Hiking to the Flatirons

Gavin loves to be outside where some of his wildness can go forth into the world without too many troubles.  He has also been getting into hiking because he loves to explore and find things that are on the ground.  I (Brent) decided to take him on a longer hike with just the two of us up to the Flatirons and if we were lucky up to the Royal Arch.  Here we are on a rock slide field on a beautiful day.

We did make it up to the First Flatiron and I let him climb a bit, but any higher than this and he risks getting stuck and not being able to get back down.  It was his first time there and we had a great hike.  We continued on to try to get to the Royal Arch trail, but it was closed for repair from the flood last year and wasn't quite ready to be hiked again.  We continued back to the car but had a great trip.  I really enjoy these times where we can get out one on one with the kids as the time seems very special.

Gavin's 7th Birthday Party!

After much discussion, Gavin had is heart set on a party at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his 7th birthday.  He invited several of best friends and family to join in the celebration.  After a lively session hitting the video games we settled in for some pizza and entertainment CEC style.

Our party was celebrated alongside several others and they called all the birthday candidates up to the stage to rock out on some purple balloon guitars next the Chuck E Cheese himself.  Gavin, being extremely shy, barely could be convinced to go up on stage and certainly wasn't excited to be wild in front of anyone else...just kidding.

He also got to wear a purple crown that he was fairly excited about.  Here is Gavin blowing out the candles for the cake with mom's close supervision.

The day was finished with a short trip into the ticket tube.  This thing blows like a hurricane in there and coupons for tickets are dropped in with the birthday kid.  You get to keep all the ones that you can catch by the time the wind stops.  Gavin was quite excited about this but after being in, his opinion was a bit more muted.  He said he couldn't hardly see and seemed a bit eager to exit it after experiencing it first hand.  In any case, he had a great part with his friends and family and certainly burned through a pile of game tokens.

Gavin's Birthday!

That's my Gavin holding up his seven fingers for his seven years!  My once seven-pound-some-odd-ounces baby is now SEVEN years old!!!!!!  And his little brother is now wearing Gavin's former favorite green monster truck shirt.  How, exactly, did this all happen?

One thing we don't miss around here on birthdays is the free fun pass at Boondock's.  Come rain or snow--and this time it was even a beautiful day for it!--we always look forward to going for the free tokens and fun activities for the birthday boy.  And, of course, we get roped into buying at least one fun thing for the non-birthday brother, too, but it's well worth it for all of the smiles had by all.

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The squirty bumper boats are a big hit, and the boys like to soak Mama at every opportunity. 

I always split up the free tokens and then usually buy a few more for some extra fun.  This year we got 50 free tokens when we bought a large pizza, so that was an easy sale for me!  Gage loves the motorcycle rides, though he has about as much fun just sitting on them as paying to play.  Doesn't he look so intense?  And my frugal Gavin (a boy after his mama's heart) watches on because rarely will he choose a game that will cost him more than 2 tokens.  Gavin's also my little scavenger and often finds all kinds of "extra" tokens in odd places.  It's fun to watch the boys having so much fun!

U5 Soccer

Gage was a different soccer player in the fall than he was last spring, that's for sure!  He has really taken to the game, and he's all about running around and making goals now, which is so fun to watch.  We feel so proud of him, and he's having a great time playing. 

U7 Soccer with Coach Dad

As Gavin has been getting older, I (Brent) figured it would be great to help out with his soccer team for this fall.  I certainly remember my dad doing the same when I was growing up, though if my memory serves me well we lost every game in that experiment.  In any case, I promptly emailed the Broomfield Soccer Club coordinator to let her know I would love to be an assistant coach for his team.  She replied that Gavin actually didn't have a head coach yet and I was assured that if I would be the head coach for his team, they would help train me as a coach and I would inherit most of his team from the spring.  How could I resist?  Unfortunately, after agreeing to be the head coach they never found me any formal assistant coaches so I ventured off to coach 12 boys all by myself.

At least I had played quite a bit of soccer, though most of it informally in adult leagues rather than growing up and receiving lots of technical skills training.  Youtube and some Broomfield Soccer Club coaches training sessions have helped quite a bit and at least helped me know where to start.  Here is the crew above in one of the first practices working on some toe-tap activities together.

Hiking on the Caribou Ranch Loop

One of our favorite things to do as a family is hiking together.  We have taken many opportunities to find new places to hike where the kids can explore and enjoy the outdoors.  This particular loop was fairly long and looped around an old homestead area and an abandon silver mine.

Gavin saw this crazy aspen tree and decided it would be a good spot for a picture.  I was happy to capture him in the moment.

Here is Tara and the boys stopping for a water break.

A bit later we found a nice creek and took another break on the way back from the silver mine.  This hike certainly pushed there limits as it was close to 5 miles round trip but I think we had a great time.