Vegas in October

This past year Mark and Patti have come up to visit quite a few times, and Gavin has often traveled down to Vegas with Janea for a weekend here and there.  So when Jared and I realized it had been about six months since our last visit, we figured it was about time for a road trip.  When we told Gavin we were going down, he seemed confused that we were going down too, not just sending him down with Auntie.

I'm not a fan of how HOT Vegas gets in the summer, but the weather in October was beautiful, and still even up in the eighties one day.  One day was spent out with Jared's Uncle Steve, driving around the desert mountains looking for the perfect place for flying RC planes.  After a while of driving and Gavin getting bored, we decided to split up, leaving Jared and Steve to go flying, and me, Gavin, Mark, and Patti went to Lake Mead to feed the fish.

Carp sure are weird and ugly fish!  But Gavin absolutely loved it!

Since we were already there, we decided to head over to Hoover Dam.  Jared and I drove over it once in 2008 after we were married on our way to the Grand Canyon, but that's the only time I've seen it.  So this time I also got to check out the new bridge that was completed a few years ago.

View of Hoover Dam from the bridge

View of the bridge from the Dam

We came across a park that actually had a merry-go-round!  I haven't played on one of these in forever, and I think I may have had more fun on it than Gavin did!

We had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoyed dinner out with Uncle Steve and Aunt Kay, picking and eating pomegranates, dutch oven chicken and potatoes outside, playing with cousins and visiting with Uncle Jacob and Aunt Rachel, and a bonfire in the back yard.  Oh, and of course climbing and playing in the tree!

Soccer Star!

This past September we signed Gavin up for (dot...dot..dot...)... SOCCER!  He absolutely loved it, and after the first practice we headed over to Walmart to get him his own Gavin sized soccer ball.

Okay, so lets be honest.  Yes Gavin did absolutely love it, but it was a close call between the two of us.  It's just too cute watching little kids, in over-sized soccer shirts, chasing/kicking/tripping over balls, or suddenly just deciding they're done for the day and heading over to play in the sand at the volleyball court instead.

There were no actual games, just learning basics and having fun, as parents participated by practicing throw-ins, passing, shooting, and dribbling with their kids.  I loved watching all the kiddos run around the "field" with their coaches at the beginning of practice and "stretching" (as they all touched their toes with ease wondering how this had anything to do with playing soccer).

At the end of each practice they'd play some sort of little game, like follow the leader - running after their coach copying as he'd run backwards, or jump, or skip; or playing one on one keep away with their parent.  On the last day they actually set up small three on three games, and I soon realized why we never played actual games against other teams.  I think it was a little traumatizing for some of the kids, but definitely entertaining for the adults.

Up to this point each kid had always had their own ball.  Now we were telling them, "there's six of you, and one ball (first problem).  Now you three try and get the ball in this goal, and you other three try and get the ball in that goal (It was too much to try and explain when throw ins would come into play).  In the end it was a cluster of six kids chasing after one ball, all trying to be the one to get the ball into which ever goal happened to be the closest (often using hands if necessary).

With six kids all going after the same ball, accidental trips and pushes were inevitable, often with the first kid bringing at least two or three others down with him, followed by tears, hugs and kisses from parents and a new vengeance to be the one to get the ball.  We try so hard to teach our children to share with others, so it made sense when one poor girl kept walking over to her dad crying every time she had the ball and someone wasn't nice and took it way from her.  Or when, instead of cheering when someone scored a goal, all the other's would be sad that it wasn't them and they wanted to be the one to have a turn.  

In the end everyone survived the short game and were still friends.  Gavin loved putting his hand in with all his soccer buddies at the end of each practice and cheering, "SOCCER!"

Gavin loved it, and we sure do love our little Soccer Star!