Spain - day 1

But first, a wrap up of our last few days at home. Adi and Frankie went to babysit and we picked 2 huge bowlfuls of berries at the Henderson’s. I took some to my ministering sisters to share the love. 

Lexi sent money for a birthday pedicure, so on Saturday morning I brought Matt with me for his first ever and he was in heaven!

He was like - I had no idea this is what you did with your friends! 😂 He’s a believer. 

We went to Hudson’s beach birthday party and then since it was so hot and there were jelly’s, we invited them back to our pool. We swam till 6, it was a fun day! That night we finished laundry and I had the girls shiw me what they were packing and checked everything off our list. We tried our best to pack light!

We went to church on Sunday and then I headed up to the Calvert building for my new counselor Susanne and new secretary Heather to be set apart. Amber was sick, otherwise she would have been there too. It was good to give them hugs and say “good luck with your new callings!see you in a month!” 😂🤷‍♀️ summer is sometimes weird. 

Rental cars were crazy expensive, so Alli drove down and then drove us back up to the airport. We checked in and then popped over to the USO for dinner. 

We love that place. And D was starving. She ate a max and cheese, cheeseburger, pirates booty, 2 fruit snacks, and several Girl Scout cookies. 

😂

Ready for our big adventure!

We flew from Dulles to Lisbon and our flight didn’t leave till 10pm. 

I preferred last time when we first flew to Boston and then straight to our foreign city. 10pm is a weird time for a flight. 

We were ready for bed!

Our friend in the back just kept on a-walking. 🤣

The girls hardly slept. Every time I woke up to shift around, it seemed like one of them was watching a movie or listening to music. 

We flew TAP Air Portugal, and it wasn’t my fav. 

The food was just meh and there were so many announcements, first in Portuguese, then in English so they took forever, even overnight. 

Matt and I were stoked that we got our row to ourselves! 

We made it I to Lisbon around 10am their time, and since we had to walk the tarmac and bus to ajd from our planes, we’re counting that as a country. We’d love to go back one of these days too. 

We’d been told we had to try pasteis de nata, so we were like obvi. 

The girls each got a Nutella croissant and we hung out for our should have been 2 hours but turned into 3 hour layover. 

Then they walked us to a bus, squeezed us in like sardines, and then left us there for a good 15+ minutes. We were tired and the bus was hot. I had to laugh at these road weary travelers. 

Then I busted out Heads Up and we weirdly shuffled around so we could all take turns and tried to play quietly. 

Walking up to our plane, finally!

Delaney and I got a row to ourselves this time and she grabbed this pic. 

Matt was emotional to be back in Spain. He’s dreamed of this for so long!

We literally aced the metro system! And the girls were so tired, especially baby bug!

We’d watched a couple videos on how to ride, what pass to buy, and it helped so much. We got our card and paid our special airport fee and knew right where to go. Go us!

We’re staying right downtown and it is soooo cute!

We dropped our luggage at our cute and simple hotel and set out for dinner. 

And gelatti for a special birthday treat. 

Then we walked around. It was still 96°, so pretty warm. 

The Royal Palace of Madrid, kind of like their White House. 

The back of a fountain. 😂 there were tons of people out and a fun energy. 

We’d read you could go up in this church and it overlooks the city so there’s a great view, but we were too late to climb. Whomp whomp. 

The view was still pretty!

The architecture reminds me of New Orleans since there’s such a Spanish influence there. 

The girls were troopers but so tired and Frankie’s tummy hurt, so we came back to our room and crashed. 

It’s a tiny “sextuple room,” but it’s clean and quiet and the girls were stoked about the bunk beds!

9:00 bedtime + a couple phone and bathroom wakeups. Yay for a birthday in Spain!