Sorry for the bi-polar posts

Nerja  has been very good to us.  We made the right decision to stay here at the beach.  I regret that we didn't get to see Granada and Madrid this trip, but we've settled into a nice routine and everyone is more relaxed.  We still have four days left here but I'm already feeling pangs of longing for the life we've been living here.  I'm feeling bad about all of the complaining I did on this blog, but just like the "don't carpe diem" essay, it's impossible to enjoy every second of being a parent - no matter where you are.  Being in paradise is wonderful, but a screaming toddler is still a screaming toddler.  On Tuesday we will fly to Paris where we will stay for a week.  My brother is going to join us. I'm very excited to be in Paris again (Joe & I were there before we were married).  And then this trip, our first real adventure, will be over.  Maybe, just maybe, after a few months, we will be ready to do it again?  Either way, we've grown stronger as a family, a couple, and we've made memories that will last a lifetime.  I wonder how much of this trial travel with tots, the boys will remember?  Whether they will remember it or not, it will shape them in ways we will never know.  And even at the worst moments, my little family is still pretty cool.  

Trouble in paradise

The 3 year old telling it how it is We are loving the Spanish beach town of Nerja.  Today we enjoyed paella right on the beach which they cook in a huge cauldron.  We dyed easter eggs with onion skins.  We have a wonderful place to stay with plenty of room with patios with views of the ocean.  We can easily walk to everything.  However, our situation with the kids has only improved slightly.  Our three year old is still rebelling with everything he has.  He is hitting, throwing several mighty tantrums a day, refuses to nap or go to bed at night and then has night terrors because he is over tired.  We have to give him treats to get him to do anything.  Tonight, right in time for Easter, he tested out some new vocabulary words "god damn-it".  Wow.  I can't imagine where he would've heard that....  So while we aren't ready to call our new life, the "trial travel with tots", a complete fail, we would definitely NOT recommend it.  Joe is ready to go back to work asap.  We have had some wonderful moments together and I feel bad even complaining at all.  I realize what a great opportunity this is and how lucky I am to be sitting on the beach in Southern Spain.  Maybe you could do it successfully with some kids, just not ours.  Our three year old is too sensitive and needs a rigid routine.  We overestimated his capabilities (poor little guy).  So what to do now?  We have decided to cancel our plans to go to Granada and Madrid and just stay here in Nerja until its time to go to Paris.  We hope this will provide the stability our child needs to shape up before we sell him to the pirates.   

The halfway point

The halfway point Thank the gods we are out of Seville!  Ever since arriving in the lovely, warm, sunny, small yet bustling beach town of Nerja, our luck seems to have changed.  As I said in my previous post, it wasn't all Seville's fault, except the weather (rain) and the crappy lodging (we couldn't find anything better due to the Santa Semana celebrations).  Seville is probably a great spot, we had lots of nice moments and memorable meals. But Nerja seems to be where we should've come right from the start, and stayed the whole time!  But I always was a beach gal...  Joe is considering canceling the rest of our destinations (Granada, Madrid & Paris) and just staying put for the rest of our trip.  Fine with me.  Our accommodations are perfect.  Large, sunny, complete with beach toys, high chair, dishwasher, the owner even offered to babysit for us!  I mean, our kids are pretty cute when they are behaving but still that's pretty generous...  The beach is a short walk away.  There are a hundred great restaurants, bakeries and heladerias all right up the way on a pedestrian only road.  Last night we all had giant plates of delicious pasta for $3 Euros each.  The elusive Santa Semana parades we kept trying to find in Seville, we happened to just stumble upon last night that was so neat it almost made me want to get back into Catholicism again (even if only for the incense & music).  They take Easter seriously over here!  We spent the morning on the beach which kind of reminds me of Puerta Vallarta, Mexico or Cinque Terre, Italy with the mountains right on the beach vista.  Right now, both boys are napping, Joe is buying groceries, and I'm sipping some wine on our ocean view balcony.  Life is good again!

Tapa heaven, Santa Semana & RAIN on our parades!

