Day 2: Garden of The Gods and Pike's Peak!

Day two of vacation was another fun and nerve-wracking day of watching Jayke spider monkey up every rock he could get near and a long nervous drive up...and back down Pike's Peak.  

First stop was Garden of the Gods.  Jayke was more than eager to climb any and all rocks possible.  He clearly doesn't share my fear of heights.  I spent most of the time yelling at him to "get down!" and "stay away from the edge!"  I finally had to give up before everyone around us thought I was a crazy woman.  I decided moving along out of the area on to the next thing was the best idea and probably the only way I was going to keep him off these rocks...and save my sanity.

The picture below looks way worse than it actually was.  It was an easy climb up the back side of this rock formation.  I was able to get below for the shot that makes it look like he is a rock-climbing extraordinaire.  I really didn't allow him to climb anything difficult at all...much to his dismay.  He was quite aggravated with my lack of willingness to turn him loose.  I kept promising there would be more rocks to climb around the next turn...we just didn't stop at them.

The tallest point in the background is Pike's Peak, our next stop.  We called to try to get a reservation on the cog train but it was sold out for the day.  Not very good planning on our part but I will take the blame for that since it was I who decided we shouldn't drive up.  Jeff was confident he could do it and I figured I could always get in the back seat and curl up on the floor board if necessary.  Jayke was nervous about it too and I wasn't very good at reassuring him since I, myself, was terrified!

We got a little lost trying to find the road up and stopped off in some park where Jayke had to attempt to take off on some trail.  Once again, I had to reign him in which disgusted him.  I don't think falling or running across a rattle snake even crossed his mind.  I kept telling him that is why I'M THE MOM!

We finally found the road to the peak and started up.  It wasn't bad at all for a long time but then...

I managed to ride up and back down without getting in the back seat and even took picture and recorded a video.  I noticed while watching the video, that you could hear me moaning and cussing most of the way.  You could also hear Jeff laughing at me in the background.  As you can see from the pictures, no guard rails and nothing but sky over that edge!

It was pretty chilly at the top, 37 degrees with the wind chill.  I don't think it was all Jayke thought it would be.  He was over it pretty quickly and retreated to the warmth of the car, after hitting the gift shop, of course.  Jeff and I walked around to see the view from different directions.  The weather wasn't that great to be able to see very far.  I'm not sure if we saw 5 different states or not but we were trying!

Here's the train I WANTED to ride up.  In the end, I'm glad we drove.  It ended up not being nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be.   Jayke slept the whole way down...some mountain explorer he is!

When we got back to Dona's house there was more excitement!  A BEAR was on the side of their house trying to get their bee hives!  WE were able to see the baby bear briefly before he was scared off by all the crazy people with rocks and flashlights.  Jayke says this was the highlight of his trip.  I imagine we were all quite a site as we were told of the bear and all went racing through the house throwing small children out of our way!  Even more entertaining when while we were watching for the bear, several of the bees got in the house and even stung one of their protectors.  Kelly's Jeff soon changed from "team bee" to "team bear" after one of the little buggers stung his face!

Bear watching

Wonder what we would have done had mama bear come charging down that hill???

Day 1: Golden, Coors Light Brewery Tour, and Lookout Mountain

Our first day in Colorado we began with breakfast in Golden at a little cafe.  I made Jeff drive down the main road so I could take this photo because it reminded me so much of something I would see in the movies.  We made our first stop the Coors Light Brewery where we took the tour to see how our favorite beer is made.  Really, we took the tour to get free beer but some of the information was interesting too.  For instance, Indiana was the LAST state that Coors was sold in.  I think the people of Indiana have been trying to make up for lost time since everyone drinks Coors here!

After the tour we drove up in the mountains where I took the picture below of the Coors Brewery.

Our after-taste-testing selfie!

After the tour we drove up Lookout Mountain...

where we took another selfie, of course!

....and a lot of pictures of the mountains...

We would have walked more on the trails but I was wearing flip flops, of course.  Mountain trails were not in my plan for the day so I was unprepared.  Probably a good thing considering my horrible fear of heights.  This was a small test to make sure Jeff would be able to drive up Pike's Peak the next day...and to make sure I wouldn't be on the floor board or walking back down!!

We stopped and saw Buffalo Bill's grave site while we were up on the mountain.  

