With her new group of friends in Athens

This was a very big week for Anna. As part of the end of middle school, there was a European trip on offer. We are big fans of lessons learned from traveling to new places so we signed up right away. So, at 3:30am last Monday morning I found myself taking Anna to the airport for her trip to Greece.

The girls at the Palamidi Fortress in Nafplio

Anna had a blast. There were other school groups on this trip and she quickly befriended some students from Virginia and Texas. She became close with her roommate Chyann (the redhead above) who is two years older.

At the Parthenon

It was all over so quickly. The highlight for Anna was the cruise they did around the Saronic Islands where they got to swim and see some of the ocean life. They also saw many of the historic places like the Acropolis, the ruins of Mycenae and the Olympic stadiums. Now, Anna has a quiet week at home to recover.

Denver wins the NBA championship!

Tonight, Anna had her first cheerleading practice of the new season. Jude and I stayed home to watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Nuggets won in a very hard-fought game and it was so fun to watch the game at home with Jude.

Working hard in the backyard

Marcy and I (mostly Marcy) spent the weekend working in the backyard. We have made excellent progress but it has been a hard slog.

Anna doing her portfolio presentation reflecting on eight years of school

It has been a very busy past two weeks in Anna’s life. First, she had the school musical, Beauty and the Beast. While Anna enjoyed it she didn’t have a major role so she was not as into it as she was in previous years.

Some of the cast of Beauty and the Beast after the show

The highlight for me was her portfolio presentation this week. As a parent, it was fantastic. Anna had to do a presentation on her last eight years of school. She moved to Ricks in the 4th grade so it also included some of her time at Waldorf. It was fascinating to find out what Anna thought were the highlights of each year and the lowlights as well, particularly around covid.

After cheer tryouts at Cheer Athletics

Anna had cheer tryouts recently for both Cheer Athletics and South High School. The high school one went really well and Anna has already made it onto the Varsity cheer team we found out last week. For Cheer Athletics, she felt like she did well and we find out this coming week what team she qualified for.

Marcy working hard in the backyard

Our backyard is a mud pit. We tore up all the grass and are redoing much of it. Marcy has taken on the lion’s share of this work, she is spending almost all day every weekend in the yard. I help as much as I can but she enjoys it much more than I do. There is still much to do and the work will continue for the next several weekends.

As for Jude, he is in the middle of finals and so far he thinks it is going well. This weekend is the end of season soccer tournament. So, they are doing well with two wins from two games, albeit in shortened games due to lightning.

Anna and Miss Jenn in front of the White House

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the Renton household. First, Anna spent the week in Washington DC for her annual “Week Without Walls” trip. Anna had a much better time than she expected and they went to see so much in just six days.

At the Library of Congress

They went to see the Smithsonian, the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetry, the Holocaust Museum, George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, the big Ferris Wheel at National Harbor and much more.

About to head up the Capital Wheel at National Harbor

Anna arrived home last Sunday night but I missed her by just a couple of hours. In fact, I could see her plane on the map right by my plane just south of Chicago. I headed to NYC for our big annual conference. Marcy’s mom also flew in on Sunday to look after the kids while Marcy was away (she arrived in NYC on Monday).

On the flight deck of The Intrepid aircraft carrier at our NYC event

The event went really well. We had a fantastic evening on the aircraft carrier, The Intrepid, where we had our big end of day one party. Then on Friday after the event was over Marcy and I went for a long walk around Central Park before heading back home.

On our walk around Central Park

Today was Mother’s Day and Marcy decided she wanted to work around the yard all day. We had quite a bit of rain so it was easy to pull weeds and plant flowers and shrubs. Our backyard is kind of a mud pit right now as we are planting new grass and redoing all the landscaping. Marcy was a trooper, she worked her butt off all day and transplanted lots of plants from the front yard. It is already looking better, although there is still a lot of mud. The work will continue.

All ready to go to compete at Summit

The final cheerleading competition of the season was this past weekend in Orlando. Called Summit, it is an invitation-only event that is hard to qualify for. Anna’s team not only qualified but they received a paid bid (meaning free entry), the only team at her gym to receive that.

Cheer Athletics Cool Cats

So, there was a lot of excitement as the team left Denver for Orlando on Thursday. The competition was just after 5pm on Saturday. Jude and I tuned in to Varsity TV to watch Anna perform live. We thought they did well, we just noticed one minor slip-up.

About to perform (Anna is second from the left)

These teams were the best of the best and unfortunately, Anna’s team did not make it to the second day of competition, placing 16th out of 24. We were proud of the effort the team gave and that they really went for it but the girls were all very disappointed.

Inside the Millennium Falcon at Disney Hollywood Studios

The good thing about being in Orlando is that you have Disney right there. Plus, Anna’s paid bid came with a two-day multipark Disney pass. So, Marcy and Anna made the most of their free day and spent time at Disney Hollywood Studios where they checked out all the Star Wars stuff.

Back at home Jude and I had a relatively quiet weekend. Jude played soccer on Saturday and lost 2-1. Then we went took Olive for a hike on Sunday near Eldorado Springs.

