Soccer Practice

Last night we started the first of several weeks of soccer lessons. The lessons were at the park right near our house. Nate was excited to go out and play. He's been playing soccer with Cuco for some time now, so it wasn't really new to him.


Nate was supposed to be working on his dribbling skills, but he kept wanting to kick with the inside of his right foot and the outside of his left foot. The coach had put little stars on the inside of the kids shoes to show them where they were supposed to kick the ball. Of course Nate was more interested in playing with the stars, and was distraught when they fell off.

More dribbling practice

Nate prefers to run up to the ball and just kick it.

Admire the coach, trying to corral the kids is like herding cats.

After about 15 minutes, The coach decided to have the kids play a real soccer match, but with no goalie. The kids were to just run and kick the ball into the net. Of course for the 8 kids it started with 2 balls and wound up being like 6 by the time the game was over. Nate was running with 2 other kids, but one was faster and Nate didn't like that. I reminded him that he had his super fast running shoes on and he said he needed faster shoes. After running up and down the field twice, I heard something I've never heard from Nate, he said he had no energy. He wanted to go sit down and rest. I was shocked, I'm still shocked.In this drill, Nate's supposed to stomp on the ball like a bug to stop it. Then stand like a penguin with toes out and pass the ball back to me. Of course for him penguin meant more waddling with the arms out and wasn't really applicable to soccer.

After the lesson was over, the coach huddled the kids together, got them to all place their hands in the center as he quietly shared some words of wisdom. Then they raised their hands and shouted Soccer!!!

Labor Day

We had a mellow labor day weekend. Not much going on. Fri afternoon, Nate and I went to a local water park to play in the sprinklers. Saturday Nate and I went to this pizza place that Jessica once described as Chuck E Cheese on crack. Sunday we had a BBQ at our place, with a bunch of friends and Monday I went golfing in the morning before returning to our place to hang out by the pool with the neighbors.

Nate enjoyed the water park, after a few minutes. At first he didn't want to get wet and just wanted to watch. But once he got into it, he loved running around. There were 2 other girls there that he enjoyed playing with, but the water kept shutting off, so he got bored after about 15 minutes or so.

That's Jeff and Missy's little girl Zoe.

Zach, Zoe and Nate hanging out in the spa.

Jeff & Missy, friends from Sac State came over for what amounts to our yearly get together. We enjoy hanging out with them, but it seems our calendars rarely every sync up. It was a last minute thing and we're glad we were able to see them and their kids Zach and Zoe. Also visiting on Sunday was Brad and Kim, back from their camp trip in Tahoe and our Neighbor Barbara and her 2 kids Jimmy and Emily. Unfortunately the adults were to busy playing and chatting while the kids swam so we didn't get any photos.

Lilo waiting for someone to throw her the ball.

Ready or not, I'm going diving.

The frogger ride at the pizza place.

What happens in Vegas... Get's posted on the web

Viva Las Vegas!!! What a great way to spend a birthday weekend. Maria and I arrived on Thursday afternoon, Mike an Lilia joined us on Friday afternoon. We all left Sunday around 3. In between, we gambled, we drank, we kicked it pool side and we saw some shows. The picture above was taken shortly after the Cottle's arrived, we were hanging out at a bar in Mandalay Bay called EyeCandy.


After we grabbed drinks, we went to freshen up a bit and then headed out to Texas De Brazil. This is a Brazilian steakhouse, that I first went to out in Texas. It's a meat lover's paradise. They bring all different kinds of meat to your table and you can have as much as you want. A sample of what we had included,Sirloin, Flank steak, Filet, bacon wrapped filet, sausages, bacon wrapped chicken breast, pork chops etc. They also have a really good salad bar. It was an amazing amount of food and leaves you not craving beef for at least 24 hours.



Of course, we also spent quite a lot of time hanging out at the pool. Mandalay Bay has a big wave pool, and we spent a good portion of everyday there. The heat was brutal, I think we were there during the hottest part of August. Luckily the drinks flowed regularly, and we were able to walk out and refresh ourselves in the pool.

Of course Vegas is known as Sin City, but this was a new twist I had never seen before. Maria and I first saw an example at Excalibur, but these shots are from the Luxor. In the pit area behind the black jack tables, they had a small stage and some scantily clad women hanging out dancing. Great to watch, but very distracting if you're trying to play blackjack. Of course, as married guy's Mike and I would get in trouble if we looked to long, or happened to say something to the wives about it.

This is our waitress, or one of them anyway from the pool. She took great care of us. Mike ordered her to go for me, but I guess he didn't pay the bill, because she didn't come back with us.

We all know Maria can drink, they brought her a blended margarita instead of on the rocks, so they said she could have the blended and the one they later brought on the rocks. That way she could have one drink for both hands.


These photos were taken at the seafood restaurant in the MGM, just before we were heading out to see Chris Angel's Believe. The food was really good, and it was nice to eat a lighter meal after the heavy steakhouse the night before. The show was pretty good, nothing spectacular. I really liked the costumes and dancers. The show was choreographed by one of the folks from So You Think You Can Dance, one of the shows we watch all the time. Earlier in the day, we saw the Bodies exhibit. This is the one where all the skin is peeled away and you get to see the human anatomy. It was really spectacular. There were sections on the bones, circulatory system, neuro system etc. Interesting showing the different diseases that you get as well. I was lukewarm on going, but now that I've seen it, I'd recommend it.

