The girls and their sports...

Clara has traveled to Chicago for a gymnastics invitational meet. Despite the though competition, she placed 5th on Beam! She is having a great time, and we can't wait to have her back tomorrow... These pictures were taken last month at a local meet, I really love them...!

And here is a little video showing Rita scoring a goal in Futsal, today! She is in burgundy, with the number 7 (after Cristiano Ronaldo, of course...!). So fun to watch them play...!

A special visitor for a special girl

Happy 14th birthday, Clara....!!! We love you!!!!

Pena Palace and Óbidos

I know I have already overloaded you with pictures from our trip to Europe, but I did not want to miss the opportunity to show you two of my all time favorite places to visit in Portugal, which I couldn't wait to share with my children... The Pena Palace is one of the most romantic castles I have ever seen, and it stands on the top of a hill above the town of Sintra (a mere half hour drive from Lisbon)...

Óbidos is a very picturesque little town encircled by a fortified wall... In the 13th century, a portuguese king donated this village to his wife, which explains the informal title of  "Queens Village".  It maintains a well preserved medieval look, and it has become a favorite tourist attraction in Portugal.... Of course I did not leave Óbidos that day without trying the ever so famous cherry liquor called ginginha...

Venezia

Venice was everything I remembered and more... The charm and beauty of this place is absolutely unequal to anything I've ever seen!!! Every corner we turned, every bridge we crossed, revealed breathtaking views... This is a place where I did not mind getting lost...

Rialto Bridge

We stumbled upon the same hotel my husband and I stayed at during our honeymoon almost 18 years ago... This is what we could see from our room...

Feeding the pidgeons in the Piazza S. Marco was one of the kids favorite things!!

... sighing in the Bridge of Sighs...