July 2024 Family Update

So. Much. Happened. This. Month. Whew.

For starters, I celebrated my Pickleball Anniversary. It was last 4th of July that I first touched a paddle and had zero clue what I was doing. I’ve learned so much over the last 12 months and I’ve met some of the loveliest people. Plus, I feel so much stronger and better in my body.

Speaking of the 4th, I popped down to Bama to celebrate the holiday with my family. It’s my favorite because I also get to see some of my extended family, plus snuggle my nieces and nephews. My dad and I also went on a little field trip to visit his old middle school. We may or may not have done some breaking and entering but I’ll never say or sure. LOL. While I was in town, I also signed the paperwork to sell my mom’s house, which was my childhood home. It was bittersweet for sure.

After the holiday travel, we went into full prep mode for our trip to Europe AND THE OLYMPICS!

This trip has been 2 years worth of planning. First, getting selected for the ticket lottery then being able to secure flights, hotels, and ground transportation. I wasn’t even sure until a couple of months ago that I was going to be able to get all of the puzzle pieces in place for us to go but it all worked out.

If I’m being totally transparent, about halfway across the ocean I freaked out. What was I thinking taking us to a foreign country by ourselves to the biggest event happening in the world with millions of other people? As soon as we landed, all those fears were alleviated and we had an absolute blast! See the highlights here.

We started in Barcelona because it was much less expensive to fly into Spain than France. We toured the Gothic & Jewish Quarter, Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Palau Guell, and the fresh Market. We also took a trip up to Montserrat to the monastery. It was absolutely beautiful and we were able to attend mass right after Skylar got lost in the mountains trying to find the nuns. It’s a long story but one we won’t ever forget or stop laughing about.

Then we took the train up to Paris and spent 6 days attending beach volleyball, swimming, gymnastics, table tennis, and archery. In a last-minute but no-brainer decision, we scored tickets to women’s rugby and got to see TEAM USA and Ilona Maher win their first medal. It is a core memory for sure. Every time we went into a new venue, my eyeballs would leak. It was simply hard to believe that we were actually there. Attending the Olympics is something I had dreamed of for probably 10 years. My next goal is volunteering at the #LA2028 Olympics.

There were so many things that I enjoyed about Europe. For starters, the food was absolutely phenomenal. Gosh, I miss it. There were also so many things to see and do – a lot of history and architecture. I really liked how walkable everything was – I definitely got my steps in each day. Plus, the Paris transit system was incredible. Europe also has a lot of sustainability systems in place and it’s very environmentally conscious. I appreciated seeing that as well and wish we had more of that in the US.