Matt and I just got back from our week in Spain. We had an amazing vacation, but we are SO
glad to be home to our little monkey.
Leaving her was incredibly hard, and we missed her like crazy. Surprisingly, I made it until Saturday before
my first cry fest, which was brought on by shopping for her. Seeing all of the little girl clothes, and
the other kids in the stores made me so sad.
My mom was awesome, and emailed us every night to let us know how the
days went, and she sent us tons of pictures.
Emily was so sweet & uploaded some video of Reese from Eva’s
birthday party as well, which made us so happy to see. Coming home and seeing her was such a huge
relief. She was very happy to see us as
well, and we had a couple great hours with her before bedtime. I’m looking forward to squishing her cute
chubby cheeks much more in the morning. J
We came back from our vacation with over 1,200 photos, and I
managed to condense them to under 300.
Still WAY too many to upload to the blog! So, I’m taking the easy way out, and I’m
going to make some public Facebook albums so that you can all view them. I’ll try to give a (relatively) brief
synopsis of our trip, so that you know what you’re looking at when you view the
photos.
Matt and I absolutely loved Madrid. This is our second trip to Europe (we went to
Dublin and Paris in 2007), and it’s so interesting to see how much the culture,
lifestyle, and people vary from country to country. We both agree that nothing will probably ever
top Paris in terms of absolute beauty, but we loved the culture of Madrid much,
much more. The people are much more laid
back, and the feeling is more casual.
The language barrier was a little more difficult this time, as there
were very few people who spoke English (the majority of people in France speak
English as their second language).
Luckily, Matt’s Spanish is pretty good, so we were able to get along
fairly easily.
The majority of our time was spent in Madrid just exploring
the city and it’s sights. We had
beautiful weather the entire time we were there. Madrid is a hot, dry climate, and most days
were in the mid 90s. Most of the main
streets actually have shade canopies above them, which really helps with the
heat. Madrid is full of plazas, and all
of the action pretty much revolves around them.
The plazas are always good for people watching, and they are full of
street performers. It is so fun to watch
groups of people gather around & appreciate someone’s art, whether they are
singing opera, playing a guitar, accordion, or violin, singing with a band, or
posing as a statue (those people were amazing!!!!!).
We viewed the Royal Palace, which was amazingly beautiful
and well preserved. Unfortunately, they
do not allow photos inside. The outside
was pretty amazing though, and the gardens in the back were neat to see as
well. The palace is HUGE!
We visited the Prado Museum, which was pretty cool to
see. Unfortunately, Matt and I have a
great under appreciation for artwork, and we quickly toured the museum in about
45 minutes during one of their free admission times. We spent more time at the Botanical Gardens ,
which are right across the street. The
gardens were pretty neat—they grow seemingly everything there. There were several sections of flowers, tons
and tons of trees and shrubs, and a huge section of vegetables and
herbs—including sweet corn & pumpkins.
It felt just like home! We got to
see an olive tree, which was really cool.
I think I could take pictures of flowers all day long, so there are
several photos of flowers in the album as well.
We enjoyed a lot of time at Retiro Park, which is basically
Madrid’s version of Central Park. It is
a huge park in the middle of the city.
It was a very beautiful place to relax, and they have a really cool pond
in the center where you can rent boats to paddle around in.
We went to a soccer game on Saturday night, which was fun to
experience. It was much different than
sporting events at home. Soccer (Futbol)
is a really big deal in Europe. It’s their main sport, and people are crazy
about it. The game we went to was Real
Madrid’s home opener, and since all of their games are sold out (Matt got up in
the middle of the night to buy tickets as soon as they went on sale online
before we left!), we figured the energy & excitement at the game would be
fun to experience. Surprisingly, the
crowd was actually pretty calm. They got
excited when a goal was scored, or if there was a close play, but other than
that, there wasn’t much electricity.
Nothing like a home opener for a team here would feel. We were also shocked to see that a beer cost
2 euro, in contrast to the $7+ they charge at a sporting event here. However, we never saw a single person drink
one. They have no food for sale at the
stadium, except for some bags of potato chips and sunflower seeds. You hear people cracking the sunflower seeds
through the whole game, and the ground was littered with them by the end of the
night. At halftime, everyone enjoyed
packed food they had brought from home.
