More Barcelona

So in planning this trip we looked for the perfect flight times so the boys would nap on the plane, even paid a bit extra for it because we wanted to make it as smooth a trip as possible for us. The morning of the flight I got a text saying that our flight would be affected by air traffic control failure. Failure?? This could not have sounded more dramatic so I was a bit concerned. Turns out the flight was delayed three hours, but they told us to still get there in time just in case the issues were resolved and the plane could leave on time. It could have been MUCH worse, but the flight was in fact delayed for the three hours, proving that sometimes best laid plans – even ones you pay extra for – don’t always pan out. So the boys took naps in the airport instead of the plane, making for a very non-relaxing plane ride for our family and the passengers around us, but it wasn’t that bad. The boys did pretty well, Nate being a one year old just wanted to move around of course. The young lady in front of me turned around at one point and said “could you please control your baby, he is kicking my chair”. Some part of me wanted to say “could you please control my foot from kicking your chair incessantly for the duration of this flight” but of course being a passive aggressive people-pleaser I said “oh yes, of course” and tried to “control” Nate for the rest of the flight. Just wait until you have a child lady. J

We got in to Barcelona pretty late and a car took us to our hotel which was about a 45 minute ride. I would say it was around 11pm local time when we finally got to our hotel room, both boys still awake of course. But from here on out it was pretty smooth sailing, and opening our curtain to see the beach lit by the moon gave us nothing but warm fuzzies inside. We all got settled down for the night, slept in the next morning, and got to the business of our vacation. The first day we hit the beach in the morning and the afternoon and enjoyed a nice dinner at the hotel. We have figured out that letting the boys watch something on the Ipad during dinner lets us eat at a relatively adult pace instead of having to shove food down before one of them (or us) has a meltdown. So yes we are those people, and it is soooo worth it!

We all took naps every day, even Andrew who is basically done with naps now. The sun and sand just take a lot out of you, plus we are trying to teach him that vacations should be a rest from regular life (since his life is so stressful to begin with- ha!). The third day we took the trains into the actual city of Barcelona. Some nice girls heard us speaking English and approached us to make sure we knew which trains to take to get where we wanted to go. Since we totally didn’t, their help was so appreciated. We talked later about how we really would not have known what to do without them. We had to make two train switches and it was pretty complicated. During all our travels we have been blessed to encounter people like this pretty often. I think it’s because 1. God is with us and 2. We look like a big hot mess sometimes. I would offer to help us too and I am thankful to anyone who does. [Sidenote: I’ve decided that when I’m old and my children have their own families I am going to offer to help any mother or father who looks even remotely like they need a hand. I can’t tell you how many times since I’ve been here people who have said to me, “looks like you have your hands full”, and then just chuckle and walk off. ] We made it to Barcelona and try to get the kids excited about some of the sights, but they are much more excited about ants bonking into each other on the dirty sidewalk. So we basically just walk around the city a bit, find a nice park and have some lunch. And we find a playground and a fountain that we decide to let them go in. My reasoning behind this consisted of the fact that it was really hot and I had seen dogs go in the fountain so I figured it was ok. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the fountain. We did some more walking and both kiddos fell asleep so we slowed down the pace and really enjoyed walking around the shops and some pretty back streets of the city. It was a busy, fun day but we were happy to get back to our hotel and have another day of beach/pool time to look forward to.

It was great seeing Andrew jumping in the waves and really enjoy swimming in the pool. We missed out on a whole summer of swimming in Dallas so this was his only chance to be in the water. He did really well and I’m sure next summer with a few lessons he’ll be on his own in the pool. Nate also loved the beach. He was fearless and would have walked right into the ocean if it was up to him. They also had a great time just playing in the hotel room and the hotel lobby. It’s awesome that they can play with each other now, not all the time but for pretty good stretches.

My take on Barcelona:

I had been here when I was in college and remember thinking along these same lines… The food is not too tasty, the people are not overly friendly, and unless you are one who appreciates art (which I am really not), the city is just not that impressive (TO ME). I’m sure lots of people would cringe at these observations. I would go to the beaches in Barcelona and practice my Catalan Spanish any day, but the city itself isn’t one I would put at the top of my list to return to. Serg agrees with the first two points, but he does like to look at art.

Funny parts of the trip:

Nate was OBSESSED with the bidet in our hotel room. When we first arrived Andrew saw it and said, “look guys, a little bathtub for Nate!” It’s all Nate wanted to play with when we were in the room.

One night I went to get some take away food and I ordered “small fried fish” for Andrew since he likes fried fish. I thought it would be a small piece of fried fish, right?? Nope. We opened it up and found what I mistook for French fries and started eating, when Serg informed me that I was eating fried minnows or something similar. I promptly spat out what I could and gagged for a while. Like I said before, the food is not too tasty.

I think I have waited too long to write about this because I know there were a few more but I have forgotten! Oh well.

Our next trip is a weekend getaway to Paris with no kids! My mom and dad are coming in for two weeks and are going to be watching them while we have a weekend to ourselves. We can’t wait!

Someone told me they couldn't see the album from our trip by clicking on the link in my last post. I'm not sure how to fix that so if you want to see but can't just let me know and I'll email you the link and maybe that will work.