We have spent most of the past two weeks in Des Moines for our annual summer trip. These trips always revolve around the pool and sure enough within 5 minutes of our arrival (at 9:45pm!) both Jude and Anna were in the pool. And they spent time in the pool every single day. Below is a shot of Uncle Nathan propelling Jude to the other end of the pool – which he loved of course.

All the cousins got along really well for the most part and here they are all goofing around on our first morning there.

But the trip wasn’t all spent by the pool. There were lots of activities including fishing (where Jude caught plenty of fish), some time at the Iowa State Fair, the Science Center, Living History Farms, (which both Jude and Anna said was their favorite) as well as lots of activities and games around the house. Here is Jude showing off his first fish.

Marcy and I were able to get away for a couple of days by ourselves which was fantastic. We chose Dubuque this time where a friend of ours is from. We stayed at his great grandparents mansion which was turned into a bed and breakfast. We stayed Monday to Wednesday so we ended up having the place to ourselves. Here is Marcy reading outside with a beautiful view of the Mississippi River. We stayed in the end unit on the top floor which was actually a two bedroom suite. Awesome.

We were back in Des Moines less  than 48 hours before leaving for home. The drive was uneventful and we arrived back home at 8:30pm on Friday night.

We have had a pretty low key weekend and both kids spent a lot of time playing with their toys. But the big news is today both Jude and Anna got their first pet. They had to choose a low maintenance pet and it was between a fish and a frog. Jude initially said he wanted a frog but changed him mind when Anna chose a fish. They each have a Betta in a bowl. Here is Jude admiring his new friend that he named Blue Scale, with the fish bowl decoration of the Cat in the Hat. This is a learning experience for both Jude and Anna and if they do well we will consider a dog or cat down the road but they have to take care of their fish all by themselves.

Jude has been talking about snorkeling with the fish for over a year now. Ever since he found out that when you turn six you can go to the aquarium and swim with the fish he has been excited about it. This past Saturday we did it and he had a blast. The fish are so tame in the aquarium that they come right up to you and almost touch you. Above is Jude in full snorkeling gear taken with the underwater camera they provide.

After moving almost two weeks ago Jude is settling in to our new house well. He likes having his own room again, after more than 18 months of sharing with Anna. He is very happy to just go to his room to be alone and read some books or just play with his toys. His sleeping has been great which is more than we can say for his sister.

The local public school is literally 100 yards from our house and they have a great new playground. So, we are making this a regular place to visit after dinner and on weekends. Jude likes to practice his climbing skills there as he maneuvers up the pole.

These days Jude’s favorite books are the Magic Treehouse series. We have a few of them in paperback but Marcy has been checking the audio CDs out from the library. And Jude can literally listen to these stories for hours. This is going to come in handy when we drive to Iowa this week.

Here is Jude in a real treehouse at one of our friends places. He thought it was very cool.

Big news this week for Jude. After many weeks of having a very wiggly front tooth it finally came out. He was looking at the lions at the zoo where he was wiggling it a little like he always does and it just came out in his hand. He was very, very excited. He came home and proudly showed me his tooth. That night the tooth fairy came and gave him $2 for that special tooth.

This came just a few days after we got back from Keystone where we had a wonderful time with the Dahlen family. The kids all enjoyed themselves with all the fun activities which included a hike with all five cousins while Nate and I were golfing – well done Mandy and Marcy!

Our last night in Keystone was a little disappointing. Every Friday night they have free gondola rides to the top of the mountain where there is free entertainment and lots of fun things for the kids. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it was cold and rainy. We did manage to get a group photo at the top during a break in the rain.

This weekend Marcy took the kids up to the “Insectival” at the Butterfly Pavilion where they had all kinds of insect-type fun stuff for kids. Jude had his face painted and found fishing for crawdads very engrossing:

We sold our house on Grape St on December 30th 2011, just three days before we left for Sydney. Since then we have been renting – six months in Sydney and then a year back in Denver. But that is all about to change. On Monday last week we bought a new house in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver. We haven’t moved in yet as we still have a month to go on our lease but we are now the proud owners of a 1931 Georgian style home (pictured). We will be moving in later this month.