Tapa heaven, Santa Semana & RAIN on our parades! We finally got to sit down at a sidewalk tapa restaurant a few days ago (well, I did.  Joe did laps with a sleeping Theo in the carrier).  The tapas were rich and wonderful.  What a great culture!  Here's what I had: bacon wrapped dates drizzled in honey (I'm a big fan of salty & sweet together and this was similar in taste to bacon that just happens to get with syrup on your pancake plate), fried eggplant with Brie also drizzled with honey topped with walnuts, leeks au gratin (served on a plate so hot the cheese was crispy on the sides), slightly spicy peppers served warm with sea salt, and a chilled tomato soup.  YUM!  We also love the quickie tapa places where everything is on display and you help yourself to whatever you want and then when you are ready to pay, they count how many toothpicks are on your plate.  Each tapa comes with a toothpick and they are $2 Euros each.  Fun for the whole family!  Now I'm on a mission to have real churros with hot dipping chocolate!  Joseph will be in heaven. We also are in the midst of the Santa Semana (Holy Week) celebrations.  I'm not sure exactly because we haven't actually been able to see any of it live yet but I think it goes something like this: each church has these elaborate "floats" with statues of Jesus & Mary & tons of candles - some of them 100's of years old - that parishioners walk under carrying through the streets all the way down to the cathedral in the center of town.  They then walk back to the church with it.  Some of these round trips can take up to 12 hours.  The strangest thing about it for me is  that the men are dressed in these creepy costumes that look like they are on their way to a KKK rally.  No joke!  White or black robes with pointy hats with slits cut for eye holes.  They are proudly walking around and every time I see one of them I get chills.  The festivities started on Sunday and get bigger every day until Easter.  Sunday was really fun.  We were able to hang at a tapas bar right in the thick of all the excitement.  People were everywhere drinking & eating in the streets.  It was great people watching. Actually the trip is kind of a disaster right now.  We are thinking of throwing in the towel and coming home.  Not really but at least once a day one of us is like "forget this let's get out of here!"  Despite all of the happy, fun moments, Seville has not been as good to us as Barcelona.  It's not Seville's fault, well except that its been raining since we got here and our living quarters aren't as functional.   We've just had a rough week.  Now both boys are sick and neither will ever sleep (even though Jos has dark circles under his eyes).  How can they outlast us every day?  We are both exhausted and they or at least Joseph is still going going going until late at night and then has night terrors all night which wakes Theo up.  We keep trying to see some of the Santa Semana (Holy Week) parades but it is either raining when we try or one of the boys is asleep (usually the former).  We are fine with a little drizzle, we've been walking in it since we arrived.  But I'm talking rain.  Not going sightseeing with two sick boys in the pouring down rain.  So the alternative is keeping them entertained in our small living quarters without driving ourselves mad.  I'm not ready to bail out of the trip yet, but I am ready to get the heck out of Seville!  Thank god for the food here, it's our only comfort right now, when we can actually get to it.

The day that broke us

The day that broke us Im not sure if it was the backlash from spending five hours traveling by train yesterday from Barcelona to Seville (not fun!).  About halfway (around Madrid) I started to panic.  After Theo took a brief cat nap at the onset, I fretted "what are we going to do for the next 3 hours"??   What ended up happening was me holding Theo in the Ergo carrier in the in-between non train car alone rather than in the nice seat we paid for where Joe & Joseph hung out.  Joe took his turn with the baby too.  That Ergo carrier has saved me so many times!  I think when Theo is in it he regards it like a carseat: there's no getting out so why bother struggling?  That doesn't mean he doesn't cry in it, he does.  But it's better than trying to freehold a strong, struggling 22 pounder determined to get down.   Or maybe it was the fact that when we set out today for our first day in Seville, there happened to be a general strike going on (in the whole country by the way not just Seville) and so nothing was open, there was trash everywhere, and there were loud demonstrations and marches going on complete with canons firing which was stressful to listen to in the background.   Or maybe its just that after ten days of traveling an no real naps, the kids have had enough?  Joe and I both finally had to admit that the honeymoon is over, now it's time to start taking breaks in the afternoon for an official nap time again.  The kids have both spoken loud and clear!   Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  The strike will be over.  The trash will begin to be collected again.  The stores will be open so we can buy water and bread and ice cream.  Our oldest son won't grab a handful of dirt/sand and dump it on the head of our baby in the beautiful orange grove of the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world.  Our aloe Vera that we bought for 7 Euros will not disappear from our stroller before we even get it home.  Our baby won't find a half empty can of coke, dump it out and play with the spillage on the dirty street before we can snatch it away. And most importantly, our shower won't run out of hot water before all of us have rinsed, shampooed, conditioned, shaved & rinsed again. I will say, the smell of the orange trees in bloom is intoxicating!  It gives me nostalgia for visiting my grandparents in Florida many years ago.