We Out!

Breakfast at one airport before we head to another!  Heading to Colorado today with Jeff for Mitch's wedding!  It has been a LONG time since I've had a vacation...more than 7 years unless you count that weekend trip to Gatlinburg a couple of years ago.  I don't count that as a vacation, no time was taken off work.  In my book, that qualifies a vacation!

The Tooth Fairy Sucks!

A couple of weeks ago Jayke finally pulled his tooth that had been barely hanging there for days.  He was at Bob's and didn't get home until late so we just put the baggie that had the tooth in it on the counter.  I was hoping he wouldn't put it under his pillow because I didn't have any cash. I figured since he went to bed he wouldn't remember it and I could get some ones the next day.

Weeks have gone by and that tooth has just sat there so tonight I said, "Hey Jayke, why don't you put your tooth under your pillow tonight so you can get some money for Colorado?"  He said okay and went to get it.  I later asked him if he put it under the pillow in the baggie.  (I need to know ahead of time what I'm looking for so as not to wake him...I don't know if he fully believes still or not and I'm trying to keep it going as long as possible. The kid has only lost 7 teeth.)  He replied, "No, I took it out of the baggie because when I put it under there the other day... in the baggie... she never came!"

blink. blink.

"You put your tooth under your pillow before now???"

"Yea, I put it under there and nothing happened so I put it back on the counter."

This Tooth Fairy sucks!  He never told me he put it under his pillow and I check every day to see that it's still on the counter.  When did he do this?  WHY didn't he tell me he was putting it under his pillow?  The Fairy needs some warning!  I felt so bad I put a couple extra dollars under there tonight when I retrieved it.  Now, as I write this, I'm wondering two things...one...did he figure it out that it's me... since he didn't tell me and the Fairy didn't come?  Two...has he figured out a way to guilt his mother (aka The Tooth Fairy) into giving him more money?  He may just be a genius...

Our soccer club arranged for some of our kids to participate in the pre-game activities at the Indy Eleven game.  Indy Eleven is in their second season as a professional soccer team in Indianapolis.  They play at the IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium.  You can see where a couple of the players from the Indy Eleven came to our fields here.  

Well over 50 kids signed up to participate in one of 3 "elements" of the pre-game.  There was the tunnel crew, flag bearers, and player escorts.  Each kid was given an Indy Eleven t-shirt to wear during the event.   DCFC got 34 spots and Jayke and Emily were both chosen to be flag bearers.  Jayke was a little bummed that he didn't get to carry the American flag but was still excited to be able to participate.  We were playing a team from Canada so they got to carry the Canadian flag.  Emily got to carry the Indy Eleven flag.

Here are the four flag bearers carrying the flag onto the field.

Brynna, Matthew, Jayke, and Jonathan holding the flag below.  All are members of Jayke's team and Brynna plays on the other U11 team and has played on teams with Jayke in the past.

Emily, bottom left corner, holding the Indy Eleven flag.

Before they carried the flags onto the field all of our kids who were there from DCFC got to play in a mini game.  Below are some pictures of Jayke in action!

Indy scored the first goal!  The picture below shows the rowdy section that we were all wishing we were in.  They were having way more fun over there...gotta love soccer fans, they're nuts!

It was a little calmer where we sat.

The game ended in a tie.  We had a bunch of tired cold kids on the way home, but they had a lot of fun.  I want to go back soon!

Cheapest in Town...Also the Slowest!

Jayke volunteered to wash my car last night.  He must have been tired of riding around in the dirt-mobile, I haven't washed the car in almost a year.   He got out all of the stuff went to it.  I tried to stay out there with him but the mosquitos and an oncoming bought of food poisoning sent me back in side pretty quickly.  As I was laying on the bed, about 15 minutes after I came back inside, he appears in the doorway telling me he doesn't want to do it anymore.  Half of the car has been washed at this point, the front and drivers side.  I told him he couldn't just wash half the car!  And...I couldn't get up and go back out there at this point.  I have no idea what I ate that made me so sick, but it was awful!  

I've never had food poisoning and I'm hoping this was a once in a life time experience.  I was pretty sure death would be preferable to what I was feeling.  I almost called my mom in the middle of the night to come take me to the ER.  Luckily for her, I couldn't move to be able to get the phone.  Fortunately, Jayke didn't get sick since he ate the exact same thing I did.

