Gavin's Soccer vs. BHS

With a few High School soccer games under his belt, we finally had a game that was a bit special for me to come and watch as it was at my Alma Mater (Boulder High School).  However, I don't ever remember a soccer game being truly played on this area.  I thought they used it for practice for the lower teams, but it's only like half as wide as a normal field width, so it made for a crazy game.  I also threatened to wear my letter jacket to the game, but Gavin decided that wouldn't be a good idea...go figure!

Gavin only plays about half the game, as the "C" team is really more about getting everyone time on the field.  He does like a very physical style of play which is more of what you see in High School ball rather than the Club soccer.  Club soccer can be physical too, but it much more tactical and technical than what we see out here.

Gavin does enjoy his size advantage over most of the people he plays against as you can see in this picture and the one above.  I am proud of him for getting back into soccer and really working to push himself to be his best.  In the end, this game was a tie but was a bit back and forth but really crazy to be back around my old school.  It certainly feels like a long time ago since I was there for school, and I am still struggling to wrap my mind around the fact that I have a son going through high school.

Gavin Is Driving A Car

This blurry picture is the first formal capture of Gavin behind the wheel driving.  We went over to the high school parking lot to do some brief laps as he had just picked up his Driver's permit a few days before.  It was really surreal to enter this next stage of him growing up as he learns to drive.  We started with the Honda Odyssey, as that was a better entry point than the Subaru which has a manual transmission.  He did great as we slowly rolled through some laps.  We are supposed to drive with him somewhere between 8-10 hours before we schedule some sessions with the Top Cops instructors.  They want him experienced enough to have an idea of what he is doing without learning all of our adult bad driver habits!  This probably is a good idea, I guess...

Borger Clan Visiting

As we continue to enjoy the new deck, the Borger clan joined us for a meal and early evening out with the fire blazing.  I love that the deck, with the stairs now, can accommodate a bigger group with people sitting on both the furniture but also just crashing on the stairs.  Here is Gavin and Gage with some of their cousins and Lorna.

Tara and Zach took seats next to each other and were entertaining everyone with their stories.  It was not a quiet evening with these two around!

Here are the two MCs up close and personal.  Thanks for coming over, Borger clan, to enjoy and celebrate the new outdoor entertainment space.  Hopefully, we can make it happen again in the near future.

Gavin's Birthday

Gavin's 15th Birthday!  So proud of this guy and who he is becoming as he grows older.  He is strong, energetic, curious, independent, but also has a great heart.  Here is a great picture of Tara and Gavin together as we went out for a nice dinner and surprised Gavin with a trip to iFly.

iFly is an indoor flying facility where you enter into this contained room (as you can see in the background) and you take turns with an instructor as they get you to "fly" like a simulated skydiving.  This is the first time we had ever gone and all four of us got to get in and give it a go.  It's a pretty crazy experience as you jump out there and start floating above this fan blowing air up at 100+ mph.  It's fun but also really, really hard.  I think with practice you could eventually figure it out but even really tiny movements in your body start spinning you out of control or send you careening forward or backwards.  Such a fun way to celebrate Gavin's birthday together with our family!

Brainard Lake Hike - Part 2 of 2

This is on the west banks of the lake where Gavin had waded probably 30-40 yards out into the lake to try to find some deeper water.  We just sat and relaxed and let these guys fish a bit, but in the end, nothing was caught.  I love this picture because it just really captures Gavin in is element.

Here is a picture of Tara and Gage working to get across one of the many obstacles you encounter when traversing the lake.  Tara was real, real hesitant about walking on the log.  Gage finally helped talk her across so we could continue and catch up to Gavin.

When we did finally catch up, we were treated with this situation.  Apparently, it was WAY too hot to be wearing a shirt, so Gavin decided he should take his off.  I think in actuality it was quite comfortable with shorts, a shirt and even a light jacket especially given that the water was ice cold we were in and around.

Here is a picture of Tara (with her matching shirt/hat combo) and I taking it all in while the kids play.

For this day, we in fact did not make it much further than the lake itself which was totally fine.  We eventually headed back to the car and drove a bit back down the road to the smaller pond where we ate lunch before heading back to Broomfield.  I think it is called the Lilypad pond because about 80% of it is covered with Lilypads but it was a slightly different ecosystem for the boys to explore.  We had a great time and hope to get back up here again soon.

Brainard Lake Hike - Part 1 of 2

We always love getting our boys up into the mountains where we get to see the best parts of them always come out.  They love exploring and being active and many of the distractions of the world (mostly electronic in nature) are silenced.  Today we got out early to head up to Brainard Lake where we have hiked a few times before.  Here is Tara, Gavin, and Gage just after heading out from the first parking lot.

A closer picture of Gage, Gavin, and myself as we crossed the bridge on the East side of the lake.

Gavin was most excited about fishing up there and while there are some trout you can catch; it is a bit of a tough place to catch anything because the lake is so shallow until you get very far from shore.  Gavin made it over to this rock that is big enough to sit on that sits about 20 yards from the lake shore.  He fished a bit here with a meps spinner but didn't end up catching anything.

We slowly worked our way along the north shore of the lack and tried fishing in different spots and just did some general exploring.  I love this place because the backdrop is so beautiful with the continental divide in the background.

Tara was lagging a bit behind the crew and was trying to figure out a way to hop on the boulders across this little feeder stream in the above picture.  She did eventually catch up with us though!