Pumpkins and Halloween

As with most years, Tara is the designated pumpkin carving supervisor.  She, I am sure, will probably rebuke me and tell me this is just parenting...which she of course is right about.  In any case, she likes to get her hands more dirty than I do and the smell of pumpkins have always grossed me out a bit.  Here she is with these guys scooping the guts out of the pumpkin and getting ready to carve out the faces that they have drawn on to them.

After some pumpkin surgery, it was time to get ready for some trick or treating fun in the neighborhood.  As these guys get older, this is starting to turn into more of a lengthy endeavor as they seek to stock up for at least a six to nine months supply of processed of sugar.  We used to just go a few blocks here are there and make sure to hit our friends houses.  Nowadays, these guys are canvasing square miles at record pace.  At least this year's adventure was above freezing, which makes it much more enjoyable to be out and about.

End of the Fall Soccer Season for Gage

Just like with Gavin, we did a little celebration with Gage's team to finish off the year.  These guys didn't end up doing the pizza party too, but we had a good time nevertheless.  Here is Gage receiving his medal from his coaches (Head coach: Jeremy Taylor).  These coaches were great and have been with Gage for several years now.

Here is a rowdy set of little guys.  Gage has made some great friends as these guys have stayed together for so many seasons.  Hopefully most of them return for the spring season next year.

End of the Fall Soccer Season for Gavin

We finally made it through the fall soccer season.  Here is Gavin above in his last game.  He really does well on the field and is certainly one of the better players on his team.

We celebrate the end of the season by giving out awards to each of the kids.  They receive a Broomfield Soccer Club medal and we celebrated by eating pizza with the team and families.

Here are the three of us coaches: Tim Allen, Brent Koel, and Gerrid Vandermolen.  Tim certainly takes the technical lead as he is the only legit player between the three of us.  Gerrid and I kind of hang back and run auxiliary instruction and herd cats (kids).  I really have enjoyed watching Tim coach and learning from him.  I can see that with a bit older group of kids, he could really do some amazing teaching and coaching.

Here is the coaching crew with all the U8 kids.  It was a roudy, but fun bunch of kids.  I think most are returning for the spring so we could have some continuity and a good team again.

Playing in the Back Yard

As always, these guys don't really need much of an excuse to head out back to play in the yard.  It often quickly evolves into some sort of sporting game that involves a ball and tackling.  Here these guys seem to be wrestling in the grass and leaves.

In almost all cases, Gavin ends up hurting Gage by being too rough but quickly tries to be silly enough to make him laugh shortly thereafter with the hope that Gage will forget he just got roughed up.  This usually works as Gage is about the most forgiving human being you could ever imagine.  Gavin is lucky to have such a great partner in crime and sweetest-guy brother.

Tara's Bike Fit at Denver Fit Loft

As Tara has continued to ride more and more, it has always been on our to-do list to have her get a real bike fit to make sure her bike is set up and not aggravating or causing any additional injuries.  I recently joined the Denver Fit Loft bike team to ride for the 2016 season, so it seemed prudent to go get her a fit at the team shop.  Here she is working with Daniel (one of my teammates and master fit specialist) to adjust her position.  It is kind of a funny experience as your bike is set up in the middle of this room on a platform and they put sticky dots on all your joins so they can 3-D map your bike position as you pedal on the trainer.  I don't think in the end there were too many major adjustments, just a few tweaks and perhaps a different stem that fits her better.  What is helpful is to have the peace of mind to know your bike is set up properly for the hours you are going to spend on your bike.

Eldorado Springs Hiking

While I (Brent) have taken several hikes with the boys to Eldorado Springs just myself, we haven't had all four of us take the trip until now.  As always, Gavin got right after climbing on some rocks at the base of the hike.  I am not quite sure that his position seems like it is well protected from falling, but he is only about eight to ten feet off the ground so far.

We are also all smiles as brothers at the beginning of the trip and getting along nicely.  I love this picture of Gavin and Gage getting tight for a picture.  They love the outdoors so much that they seem to get distracted from any negative issues and can both get fully on board with exploring.  This is probably why we enjoy taking them to the outdoors so much!

This was a nice scenic overlook along the way that we paused at to get some water and take a rest.  Conveniently, it was located towards the top of this very steep set of switchbacks that also didn't have much for shade from trees.  These guys hiked like champions, as we were probably gone for about two hours.

Here is another pose along the way among some rocks.  Gavin definitely struggles to stay on the trail and is often found trying to find his own path somewhat adjacent to the actual trail.  There are just too many interesting things to see and find off the beaten path!

Soccer Saturday with the Boys

Gavin and Gage both continue to enjoy playing soccer each and every week.  I have continued to coach with Gavin's soccer team as an assistant coach.  I would say Gavin continues to learn more and more about soccer each week, but this certainly is a tough age to coach as the boys are quite distractable.  Above Gavin is taking the ball down the field to try to score a goal.

Here is another shot of him playing goalie with some of his teammates coming back to support on defense.

I haven't coached Gage's team ever, but he has benefited from two consistent coaches over the several years that he has played.  He seems to be a bit more hesitant this season with his arm in a brace while still healing from his earlier broken arm.  Having said that, he always has a great attitude and tries his best.  Here he is getting back on defense after his team turned over the ball.

Here he is hustling back again to go get the ball.  I am glad he has made some great soccer friends and just loves to be outside and run around. 

Mountain Trip for Tara and Brent

As a late birthday celebration trip, Tara and I headed up for a weekend getaway in the mountains.  Our first stop was the Tivoli lodge in Vail.  This lodge is nestled about 100 meters away from the bottom of the ski slope and was super nice.  It had a cabin feel to it but was very upscale.  At this time of year, we had an amazing view of the aspens changing colors right outside our window.  The temperature was great and we could just open the windows for some nice mountain fresh air.

After getting settled in at the lodge, we headed out towards some open roads on the bikes.  Sometimes it's a bit hard to find good routes at a place you aren't that familiar with, but we ended up heading West out of town and then took a road that climbed South up through some hills.

It wasn't the longest ride, but I think we got about an hour of good climbing in before reaching the top of the road.  Here we are at the top before heading down.  Tara got to work on her climbing skills and then followed it up by getting some extra practice on descending.  I don't believe she feels like she enjoys the hills as much as I do...

After searching later that night for a restaurant in Vail that you didn't have to have a reservation for (which apparently is very difficult) we did find a nice Mexican restaurant.  This was followed up by a really nice buffet breakfast at the lodge before wishing it farewell for this year.  On the way home we were thinking it would be nice to hike some (or all) of Grey's and Torrey's.  As we got a late start, the "some" seemed more reasonable.  I actually forgot how crazy the dirt road is to get to the trailhead is for these two peaks.  My nerves were tested a few times as I contemplated turning around in the wet/muddy jeep trail.  We did, however, finally make it and hiked for a while...though some rain/snow started moving in and we probably called it an earlier day that I had originally hoped for.  It was a great weekend for some rest and relaxation time for just the two of us.