On Saturday we headed off to Dick's Sporting Goods ground, in Commerce City, to see the Colorado Rapids play DC Chivas, USA. It was supposed to be a sellout crowd (though we saw heaps of empty seats), and everyone was pretty excited to be going to see a professional soccer match. We had planned to get the "7-11" tickets, which were a promotion through 7-11, funny enough, and cheap seating. However, there was a tournament on at the many soccer fields surrounding this stadium, full of aspiring soccer stars, so many of them stayed on and watched the game in the evening. Anyway, the only tickets available were in the suites, or a box as we would call them.
Quinn thought the box was great, and made himself quite at home on the couches. Ryan told me that it was much better to watch sports in the suites, as you got a room to yourself (obviously before anyone else arrived, as we didn't have it to ourselves - although there were only 12 people there). So we had great seats, right on the half way line. The ground was amazing, and you can see 'Colorado' spelled out on the seats in the picture above, obviously before anyone sits on them! The boys all got Rapids shirts, and we were good to go. It was quite a fanfare to begin with, even to rival that of the Baseball, and other big sporting fixtures we have seen. They had people carry out the Colorado flag, and a Dick's Sporting Goods sign (the sponsor of the stadium). Then the teams entered the field to fireworks, and lined up alongside the referees and lines people, for the Star Spangled Banner. It was sung by a guest singer, with representatives of the Armed Forces standing behind them with flags. Of course, everyone was on their feet, hands on heart for the National Anthem.
Then the game began. Colorado Rapids were looking to extend their unbeaten streak to 6 games - so like a lot of the Colorado teams who are winning at the moment, they are getting quite a following! They scored a goal in the first 10 minutes, and continued to dominate the game. It was a really good game, and they have such good skills, it was great to watch. Everything was pretty much the same until Ryan and I decided to go to the bathroom, and of course that is when they scored their second goal! We also had a visit from the Colorado Rapids mascot - though we are still debating what it actually is. We think an eagle, but then are wondering if this is just because it reminds us of Manly colours?
Anyway, he visited our box, and the boys were more than happy to have their photos taken with him. It looks like his party trick was to pretend that he was eating someones head, as he seemed to do this in most of the photos! So the Rapids ended up winning 2-0. We were getting organised to leave (although not too quickly, as we had been warned of major traffic jams leaving the games) and one of the guys in our box asked us where in Australia we were from. It turned out that he had studied for six months at Newcastle University, and had friends in Port Macquarie. It is a small world!
On Wednesday, the boys had their Field Day at school, which is probably on a par with their athletics carnivals in Australia, but it was all fun games. They had a beautiful sunny day, and from 9.30am-12pm all of 1st and 2nd grade competed in events such as the sack race, tug-of-war, three legged race, walking balancing a sand bag on their head, and a few other fun games. The boys had a great time, and it only further brought out Luke's competitive streak! I didn't realise until they did the tug of war, with boys against girls, that there are about 9 girls, and over twice that number of girls in his class.
They moved around the activities in class groups, and were told to each wear either blue, green, yellow and red, which were the class groups that they competed in. Luke's class was really good, and everyone was in the colours, and it looked really good. Ryan's class was not so colour co-ordinated, but still had a great day. There is a photo above of Luke in the sack race - he is in green, and his good friend and major competitor, Brighton is in yellow. Ryan is in blue, and you can see him in the photo to the left in the blue t-shirt.
The boys also had their science fair on Thursday afternoon, this week. It was a voluntary exercise, which the children from school could participate in if they wanted to. They had to choose something to study, and then had to undertake an experiment to try and answer their question, using the 'scientific method'. We had about 6 weeks to prepare for the fair, so of course it got to the weekend before, and we decided that we really should get organised! The boys decided to find what conditions would produce the biggest and brightest crystals, so we embarked on a crystal growing assignment at room temperature, in the fridge, and in an ice bath. It was interesting, the boys (and I) learnt a lot, and they got second place! They did it together, and you can see in the photo above they are pretty proud of themselves. They are standing in front of their presentation where they explained their experiment and results, and also the jars containing the crystals which they grew. It was lots of fun, and there were some really interesting experiments which some children undertook including what solution produced the longest lasting bubbles (glycerin), and the effects of soda on plants (they die), and which drinks contained the most sugar. The boys won a $15 voucher for Smartcow, a yoghurt bar which they love! We went there after the judging of the science fair and celebrated.
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