I managed to get up and go out to check on him at one point and found that he had enlisted help.  Nolan, from down the road was down doing the lower sections and Jayke was obviously taking on the role of foreman.  He was bossing Nolan around telling him where to wash and how to wash.  I decided he had it under control and begged him to please pick everything up when he was finished.  As I lay in bed preparing to meet my maker, I wondered if the car would be clean before dark...I also though I might never find out.

Opening Weekend

We began league play this weekend. Jeff and I took The Boy to a new restaurant to get him fueled up before hand.   So far so good.  We won our first game on Saturday 5-0.  Jaykeb got to start and had more playing time than he has in the previous "friendly" match and pre-season tournament.  

Our second game on Sunday was even better!  Jayke scored a goal and had an excellent assist to Chase in our 6-3 win.  The team looked better than ever!  

It was a fun time on the side line too.  Jayke had 4 grandparents, 2 parents, one step parent and Jeff and Emily there watching him.  His dad and his dad's wife made it to the game.  I think it is the 3rd game he has ever seen him play...in 7 years.  Jayke had quite the cheering section so I'm glad he was able to score with everyone there watching.

Escort Service

Jayke's team was selected to help the Ball State women's team today by escorting them during introductions.  He was really looking forward to this until we got to the field and I explained what he was going to have to do.  When I told him he would have to hold hands with the college girls he had a look of sheer horror on his face.  He didn't back out like I expected though.  As you can see from the picture above he wasn't exactly comfortable out there!  

It's been a while.  I had to make this blog private for a period of time...lots of factors went into that decision.  I didn't know if I would return to it but over the past few weeks I was inspired by Facebook, of all things, to get back to blogging.  Mainly so that I have a printable record of Jayke's life that I can share with him now and when he is older.  Something he can share with his children some day.  

It is a difficult task to catch up two years worth of blog posts.  Obviously I can't document everything.  There were some points where I didn't use any social media of any kind so I didn't have anything to remind me of what was going on during that time.  I've tried to go through all of my pictures and Facebook posts starting on December 21, 2013 until today to post as much as I could of what we have been up to over the past 24 months.  There are gaps.  Some posts are just a picture dump but others that were more memorable to me have a little explanation.  After much urging from my mom, I'm opening it back up to anyone who is still interested in what my witty child has been up to. (Basically,  his grandmother and aunts, but that's okay.  I write this for him and no one else)

I will try to do better at documenting his funny words, creative works of art, achievements in sports,  his growth in size and maturity and everything else in his world.  He is special and that needs to be shared and remembered!

Challenge Accepted!

Challenge accepted and issued.  Love the girly scream at the end...and Jack almost falling off the pier.

Licensed in Six States!

Jayke spent the evening at Bob's tonight while Jeff and I went out to eat.  Halfway through dinner I got a text from Bob that just said "The corn on the cob is going to do it".  I had to stop and think for a minute but then remembered Jayke has a loose tooth that he has been trying NOT to lose most of the summer.  He was afraid of how funny he would look with only the two in the middle since the one he lost last May STILL hasn't made an appearance.  

Shortly after the text, I got the picture above sent to me.  Bob was quite proud of himself.  He informed me he is a licensed dentist in six states!  Jayke says, "Just don't ask him which states!"  

when I showed up to pick him up there were some tall tales told that involved pliers and three people needing to hold him down.  When I finally got the truth out of the tale teller I learned that Jayke actually pulled this tooth.  He has never pulled one.  He chooses to just wait until they fall out of his head all on their own.  Bob taught him the easy way to do it and since I wasn't there, Jayke felt the pressure, hanging out with the "fellas", to not wimp out and get that thing pulled.  Bob did tell me there was a brief moment when he thought he might lose it and there was a bit of chin quivering but in the end The Boy got it done!

The new tooth is already poking through, thank goodness.  I'm hoping to not have to live with this look for long.  The tooth on the other side is a different story.  I have called the dentist to see if they saw a tooth up there last time he was there.  They did.  Whether it is going to come down is another story. I learned while speaking to the dentist that if it doesn't come down they will have to pull it down using braces.  They would go in and cut a hole in the roof of his mouth to find the tooth, put a bracket on it, then put braces on the rest of his teeth to be able to pull that tooth out using the braces.  This...does not sound pleasant.  I am PRAYING this does not have to happen.  Jayke can't even pull his own teeth!  If I tell him they are going to cut a hole in the roof of his mouth all hell is going to break loose!  For now, we wait.