We had a family first last weekend. We all went to the baseball game. Last year I took both Jude and Anna separately to see a Rockies game but this was the first time the whole family went. We had a nice time and we made it through the 8th inning which was better than I expected. The kids were not much interested in the game but they enjoyed the whole spectacle.

We are now in the midst of our annual July 4 trip to Keystone. We decided to make this an extended trip this year, so we left Denver on July 3rd and will be up here for 10 days. This means we made it to the July 4th bike parade. Both kids loved being in the parade as this is the first year they had both ditched the training wheels and they were able to ride like the big kids.

At Keystone they have a bunch of activities for kids that we have enjoyed every day since we arrived. We bought the kids summer season passes and we are making the most of it. They have bungee trampolines, a climbing wall, bounce house, maze, digging for gems, putt putt and more. They also get free rides on the gondola.

Last night the Dahlen family arrived from Des Moines and Jude and Anna were so excited to see them. Anna asked at least two dozen times yesterday when Lily would be here. They arrived late last night and Jude, Anna and Lily have been inseparable ever since. We went to the top of the gondola tonight and I shot this cute photo of them overlooking Lake Dillon and the continental divide.

The last fortnight started in Des Moines where Jude and Anna went to the zoo there. Then it was back to Denver where it has been hot and dry. We have had some bad forest fires and a few days ago the smoke was so bad in Denver that we decided to head up to the mountains to get away from it all. So, we spent a couple of nights in Keystone. Marcy bought the kids some backpacks and we went for a short hike while we were there.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day and after a wonderful sleep in I wanted to head up into the mountains for another hike. Marcy packed a picnic lunch but unfortunately, the weather was not the best when we get up there so were not able to have a picnic there (it rained pretty hard). Not to worry, we decided to have our picnic back at home in front of the TV where I could watch the US Open golf.

This weekend we headed into the foothills to Lair o’ the Bear – a popular hiking destination for kids. They have a river, hiking trails and this tremendous climbing tree that Jude always likes to climb. While we were there we went on the longest hike we have ever done as a family – over two miles.

Thursday was a big day for Jude, his graduation from kindergarten. At the Denver Waldorf School they have two year kindergarten’s so even though we spent six months in Sydney it feels like he been in Morning Glory (the name of his class) forever. And in their second Kindergarten year they call the boys and girls Golden Knights and they have a special Knights Club on Tuesday afternoon where they practice getting ready for first grade.

Above is a photo of the ceremony where the teacher, Mrs Clark, gives each Golden Knight a golden cape to wear and she says a little something about each kid. Before the ceremony all the Golden Knights get to perform a puppet show in front of all the parents and other kids. It was really cute.

In the last two weeks there has been a lot of bike riding in our family. Anna wanted her training wheels taken off and this motivated Jude to get back on his bike again – we took his training wheels off last year but he hasn’t shown much interest in biking since. But now Jude has made great strides – he can start and stop by himself and he is quite a strong rider. Last weekend we rode all the way around the lake at City Park where both Jude and Anna learned to start riding by themselves for the first time.

Jude’s imagination has been very rich for a long time. We have described many times where he will tell a story that will last literally an hour or more. That was the case after we came back from our bike ride last weekend. He wanted to eat some almonds and cranberries but instead of eating them he told this elaborate story of battles between the soldiers that were almonds and the cranberries who were trying to attack them. Everything got eaten eventually after about 90 minutes. Below the almonds are lined up on the window sill getting ready for battle.

On Friday morning, the first day of summer vacation, Marcy, Jude and Anna flew to Des Moines for a quick visit. I couldn’t go because I have so much to do to get ready for my big conference in 10 days. But I have had reports that the kids are having a great time, below is Jude giving Lily, his 7-year-old cousin, a big hug during a visit to the Science Center.

We celebrate half birthdays in our house – no presents, though, just the cake of their choice. Jude chose yummy cupcakes from Whole Foods for his half birthday celebration. Unfortunately, I could not be there is person for this event, I had to settle with Skyping in from New York.

