Lyon - Day 1

On July 3rd we started our epic European adventure!!

We kicked off the trip with a flight through Iceland - we NEED to go back!! - and then to Paris. From Paris we took a beautiful train ride and arrived in Lyon.

The first day was VERY HOT and the kid were jet lagged. So, we took the vernacular up to the beautiful Notre Dame church, saw the Roman Colosseum, walked around old Notre Dame and then went for the first of a number of times to the World Cup village where the kids played in all the games with children from all over the world. SO COOL.

Maggie is Eight!!!!

Maggie turned eight. EIGHT. I can't believe she is going into third grade. Crazy. We had a fun and low key birthday for her. This was her first birthday where she had soccer, so she got to bring donuts for her whole team....and Frances's...considering she is an honorary member at this point :)  For her bday, she wanted a small group for a pool party and then her first sleepover. She picked two girls who are just the sweetest and it was so much fun to see them giggle and laugh the whole night.

Frances is 11!!

Frances was in Norco for her birthday and since her team didn't have a game, I asked the coach if I could take her back to the hotel for a day with me. We had a mama and daughter day to ring in her 11th day! We woke up, watched a soccer game and swam and then went to Huntington Beach. We rented Frances a longboard and me a bike and we went along the trail that runs parallel to the ocean. Then we got the BEST tacos, drove home, swam some more, and capped the night off watching Hoosiers. A pretty awesome day for her...and me too :)

Pool Day Shenanigans

One of the best parts of the Norco trip is that we - my parents and the Campanella's - stayed in the Mission Inn hotel. SO COOL!!!! It is an old hotel with so much history. It was so hot one day that we decided to just hang and talk at the pool............for seven hours. We told stories, made up a musical in the water, etc etc.  My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard and my mom said what I felt -- that was one of the best days with family ever. The picture of my mom laughing pretty much summs up our whole afternoon.

Regionals

Frances's team went to Regionals in Norco, CA. The only bummer about it was that she had to miss her fifth grade graduation. That said, it was such an honor to represent Oregon and the competition was so good and so fun to watch. She rose to the occasion and even had her first header goal (headers are allowed in California and not in Oregon). They didn't get as far as they wanted, but they only lost one game and got nudged out in a point battle. I am so proud of her. She was extra lucky in that she got a very large cheering squad of my parents and her San Diego Campanella cousins.