Old news :-)

Hello again everyone -

I was recently looking back at old posts and realized I had promised to post more updates about my parents' visit - yes, back in the last 2 weeks of April. :-) I guess I was catching up on the Dublin posts while they actually were here - maybe there's a theme here of being perpetually behind!

We had a wonderful time when my parents were here - the time went very quickly! One of the 1st days they were here, I took them downtown by myself to see the tourist sites there. Well, apparantly I hadn't paid attention as well as I thought I had when Jason drove us down there... I found the parking garage very easily but then when we came out of the garage I had NO IDEA where to go :-). I thought we were really close to the Puerta del Sol, but just could NOT figure out my bearings. So I led us off in the wrong direction :-) and we ended up wandering around -and just happened onto most of the tourist sites. We did end up at the Puerta del Sol, but it was a rather indirect route! (and yes, the parking garage is literally across the street from Sol!! oh well :-) ) The good part was that we saw several things we hadn't intended to see (a cool Don Quixote statue in the Plaza de Espana, the Royal Palace, some great souvenier shops) and it made me realize how close together all those things really are. But it was a bit accidental :-). The next day we went to the Prado in the rain - I think I need to go back when I can get the audio guide and linger a bit - I wish I had taken an art class in college!

Jason had business in Valencia on the Eastern coast of Spain while Mom & Dad were here, and in college, my mom spent a summer at the University of Valencia. So it was so cool to tag along with him and revisit memories from Mom's past! We also visited a really great aquarium called the Oceanografico. The highlight was a Sea World style dolphin show. We've never been to Sea World, so it was a treat to see it! They also had a really cool tunnel aquarium where there were several huge sharks swimming around. They would swim right over your head - so close you could almost have touched them! It was a bit creepy, but very cool.

The last highlight of Valencia was visiting the beach. It was my 1st glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea! Quite nice :-) The water was super cold, but we did dip our toes in and enjoy the sand. Valencia was a really great town, and much cheaper than Madrid. (and only about a 3 hour drive.) We hope to go back when the weather is warmer and we can enjoy the beach more.

The last big outing we did while Mom & Dad were here was to visit Toledo. It was not raining this time as it was when we went with Rich, so I think we enjoyed it a bit more. We got to see the beautiful cathedral there and did lots of fun shopping. It is such a great day trip from Madrid!

Until we return - we'll be "back" after our trip to Switzerland and Rome!

Becca

Paris

OK - there are actually several blog posts floating around in my head... so here's to checking 1 off the list :-) (with more to come hopefully!). We're leaving on Friday for our 1st week-long European vacation, and yes, I am motivated by deadlines :-)

Paris was amazing!! I think it was truly a "pinch me" sort of weekend: When we went to Paris 9 years ago, we tried to see it ALL, b/c I really thot there was a good chance we would never be back. So this weekend, it was truly surreal to realize that, yes, we really do live in EUROPE!!! Yikes!! Really too amazing to be true! But yet it is...

A highlight was seeing Katie's face the 1st time she saw the Eiffel tower up close - so fun. It's on Jason's computer, but I'll try to post it when I get it over here. I think a highlight for Katie was riding the carousel near the Eiffel Tower... ah, the simple joys of childhood. She was SOOOO excited about that carousel :-). If you ask her what her favorite parts were, she will say the Eiffel Tower, then the gargoyles - followed closely behind by the carousel :-).

We did visit the Eiffel Tower 1st thing when Katie & I arrived on Thursday - we got off the Metro at a stop where you cannot see the Tower... but then you round the corner at a building called Trocadero and there it is! Very cool. We then bought some yummy crepes and wandered toward it - a very fun experience!

A side note - whatever few words I learned in French for the last trip are now badly mangled by my learning Spanish - I would say a few French words (again, the only few I know...), then inadvertently throw in some Spanish words. :-) One guy actually said to me "Why don't you just speak English??" Well, of course... We actually were surprised how many English speakers we found all over the tourist areas! And TONS of American tourists!

Friday morning Katie & I met a nice lady from Barbados at breakfast in the hotel. She was interested in the Louvre & needed some company, so she ended up spending the rest of the time with us :-). She was a big help and great company for me while we were w/o Jason! So we headed off to the Louvre and saw the famous art :-). Here is Katie being coerced into a picture w/the most famous lady herself. The Mona Lisa is displayed very well now and I really enjoyed seeing her! (9 years ago she was a bit of a disappointment :-) But that's from me who's absolutely clueless about good art!!) Katie's favorite part was the Marly horses - the reason I wanted to take her to the Louvre! They are beautiful! And in a huge, grand room. My favorite thing that we saw is the Winged Victory that is from around 200 BC - truly amazing!! This is not my best pic of it, but I figured you all might be as interested in seeing our girl :-).

