Evening Fires

I can't think of a better way to end a day.

Gnome Catching |Quebec September 2012

The day after the bike race was Gwen's birthday and Brad planned a special outing to the secret forest,  a woodland scavenger hunt inhabited by gnomes.  We wore hats to let the gnomes know that we were friendly, we shook our bells to enable us to find them, and made our way through the forest to find the answers to all of our clues and eventually end up on an island with a small gnome house where we watched a play.  The kids thought it was amazing and Brad and I had a great time too.  Best of all, Gwen felt special on her birthday.  We sure love that little girl!

Quebec City |Summer 2012|

In the first of September, we headed up to Quebec City to watch a cycling race.  The race was structured as a course through the old city that the cyclers repeated 16 times.  We hung out along the course and cheered them on as they road past each of the 16 times.  The kids collected all kinds of free souvenirs (including these blue cycling hats), and we all enjoyed the Quebec apples they were handing out.  I was amazed that we were able to stand right next to the racers at the start and also amazed that we were able to watch some of the best bikers in the world.  The same teams that compete in the Tour de France.  Brad and Olivia even got autographs from some of their favorites, and I was thrilled to my all time favorite, Thomas Voeckler  race upclose and personal.  All in all, Brad and I were thrilled that it turned out to be fun for the whole family.  The whole weekend was perfect, and better than we expected.  

• One of my favorite memories was of a volunteer handing Beckham this Quebec flag, and him immediately waving it proudly and yelling, "GO AMERICA, GO AMERICA, GO AMERICA!"
• Also, Brad asking for water bottles from the Russians
• Olivia getting "Autograph fever" and asking every cyclist around to autograph her hat