Saturday, August 15 - Home

22 hours of travel.  And we're home!

The day started while it was still dark.  Scott and I showered and then woke the kids.  All they had to do was get into the car.  We deemed it a pajama day.  As they were getting buckled in, I took the last trash out and then met Scott to collect his apartment keys.  It was 6:30 on a Saturday morning, and yet a number of neighbors were out and about.  It seemed as if they were wrapping up the night rather than starting the day, and most were older than us.  I then went back in the apartment, dropped off all of our keys, and lugged my heavy carry on and 3 suitcases out, down the elevator, and across the courtyard.  From there, I walked around the corner to hail a taxi and had the driver come around the corner to the apartment front door to collect the suitcases.

As I got out of the taxi, the kids and Scott were coming up the sidewalk.  What great timing!

The kids and I waited with most of our luggage while Scott went back to the car to gather the remaining suitcases and to return the car.

And then we checked in.  There was only one person working, but we luckily got in line before it was too long.  Our check in agent was great, and didn't charge us for any of our 3 additional bags.  All in all, we put 9 bags under the plane.  The 9th was the car seat bag.

Then it was onto security and breakfast.

The kids were thirsty and each played a role in putting money in a machine to buy water.

Flight #1 was Sevilla to Madrid.  It was quick and easy.  We had an hour or so in the Madrid airport where we had to go through a passport control and take a train from one terminal to the next.  We spent most of that hour moving.

Flight #2 was about 9 hours in the air.  Devon did a great job napping.  

He was sitting next to Rosa.

I was sitting in front of them and I enjoyed 3 movies and a nap.

Cody and Scott were across the aisle.  Cody also took a nap.

I was super pleased with the service and smiles from all of the Iberia personnel, even when there was a rowdy passenger and I was convinced that we were going to have to make an emergency landing to kick him off the plane.

We had a 3 hour layover in Chicago that turned into 4 hours due to weather.  Much of that time was spent going through customs and immigration, rechecking our 9 pieces of luggage, going from the International terminal to the main terminal, and going back through security.  We did also eat dinner at a food court.

All 3 kids slept on the 2-hour Chicago to Denver flight.  We hopped into 2 taxis (we couldn't fit all of our suitcases into 1) and the kids fell asleep again on the 30-minute drive back to the house.  It was wonderful to be home again after 22 hours of flying and 5+ months away.  Thank you Mannings for welcoming us back with such thoughtful touches as wine, flowers, chocolate, a welcome sign, fresh food and food in the fridge, and a super clean home!  While the boys started pulling out all of their toys, on all 3 levels of the house, I walked Rosa over to Chloe's for a sleepover.

This will probably be it for the blog for a while.  Thanks to all of you who've read it or perused it.  I've certainly enjoyed writing it and reliving so many amazing memories from an unforgettable time in marvelous Sevilla and around.  And thank you Scotty for finding this project and giving us the opportunity to live abroad!

Friday, August 14

The kids had a pajama morning while I did a last load of laundry in Spain and continued packing.  

Rosa posed for a series of pictures with her awesome bunny and cat motel that we left in Spain (in the trash).

It was so much fun taking this series of pictures.

Eventually we dressed and walked to El Corte Ingles for lunch.  The kids ate pizza and hot dogs and I had Spanish tortilla and white asparagus.

Devon at lunch.

Cody at lunch.

Rosa at lunch.

After lunch we stopped outside onto the rooftop deck and Devon posed in front of the cathedral.  

I tried to get all 3 kids to pose.  They gave me their backsides.  

In the city with buildings at every street corner, there weren't street signs on poles but rather street signs on buildings.  Here's a sign for our street, Calle Pascual de Gayangos.

And here's the name of our apartment building, Edificio Goles.  It appears that it was built in 1977.  

When Scott returned from work, we finished packing all of the suitcases (8 of them) and he loaded as many as possible (5 of them) into the car so that they'd be ready to go with our early morning departure the next day.  Then he showered.

The boys were busy playing with water and made a very slippery kitchen.  As Scott was moving chairs from the living room back to the kitchen, he took a nasty fall and bruised his right shoulder and his back.  It's the only time in his life he remembers ever bruising.  He'd caught the edge of the counter just right to make for the fall.

