At her school Halloween social

On Friday afternoon Anna had her school social with a Halloween theme. This was the culmination of “Spooky Week” at her school where regular classes were often replaced with Halloween activities like pumpkin carving. Anna was not as in to it this year, she even said she missed her normal lessons.

Anna had cheer practice again on Saturday and Sunday and she reached another milestone yesterday. She had a private lesson after her regular practice and executed a “Roundoff Two” for the first time which is a roundoff followed by two consecutive back handsprings.

At the top of the Incline. Who is that tall boy?

Today, Jude and I did the Manitou Incline. It has been exactly a year since we last took the climb up 2,768 stairs (around 2.000 feet) in less than a mile. We both broke our previous records, Jude did it in 31:14 and I did 41:54, beating my previous best by several minutes.

Finally, I meant to publish this a couple of weeks ago but we have Anna’s offiicial 8th grade photo.

Official 8th grade photo

The view of Tower Bridge from my hotel room

Last weekend I flew to London for our first event there since before the pandemic. The event went really well, better than we expected and it was great to be back in London again.

The closing game of Jude’s soccer season was an emphatic 8-0 victory

I missed Jude’s second last game of the season but I was able to be here to catch the last one on Thursday afternoon. And what a game it was. Jude scored his first JV goal and their team dominated to an 8-0 victory. Jude played injured but still managed to score a solid close-in goal.

At the Botanic Gardens in Chatfield with her Cheer team

Anna had cheer practice on both Saturday and Sunday as per usual. She did manage to squeeze in a soccer refereeing game before practice on Saturday. Then afterward her whole team went to the Botanic Gardens in Chatfield for a corn maze and team bonding. Marcy joined the other moms for the afternoon.

Jude had a quiet weekend trying to rest his leg. He injured his hamstring in a match a couple of weeks ago and has not recovered yet.

Singing Happy Birthday at home with Marcy’s cheesecake (note Olive in the background)

On Friday Anna turned 14! We have been talking about it for weeks and she was so excited about it. It was a school day so Anna wanted to take donuts. So she and Marcy drove down to Krispy Kreme right after they opened so she had fresh donuts to take to school.

Anna with two of her best friends at Starbucks on her birthday

After school, Anna went to Starbucks with some of her school friends and then had to go back to school to help set up for the movie night. She didn’t want to stay to watch, instead, she wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse with the four of us where we had a delicious meal. Before we went, Anna made sure to get in her driving lesson. Once they turn 14, the kids can start to learn to drive in the parking lots near our house. Anna did great.

Anna’s first time behind the wheel on her birthday

On Saturday Anna had cheerleading practice, as always, but this time she invited her team back to our place for some food, drinks, and games. They played on the trampoline, got out the AirTrack to practice tumbling and went to the park.

Celebrating with her cheer team

Today, Anna had cheer practice again and the theme was pink for breast cancer awareness. Then we did a second driving lesson when she got home.

Anna’s cheer team, the Cool Cats

Doing a back walkover back handspring on floor

Anna nailed her back handspring earlier this year and she has been working on the back walkover into back handspring combination. For the first time this week she was able to do this on floor and we have the video to prove it.

It was a quiet weekend after a busy week for everyone. Anna had cheer practice both days but no refereeing and Jude took the weekend off. He is tired by the time Saturday comes around with school and a soccer practice or a game every afternoon.

Enjoying some TV time

So, there was some relaxing in front of the TV, where we have a new surround sound system.

Olive is so cute!

It was a beautiful sunny day at the Broncos game

Today was the season’s opening home game, and we got our free tickets for this game. It was a warm, sunny day and we were in the sun all afternoon, so we were hot. The game was a good one for the Broncos, getting their first win of the season, so it was a fun afternoon.

Jude in action as a referee

Yesterday, both kids had their first games refereeing this season. They were both at the same field at the same time which made it handy. And it was good for Anna because she had a rough first game with some aggressive parents and Jude was able to provide some support for her after the game.

Anna’s cheerleading team, the Cool Cats (Anna is middle right)

Anna is on a schedule of a long cheer practice on both Saturday and Sunday now. She continues to love it so much and loves her team. They work really hard and she is pretty exhausted when she gets home. But she always looks forward to every practice and would be happy to do it every day.

Anna doing a “scale” at home

Jude practices juggling a soccer ball every single day. Here is a video of him doing it today.

In the ER after my bike accident

On Tuesday morning, I rode my bike to work like I have done 1,000 times before. It is only 2.5 miles, and a good chunk of it is through our local park. On Tuesday morning, as I was half a mile from work, a car cut right in front of me as he turned into a parking lot. There was nothing I could do. I barely had time to hit the brakes. I hit the car and then fell to the ground. I was a bit beaten up but ok.

