Sunday, May 24

While the kids are usually well-behaved, they were a bit monstruous on the drive back on Saturday.  And, their consequence was that they lost the chance to go to Magic Island on Sunday, a place they've been looking forward to visit.

Instead, we headed across the street to the pirate ship playground.  Scott and the boys went ahead.

I did Rosa's hair in an Elsa 'do.

Scott went along the river in search of renting a city bicycle, and on the way he popped into the rowing club and learned that he could rent a bike there for a whole lot less money and a bike that rides a bit better.  

He was super excited to take off for a bike ride.  And we're planning to get a sitter one of these days so that we can go on a biking date.

While he was exploring, he checked out Parque del Alamillo, a park that has been recommended to us from numerous people.  

While there, he saw this train circling the park.  The kids would love riding on it.

Meanwhile, as the kids were playing at the pirate ship playground, we ventured farther into the park and realized that there's a tree there with pacifiers hanging from it.  It's called El Arbol de los Chupetes.  Apparently, this tree, and others around Andaucia with the same purpose, are a right of passage tree for children to become big girls and boys.  Children can hang their pacifiers there or, if they don't use pacis, they can just go there to say that they're now big kids.  

Rosa checking out a pacifier hanging from the tree.

All 3 kids checking out the tree.

After play time, we headed to the apartment and all of us did our Spanish homework and the kids did their school homework.  Next it was time for a Spanish lunch.  We headed out around 2:30pm.

After 2 restaurants the previous day where we'd had poor service, we did some research and decided to check out this top 5 rated restaurant, Mechela, near our apartment.  Wow!  We loved it!

Here's their menu posted outside (Spanish on the left and English on the right).

This dish Cody loved.  It was fideua, a thin and crispy noodle, with squid and black ink sauce.   

After lunch Cody had fun snuggling wish Scott.

And Scott had fun snuggling with Cody.

Rosa tried hiding from the camera.  She and I had both worn blue and white dresses that day.  One of the menus was folded into a paper airplane by Rosa.

Devon was all smiles.  

The kids were so well-behaved and tried so many different dishes (there was no kids menu there) that the waitress complimented them by saying it was as if 5 adults vs. 2 adults and 3 children had eaten there.  

When all was eaten and drunk (5 drinks total), our bill came to ~ 50euros.  Not bad, especially considering that the quality of the food and service was fantastic and that the price mirrored meals at cafeteria/bars that we've been to.

After the meal, we caught a picture of Scott "in jail" sticking his hand out the bathroom window.

On our way home, Devon was the first to get a piggy back ride from Scott.  

He'd brought his blanket with him to lunch (even though it was in the 80s) and at this point he had it wrapped around his neck.

Later Cody had a turn on Scott's back.  Rosa had a turn on the way to the restaurant.

A picture of a pretty church we usually see from a different angle.

After lunch, as we were wandering back to our apartment, we ran into Rosa's Spanish teacher and had the chance to meet her husband.  Again, small world in Sevilla.

I typically do one load of laundry per day, to keep up with it.  On Sunday, I did 3 loads to include sheets and towels.  But, I only have enough room to hang one load of laundry outside our kitchen.  And so, the boys were overly eager to go onto the roof with me to hang the additional laundry.  I felt so European.  The roof is the 4th floor per Spanish counting, but the 5th floor per American counting.  The main floor is considered floor 0 here and thus the 1st floor is one floor up.  After hanging the clothes on the 4th floor, we walked along the roof of the entire building to find stairs to take us up to the 5th floor and even more spectacular views.