Wine helped ease some of the pain, as did ice, and then it was off to the Doyle's hotel for another chance to see them.

Smiling Devon

Spinning a chair in the lobby

Cousin time!

We ate dinner outside at El Burladero, a restaurant we'd been to twice before.  Jessie and Rosa loved singing Frozen songs with each other.

A very short video of them singing together.  We have longer ones if you want to hear a longer version.

After playing hide and seek but almost running out into the street, it was time to mellow out with some screen time.

The sisters, though unfortunately a table lamp is smack in between us in this shot.

After good byes, the Doyle's headed to their hotel for bedtime and we walked to Alameda de Hercules to see Maria.  It was the 5th Friday out of 6 in a row that we were getting together.  The previous Friday they'd been in Extremedura for a family wedding and we'd been in Ronda.

Devon playing at the playground.

Rosa, Cody, and Maria playing witht he water fountain.

Maria and family ran into some friends at the Alameda, and the 6 adults had beers while the kids played and enjoyed ice cream.  And then it was time for hugs, kisses, and good byes.

We arrived back at the apartment after midnight (it'd become our norm to be out that late on Friday nights) and we fell asleep easily on our last night of our 5+ month adventure.

Thursday, August 13 - Archaelogical Museum and Navigation Pavilion

Adorable Rosa woke up, wrapped herself in her Rainbow Dash blanket, and came to say hello to me in the kitchen.  So cute!  And such long bangs.  But, not long enough.  She's growing them out and it's a slow process.

We ate breakfast, got dressed, and headed down the street to catch a bus to museum #1 for the day.  On the way, we dropped off more outgrown clothes and shoes at the donation bin.  All 3 kids had a part in donating them.

First stop for the day was the Archaelogical Museum in Plaza de America.  

After touring there (another museum that seemed to be without air conditioning, at least on the basement floor), we grabbed a sweet snack at a snack stand in the plaza.  And we enjoyed eating them in the shade of the beautiful trees and admiring the horses and carriages as well as the stunning architecture around us.

From there, we walked a few blocks and then hopped into a taxi.  The car was so old that the seatbelt for the middle seat was just a lap belt.  The kids had never heard of such a thing.  The taxi dropped us off at the Navigation Pavilion which is across the river from our apartment.  We'd been there once before to see the temporary dinosaur exhibit.

The permanent collection was great to see.  

It included a ride up the Navigation Tower for incredible views.  

Looking down at the riverfront museum.

Cody hanging out.  It turns out that he has a fear of heights.  This surprised us since we've been up high to see other sights such as at the Eiffel Tower, El Corte Ingles, and the mushrooms.  He mentioned it was the river that scared him as he clung to me for dear life.

More amazing views of the river.  

Across to Plaza de Armas and central Sevilla.

Safely back inside the main museum, the kids had fun at the interactive video game are where they played roles of being on a ship.  

Cody requested that I keep both of these pictures of him on the blog.

Devon and Rosa pushing this wheel really hard.

Cody and Rosa.

After the museum, we walked across what we call the blue & white bridge to the apartment.  It was an easy and quick walk.

For Scott it was a good day at work.  He and the team finally got design sign-off for a major part of the project here.

Scott had an 8pm meeting which meant either an early dinner (hard to find since many restaurants don't open for dinner until 8 or 9pm) or a late dinner, but we didn't know what time his meeting would end.  We opted for an early dinner and returned to Meson Serranito on Calle Alfonso XII (the one-way street we call the main street), one of our go to places for a traditional Spanish meal at any hour.  Rosa had carrillada, Cody had jamon and a pork steak, Scott and Devon had a steak, and I had the cold tomato soup salmorejo.  This was the restaurant where I'd first had salmorejo.

Family shot in front of jamon at the restaurant.

Back home we watched "The Rescuers".  I fell asleep during it, but the rest of the family enjoyed watching a new to us movie (thanks to Netflix).

Wednesday, August 12

Happy birthday Suzi and Yvette!

The morning started with the kids hanging out at the Pilates studio while I took my last class here.  The kids enjoyed playing on the tablet.  Cody also brought maps to peruse - a favorite pasttime of his.