Pike Fest Tournament

This is what a victory looks like....big smile!  We were in Indy for our first tournament of the season today.  The new team's first attempt at bringing home some hardware for the club.  Day one started with a down pour.  The kids were soaked before the game even started.  Luckily the rain let up shortly after the game began and the kids were able to get a tie.  We ended up winning game two, coming from behind.  Not a bad start to the tournament. 

In between games we had some time to kill so Jayke, Jeff, and I ran to Target to get a gift for the birthday party Jayke was invited to after the game and to TGI Friday's for lunch.  this wagon was outside the restaurant and I never pass up a photo op.  The Boy was willing to climb up which surprised me since he isn't very cooperative with my photo taking these days.

Since we got so wet during the game I had to try to dry the jersey.  This may be the world's most expensive dryer at $3.35 a gallon!  Luckily we had a spare jersey so I didn't run the "dryer" very long once I saw that this much heavier jersey wasn't going to dry in time.  

After the games we went to Cracker Barrel to celebrate Carley's birthday.  I think all but two of the players came.  The picture was taken after a couple had left but we got most of them.  Even the coaches came.  They had to get a table for 36 which the Cracker Barrel staff was none too thrilled about.  It was a really long day but fun.  Now we get to get up and do it again tomorrow!  Hopefully with the same outcome as today ended with!

Day two of the tournament didn't go as well for our team.  We lost 4-1 to a team we beat and tied last season in our two meetings.  I think everyone was shocked.  It was a really quiet sideline.  I guess the team may have more work to do than what we thought.  I'm betting practice won't be much fun on Tuesday.

Diet Coke has Gotten Bossy

Can't find my name but I found this one :)

A New Season, A New Team...

This year is the first year that Jayke and all the kids who he has played soccer with for the past several years had to try out for the soccer team.  I have been talking to The Boy about this for a long time trying to express how important it is for him to do his best so that he will be chosen to be on this team.  Try outs were at the end of last season but we didn't find out for several weeks if they made the team or not.  

Originally we were told that kids who didn't make the team would be cut.  This was worrisome to me because I wasn't sure if that would mean that he just wouldn't get to play anymore if he didn't make this team or if there would be another option.  I was finally told at tryouts that they had enough kids to make two teams and they would be divided between an "A" and a "B" team.  Now all he had to do was be chosen for the "A" team.

Finally, an email came welcoming Jayke to his team.  It didn't say anything about who was on his team or which team he made.  I text Tony, a friend who happens to also be the Director of Travel, and was given a list of who was on Jayke's team.  I quickly read the list and was elated to realize that he was on the "A" team!  What a relief!  All those years of playing soccer were in preparation for THIS!  

I've learned since starting practice that the club has high expectations for this team.  They have chosen the top players to form a team that they feel has a good chance to win divisions and continue to do so in the years to come.  This is the only team they currently have that they feel will be able to go forward together with this opportunity to succeed.  They have entered them in an additional out-of-state tournament that ONLY this team from our club will be playing in.  I just hope they haven't put too many expectations on them.  We haven't ever played with this combination of players on the field together.  Basically, it is an all-star team, there are a lot of kids on this team who are used to being the star and they will all have to learn to play together, giving up some of that to be a winning team.   They are all good kids and have been playing together, whether in practice or on a team, for years.  I hope they can come together to meet the expectations the club has for them.  Our first test was today, when they scheduled a friendly with an Indianapolis team.  We won, and we looked pretty good for as much rust as the kids have after having the summer off. 

                                            

Jayke is not a starter but I think if he continues to play as well as he did today he may be able to start some games.  He needs to keep being aggressive and develop more power and speed.  His accuracy in his passing and being able to keep his head up and see the field are his strong points so I think he will continue to grow and hopefully earn a starting spot for some games.  If not, he will still be an important part of the team and help them to succeed.

Cheap Entertainment

What we do when we are bored...walk around Meijer.  The kids find their own way to entertain themselves.

No Words

For what I witnessed in the drive way tonight.  Boy was gettin it!   Not sure what he was gettin but it was SOMETHING!