We didn’t know to bring our own food!
It was also very strange to see the stadium full of people smoking. It seems like everyone smokes in Madrid, and
the city is full of smoking (not indoors, except hotels), but it was surprising
to see everyone smoking at a sporting event.
The other interesting thing is that they “boo” by whistling. So, whenever the other team scored, or the
refs made an unpopular call, the stadium would erupt with whistling. All in all, it was a fun and interesting
experience, and we got to see a Real Madrid win!
The food in Spain was incredible. Tapas is the main cuisine, and is a big part
of the Spanish culture. It was such a
big part of our trip, that I took pictures of pretty much everything we ate. For those of you that aren’t familiar with
tapas, it basically means “small plates”.
The concept is that the portions are very small, and you share them and
eat several. For someone like myself who
is a terrible decision maker, this is a genius way to dine. You get to try so many different foods this
way. In Spain, it is customary to “tapas
hop” from place to place through the night, having only 1 or 2 dishes at each
location. It is also customary for them
to provide you with a complimentary tapas (of their choosing) when you order a
drink—sometimes something as simple as a plate of olives, or sometimes a little
portion of their tapa of the day. It
made us try a few foods that we otherwise would have skipped. Ham is a really big deal in Spain. There are cured pig legs hanging from the
walls everywhere you go. There is
usually one on a slicer as well, and they shave the ham from it throughout the
day. The ham is much fattier than what
we are accustomed to at home, but it is very good. They slice it extremely thin. Probably the most adventurous thing we ate
were fried pigs ears. They actually
didn’t taste too bad, but the mental aspect was a bit of a challenge. Another popular food is roasted suckling pig,
and several places specialize in it. We
didn’t eat it, but I did take a picture.
We were pleasantly surprised with the cost of food and drinks in
Spain. Paris was EXTREMELY expensive, so
we were prepared for high prices, but it was just the opposite. The food, and especially the drinks, were
very cheap. It was a very nice surprise.
This is our big Madrid album, full of everything described above. I hope you enjoy your photo tour of Madrid!
We took two day trips outside of Madrid via high speed rail.
Both trips were only about a 30 minute ride, and the trains are awesome.
They are extremely comfortable, and a great way to travel.
I wish we had them here!
Our first trip was to Toledo, which is a very well preserved ancient city.
The main attractions are the cathedral, and the Alcazar, which is a big castle.
Link to pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2120652334099.2107939.1179518156&l=34cc42f30d&type=1
Our second day trip was to Segovia, which was incredibly beautiful.
The city has ancient aquaducts that were used to transport water during Roman times.
The aquaducts are amazing, as they were built with no mortar, and are still standing strong today.
The other main attraction in Segovia is the castle.
It is the castle that the Walt Disney World castle was modeled after.
We took the long climb to the top of the tower through a
very tight winding staircase, and all 152 clausterphobia filled steps were worth it for the view at the top.
Link to pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2120678254747.2107940.1179518156&l=eaa4a7f3a5&type=1
Well, I think that's all for now. I will do an update with pictures of our little monkey soon, including her week at Grandma & Grandpa's. But for now, this 7 hour time change is catching up with me. Goodnight!
Her fine motor skills are really developing, and she has gotten really good at using a fork and spoon. She still has trouble getting the bite of food on the utensil herself, but she does a great job getting it to her mouth. She is really into sorting things right now. The other day, she kept herself busy for 45 minutes moving potatoes from one bowl to another. She is really good at stacking her blocks, but she gets really frustrated when they fall. I've been trying to make a game of knocking them down, so that she knows that it's all part of the fun. She also loves feeding her babies and carrying them around all day.
She is so incredibly strong willed, and she is definitely throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She is becoming more focused on things, and it's not as easy to distract her attention to something else when she gets upset. She has started banging her head on things when she is mad, and I really hope she stops that soon because it's very upsetting! I think that this stage is challenging because I can't explain to her why she can't have or do something. So, she gets frustrated when I deny her request, and in her mind, I'm just being really unfair (like when I won't let her eat dog food or eat her 4th banana of the day).
