kings of the castle!

2011 Trentino Diatec (and their website - tons more pics here!)

Steve in action against the Brazilian team

They won! Woooop! And yeah, it's kind of a big deal. There was a huge gathering in Trento's main square on Saturday afternoon, complete with flares and cameras and crowds to greet the winning team. Hendrik was interested in all of the commotion, showing little emotion but looking around with wide, observant eyes - taking it alllllllll in. But with no rest for the wicked, the guys didn't have much time to soak up their victory; the bus arrived around 5:00 on Saturday, and after a quick drink and snack at a downtown bar everyone headed home (I assume) because... they had practice Sunday morning in preparation for a game tonight - two days later. And with Wednesday night's Champion's League game (against Spain's Cai Teruel) that will make six games in eight days - yikes.

2011 Kings of the Court

BIG block!

back at home in the main square - lots of supporters and fans (and pictures pictures pictures!)

Proud Papa, happy to see his son!

"Dad, you're a world chaaaampion!" Awesome!

People were even saying congratulations to me - I didn't do anything! Eesh. But speaking of kings and castles, we made a trip to this amazing castle while Steve was gone - it was gorgeous!

Castel Beseno is located hm, about 20 minutes south (ish?) of Trento - very easy to get to. We walked around the nearly empty grounds and then picnicked on a beautiful and sunny patch of grass in one of the courtyards - it was lovely!

The views were amazing....

The weather here has definitely been a bit more chilly, with cool (/cold) mornings and evenings - but thankfully the afternoon sun is still warm warm warm. Apparently there was a first frost yesterday, but there's still no sign of snow on the mountains around us; I'm sure as soon as the rain begins to fall, the peaks will get a dusting. Ummmm hm, what else... OOH! Our first (and second!) visitors have booked their flights! YAY! Steve's mom and dad and Erin and Fred have all booked their tickets - eeee! My sister Sarah is planning on coming for Christmas, and she might be our first visitor.... but not the first to book. Last night we skyped with Dan and Milka and it made us wish that we could have people over right now - come over right noooow! - but the first step is booking the flight, and we're looking forward to having friends and family here.