Vida. Risa. Amor.

Josie and I just came back from her soccer team's President cup tournament in Medford, Oregon....and there just seems to be 1000 things to have to get back to before blogging.  I think I'm caught up now, so here I am.  The question I'm having a hard time answering is Did I have fun?  I don't know yet honestly...I had many fun moments, but the past week is still kind of sinking in.  Fun seems to have a price-tag attached to it lately, so I'm not 100% sure if it was money well spent for everyone on this trip.  It sounded like it would be fun back in April when we all made our reservations, and the team was emotionally high off of winning every game in all of their tournaments.  We all had to book flights one day earlier than when the games might start, (the league didn't post the game schedules until 2 weeks before the tournament), and most of us also had to stay one day later in case they made it to the finals...sooooo....our stay in Oregon was actually 2 days longer than it needed to be...which is also 2 extra days of figuring out entertainment, food, and lodging...(plus time away from my man and other 3 kiddos!!)  I managed to save a little $$$ by sharing our room with another Mom & daughter and skipped renting a car....and ate at Sonic & Taco Bell.  ugh.  (I haven't wanted to eat anything but fruit and vegetables since I've been home).

There were a "few" common disappointments overall about the soccer tournament from most of the families on this trip.  The first was the fact that they were only scheduled one game a day, 3 games total, and one more if they actually made it to the finals.  The second was the size of the fields.  We were in shock!!  They were literally half the size of the fields the girls are used to play on...like a U10 size field....and so, needless to say, they just weren't trained or prepared to play on that size field.  Every team made a complaint on that issue.  The biggest problem was that the girls last game was played back in March so they were out of practice with each other and they honestly weren't ready for the tough competition they faced now in June.  I'm just not convinced that this was worth the expense to have this experience if the team wasn't ready.  We sadly lost all of our games and the score of the 1st game was 6 to 1, the 2nd was 3 to 1, and the 3rd was the toughest:  8 to 0.  Wow.  Disappointment was the understatement of the week.  Even though the loss of the final game was the biggest, the girls played their hearts out and played together like they did back in March.  I think they just need to remember how to score again!  They'll take some time off and start training again in July. 

Of course the girls had a great time bonding at the go-cart/arcade place, movies, a roller derby, (yes, really), bowling, card games, hangin around the lobby and pool, sleepovers, a pizza party, Olive Garden, Red Robin, and Outback!  And I did have a good time getting to know some of the Mom's I didn't know that well....so while our girls were off texting and primping we were clever enough to make our own "fun" in the lobby with a few card games and adult beverages.  The Mom's all seemed to like the Team Barca T-shirts I designed in gray and blue and we got quite a few compliments from other teams too.  I also recently found out Ross sells Barca shirts...so my family is stocked up for the next season.  (Barca is short for Barcelona, pronounced Barza).

It was good to see Oregon too.  By far, that is what I loved most about this trip.  There is just so much green!  The very first day we arrived I found a beautiful bike trail behind the hotel to jog on.  The last day of our trip we drove up to see Crater Lake with Josie's coach's family and saw that it was snowing there.  Snow in June.  Amazing.  We stopped to take pictures by Rogue River's waterfalls and rapids....and the tall pine trees there are so amazingly beautiful!   The air felt so fresh and cool....which was a perfect change from a 110 degrees desert!

So I'm looking forward to just having a summer now.  Home.   Close to my husband with my kids.  All of us together.  Pool time, movies, libraries, malls...whatever.  But home. Sweet. home.