Brothers

Sometimes these guys struggle to get along so much that it is always good to remember that it can also be like this above!  They are truly each other's best friends and though there is a lot of friction and struggle and occasional (or frequent...) harsh words, they eventually revert back to this.  I think both Tara and I pray that these guys will continue to grow together as they grow up.  We want them to understand that their family will always be there for them no matter what.

Goalie Camp

We now spend our Sunday early evenings down at Dicks Sporting Good park for an ongoing goalie soccer training camp led by the Chris Sharpe, Head Coach of the Colorado Rapids.  They do a great job with this camp as they have several helper coaches under Chris working with the kids which are broken up into groups of 6-7 per coach and each rotate through a bunch of stations.  At each station and for each repetition they are challenged and coached so it seems like an amazing value and benefit for the kids.  Here is Gage above in goal in orange getting into position for a drill.  Gage has been able to get to known several of the other top goalies in the area at this camp and is building quite a nice community of friends, all while pushing himself to be the best he can be.

Food Attempts

We aren't exactly health eaters or really good chefs but occasionally we impress ourselves and thought we should take some pictures.  Above is a nice hamburger with some home fries and a green bean/corn sauteed mix.  This has been making the rotation for some time and is a family favorite about every other week.

This is actually a newer introduction into the rotation (chicken street tacos) and will certainly be making some repeat appearances.  The chicken was cooked all day in the crock pot with some Salsa Verde.  Some cilantro, cotija cheese, and diced white onion complete the tacos on some warmed corn tortillas.  I say this often, but it's a good thing I don't live in one of the states with more tex-mex available as I would possible be a portly guy with food like this around all the time!

Broomfield Shootout

The Broomfield Shootout is a smaller tournament that tends to be mostly just Broomfield Soccer Club teams and a few teams from clubs nearby.  Actually this year they didn't have a lot of different teams play in it and we had to play one of the teams twice.  However, we did win all of our games (as we likely should have as the top ranked team in our bracket).  The guys continue to have a great time together and Gage is doing great with his continued growth at the goalie position.

Here is Gage with his eyes closed celebrating with the shootout trophy!  This fall season will be a good challenge for the boys as they navigate the Platinum II division and try to make a run at joining the Platinum I (top) division.  I love watching Gage practice and play and try to be apart of his soccer journey every time I can.

Working Man?

As Gavin has taken a break from playing soccer this year to work on strength and mobility with his body and he has wanted to figure out better ways to make some money, he joined the USSF Soccer Referee ranks!  The training starts out with a fairly quick 4hr online class and then an in person practice session with some practice squads, but outside of that they turn you loose on real games!  Gavin's first opportunity was a collection of 7 games (3 games one day and 4 games the next) in a tournament at Dick's Sporting Goods park refereeing mostly U14-U15 games.  This is the first squad he was put with and it couldn't have been a better crew.  One of the guys had been ref'ing for 25 years and another guy at least 15 years.  They took Gavin under his wing and showed him the ropes.

He was sooo nervous his first game.  He looked the part and tried to make the calls he saw to the best of his ability.  I actually sat behind him on the side line to give him some encouragement and advice along the way.  I think the center referee corrected him a few times, but overall he made it through it and I was so proud of him.

Refereeing is very challenging and people can yell at you even when you are doing a good job.  That is tough for a 14 year old kid to take sometimes but he did great.  I watched all three of his games and it really was a fun time for me to just be with him and go through this experience with him.  I will say that by the end of day two and almost seven games later, we were both happy to have a week off before any further games.  Also, through almost seven games I think he made something like $250 dollars for the weekend which was a large amount of money for a kid. We will see if he likes it enough to continue, but I think it will stick.

Estes Park Trip - Part 2 of 2

This was some of the art work everyone completed later on in the trip.  The above piece is from Gavin and actually needs to be rotated about 90 degrees in the picture above.  He found these wooden boards, painted a solid black background and painted them white leaving the moon shape.  With the left over space he drew in a campfire scene with the night sky above making up the top half of the moon.  It was super amazing!  I have always like and appreciated art, but Gavin is so good at it.

This is either Tara's or Gage's piece as he painted the letter K for our last name with some nice flowers all over it.  Gage also does some quite amazing pieces as well and typically these two are happy to spend a few hours in the art shack every time we go.  Actually, this year, they just realized there is a whole separate area in the basement that has "older" art options as they progress past some of the "younger" stuff they have done for years.  It's crazy they have never noticed it before but they have loved doing the same thing so much that I guess they never bothered to check what else was out there.  At least this will now give them some newer options going forward.

Estes Park Trip - Part 1 of 2

I've lost count at how many times we have been up to Estes Park by now (though I am sure Tara has the number ready to pull up at any time), but I joined these guys for a few daytime activities while they were there.  I think this may only be the second or third (at most) time we have been horseback riding.  This year we opted for the two hour ride as I think we have only down one hours rides previously.  As always, the boys were psyched and are looking legit.

They were quite excited to inform the stable workers that they were experienced riders by now!  Not quite sure about that, but they did great.  This day turned out to be perfect and we patiently waited to see which horses we would get to ride this time.

Here these guys are as we made our way around the trails.  This was quite the adventurous trail as it took us fairly deep into Rocky Mountain National Park.  Additionally, there were several spots where they wanted us to canter or trot for some lengths.  This happens to be quite fun but isn't recommended for those of us with sore backs or lingering back issues.

Here is a closer shot of Tara riding her super tame horse.  She still has some flashbacks to her wild Mexican horse riding days so she prefers the older, broken in horses to keep her company.

Tara also got a picture of me in the rear view as we brought up the caboose of the train tour!  This definitely was a great trip and while they said they offered 4 hr and 8 hr trip rides as well, I am certain our bodies are in no shape to be able to handle those.  I think we all walked a bit funny for the rest of the afternoon but what an amazing time!