Our Final Week With Erin Part 3 Castle

We found a castle to explore close to our apartment rental.  Eric decided not to join us at the castle. He had recently got the news that Caitlin's grandfather passed away unexpectedly.  So he stayed back to talk to her.

We had so much fun exploring this castle.  It was not as famous as some of the other castles closer to Madrid, but we loved it.  You can tell how much we loved it by the amount of pictures we took.  It is the Castle of Soutomaior.

Our Final Week With Erin Part 2 Surfing

We spent the next few days watching the kids surf and boogie board for hours.  Erin never looked happier and neither had Mario.  He loved every minute he was out in that frigid cold water because he was teaching his children to surf again.  It was a wonderful time for us all.  These are memories that we hope we will never forget.

Our Last Week With Erin Part 1 Galicia

I had taken the kids on a vacation to the Mediterranean Sea in late June.  It was a wonderful trip, but Mario couldn't go because of work.  The water was flat, so the kids weren't able to surf.  But we still had a great time playing in the sea and the pool.  Erin really wanted to try surfing again.  She and Eric had learned to surf when we lived in Hawaii when she was 5.  So, we knew that we couldn't go back to the Mediterranean Sea for surfing.  We'd have to find a beach near the Atlantic Ocean that had some waves.

It took me a long time to find a rental that we could afford and was still available in July, but I finally found one.  It wasn't the nicest apartment, but it was across the street from a beach and only a few miles from a great surfing beach, so we took it.  We packed up our Toyota van that had just arrived in Spain and took off for a wonderful trip on Saturday, July 11.

We headed for Galicia, Spain which is toward the northwest coast. We stayed in a place near the city of Pontevedra. It was a beautiful drive through Spain.  We stopped for lunch at Burger King.  We enjoyed some good old American fast food (comfort food) occasionally.  It helped with the culture shock.  It was entertaining to be in the restaurant because a bird had flown in and the employees were all trying to get the bird out.  After lunch, we headed out twisting and winding our large van through some very small Spanish streets.  I was sure glad Mario was driving.  I was also worried the whole time that we'd be stopped by the police because we didn't have Spanish license plates yet.  I'm sure the locals were confused by our very small, Nebraska, license plate.

We finally arrived at our apartment and then headed to the beach.  It wasn't a great swimming beach, but the kids were excited to climb on rocks and take some pictures of the beautiful scenery surrounding them.

The following day was Sunday, so we looked up the church schedule and tried to go to church.  The schedule was incorrect online, so we arrived the last few minutes of Sacrament meeting.  I didn't know why at first, but I got very sad that we missed the opportunity to take the Sacrament that week.  I had missed it a few times because I didn't take kids to church when I was alone with them at the other vacation.  We didn't have a car and I couldn't figure out transportation.  I also missed because we flew to Spain on a Sunday.  But for some reason, the thought that we missed the Sacrament on this Sunday brought me to tears.  When the small branch let out, some American missionaries came over to talk to us.  They asked us if they could prepare the sacrament for us and we could have our own special Sacrament with another visiting family that was late.  I can only assume that the Spirit whispered to those sweet Elders that day, that I needed the Sacrament.  They lovingly prepared the Sacrament for our family complete with a Sacrament song.  Little did I know that would be Erin's last Sacrament.  I guess that is why I felt so strongly that we needed it that day.  What a blessing it was to me.  While at church, I asked a young woman for some suggestions for ideas of what to do with the kids that week.  She told me about a park not far away that had some waterfalls over rocks that people enjoyed sliding down.  We decided to check it out and it was a hit with the whole family, so much so, that we went there twice that week.  Here are pictures from the first time:

Past Christmas Letters

Favorite Park in Madrid

When we were in Madrid, living in a tiny hotel, the kids and I found a park that was a short metro train away.  The kids loved the park so much, that they begged to go there everyday for a week.  The kids, including Erin, weren't interested in doing anything else in the big city, just playing at this park.  I happily obliged because it was free and got us out of our hotel.  We did rent bikes and rode those along the river a couple times.  But the kids favorite part was the ropes courses.  They would time themselves to see who could compete the course the fastest.  Zach and Erin were always so competitive with each other.   The park was brand new and named Madrid Rio.  It actually was built where the highway used to run through.  This is what one article says about the park:

"More than six miles long, it transforms a formerly neglected area in the middle of Spain’s capital. Its creation, in four years, atop a complex network of tunnels dug to bury an intrusive highway, also rejuvenates a long-lost stretch of the Manzanares River, and in so doing knits together neighborhoods that the highway had cut off from the city center. All around the world, highways are being torn down and waterfronts reclaimed; decades of thinking about cars and cities reversed; new public spaces created."