After, we went to tour the Palacio de Lebrija in the pedestrian only section.  I'd been there once before with the American friends, but the kids had never visited.  It's beautiful!  I took a few more pictures.

The uneven ground by the stairway leading to the 2nd floor.

The kid swaiting for the tour to begin.

Rosa

The staircase

A ceiling

Views from the top of the stairs

At the top of the stairs you enter through doors, on a tour, to the 2nd floor.  Once there, no pictures were allowed.  The tour was great.  And we learned that the 3rd floor housed the bedrooms, which is what Rosa had wanted to see.  Unfortunately the 3rd floor wasn't on the tour.

This is the closest I got to all 3 kids posing for a picture in the palace.  We were in one of many courtyards.  Cody's favorite part of the palace were the plants in the courtyards.

After the palace it was time for an ice cream treat.  Cody had kit kat flavor, Rosa had vanilla, and Devon had a lemon Fanta.

I have this series of pictures to remind me what fun they had enjoying their treats.

Here Rosa and Devon shared their desserts with each other.  So sweet!

We still had 45 minutes to wait until the Japanese restaurant would open for lunch.  First the kids played on top of the mushroom.  Then, we tried to get into the restaurant early, but without luck.

So we hung out in the restaurant plaza under the shade of a tree.

At last it was time for lunch at Yamazaki.

The kids had a blast!  We orderd 4 plates of gyoza and Rosa and Cody ate every last one of them.  Devon enjoyed grilled chicken and rice.  

I enjoyed sushi and rolls, including these scallops.  

We had a short siesta that was filled with packing.  We have 4 of our 8 suitcases packed and weighed.  There's a 23kg weight limit and after loading suitcases and weighing them, we then rearrange them to keep them under the weight limit.  We'd rather do this at the apartment than at the airport Saturday morning.

When Scott got home from work, Rosa and I took off on a babycakes date, to get our fingernails done.

Rosa chose 5 different colors so that each nail on each hand would be a different color.  All colors chosen were flower colors.

Rosa hid from the camera.

Once back home, Cody and I took off on his date and Scott took the brownies to Tapaole for dinner.  I was so tired of that restaurant that I no longer wanted to go, but Scott hadn't been eating there weekly during the school year and thus was ready to take them.

Cody and I first headed to Plaza de Armas (he led the way) to the Cerveceria La Surena, an inexpensive chain. 

We sat at a bar height table and waited for our food.  Cody wanted their jamon iberico and I had a pizza-like item of toast with tomato sauce, cheese, tomatoes, and pesto.  

Some selfies.

After dinner, I treated Cody to one ride in the mall.

He chose this one.

He loved playing it.

After, we roamed around the streets.  Our first stop was to a tabacco shop to load up the bus card.  Next, we walked by 2 of our favorite restaurants (La Brunilda and La Mechela) to see if they're open this week for another meal.  Both are closed for August holidays.

We saw this pretty architecture and took a picture.

Then it was onto Dos de Mayo at Plaza de la Gavidia.  We'd eaten here once during our first week or so in Spain.  And we walked by here daily to and from school.  

Cody remembered the fish sticks that he and Devon had ordered that first week and how he'd enjoyed them.  We should have paid more attention at the time, because these are the fried anchovies that we discovered Cody loved when he and Grandpa Fred ate them months later at Eslava.

Even that very first time that Cody at them, he had no problem devouring the entire fish (head, tail, eye balls, spine, etc.).  When he offered Scott to try one, Scott took off those parts.  I don't think I ever had the stomach to give it a go.

We ordered at the packed bar and Cody started eating there, but we were able to snag a table.  Cody didn't finish the whole plate (he was full after eating a whole plate of jamon and then half a plate of fried anchovies).

As we left, we saw Scott returning from dinner with the brownies.  And so all 3 played in Plaza de la Gavidia for a bit with Clara.

Eventually Scott took Rosa home and I sat down with Clara's mom and some of her friends and relatives.  It was nice following the Spanish conversations and realizing that I can follow them so much more easily now.  Though, I'm still missing a lot of vocabulary.

The boys and I left once I realized that they were playing "smoke".  The game consisted of sitting in the dirt and throwing it into the air.  Both boys looked like chimney sweeps.  First stop once home was a shower.

And Rosa had enjoyed some reading time with Scott.