Vive la France

World Cup soccer 2019

We took a family trip that was "for Wilders's graduation" but really was enjoyed by all 4 of us.

We bought our tickets before they announce the team draw. This ended up being quite cool as the teams we saw were totally random. The other cool part of the trip was the logistics! We had our train tickets and hotels booked so all we had to do was find our way from train station to hotel to stadium... and of course food, beer, and glacé. Wilder was the ace with all things trains and metro. Lisa and I found our way thru the towns, and Luca was in charge of the ice cream. 

Luca enjoyed wearing these and cleaning the "lenses" whenever he noticed someone checking out his eyewear.

Our itinerary: Paris, Reims, Grenoble, Montpellier, Grenoble, Paris, Reims, Pierrefont, Paris, and home! This is the cathedral in Reims, not too shabby.

The games: USA v Chile, Norway v South Korea, Australia v Jamaica, Camaroon v New Zealand, Germany v Nigeria, and finally USA v Spain.

Here we are in Grenoble. Isoms in the mountains =happy isoms. 

Trying to blend in.

The most intense game: Camaroon wins in the 94th minute! We were in the 4th row. 

While in Montpelier, we learned that the Kemp/Holwicks were close by on their own world cup vacation so we made the ironclad plans to "meet at the beach". Turns out it is a big beach. Jen's daughter asked her "did you guys really expect that to work?" Hey, it did in high school!

Luca liked the street art.

We were in Montpellier for June 21st. This is the night of music in France. All over the country bands play, people wander and listen, and the sun shines. Nice tradition

Just as I expected our beach meeting to work I also knew that my friend Tim would be in Reims for the USA Spain game. We left it at "see you there" and of course as thousands of people walked into the stadium- there was Tim and his daughter- just as we planned!

Rapinoe lines up her penalty (she made it) Thanks Megan Rapinoe

Reims is a champagne town and I knew it would turn out well when Lisa said "I'm only going to have 1 bottle" I should have asked how big the bottle was.

No idea what they see in that hedge.

The next part of the trip was a great reminder of just rolling with it. We were to meet my mom in Paris and stay at a friends house. The keys were stolen! So we were without a place- Lisa found a bnb north of the city near a "little chateau". Turns out the chateau was used by Napoleon as a hunting lodge. We had a wonderful 2 days in Pierrefont, beating the heatwave of Paris.

After our share of gargoyles and citroens we went back to the city to fly home. My mom went south to continue her trip (and miss the Kemp/Holwicks by a day! honest)

So happy graduation Wilder- thanks for letting us tag along

Thank You Megan Rapinoe

Dear Megan Rapinoe,
Thanks for that. Thanks for the joy of World Cup soccer, the happiness that comes from watching you play. Thanks for your contagious smile.
Thanks for being strong and brave and for standing up for what is right.
Thank you for not only showing my daughter the inequality she faces but how hard she will have to work to overcome it. Thank you for showing her it can be done.
Thank you for giving me hope in my country, it has been lagging lately. You give me hope because I know Americans can be better. Better to each other, better members of our planet, better people.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for the hope.
Thanks

Here we go again!

Here we go again! Recently on a train ride I had some time to think (it happens). I thought about this upcoming August as on the first we will be leaving for Myanmar to teach for two years. Why are we doing this?! Every answer I came up with was balanced with a "yeah, but.." Adventure-yeah, but you haven't even seen all the cool parts of Colorado yet. New friends - yeah but.. Old friends.
It wasn't easy to decide, to leave a comfortable, happy, and secure life for the great unknown. In the end it was the adventures that lie in that great unknown that pulled us in. We are going to miss family and friends massively and hold these relationships in the highest.
So here we go again, be it by train, plane, or rickshaw you can count on us to adventure well and count on me to try and tell the tale.

Mountains today- tomorrow...?