Cool Cats in full flight. Anna is on the far left facing the camera looking up

Saturday was a busy day in the Renton household. Anna had a morning cheer competition in Colorado Springs. Her team, the Cool Cats, did great and once again they won their division for I think their fourth victory of the season. And it was their best-ever score: 97.22. Anna was understandably thrilled, and part of the reason was that she did the routine on a bad ankle after tweaking it at practice the night before. But the adrenaline kicked in and she was fantastic as they “hit zero” (no major stunting mistakes) once again.

With the winner’s trophy and jackets

Jude and I had to leave right after Anna competed to drive the other direction to Loveland where Jude had a soccer match. It was basically a two-hour drive from Colorado Springs but we stopped at home for a quick lunch on the way.

Jude’s team played a hard-fought match and were satisfied with a 1-1 draw courtesy of a goal in the last minute. His team had more chances and could easily have won by two or three goals.

Today, was spent around the house doing odd jobs and catching up on work. Anna soldiered on and went to cheer practice despite her sore ankle.

Easter baskets full of their favorite goodies

We had a wonderful Easter weekend here. Yesterday, Jude had his soccer game where he played really well, his team won 6-1 with Jude scoring a penalty after they fouled him inside the box. He almost had a second goal late in the game.

Anna has been having some epic cheerleading practices, often three hours long and he is completely exhausted when they are over. She has her next competition on Saturday so it is crunch time.

Last night Marcy worked incredibly hard putting Easter baskets together and stuffing easter eggs in what might be one of the last Easter Egg hunts we do, as the kids are outgrowing it. But they still love their Easter baskets.

Sitting down to a delicious Easter dinner

For dinner we had a miso chicken, radish and chard dish which was delicious. Anna baked Brioche dinner rolls which were to die for and Marcy baked a strawberry and cream layer cake. It was all fantastic.

Playing catch as the sun sets over the mountains

After dinner we went to the park to play. We threw around a football for the first time in ages and Anna practiced some of her cheerleading moves on the grass.

Anna practiced some tumbling moves

One last thing. Anna turned 14 1/2 this week so we had the usual donuts before breakfast celebration. Then I signed her up for Drivers Ed, she is keen to get started studying for her permit.

Family time at the park

Skiing with Anna on my birthday

Anna was on Spring Break this past week and since it was my birthday on Friday we came up to Keystone for a day of skiing. It was a fantastic day. Jude and Marcy came up at lunchtime and Jude joined us for the afternoon on the slopes.

Anna took a tumble in the powder on the North Bowl

The thing I was most excited about for my birthday is our Sleigh Ride Dinner. Marcy and I did this 20 years ago and had not been back since. We met at Keystone Lake and took a shuttle out past Keystone Ranch. Then we took a two-horse open sleigh to the ranch house for dinner.

On the sleigh ride to dinner

We arrived at the homestead just before dark. There was no electricity here, so they were cooking with gas and had to truck in all their supplies. We were a little chilly when we arrived but had a bowl of piping hot beef and barley soup ready for us.

Arriving at the homestead

They had a country and western guitarist there who provided some great entertainment. The dinner itself was excellent, Anna and I had the steak while Jude and Marcy had the salmon. Then it was apple pie and ice cream for dessert, mine had a candle in it and everyone sang happy birthday.

Being serenaded during dinner

It was a memorable evening and it was over too quickly. On Saturday Jude and I skied at Keystone and we managed to get in 10 runs on the coldest day I have had skiing in many years (6 degrees with 20mph winds). We came home Saturday night and had a relaxing Sunday.

In front of the Bellagio

Jude and I flew to Las Vegas on Friday for his first traveling soccer tournament. His new team, Real Colorado, traveled for a “college showcase” tournament in Las Vegas, it was Jude’s first trip.

Our flight was very late out of Denver and he barely made it to his first game, arriving just 10 minutes before kickoff. The standard was very strong and they only one won of their four games but it was a great experience.

In action in Vegas

We stayed at a hotel and Casino just south of the main area and it was Jude’s first time ever in a casino. He watched me lose $10 in less than 10 minutes on the slot machines, a good lesson for him.

Jude about to enjoy his Beef Wellington at Hells Kitchen

On Saturday night we drove to the Strip to get the full Vegas experience. We walked around looking for a place for dinner and came across Hell’s Kitchen. This is Gordon Ramsey’s place and Jude has watched quite of a few of his shows and knew way more about it than I.

In front of the kitchen

The food was incredible. Jude had scallops for an appetizer and their famous Beef Wellington and I had the Lobster Risotto and salmon. The food was fantastic, Jude talked about it all day today.

Bruce and Steven Van Zandt rocking the crowd

This week Marcy and I went to the Ball Arena downtown to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It was fantastic. Despite being in his early 70s Bruce is still a rock’n’roll god. He has tremendous energy and it feels very similar to when I saw him 20 and 30 years ago.

We were actually some of the younger people there

He played a few of his new songs and many of his old hits. We had great seats and it was a night to remember.

He still looks pretty good for 73!

Today, Jude and I went to a college fair where we were able to talk with a number of colleges. It was our first foray into this world so it was great to get a bit of a flavor of what to expect. Jude found several colleges that were appealing.

No cheer for Anna this weekend so she went to a birthday party with a school friend this afternoon.