Las weekend we went to a fair at our local gym, the Jewish Community Center. The kids had a great time riding the train, playing in the bounce house and doing their inflatable obstacle course. Then, Jude spotted his favorite activity – rock climbing – and he made it the top of their 25-foot climbing wall with ease.

It has been a hot Memorial Day weekend here in Denver so we had lunch outside today and Jude really enjoyed his watermelon.

The big news in our house today was that we have put an offer on a new house. This is the fourth offer we have put in since we began looking for a house seriously late last year. We are very hopeful it works out. We will see.

On Friday Jude’s kindergarten held a Mother’s Day party. There was a cute ceremony where all the kids handed their mothers a present they had all made. Jude had created a beautiful metal trivet with a star on it. Then they had morning tea and danced around the maypole outside.

Yesterday, Jude and Anna did a kid’s fun run with one of Jude’s school friends. After being a bit unsure about it at first, when all the kids started running Jude wanted to join in. He did great and ran all the way around the lake there. They also had lots of kids activities there including a kids climbing wall. Jude always likes to practice his climbing skills.

Today was Mother’s Day and Marcy called the shots all day. We went out for a picnic lunch in the park and then afterwards biked (Anna and me) and scootered (Jude and Marcy) to our favorite local gelato place. It was a beautiful warm day so after that we decided to go to the pool at the gym. Then it was sushi for dinner. A fine way to spend Mother’s Day.

We have discussed before Jude and his love of making things with popsicle sticks. Well in the last few weeks I would say that love has only increased. He plays with them every day making all kinds of dinosaurs, animals and insects. He will often make several in one scene and then the “meat eater” will eat the “prey” which Jude demonstrates by the breaking of the popsicle sticks in two. It is quite the process. Here he is with a giraffe he made earlier this week.

I have been in Sydney for much of the past two weeks so Marcy has been a single parent for most of that time. I missed Marcy and the kids terribly and it was great to see them when I flew in on Friday afternoon. They were waiting for me as I came off the train and I don’t know who was more excited, me or the kids. I have been a bit jet-lagged this weekend but the gorgeous weather here helped get me outside and feeling a bit better.

While I was away Marcy took the kids out to Dinosaur Ridge west of Denver where they have a bunch of dinosaur footprints as well as a small museum. Here is Jude sitting in the footprint of an Iguanadon.

This morning we went to the Butterfly Pavilion where Jude and Anna both got to hold Rosie the tarantula. Jude had done it a few times before but it was Anna’s first time so here he is showing Anna how to do it.

Spring in Colorado means great skiing as well as the beginning of the golf season. But first to skiing. The first week of April we spent up in Keystone. Here we achieved a family first – all four of us skiing together. After a day of lessons we took the kids up the gondola and practiced on the kids slopes. Then it was down Schoolmarm – at 3.5 miles the longest green run in Colorado.

Jude and Anna did great. While they fell down a few times they always got back up and when we got the bottom after 50 minutes they wanted to catch the gondola up and do it again. But we didn’t want to push our luck – that was a lot of work for a four and six year old. Here is a picture of Jude showing his style on the mountain.

Funnily enough, though, we didn’t actually get to skiing until Friday. Ice skating was what they really wanted to do every day. The main skating area was closed due to thin ice but they had a small rink at River Run that great for the kids. Because of the warm weather it stayed open only until around noon every day but we went there three mornings in a row.

Both kids progressed well during this time period and they were even a little reluctant to give up ice skating to go skiing. Jude, quite the competitive one (especially with Anna) wanted to make sure he could go fast. Here he is tearing down the ice on his third day.

After a two-week Spring break it was back to school this past week. Although Tuesday was a snow day and Jude was sick on Friday so it was a bit of a short week. Jude has been fighting some kind of GI illness for a few days now and he has been a bit lower on energy. But he was well enough to head to the golf course yesterday.

This week was Masters week and my favorite weekend of the year. I spent both afternoons this weekend glued to the TV and was delighted to see Adam Scott, a fellow Aussie, take his first green jacket. It was a very exciting finish and I had both kids on my lap as he sank the winning putt. What fun.