We are all relaxing on the couch, after a long weekend of basketball, basketball, and more basketball.

The kids had a basketball tournament that started on Friday night and ended today at 5:30 pm.

Juliana’s team took first place, and Christian’s team took fourth.

Here’s what I loved about the tournament:

1. Watching the kids play, of course.

2. Observing the games and cheering and laughing and bonding with the other parents.

3. Seeing the kids cheer for one another, and giving each other high fives.

4. Watching our school teams support each other – girls watching the boys games and the girls watching the boys.

5. Listening to Juliana’s team cheer and sing and dance after they won.

6. Looking at the team rosters from the various international teams and seeing the same cultural diversity across teams.

7. Christian was hanging out with the boys from the Germany team, as he stayed over night at their homes during the Bonn games. He now has friends from other schools in Europe.

8. The mandatory social dance on Saturday night and Juliana meeting someone from San Jose, who was wearing a Sharks hat. Small world.

9. Seeing girls be aggressive and play hard, focused and fighting for the ball.

10. Watching my kids grow up, hanging out for hours between games on their own, being responsible for their own belongings and wanting to take the bus back to school to be with their friends instead of driving back with us. They’re practicing their independence in a safe environment.

Sports are so good for many reasons and watching my kids play in an international environment with teams from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Denmark is still amazing to me. These children come from all over the world and most are expats, just like my kids and they’re all brought together through the love of sports. I love that they chose to participate and were picked to play on their teams.

Life is good!