Thankfully, some people saw it, and they called 911, and the ambulance showed up in just a couple of minutes. I texted Marcy, and she came to pick me up. The EMTs strongly suggested I head to the ER, so Marcy drove me there. I couldn’t really put any weight on my left leg, but the X-Rays revealed nothing broken, thankfully. Needless to say, though, it has been a sedentary week for me. But I am on the mend.

Yesterday was cold and rainy, and both kids were supposed to be refereeing their first games of the season. But all games were canceled. So, it ended up being a quiet weekend. Anna had cheer practice, and Jude spent time in the park practicing soccer. Marcy and I went shopping for a rowing machine.

On the summit of South Boulder Peak

Yesterday Marcy and I celebrated our 18th anniversary. We decided to go for a hike not too far from home, so we chose South Boulder Peak. It was going to be a hot day, but we didn’t think it would be that bad. We reached the summit, hiking up 3,000 feet of elevation in three hours. It was nice and cool up at 8,300 feet.

We realized we didn’t bring enough water, and it kept getting hotter and hotter on the way down. Marcy was fine, but I was struggling, as was Olive. The last hour was brutal, 95 degrees, no shade, and no water, although we luckily stumbled across a creek that made Olive a very happy camper. We all made it back in one piece and had some cold sparkling water waiting for us in a cooler in the car. Phew.

That night we ordered sushi and shared a bottle of nice champagne. It was a delicious end to a challenging day.

Sunset on the beach at Dana Point

Last week I spent three days in California for a work conference we hosted. The event went really well, although attendance was lighter than we had hoped. But we stayed at the Ritz Carlton right on the beach at Dana Point. It was spectacular. My room looked out on the ocean and had a fire pit outside my doors. The room came with a Smores kit that I did not use but brought home for the kids, and they made it their dessert on Saturday night.

Roasting marshmallows on the grill for their S’mores

Apart from our anniversary hike, it was a pretty quiet long weekend. We cleaned the garage and now have two cars in there for the first time in over a year. It was hot every day, but Jude still made it to the park for soccer practice each day, and Anna went for her daily walks.

Jude towers over Marcy in his 10th grade back-to-school photo

Summer break came to an end this week. Jude started 10th grade on Tuesday and Anna started 8th grade on Wednesday. Jude was not thrilled to be returning while Anna couldn’t wait to start 8th grade.

Olive wanted in on Anna’s back-to-school photo

A traditional at Ricks on the first day of school is that every kid gets to ring the bell. This was the last time she will be doing this so Marcy and I went to school to see her.

Anna ringing the bell on the first day of school

Today, Jude and I did our annual 14er. We chose Mt Quandary near Breckenridge, the closest one to Keystone, as we had never done it. So, yesterday Jude and I drove up to Keystone to spend the night and then we were up very early (5:15am) so we could get to the trailhead by 6:30am.

On the summit of Mt Quandary at 14.265 feet

It ended up being a relatively easy hike, we agreed it was the easiest one we had done since we started in 2015 (this was Jude’s eighth 14er). We were on the summit by 9:15am and with a break at the top we were back at the car just before 12pm. Lunch at Chimayo and then back to the condo to clean up and we were home by 4:40pm.

Meanwhile Anna and Marcy went a cheerleading team bonding night. Anna had a great time, she loves everyone in her cheer team so much.

In action at the first home game of the season

Even though school does not officially start until Tuesday, the soccer season is already underway. Their first game was Thursday afternoon this past week and it was one to forget, a bad loss and Jude didn’t get many minutes of action. On Saturday, they played at home and Jude started in midfield. The whole team played much better and were unlucky to lose 1-0.

Jude taking a shot on goal – probably the best shot of the game, missed by inches

Today, Jude and I ran in the Race for Research 5k, a fundraiser for cancer research. It was our first 5k of the year and it was a nice cool morning for it. Jude did well, winning his age group again and coming in 7th place overall. I came third in the fiftysomething bracket, albeit a few minutes behind Jude.

Jude finishing the Race for Research 5k

Anna loves cheerleading so much. And she has been wanting this mat called the AirTrack, a long inflatable mat where she can practice her tumbling. We bought it for her as an early birthday present and it arrived this week. She used it a lot until she tweaked her ankle on one of the landings. But she was able to recover in time to go to cheerleading practice today.

Practicing her back handspring to back tuck

Anna is really looking forward to starting 8th grade this week, she starts on Wednesday. One of her school friends had a pool party and invited several in the class over to celebrate the end of summer break. It made her look forward to returning to school even more. And she was invited to be the 8th-grade ambassador. So on Tuesday, she will go show the incoming middle schoolers around Ricks.