Denver Trip 2011 Punt, Pass, Kick

Tyson was lucky enough to get to compete in the Denver Punt, Pass and Kick competition. We flew out on Friday, December 9th and came home Sunday the 11th. It was a quick trip. Kaden hates to fly, so when you see the expression on his face before we took off, you can tell. It didn't help that after they locked the doors to take off, the captain came on the loudspeaker and informed us that they were going to have a crew change. I guess the pilot did not have the proper clearance to land in the Denver airport. We waited for over a half an hour for the new pilot. Then, our wings had iced up, so they had to bring over a machine to de-ice the plane. We were over an hour late in taking off. When we got to Denver, we went to the car rental place. The boys were horrified when they saw the car Greg had rented. It was pretty ugly, but it was definitely spacious inside. We didn't end up at our hotel until after 11 p.m. The good news was that I think they were short of rooms, so they had upgraded ours. We had a suite with two full bedrooms with king-size beds, two full bathrooms, a living area, and a kitchen. We had three huge TV's. The hotel had a hot breakfast included. It was pretty awesome. Saturday we got to kick around in Denver. We started out by going to see the state capitol. The building was closed since it was Saturday, but we saw a group of people attending a voting rally and Tyson liked the cannons. As we were looking around, we saw these men installing a sign on the roof of a building. I was scared to death one of them was going to fall off. I included a picture. I know it is an odd thing to take a picture of, but the boys and I thought it looked scary. We walked around for a bit, and then headed over to Union Station. I loved the big seats in the station and made the guys pose for a picture. We also had to go and see the baseball stadium, after all, we do have the last name Madson. We walked through an amazing book store and spent some time there. We found a community Christmas bazaar. Most of the shops had owners from Germany and Hungary. It was a fun atmosphere. I loved watching the man that was making glass-blown ornaments. There was live music for entertainment with an accordion player. Greg was insistent that we go to Casa Bonita for lunch/dinner. I really don't think they have very good food, but all of the entertainment is fun. They had a guy juggling torches, a gun fight, divers, a pinata, caves for the boys to go through, and I had Greg and the boys sketched for me a picture as a Christmas gift for myself. We ended up back at the hotel for an early night. Tyson competed in the Punt, Pass, and Kick on Sunday morning. It was pretty cold early on a December morning in Denver. Greg went down on the field and warmed Tyson up. When it got time for the competition, they only let the contestants on the field. As they lined up, Tyson took off his coat and gloves. Then he stood in line while the 6-7 girls and then boys competed, then the 8-9 girls and then boys, and then the 10-11 girls before it was finally his turn. I am sure his hands were numb and his body was all tensed up with the cold. He kicked and punted quite well, but, even though his throw was long for most, it was not near as far as he generally throws. One of the pictures of Tyson is with Rheagen Hartfiel, a fourth grade girl from Tremonton that also got to go to Denver to compete. She took third in her age group. After all the kids competed, they take them through what they are going to do during half time. Then they had us all go over to give out awards. Greg and I both knew Tyson had won. But, I guess he didn't know how well he had done. As we were waiting, he told me he hoped he had taken at least third. As they announced third and then second place winners, his shoulders started slumping down. It was pretty funny to see the huge grin on his face when he realized he had taken first place. Greg and Tyson went to the Broncos game that afternoon while Kaden and I went to a big mall and watched a movie. We picked them up afterward and headed for the airport. We arrived home a little after midnight, and were back up for school early the next morning. It was fun, but exhausting!