Getting by on less? Sure! As long as you already own a stroller that rocks!

Our last night in Barcelona! Tomorrow afternoon we are heading southwest to Seville by train.  Our time in Barcelona was fabulous!  Our boys were as good and as bad as they can be.  One bonus is that city noise is a great buffer for tantrum noise.   We did end up getting a new, high-end stroller and boy is it nice!  We should've bought it 4 years ago...  I can't believe we were walking around all day trying to push that $12 stroller around (which by the way we are STILL doing!).  The way we roll now is usually with Theo in the carrier and Jos in the new stroller with the crappy stroller attached to the new stroller rolling along behind it.  We alternate between this and pushing both boys in both strollers. We have been lucky enough twice since we've been here to actually sit down at a cafe for a meal.  Usually we just look longingly on as we pass all the childless travelers and city dwellers sipping coffee and sangria at the cafes and tapas bars.  We are spending our days at playgrounds in between attempting to see the museums and tourist sights.  Luckily there are playgrounds everywhere here!  Yesterday just as we arrived at the most famous sight, the La Sagrada Familia church, both boys fell asleep!!  It must've been some kind of divine intervention.  And wow!  The Sagrada should be one of the seven wonders of the world.  It is really amazing. Joseph's diet has done an embarrassing 180.  My stir-fry eating, tofu-loving 3 year old has been living on dessert croissants, muffins, crepes and ice cream.  I can't even believe it myself as I'm writing this.  It's just that when he's hungry there is always a patisserie right there and of course he wants to go in and choose something and rather than cause tantrum number five of the day I think "well, we are on vacation...". I know, bad parenting that's going to be hard to undo.  At least there aren't gelato stands every 20 feet at home.  I've had my share of sweets too. So today's lesson for those of you paying attention at home: if you're going to be trekking through European cities with little ones, get the best stroller you can afford.  As for my new shoes, I'm still hitting the pavement in the ones I brought.

Five straight days of walking

Sunday (our 5th night).   I'm so tired!  We've been all over this wonderful city on foot for five days now.  And carrying a 22 pound pack (Theo) or pushing a 33 pound stroller (Josey) who likes to be carried too, is like training for the Hunger Games.  All three pairs of my most practical, comfy shoes I brought have given me blisters.  Tomorrow I'm going to try my sandals and hope no one rolls a cart over my toes...   Also, the $12 cheap-o umbrella stroller we bought before we left (which is so cheap it doesn't even have an umbrella) has proven completely useless.  We are going to break down and splurge for a Maclaren or similar.  In Houston we just don't need a stroller that much because we aren't able to walk to many places.  When we do its just to nearby parks or restaurants and the wagon works fine for that.  Now that we are here and see how quickly our 3 year old tires from walking we realize we are going to be "pushing" this crappy stroller all day for the next 4 weeks.  It hardly rolls the wheels are so bad.  We are constantly kicking the wheels straight.  The trusty Ergo carrier has paid for itself 100 times over, but after five days my back is killing me.  Now I'm thinking double stroller!  We will see... Once we decided we were going to travel, my old habits encouraged me to run out & buy a bunch of new things for our adventures.  I decided to hold off and wait and see what we would actually really need and just buy it here.  So tomorrow, first order of business: new comfortable shoes (I'm leaning towards jumping on the Toms bandwagon), and get a new, better stroller.