Then we got a fun surprise in that Jason took the rest of Friday off! He did not have time, but did anyway so that he could hang out with us :-). So after eating yummy French sandwiches in the park near the Louvre (Katie had ham & cheese w/ butter :-) ), we headed to Notre Dame. My biggest (only?) disappointment from 9 years ago was that the towers of Notre Dame were closed due to high wind and we did not get to see the gargoyles. So this trip, that was high on the list! We stood in the line for over an hour, but the ice cream shops across the street made the time pass a little quicker :-). And it was well worth the wait! AMAZING!! I know Jason already posted a gargoyle picture... but it was sooo cool!!

Katie enjoyed chasing the pigeons and dancing in the square in front of Notre Dame while we regained our equilibrium (it was very high up there and you had to travel on a very long and windy staircase to get down!!). Jason posted another pic of this before - you have to kind of look for the pigeons. This one has me and our friend from Barbados (Virginia - in the white sweater) in the background.

After dinner, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower since Virginia hadn't seen it. Somehow we ended up there at 9:30 - and they turn on these beautiful sparkly lights all over the Tower starting at 10. So we decided to wait for it (bedtime was non-existent both nights!!) and sat on the steps of Trocadero with a bunch of other people to watch it. We got dessert crepes :-), and enjoyed the show. It was worth the late hour! Very beautiful! I think Jason already posted a pic of the light show.

Saturday we did not get around early at all since we'd worn ourselves out on Friday. So we walked to the Arc de Triumphe to see it up close. Next time we'll have to go up in it or the Eiffel tower when we have time to stand in line. And then we went shopping on the Champs Elysses :-). (They have the Gap - we had to visit!) A small purchase was in order :-)

It was amazing - truly a WOW sort of weekend. We definitely hope to go back before too long - it's a good thing that Jason is there many weeks for business!

This Friday we're headed for our 1st week of pure vacation - we'll be in Switzerland for 4 nights and then in Rome for 4 nights. We are very excited!

Becca

Paris with the Girls = WOW

We returned home last night from our quick trip to Paris. It was GREAT!

It was a brief visit, but a good one. Bec and Katie were there from Thursday afternoon to Saturday afternoon. We'll do another post with more details... but thought I'd share a few of our favorite pics. :-)


Becca and I have pic from 1999 in this exact spot, but it was just the 2 of us!




Chasing pidgeons in the plaza at Notre Dame!









Looking like a mermaid in the Place de la Concorde!

Wow... Notre Dame! Love those gargoyles!!



I need to get ready for church... will post more later. :-)

Jason

A quick update

On the birds, that is :-)

They're gone!! Just like that, they are all grown up and have flown away! Yesterday I noticed they were so big they were almost sitting on each other, so I knew it would probably be soon. Unfortunately, I didn't grab a pic yesterday while I could! Then this morning, there was only 1... and when I came back from taking Katie to school the other one was gone too! It's so crazy to me that in just 2 short weeks they could go from a tiny little pink mass of a bird blob to fully feathered and grown up! It was very cool to watch :-). Pretty much every day you could see they were visibly bigger, with a few more feathers, etc. That mama must have been pretty busy with the worms the past 2 weeks! (we saw her bringing them several times - but she's a bit camera shy too :-))

Oh - and yes, there were 3 originally... we're not sure what happened to the other one. Remember when I said I hoped they weren't smooshing him?? Well, I'm afraid they might have! But then we don't know what happened - he just disappeared. I don't think it was a cat b/c then they all would have been gone... not sure. Any guesses from you more informed bird watchers??

Anyway, I'll try to post a more recent pic I have from earlier in the week soon - but now, we're off to Paris!! :-) More on that later too :-)

Becca

A weekend in Paris!

Bonjour,

I´ve been to Paris several times this year... and EVERY time I wish Becca and Katie had come with me. I was there last week for some meetings and it´s springtime and BEAUTIFUL. It´s much warmer outside now and the sun is shining. I can see why the Parisian´s take the summer off!

So tomorrow, the 3 of us are going! It´s a quick trip (work for me on Thursday/Friday) with our return on Saturday evening, but it should be fun. I´m looking forward to Katie seeing the sights of Paris. Especially the Eiffel Tower. She is constantly asking me if I saw different cartoon characters when I return from the city. She asks about Toulouse, Marie, Thomas O´Malley, Remy, etc. etc. etc. I have lots of pretend stories about seeing them in town. It´s fun. Now, she can look for herself!

We´ll update things soon and let you know how things go.

Jason

P.S. Why don´t YOU come over and join us on this adventure? :-) (Paris is the same distance as flying to Atlanta from Dallas. Not close... but not far either!)

