’s favorite foods is marshmallows and he also loves roasting them on the fire which we did last year a couple of times. We recently bought a Weber grill and so so after dinner last night we let the kids roast some marshmallows.

Jude also enjoys hammering nails and I admit this is not even something I think about doing with him (I never did this when I was a kid). Luckily Marcy thinks of it so this week both kids enjoyed some time in the backyard smashing nails into a piece of wood.

Jude’s interests keep evolving. While he still loves dinosaurs he is showing more interest in science. In particular he likes space travel and rocket ships. He wants to see pictures of the solar system, his favorite planet is Neptune, and he is interested in the Voyager spacecrafts that we have been telling him about. I notice these days instead of pretending to be a dinosaur, he is often pretending that whatever toy he is holding is a rocket ship doing a blast off.

This weekend we came up to Keystone for the first time in almost a year. The first day we were here we noticed Morgan’s old bike sitting in the garage. Anna wanted to take it out for a ride but we told her it didn’t have training wheels. She insisted so I took her out and held the handle bars while she rode. I even let go for a couple of seconds but Anna didn’t really like that.

Then Jude wanted to have a turn. I did the same thing and ran along with him holding the handle bars. But when I let go he just kept on riding. His balance was good and it looked like he had been riding like that for years. In just a couple of minutes Jude had graduated from training wheels. He was very proud of himself as were Marcy and I. We have said we will take his training wheels off his green bike when we get back to Denver and he said he was fine with that.

This week also marked Jude’s return to school. He was back in Morning Glory at the Denver Waldorf School where he started last year. While this is officially kindergarten, at Waldorf they have two year kindergartens. Next year is the big transition when Jude will become a “grader” by entering first grade. Here is Jude on his first day of school this week.

Here in Keystone we have had quite the active weekend. They have a bunch of kids activities set up this Labor Day weekend and we took advantage of many of them. The bungee bounce was a big hit with Jude. He bounced up pretty much as high as it would go which I estimate is at least 40 feet in the air. While it scared him a couple of times by the end he had a huge smile on his face.

When Anna was napping yesterday Jude and I went for an adventure down by the river. The river was really low and we were able to walk along the rocks for quite a long way.

This picture shows the sun rising over Denver International Airport on our first day back in Denver. We drove from Des Moines to Denver on August 7th, staying at an airport hotel before moving in to our new home the following day. After more than seven months away we were finally back to Denver, and we rented a place just four blocks from our old home in Park Hill.

On our first weekend back they had the annual Park Hill bike parade where Jude decided to get his face painted with a shark. He looks kind of scary.

Since getting back Jude and Anna have been on their scooters a lot, probably even more than their bikes. Last week Marcy took both kids to Wash Park where they spent a long time hurtling around the park on their scooters. Both kids have shown a tremendous improvement in just the last two weeks.

Both Marcy and I miss Sydney. The proximity to beaches and the harbour was something we took advantage of regularly. So, we have decided we want to take advantage of the great things that Colorado offers. This means heading up in to the foothills or mountains at every opportunity. So yesterday we headed to Lair of the Bear, a great hiking area just west of Denver. Jude went hiking all the way to the top of the hill, quite an achievement. Here is Jude playing by the river before tackling the hike.

We have spent most of the last two weeks on our annual summer trip to Des Moines. We arrived here 11 days ago on what was the hottest Des Moines day in 29 years – it was 106 degrees. So it was straight into the pool for everyone. Since then the weather has cooled somewhat but everyone spent some time in the pool pretty much every day.

Being in Des Moines means lots of treats from Baba and Grandpa. There was ice cream or popsicles every day which Jude and Lily are enjoying right here.

Lily was away at Disney World the first few days we were here but since she came back Jude, Lily and Anna have been inseparable. There have been a couple of sleepovers with the three of them and several special outings with Baba and Grandpa. Then, of course, there are some quiet times with plenty of books.

The local community pool where we are staying is only about 200 yards away. So we have been there almost every day in the last two weeks. The days have been very hot so it has been really nice to have the pool so close by.

We have also visited some other pools in and around Denver. Last weekend we went out to visit Marcy’s good friend Valerie and her daughter Skyleah. Jude and Skyleah are only three months apart in age and they always enjoy playing together. We went to their local pool where Jude and Anna were introduced to diving boards. They had a small one-meter board at this pool and both kids just loved jumping off it.

Speaking of diving the very next day we had a food group (our regular dinner party get together) at Skyline, a swimming and tennis club in Denver. There they had a three meter diving board and both Jude and Anna just jumped off it without hesitation. By the end of the evening Jude was even jumping off backwards and doing twirls in the air.

Of course, it hasn’t all been pool time the last two weeks. In fact, Jude and Anna have picked up a new activity…rollerskating. Marcy bought the kids rollerskates and they have both been out in them several times. Jude has been very patient in learning how to do it but he also wants to know when he will be as good as Red – a character from the PBS show Super-Why who wears rollerskates. I told him about 100 practices and so after today he asked how many were left and he seemed unperturbed when I told him 96.

