Braces Free!

This was a great day in the Koel household today as Gavin finally got his braces off!  They do a great job at our Orthodontist celebrating these milestones.  Besides some funny signs, they give them some candy and some sparkling apple cider (non-alcoholic of course).  I guess they are more concerned with the teeth being straight and not as much with generating cavities, heh! 

Anyways, Gavin was psyched and was happy to show off his new teeth and be free of all the hassle and pain that having braces introduces to your life.  Looking great, if we can now only keep them this way!  He may just be the first Koel in several generations to keep his actual full set of teeth.

Gavin's Soccer

Returning from Gage's soccer trip, it was time to watch some of Gavin's soccer.  This is out at Long Lake for a game against Colorado Edge's 2007 team.  I had at least convinced Gavin to warm up with a jacket and pants on as it was quite chilly.

This is what I was wearing to enjoy the game!  An icy breeze coming down off the foothills and temperatures barely above freezing make for some cold spectating.  It looks fun doesn't it!  Always happy to brave the conditions to watch my boys play though.  You never know how few more years we may have to watch them play.

Vegas Soccer Tournament - Day 4

Our last game in Vegas was on the morning of the fourth day where we played the 2011 Las Vegas Gunners.  They were a fairly physical team (bordering on reckless) and gave us all that we wanted.  We were ahead until the very end, but they got a questionable call inside the box late that resulted in a pk to tie it up at 3-3.  It was enough to keep us out of the finals, but we got great experience at the tournament overall.  Before the flight out later that night we took the boys over to the far north end of the Strip to walk through this indoor/outdoor mall area.  Here is Gage and I together.

The boys mostly were just taking it all in and we were trying to make sure we didn't lose any of them along the way.  After an hour or two, we headed to the airport for the short flight home.

We had a great view of the Strip as we took off and circled back toward Colorado.  Great trip with the team and I think we got some valuable playing experience against some good Las Vegas teams.

Vegas Soccer Tournament - Day 3

Finally, game day was here! Everyone managed to collect all of their gear and get things sorted to be suited up for the game.  After taking over the lobby, we headed out to the bus to take the 30-minute ride over to the fields.

Here is everyone packed into this minibus we rented.  Thankfully I didn't have to drive but served as the navigator.  When I think Vegas, I think warm and dry, but this definitely was not warm.  The winter months can be quite chilly at times and with a breeze picking up it can be pretty nasty.

Our first game was against Henderson LVSA 10B Black, who had lost their first game 0-5 against who we play tomorrow.  I don't have pictures from the game, but it was a good game to shake the dust off for our team.  Unfortunately, we couldn't generate the offense needed and ended up with a 0-0 tie.  Not a bad start, but I think our guys were capable of a bit more.  What they were capable of, though, was mobbing this Canes stop after the game and had the manager and staff come out and take pictures with the team.  It turns out the guy was from Colorado and had moved fairly recently out to Vegas for this job.

Vegas Soccer Tournament - Day 2

When you book these trips, you don't quite know when your actual games are scheduled until a few weeks before the games start so you have to book travel preparing for all possibilities.  As it turns out, we ended up not having a game on the first day, so we scheduled some practice time at one of the local "parks".  With there being drought type conditions, and perhaps the time of year here, it seemed like there was more dirt than grass on our grass field.  They guys didn't mind too much and were happy to get in a formal training session and knock the ball around.

We had all of the guys from our team and also brought up three 2011s from the top team that is a year younger to play with us and get some experience as well.

After some lunch, we hit up the local movie theatre for the afternoon to watch a movie and then send the kids to bed on the early side to prepare for the games tomorrow.  I think we were essentially the only people in the whole theatre, which was probably for the best because these guys were a bit rowdy.

On the way home, I stopped by the actual tournament fields to try to do some recon on what type of conditions we were likely to see.  The grass was a bit better on the actual fields, but still pretty sparse grass everywhere.  At least the fields looked to be fairly flat and smooth!

Vegas Soccer Tournament - Day 1

Gage has been on the top team at Broomfield Soccer Club for a number of years and the team is starting to get to a place where they will travel a few times a year to bigger tournaments.  We went to Utah last year and played a few games and this year we a coming out to Vegas to play in a three-day tournament.  I always love watching him play so I volunteered to be a chaperone for this trip with one of the other parents and the head coach.  After a quick hop over to Vegas with the team and a bit of a fiasco picking up what was essentially a small bus to drive these guys around in, we checked into our Marriot hotel rooms.

The first day was just getting sorted with everything and after check in the boys quickly found the outdoor pool (though it was fairly chilly outside) and took straight advantage.  The pool was apparently not heated so these guys all crammed into the showers next to the pool to take turns trying to warm up before daring each other to jump back in the cold pool waters.

Later that night we took the guys on a night tour or the main Vegas strip.  It is quite an experience, but we knew better than to actually turn them loose walking around.  At least this way we got to drive by the Bellagio water show and see some other pretty cool sites.  They even hit on some ladies that were in an extended limo that was stopped next to us at one of the lights.  These guys are pretty classic!

New Work Desk

In trying to make better use of the room in the basement and create a better work area for me, we decided to move me upstairs to the main level for my "office".  I will appreciate being able to see the outside and have better natural light when working, but in reality, our house isn't really big enough for a true separate space.  This is the next best alternative and we got this little table which has enough room for my extra monitor and my work laptop and is tucked off to the side of the main living room by the front door.  I do actually like the space.  The only real challenge is working from here when the kids are off for summers or one of the numerous breaks during the year as this is a fairly high traffic area.