The New Mother on the Block

We wanted to introduce you to our new friends! Sometime in mid April, we realized that there was a bird's nest in the English ivy "tree" just between our front door and our neighbor's door. Then we saw first 1 egg, then 2, then 3 eggs appear in the nest! Every time we open the front door or come up the stairs from being out, the mother bird will fly off suddenly, chattering all the way. So we started sneaking up the stairs, or opening the door carefully so as not to startle her as much :-). I ran into my neighbor this week, and she said she's been doing the same thing! :-) Gradually the mother bird is trusting us more and more, and sometimes she stays on the nest until you look at her too long, or linger a bit much at the door :-) (usually looking to see if she's there or not!) And after dark, the mother bird will not move - she just sits there blinking at you wondering why in the world you are disturbing her :-). I've been very tempted to take her picture then, but we are all worried about scaring her away from her babies so much that she won't come back!

It has just been so fun to check on the eggs every day, wondering when they would hatch. Well, finally on Wednesday... the first baby appeared!! It was very exciting!! Thursday brought another one out, and the last one was born yesterday (we were actually getting worried that it might be a dud). It is really amazing to realize the difference between the ones born Wed & Thurs and the one born yesterday - the others have easily doubled in size since they were born! They also are growing feathers and just looking less like little rats :-). Their eyes are still shut and they are too little to even peep. But it is the coolest thing to see when they think that food might be on its way - they muster up all their little energy to get their heads out from underneath their bodies, then stick their beak straight up in the air, wide open for the food. I've been trying to catch a pic of that - I'll add it if I get one! Hopefully you can see at least one of the little birdies in the last pic - his head is off to the right side of the picture. Their little closed eyes are blue and you can see his yellow beak. (the little wings are also blue) The newest baby is underneath his head (you can't see that one's head b/c he's smooshed - I guess they'll work it out, but hopefully he can get his little head out to get at some food too!) and the 3rd one's head is just where the leaf is sticking out on the left side of the nest.

Anyway, not to bore you with ALL the detail... :-), but it has been SOO FUN!! I've never had the opportunity to watch something like this before! Katie loves to get her stool out to peak at them - it's gotten a little difficult to get out the door some days because we have to pause to say hello to our friends :-). I guess we should name them - any ideas??

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers - including our little bird friend :-)
Becca

Good things come to those who wait

And wait and wait...

Yes, it's true: the toilet is officially now fixed!!!!

Yippee!!

:-) :-) :-)

Bad Bloggers Make Quick Update

Yes, yes.... we'll still out here in Spanish cyberspace.

We have been "busy" laying low this weekend - I think we were exhausted! We thoroughly enjoyed having my parents here for 2 weeks - but I guess they wore us out :-). This was a 4 day holiday weekend in Spain (basically - Thursday was a holiday and they call Friday a "puente" - the "bridge" to make it a long weekend). We had several things planned - some relaxing, company on Friday night, a day excursion somewhere on Saturday, church for Spanish Mother's Day today... so we started off in good form with a very relaxing day on Thursday, intending to hit it harder the rest of the time. But then Katie came down with a high fever... so much for the weekend plans! I think we must have all needed the rest more than we thought because it was really very nice to relax for 4 straight days while being stuck around the house. The pic is of Katie playing w/ Daddy - on the day she felt better! (clearly!)

An interesting anecdote about Katie being sick: I thought she had strept throat b/c her throat really really hurt and she had a high fever. So Friday morning I decided we should get her checked out - partly selfishly to try to get her better and "save" some of this long weekend, and partly worrying about how we'd get her to a doctor b/c it was a holiday weekend. We were told that the Spanish just go to the ER - kind of strange, but what we figured we'd have to do. Just to give it a shot, I called a couple of doctors from a Notebook with info about Spain to see what they said to do. The crazy part: we found a doctor who does house calls who was perfectly willing to come over in an hour to come see our sick daughter on the holiday!! Crazy!! Oh - and she spoke English :-). I was quite thankful not to have to drag Katie up to a chaotic ER where she wouldn't understand anything that was going on! The doctor diagnosed Katie with roseola and basically told us it's a virus that has to run its course in 3-5 days - bummer there was no antibiotics to the rescue :-). Fortunately Katie felt tons better Sat morning, but she still had a fever late Sat afternoon. So we stayed home all weekend!

I got spoiled rotten today for Mother's Day - coffee then breakfast in bed, a wonderful surprise plate that Katie & Jason had made for me in Dallas and then figured out how to get it here to us, a visit to a beautiful rose garden in full bloom near our house, then lunch at a Spanish restaurant where we got to watch all the other Mother's Day celebrants - I enjoyed the people watching as much as the food! It was a wonderful day arranged by my wonderful husband and daughter!

More about my parent's visit soon....

Happy Mother's Day from Spain!
Becca