Jude has now completed his first illustrated novel. It is true. Jude loves water color painting and drawing and he has done quite a few paintings lately. Every painting tells a story in often intricate detail and so this this week Marcy decided to bind 11 of these pictures together into a book. Then Jude described exactly what was going on in each picture and Marcy wrote it down on the painting. His story is about wolves and antelopes. Here is Marcy reading it to him.

We have loved staying here at the Ferguson’s. It has been the perfect place for us to stay while we get ourselves organized after our six month trip to Sydney. While we have stayed here we have bought a new car, a 2010 Mazda CX-7 and we have signed a one year lease on a new house in Park Hill – about 4 blocks from our old place. The kids have loved having lots of new toys to play with and a huge backyard to run around which is what they did for about an hour after dinner this evening.

Soon after we arrived in Sydney we drove over the Anzac Bridge. For some reason Jude really liked this bridge and whenever we drove over it from then on he would always tell us it was his favorite bridge in Sydney. He has wanted to walk over the Anzac Bridge for some time, so on the last Jude and Daddy date in Sydney he did just that. We walked all the way across and then back again.

The last week was time for farewells. I spent some time with friends I wouldn’t be seeing for a while and we had a big family farewell lunch at Ian & Leila’s house. We had the whole family there, other than mum because she is not really well enough these days to leave the nursing home.

A couple of days before we left we gave the kids the opportunity of visiting their favorite place one last time. Predictably Jude chose the Australian Museum and Anna the Powerhouse Museum. They are both in the city so we were able to do both places. While Marcy packed up our apartment I took the kids on the ferry one last time into Circular Quay where we hopped on a train for the short ride to Museum station. As soon as we got there Jude gravitated towards the dinosaur area, his favorite part of the museum.

We have loved staying in Cremorne Point on this trip to Sydney. It is one of the most beautiful parts of Sydney with the harbour right at our doorstep. I already miss watching the ferry boats go back and forth towards Mosman. Coming home from both museums that day it was a picture perfect winter evening in Sydney and with the full moon the scene was truly spectacular. This photo doesn’t do the scene justice but it was the best I could do.

We moved out of our apartment last Tuesday and we spent the final night of our Sydney trip at the Miers house. They have been good friends for a long time and their kids, Alicia and Emily, just adore the kids and the feeling is mutual. Alicia was the only babysitter we had during our six months in Sydney and the kids like Emily equally as much.

Wednesday, July 4th, was the big trip back to Denver. The trip over was relatively pleasant but at San Francisco there were a few problems. There was a huge line at immigration and then our flight was canceled. After waiting in line for half an hour we were able to get on a new flight to Denver and get all our 11 bags retagged and on their way. It took two and a half hours from the time we walked off the plane from Sydney until we arrived at the gate for the flight to Denver. The kids were quite well behaved considering all the waiting and they had only half a night’s sleep.

Here we are now staying at the Ferguson’s house just outside Denver. The Sydney trip already feels like a long time ago. Today I took the kids to the Denver Museum just six days after their last trip to the Australian Museum. They loved playing on the wolves outside the museum – I let them stay there for an hour this evening.

Like most kids Jude and Anna spend a fair amount of time in the car. All of this time is spent in their car seats, certainly not in the drivers seat. But in Dubbo, where we went recently for a four day weekend, they both had their first taste of what it is like to drive a car. You see, the Dubbo zoo is huge – almost 1,000 acres and so you can drive your car inside the zoo. They have a 10km/h speed limit so it is very slow going. On our first day there it was raining and we literally had the zoo to ourselves so Marcy let Anna and then Jude sit on her lap and steer the car around the zoo. They didn’t do too badly for a first attempt. Below is Jude looking out at the giraffes in the rain.

Luckily we only had one bad of weather in our four day trip to Dubbo. We made it to the zoo three times and by the end of it we had seen most of the animals. One of the best things about this zoo for us is that they had a big kids area which we frequented after seeing the animals. On Sunday they had a big bounce house and there was a big playground that included this hippopotamus that Jude took a liking to.

We arrived back in Sydney on Tuesday with just two weeks remaining on our trip. We are trying to make the most of these last days so today we all went out for some exploring around Sydney. We went to Fort Denison, the tiny little island in Sydney Harbour right near the Opera House. Then it was on to the museum and finally we did a trip up Centrepoint Tower, the tallest building in Sydney. Here we all are being attacked by a giant koala on that visit…

Jude loves animals especially dinosaurs. This is not news to anyone who knows him. But what he really loves to do is create stories with his animals as the central characters. Yesterday, he put together this very elaborate scene on our dining room table where the animals were all in a circle wearing clothes pegs. We didn’t hear him setting this all up so we don’t know what the meaning of it all was but he spent a lot of time creating it and wanted us to leave it there all day which we did.