Forza Viola a Chicago!

Buona sera a tutti. It's been quite a week with some awesome memories, so let's get right to it. My work week was a bit weird because of my Tuesday off leaving me with working Mon, Wed, Fri. Tuesday, Mia met up at the park with buddy Vida and the girls played for about an hour or so. Weather a bit warm, but they had a great time swinging, playing tic-tac-toe and running around Malone Park. Later, My Dad arrived at my house for our big and exciting trip to Bridgeview for the AFC Fiorentina vs Chivas Guadalajara match. I thought we'd be able to beat any traffic heading into and around the city but man, we certainly got stuck in it. Ugh. Luckily because we left with plenty of time, we arrived with an hour to spare. Phew. We knew immediately upon arriving Fiorentina fans would be outnumbered 10-1 against the Chivas fans. Luckily, the environment was positive and a hell of a lot of fun. 

 I bought tickets specifically in the Fiorentina supporters designated section so I could give my Dad a great experience, but I didn't expect to find so many Chivas fans sitting with us. Then again, the ticket price was super cheap and we were literally on the ground level pitch behind the net. We walked around a bit, checked out some of the overpriced merchandise and made our way to our seats. We got to watch the team warm up right in front of us smashing balls at the keeper. I knew that this was probably the closest I'll get him to a professional football match between to international teams. Anyways, they walked out, we all cheered stuffed on the bleachers with a variety of supporters right in the front row and the match started.

Chivas got a goal off a deflection and the crowd went insane. Drums, horns and cheers filled the crowd as 10,000 of us watched on. Quickly, Simeone from Fiorentina equalized and the Viola fans went crazy. Amazing!! Halftime, and it was 1-1. Some of the fans that were stuffed onto our bench split and surprisingly, some didn't come back. Great. 2nd half started and we had an obnoxious steward standing directly in front of us. Are you kidding me? Luckily after 10 or so minutes, he was gone and moved down. Awesome. The Chivas drums started up again and the match continued. Viola started to pick up possession and it wasn't long before Riccardo Sottil picked up an incredible goal and the Fiorentina fans went crazy. I was even texted by my older brother that he saw me on TV get up and cheer. My Mom mentioned as well that she saw my DSLR camera flash go off a few times. The game ended 2-1 to Fiorentina and we were quite happy. My Dad had a fantastic time. I'm really glad I could take him to what probably will be the only time he'll see Fiorentina again. Not to sound so grim or anything, but Viola doesn't come to the states that often, or even this close to Wisconsin. On the long long drive back, he kept thanking me for taking him and wants to make a drive to Madison to see their USLOne team in action. I was dead exhausted, but made it back home and crashed into my pillow about 1:30am. I went to sleep with this feeling of accomplishment that I was able to take my Dad to something special he's always wanted to do and it was an incredible time.

Wednesday, Mia went to her friend Noelle's house to swim with her and her sister. Mia had a great time and looks forward to coming over again.  Thursday, I had art lessons with Micah and Gigi. We did some fruit water coloring and the kids had a great time. Gianna's really great at getting her shadows in when it comes to painting or drawing and Micah really nailed her apple sketch. I talked her into taking a bite of it to give the piece really fun texture and dimension. Awesome. I always look forward to working with these talented girls. Later, we had sushi and bobba tea from Fusion Cafe. Totally fun trying new places for sushi and we were excited to find a bobba tea place near us. 

Over the weekend, we had some gnarly storms roll in along with a rough heatwave which sadly cancelled the Torrent vs Risers match that Mia was looking forward to going to. We hung out, got her school supplies and made waffles for dinner. Mia played bass and we hit the bed soon after. 

Today, we just hung out and relaxed before I went to work. This week, nothing major planned till my birthday weekend. Maybe art lessons? Who knows, guess we'll find out :) That's all for now, thanks for reading!