Speaking of dog food, Reese has also become pretty mischievous. I definitely understand now why people always say to worry when they aren't making noise. Kids are quiet when they are doing something they know they shouldn't. The other day, I was unloading the dishwasher, and Reese was enjoying one of her favorite games, which is going into the laundry room & shutting the door & then opening it to play peek-a-boo (she doesn't shut it all the way, she can't reach the doorknobs yet, thank goodness!). I was watching her open & close the door, & then she closed it & stayed in there. I didn't hear her making any noise (which I now know is the definite sign of trouble), and I figured she was playing with our shoes, because she likes putting them on. Well, after about 30 seconds, I decided I should go check on her. I walked into the laundry room, and Reese looked up at me with her hand inside the dog food bin with the biggest chipmunk cheeks I have ever seen. Seeing me walk in didn't stop her, and she tried to cram a few more pieces in while I was standing there, and she got very upset when I stopped her. By the time it was all over, I had pulled SEVEN pieces of dog food out of her mouth. She was NOT pleased that I took them from her either.
My parents went to visit Jacqi, Brian, and Austin in Florida last month, and since Matt's mom was substitute teaching for a maternity leave, Reese went to daycare for the first time. There is a daycare right across the street from my office that will accept kids part-time if they have availability. The facility is new, it's run by former patients of mine, and it's super clean. I felt very comfortable taking her there. Unfortunately, Reese HATED it. She went through a really awful two weeks being left there, and she never really adjusted. I was so surprised, because Reese is usually SO social, I thought she would really like being around other kids, and playing with all of the new toys. However, they said that Reese wanted nothing to do with the other kids or the teachers there. She pretty much cried all day long asking to get into her crib, and they said that was when she was the happiest--when they left her alone in her crib at nap time. It absolutely broke our hearts to watch her go through that for those two weeks (which was really only 7 days that she had to go). She would come home so hungry every day because they could hardly even get her to eat there, which is a pretty big deal for our little piglet! I'm so glad that her daycare experience is over, and as much as I want her to be well socialized, I'm very glad that we don't have to do that on a permanent basis. We'll just continue to work on socialization through our own activities!
After a couple days at daycare, Reese inevitably got sick. Her cold eventually turned into a double ear infection & sinus infection, so she is on an antibiotic. The only good thing about that is that it has helped us to continue working on her manners. She now know to cover her mouth if she sneezes or coughs, and she says "cuse me" as well, which is SO FREAKING CUTE. She says it if she burps or toots, too. :) I need to get it on video, because it melts my heart every time she says it.
She gets the best bed head EVER:
Reese has been showing some interest in the toilet, and she is aware of her diaper and when she is going to the bathroom. So, while I have no false illusions of potty training at this age, I went ahead & ordered her a potty seat. I have been putting her on there a few times a day, and she usually goes at least one of those times. The first time she pooped on the toilet, I got so excited that I took a picture to send to Matt. He thought that was pretty gross, so I won't post it here on the blog. :) I'm super impressed with how comfortable she seems using the potty though! It's 1:00 in the afternoon right now, and I still haven't had to change her diaper today, because she has gone on the toilet all morning. I hope she stays interested!
Last week, we took Reese to a pumpkin farm. She loved walking around the pumpkin patch, and she REALLY loved playing in the dirt most of all.
Last weekend, we went up to Galena with Matt's family for the 3rd year in a row. We stayed in a house at Eagle Ridge with Matt's parents, his brother Brian, his Aunt Debbie & Uncle Tim, and his cousins, Jill and Deana. The weather was absolutely perfect, and the colors were beautiful. Reese slept great in the room with us, and she had a blast being the center of attention all weekend. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone and playing games each night after Reese went to bed. We love going up there!
Well, with a blog post this long, it should take you the whole month until I get a new one up to get through it. I'll try to update sooner next time so it's not so long!
