Enjoying Madrid

This was one of the boys' favorite rooms to play in.  It had no furniture in it, which left lots of space to play!

While in Madrid, we stayed in a company-owned, sparsely furnished apartment.  We had never seen it before, and we weren't entirely sure what to expect.  We were told to bring pillows, linens and even kitchen stuff, pots and dishes, etc... but that there were beds, 2 couches and a table with chairs.  It was quite interesting trying to figure out what to pack.  We were also told that there was no washer (or dryer, but that's normal...) or internet. With all this in mind, I expected it to be a difficult 3 weeks... especially with having to wash clothes by hand!... and trying to keep 4 kids occupied in an empty apartment for 6 hours a day while Mom and Dad were in class.

Playing cards by the pool... Jonathan and I had fun playing war! :)

I think, all the way around, we were pleasantly surprised.  God completely blessed this time with rest, family time, games, swimming, shopping, and of course, lots of language.  The apartment was what they had said, but it was much bigger than we had anticipated, so the boys had lots of room to race cars, build puzzles, etc.  There was also a pool with a kiddie pool, so the kids were really able to enjoy that. Carolina actually learned to swim (with swimmies on :) ) while we were there!

Little miss personality! :)

Wes and I had class in the afternoons (1:30-7:30), so we really tried to focus on having fun mornings together.  At first, Carolina was VERY clingy.  She did not like me leaving all day, but she did ok.  We ended up having a young guy watching the kids all day.  At first, I was a little worried; but he was awesome.  The boys really enjoyed having a guy to be with, and Carolina warmed up to him.  He was a guy who really paid attention to detail, so that made me feel better. :)

The kids with Fredy

We had many exciting mornings with the kids.  We had heard that there was an American store in the area where we were staying, so we went to check it out.  It was amazing.  We found root beer, grape jelly, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, bagels, and Rolos! :)  Actually, I went in first by myself, just to check it out and see if it was worth getting everyone out of the car.  I guess I took so long that they figured it was definitely worth getting out of the car.  I turned around, and all the kids were walking in the door. :)  It was hilarious to see them!  Everyone pointing and exclaiming.

It was cute the things that the boys remembered.  They had saved up their chore money, so each of them bought something while we were there.  The prices were crazy expensive... a box of Apple Jacks was almost $15!!  We stayed away from the crazy high priced things, but Weston did buy a $3 pack of Big Red gum... it reminded him of Grandmommy.

We also found an ice cream place that made some flavors (like dark chocolate and berry sorbet!) without milk.  Carolina and Nathan (both can't have milk) were LOVING it.  The ice cream store was right down the street from "Taste of America" so they tended to go hand-in-hand. :)  It definitely felt like vacation for the kids. :)

Since we didn't have TV (well, actually we did... it just didn't work all the time, and it was in our bedroom, which was the hottest room in the house) we found other ways to entertain the kids.  We put together several puzzles while we were there.  Puzzles are crazy expensive here in Spain.  I'm not sure why.  But, we found a deal at a German grocery store here.  They bring in random things (that aren't food) and sell them really cheap.  We found puzzles for 2.99 each!  We were SO thrilled (they're normally around 30-40 euros.)  Each child got to pick out their own puzzle.  Personally, I really enjoyed it... I'd get rid of my TV right now, if my family wouldn't revolt! :)

The last piece of the puzzle!!

We also found lots of amazing parks in the area where we were staying.  The kids had a blast.  This was one of their favorites.  It had a "jeep" that reminded the boys of Papa.  This park had a LOT of very unique things to play on... it was very fun.

I guess you can't see it in this pic, but the jeep was sitting on 4 huge springs, so it bounced all over the place... just like a Jeep. haha... :)

We did have one incident that was totally scary.  We asked y'all to pray for health while were gone, and God totally answered that prayer!  I had just said to Wes how blessed we were that everyone had been healthy.  Later that day, Carolina fell off a slide... a 7 foot slide!  She landed on her face, and I thought for sure she had broken her neck, lost some teeth, had a concussion.... something!  I do believe angels caught her as she fell, because she cut up the inside of her mouth pretty good and her chin too... but that was it.  We spent some time in the ER, but she bounced back pretty well.  She is such a tough girl. :)  It was pretty scary, though... thank you for praying for her.  The first day/night was a little rough, but then she was fine.  I'm sure it was your prayers that made the difference for her!  Thank you!  God was SO gracious to keep her safe!

Funny how it seems like nothing in the pic! :)  Her mouth was all swollen and she had cuts inside her lip where her teeth landed.  Her chin was also all scraped up... but not cut, so no stitches were needed!

So, despite my fears of 3 weeks of just craziness, God really blessed our time there... both with language AND with family time!  We have some great memories!  Thank you all for your prayers.

Daddy is always the best toy to play with!