Our First Day In Paris - EuroTrip 2k19

Our first day in Paris!  The girls did great flying over.  London slept pretty well on the flight, Lex slept a little, and Zoe didn't fall asleep at all until we landed!  We then went to get our rental car, which was an experience!  They definitely move on their own time here, as it took forever.

Our first day was about getting used to being in a different country and new surroundings while overcoming jet lag.  By late afternoon, we made it down to Paris, and our first stop was the Louvre.  We couldn't get in, but we were able to explore around the area and take it all in.

We walked through the gardens, saw views of the Eiffel Tower, and we took a small taxi to the Tower where we finished the day with a small picnic and watched them light up the Tower.  It was a great first day in Paris!

London-Mila Cheer Camp

So, one of London-Mila's best friends at school is in gymnastics, or tumbling or cheer or something that teaches them how to do cartwheels and round-offs.  She, and other friends have been teaching London how to do them at recess to the point where her round-offs and cartwheel are pretty good!  She is also able to do the splits.

So Lon-Lon asked is is she could do a cheer camp this summer.  Below is the video of her classes performance after a week of cheer camp!

Lex's Baseball Season 2k19

Another baseball season came to an end tonight with a 16-17 loss in the semi-finals.   Ironically, we lost to the Bad News Bears seeing as we started the season looking like the Bad News Bears.  We got run-ruled out first game, and it was UGLY.  But we learned, got better, and finished the season 7-3.

Baseball has been a lot funnier than I thought it would be.  We'll see how long we stick with it, but we are making the memories!

Heart of a Champion

Heart of a champion.

Summer Time!!!

Just some random summertime fun pics from the phone.  6 Flags, baseball games, and NBA Finals action.

\

Be More Than Just an Athlete

Lex, the best compliment that I have ever gotten about you was when a basketball coach talked about how good you were, not just as a player, but as a person.

People tell you all of the time how good you are.  And I hope you appreciate that and I hope that it brings you joy because we KNOW how much passion you have for sports and how much time, energy, sweat, and tears you put into it.  You deserve to be recognized for your talents and you should forever be thankful for the gifts that God has blessed you with and you should be proud of the fruits of the hard work you put in.

But this coach pulled me aside and talked about how good your character is and how good of a person you are.  He said that a lot of times when you have a player who is obviously better than anyone else in the gym, that athlete's character is not the best in the gym.  They can show boredom and they don't always listen and pay attention to the coach and especially the details because they think they are better than that.  They can be rude and impatient with others who struggle to learn.  They can be kids who just aren't fun to coach.  But he said that you are none of that.  You are engaged and locked into every word and every drill.  He said that you kept eye contact the entire time that he was teaching.  He said that you compete as hard as anyone to win, but you are humble and gracious in doing so.  You were patient during instruction and patient, kind and helpful to those who were struggling.  You are who you are because you are tough, you are determined, you are humble.  You are passionate about what you do and you are driven to be great at what you do.  You are who you are because you have great character and you work hard.

As much as you love sports, you should always strive to be more than just an athlete.  You should strive to be the best PERSON that you can be.  Selfishly, the better the person, the better the athlete.  Character drives your work ethic and integrity which drives how good you will be.  Unselfishly, we should always look for ways to make the world around us better.  We are not in this race of life alone - we share our journey.  Always try to be the best person that you can be, and you will find joy, peace, happiness, and prosperity.  It won't be without adversity.  

There will be a lot of tough times in sports and in life.  But if you don't things the right way, you will always bounce back, you will learn from your lessons, and you will come back better than before.

Venice - The Dog

The day after we came back from Venice, Alyssa had the itch to get a dog.  One of the surprises of Venice was how many people we saw out walking their dogs.  The girls have been asking for years for a dog, so I finally caved.  We went to McKinney Trade Days and brought home our new puppy Goldendoodle, and we named her Venice.