Captain Morgan shots

A few more random pool shots.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Get a Room!!!

I know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, so that's all you're going to get to see. Know that we had a good time, I'm sure the girls will pick what they want to do for my birthday next year as well. As long as it's something like Vegas, I'm sure I'll have a good time. All in all, we came away ahead from the tables, about $300, but we lost heavily at the bar and restaurants. Only thing missing was our buddy Brad. Hopefully we can make it back in late October or early Nov.

Golf & Football

After the fair, I had a pretty busy week. The fair was on Sat 8/22. It started on the way to the fair, when I got a call from Brad, saying his cousin's fantasy football league had a last minute opening and asking if I wanted to get in on the action. While I got the call at 10am, the draft was for 3pm that day. I wasn't sure how I'd be able to draft since we were supposed to be at the fair. Luckily we got home by 3:15 and the draft hadn't started. I also had Shawn's league's draft that night at 7. So between the fair and two fantasy football drafts, made for a busy day.

Sunday, the HPGL team I play on had our practice round at Woodcreek. We played 18 holes in the morning. We were prepping because our team had made the finals and were set to play on Wed, but the team wanted to get in a practice round before we closed the season. I knew it was going to be a busy week, my boss and her boss were going to be in town all week for a face to face meeting, and I was leaving on Thurs for my birthday celebration in Vegas.

View from the 18th tee box at Granite Bay.

Monday, I played in the Mikuni golf tournament that was held out at Granite Bay Country club. It's the second time I've ever played there, the first was last year at the same tournament. I've played in the tournament now for about 6 years and have always had a great time. This year however, the format was significantly different. It was much less of a party atmosphere and much more focused on the golf. In years past it was a four man best ball format. This year it was a 2 man team net scramble. So the best net in your 2 man group vs the net of the other 2 man group you were paired with. Much more competitive and the price were awarded based on your performance. In years past, they had auctions and raffles and other ways to win prizes. We didn't win, but we still managed to have a good time. Maria was able to join us for dinner at Mikuni after the golf tournament.

Talk about a tough lie. My ball was plugged, nearly didn't find it, and it was right in the fairway.

Tuesday night I had the fantasy football draft for my league. So if you're keeping track, yes I'm in 3 leagues this year. Wed, we played in the HPGL finals. Unfortunately we came in 2nd of the 4 teams that made it. We made a good run at it, but fell just a few points short. I know I didn't help much as my game was really erratic. I was struggling all day. Came home, cleaned up and headed out to dinner with Mark and Mary Beth over at Mcormick and Schmitts. Good food.

Thursday, got up attended a few meetings and then packed and left for my noon flight to Vegas. More on that later.

State Fair

Ahh, the state fair. Funny how it always seems nicer, the longer it's been since you last went. Maria and I went a few years ago and the highlight was taking Nate to the petting zoo. This year was a little different, the highlight for him was all the rides. He couldn't get enough, Maria and I had enough within the first 2 hours. As usual, it was hot hot hot.



These two shots were right after lunch, as we're heading back to the final set of rides for the day. Nate saw this guy juggling and wanted to stop and watch. To finish his act, he was making balloon animals and Nate was so excited to get one. He got a shark. I really like the expression he has in the second photo, he really seems happy.


Nate really liked the slides at the fair. These are 2 of the 3 he rode. We had some difficulty with his height. He's ~40 inches tall, and many of the rides he wanted to go on, you needed to be 42 inches. Funny, the rides were similar to the ones we went on at six flags, but there you only had to be 36 inches. Luckily, most of the ride operators let him go on anyway. Of course, you still had the fair experience of overpriced rides. I think the all day ride pass was like $30, or $3-4 per ride.



Nene, Dani, Claudia and G-pa joined us at the fair. Or we joined them, not sure which. We saw and Nate rode on several of the Michael Jackson Neverland Ranch rides. They were the cleanest nicest rides at the fair.

Claudia had a good time, but she got grumpy after awhile. I think the heat got to her. Also, being shorter, there were even fewer rides she could go on.

Nate showing off, riding the Jet Ski while flashing off the Hang Loose or Shaka symbol.


We're going to have to get Nate up to see my uncle Ronnie. Seems he's already got a feeling for hanging out with the animals and climbing the fence to see what's going on. Only thing missing was a piece of straw from his mouth and a big old ten gallon hat.


G-pa was showing Nate all the farm animals. Nate was curious, but a bit afraid to touch or pet any of them.

All in all it was a good day. Hot, expensive and all focused on the kids. I don't think we'll go next year, it'll be awhile before we gather the courage to go again. I think Nate had a great time, but it seemed to be much better making the trek to Vallejo for six flags. The lines were shorter for the rides and the whole thing was cheaper and better organized. Besides, there was nothing to eat at the fair, if you wanted something healthy. Healthiest thing they had was water, after that deep fried something or other.