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.