Calm Before the Storm???

Saludos from.......España!!! After a grueling trip (22 hours including layovers, other delays and the drive from Madrid to Jaén) we have arrived. At the beginning of the trip Alejandro was doing really well. I was worried about a complete travel catastrophe since he loves to wiggle so much and hates to be restrained. So far so good. I even commented to Eli that this might be the calm before the storm.....and that storm came. We made it from Indy to Cincinnati and from there to New York but during the last few hours of the flight to Madrid Alejandro couldn't take any more. Finally we arrived and he slept most of the way to Jaen in the car.

Rafa, Eli's brother, and his wife Lidia picked us up at the airport and, after a some turns and glorietas, told us he didn't know where he was. He also said that he has come many times to the airport but manages to make it home a different way each time. I was thinking "how hard can it be to go there and back especially if you have been numerous times?" A little bit later, somewhere in Madrid, Rafa finally stopped in a gas station and asked a cab driver how to get to Jaen. After a few minutes of thinking about it, he gave us directions. I realized that if a Madrid cab driver has to take a minute to think about how to get onto a certain interstate from somewhere in Madrid, a simple trip from the airport to Jaen may just be harder than I thought.

The good think about getting a little turned around in Madrid was that we were able to drive around "La Puerta de Alcalá" which is in the center of the city. It was cool because we generally don't usually spent time in Madrid.

Well, the countdown has begun. We are heading to Spain! We will be off chasing windmills, feasting on Paella, running with the bulls, conquering castles and countless other activities for the next THREE weeks. I plan on posting regularly and possibly starting a travel blog. Now if we can just get things in order and packed in time for our flight out on Saturday.

Team Pictures

We have one more game before Natalia finishes up her first season of soccer. She has enjoyed it sometimes but other times has struggled with the physicality of the game. It's funny, we teach these kids from when they are knee high to grasshoppers that it is important to share and be nice and then we let them loose on the soccer pitch and tell them to attack and take the ball from the other team. No wonder most kids by their teenage years think adults are crazy.

Ouch!!!

We were driving to register Natalia for school the other day when out of nowhere this old man broadsided us on the driver's side which then pushed us into another car waiting to pull out into traffic. No one was hurt and the wreck actually felt like bumper cars at Lagoon. Anyway, although the damage doesn't look so bad, the adjuster considered it a total loss. We bought it while we were living in SLC going to the U. It survived school, road trips to Kansas, Chicago and Florida, and most impressively, it survived two crazy kids.

Got Bounce?

I could definately use some of what this kid has

Silly Songs by Natalia

She just loves to be silly. Have a listen and a laugh by clicking on the title of this post.

Off to the Races

In tribute to the Indy 500, which is coming up in a few weeks, Natalia and I went and drove the race cars. This is the first year she is tall enough to ride as a passenger and she was soooo excited. She kept jumping up and down and when we started racing she shouted GO GO GO GO the entire time.

Disgusting

Little Alejandro will eat peas without problems one day but another won't touch them. We have gotten crafty with our techniques which, although disgusting, work sometimes. Hot dog anyone....

Hiking

Natalia has been bugging me about hiking so we loaded up our gear (camera) and went on a big hike (walk) to the forest (natural area in our subdivision) around the big lake (pond) where we crossed a river (small stream) and climbed over boulders (rock bed).