Summer Road Trip

For the past month we have been spending many of our evenings planning out an 11 day road trip through southern Europe.  Since everyone in Spain and most of Europe take their vacations in August it has been extremely difficult to find lodging.  Everyone thinks we are crazy since we are not doing the typical European vacation  by going to just one location to relax and enjoy the break.  We likely won't do it this way again, but really wanted to see a lot of different places and couldn't choose just one. 

Our Destinations! 

We will be taking off in the morning, August 1st and will be returning August 11th, staying in 9 different hotels,  going through 9 countries, and traveling over 2500 miles.  I'm sure we will need a vacation when we get back!!!

Summer in Spain

 

Spain's summers are generally more structured than they are in the USA.  After school is out, camps begin which go through the end of July, and then everyone and their dog goes on vacation for the month of August.  There are all kinds of camps, some are daily and some are overnight, some are with the cities and others are private.   Our kids are doing the cheapest one which is with the city.  We have found that they are more for babysitting than skill teaching.

Kaiya

Skating: Everyone is on a different level, so they mostly just skate around and do what they want.  They have only shown Kaiya a few figure skating steps.  They always begin the day with  playing games, learning dance moves and warming up before putting their skates on. 

 

Morgan

Indoor soccer:   Not actually indoor but it is a little smaller and more shaded at times than the outdoor soccer camp in the background. It was no surprise to us that the kids here are really good, in fact Morgan said that he is one of the worst kids and that all the kids smaller than him are better than him.

 Mason

Indoor Soccer:  Mason also is doing indoor soccer.   They mostly just play soccer and a few  non-related games.  We were hoping they would have a chance to improve their skills or technique but they rarely even get the ball to practice shooting it at the goal.   

Kamree

Artistic Gymnastics: I couldn't get a picture of her in action because they go to the "garage" behind the sports complex and the doors are always shut, so I got a picture of her walking past our house from the sports complex to the swimming pool.  She is in the front with the pink backpack.  The girls love her and swarm around her every morning as soon as I drop her off.  They only spend a fraction of the time doing gymnastics and the rest of the time, dancing, crafts, snack time, and swimming.

 At the Pool

The camp is 4 hours a day for 2 1/2 weeks.  Each camp group ends up across town at the community pool which is their favorite part of the camp.  You would think since we have a swimming pool in our backyard they would grow tired of swimming, but they come home, inhale lunch and swim again.    I had to be selective in taking this picture since many of the girls up to age 10 don't usually wear full swimsuits but just shorts or bikini bottoms just like the boys. 

  Brent's Welcome Home Dunk

Brent had just got back from New Jersey with jetlag so we insisted he jump into the pool to wake himself up.  Kamree is squished in there too. 

And That's How you Make a Splash!!!

And yes the camera and I got wet too. 

Alejandra

 We have officially had two friends come over this summer and we were thrilled about it.   This is Alejandra from Kamree's school class.  She loves coming over and every time she comes she cries and cries when her dad comes to get her.   She has been great for the kids. Kamree started jumping in after watching Alejandra do it dozens of times and now Kamree is running and flipping into the water.  Since we insist that Alejandra uses Mason's life jacket it has pushed Mason to rely on his swimming skills.  Morgan finally has someone to chase him around and push him in, which he loves.  Since she speaks no English it has also been good for all of us to practice our Spanish with her, although Kamree tries to teach her English.

Mateo

This is Morgan's best friend from school who is also the son of one of Brent's co-workers.  We really like Mateo because he doesn't swear constantly like most boys here.  He really is a good kid and the two have quite a bit in common.  His dad went with Brent to New Jersey last week and bought a couple of baseball mitts so they can play some baseball together. 

New Jersey Haul

Brent went to New Jersey last week with 4 colleagues from work and while they were making plans to go to New York for some sightseeing and Broadway, Brent was making plans to buy me a new computer and a shopping list for Walmart.  Some of the things in the picture we can get here but they are 3X the price.  If he could have fit a cooler in his suitcase there would have been a lot more.  It was actually quite depressing after we got all this because I kept thinking how soon it would be gone and how long it would take to get more. 

Got Milk? (cream cheese)

Here is Kamree after enjoying a bagel with cream cheese before church.