The End of Week One

Our time in Madrid is coming to an end.  This week has been mostly vacation so we are getting anxious to get down to Chucena (a small town outside of Seville)  I can't stress enough how much help we have received from our contacts here.  I don't think what we are doing would be possible with out them, specifically one, Gloria.  We run into road block after road block that wonderful Gloria is willing to help us with.
We are trying to get a car so we con get around a little easier and that wouldn't be possible with help, when we started looking for apartments to rent we found out the minimum rental contract was 1 year and were able to find someone that would do a shorter time because of our contacts.  Gloria has helped us with transportation, questions about school, I could go on and on.  I just feel like nothing would have happened without our contacts, it is as they say, it is not what you know but who you know.

As a side note our air B and B here in Madrid was wonderful this week and had everything that we needed except for one thing, Our water heater kept malfunctioning.  Some days we would have hot water some days not.  We got used to boiling water and then just pouring water over ourselves when there was none.  This cute boy got to have a bath in nice warm water.  He is so cute!

The Sabbath Day

If you know me at all you know that for myself and my family Sunday is a special day.  It just so happens that here in Madrid the church and the Holy Temple are on the same property.
Going to church in a foreign language is always and interesting experience.  The first hour of church we as a family sit together and so it was no big deal, But after that we break up and go to our separate classes.  There was a lot of fear from the children at this moment.  It was extremely difficult to drop them off seeing the fear in their eyes.  They were amazing to put on a brave face (some of them more than others).  Miranda was being so brave until Steven saw the fear in her eyes and it brought tears to his eyes so then she couldn't hold it in anymore.
After all the fear and a little bit of drama being dropped off by themselves each of them came out of class so excited about how well it went.  Of course everyone was super nice to them,  they each used a little bit of Spanish and most of them had at least one person in their class that spoke a little bit of English.  It was an amazing experience.

Answers To Prayer

We try very hard to help our children rely on their Heavenly Father.  We want the to know that he is there and that he cares about the individually.  We have had many moment to pray for help and I have been so proud of my kids and the faith they show.  I will share a few stories since we began our trip.

1st:  When Jackson got lost briefly in the Chicago airport I barley had time to start panicking and found out that Jacob had already said a prayer before Jackson came walking back around the corner and we found him.

2nd:  We have had a few children suffering from illness, colds, low fevers, and one of the younger ones suffering from constipation.  This can be really bad with pain and fever and just plain no fun.  There is only so much you can do about it.  Last night before bed Steven gave him a priesthood blessing (he later commented that he had never given a blessing for someone to poop before)  But heavenly father answered our prayers and blessed this child that his body would work properly.  It had been a problem for 4 days and this morning all was better.

3rd:  This morning we were in a rush to get to our train, if you are late you miss it.  As we got to the metro Steven realized he forgot his wallet that had his Metro card in it.  He had to run back to the apartment and we were a little frantic.  I gathered the children around me and in the middle of the Metro station as we waited for Steven we prayed together.  We prayed the we would make ti on time but also that Daddy would be safe and calm.  Our prayers were answered.

4th:  Our last activity in Toledo was the Military Museum.  The whole things was a maze in which we were never quit sure what level we were on or even what side of the building we were on.  We only got about half way through it when ti was time to go so we had to find our way out.  We thought we knew the way but we got lost and we were again getting a little frantic.  Keagan pulled on my shirt and asked if we could say a prayer.  Of course.  As we waited a moment Jackson said a beautiful prayer we found by the elevator that we were not on the floor we thought we were and know how to get there.  Again a large answer to a small prayer.

I am so grateful for the example of my sweet children.  They are always the first ones to suggest the we pray.  They are humble and wonderful and I love that they know Heavenly Father is listening.  I know that he is,   I know that he doesn't always answer prayers in the way we want him to but that he is there and he does answer prayers.

Friends

You may or may not have noticed the last couple days I have posted some pictures of some people that are not in our family.  Funny Story.  I few days ago we stopped at a playground, and while the kids were playing on a monkey bar type net a boy came up to them and started trying to do what they were doing.   Well, Miranda tried to encourage him in her limited Spanish language skills and after he did it he turned to her and said, "by the way I speak English".  LOL She was so relieved and they had so much fun playing together.  It is funny how you are pulled toward people that you can communicate with. It is part of human nature weather we like it or not.   Anyway I talked to his dad found out they are from California and will be living in Spain for at least 2 years.  They were on vacation in Madrid just like us.  The mom in the family is a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints just like we are.  We had so much in common and the kids had fun together so we spent the next few days meeting up together.  They went with us to the Prado, the came with us to Toledo.  We had a great time together and the kids consider them an answer to their prayers.

Toledo, Spain

Today we took a train out to Toledo.  Is a city on a hill that has been there for thousands of years.  monuments all around the city remind you of times from the roman era, to times when the Muslims reigned as well as times when the Christians conquered.  It has a rich History and it was lots of fun to explore with the kids.    Toledo is also in the region of La Mancha and so we had to visit the statue of Miguel de Cervantes. (Author of Don Quijote)

There is alsa a military museum in Toledo that we visited while we were there.

 We took the opportunity to let the kids eat at McDonalds as well.  Sometimes familiar food is all we need to feel a little at home.

 In Toledo there is a huge Cathedral that we visited.  I wish I took a picture of the kids favorite part of it but i didn't.   There favorite part was the crypt were there was one grave that was made out of glass and it was a princess that died because she would not deny Christ.  You could still see her rib cage and the kids thought it was super cool.  Makenna and Miranda laughed about how this was their first time meeting a real princess.

Museo Del Prado

How long can you take kids into a fine arts museum?  We survived about 2 1/2 hours.  All in all it was pretty great.  Steven took us around to the ones that we needed to see and he wanted to tell the kids about and then we were done.

 Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez
Steven teaches a full section on just this painting for some of his classes so it was important for our kids to see it. He has talked to them about it many times before this moment.

We saw tons of other pieces throughout the museum I can't talk about them all but it was a good morning  to try and help the kids understand a little more about art and the different time periods we will see throughout our stay in Spain. 

Down Town Madrid

It is always amazing to me how quickly children adapt to new locations and situations.  We have been riding the Metro everyday and they are learning very quickly the do and don't of that situation.  We have walked around in crowded streets like they have never experienced and they stick just close enough.  

I personally have been to Madrid a number of times and have never seen it quit like it has been this weekend.  The holiday week has made it just a little crazy.  The main plaza if full of shops.  There are thousands of people on break from school and work in Spain as well as those who, like us, are from another country.  Even with all this it has been wonderful to walk around and show the kids the things we love about Madrid.

 We have been telling Miranda about the Plaza Miranda her whole life so it was only natural we went and showed it to her.  Then we ate lunch around the corner in another plaza, after we walked to an Egyptian Temple that was given to the Spanish Government.

Meson del Champiñon. 

I really like mushrooms but I really love this restaurant in Madrid that serves the best stuffed mushrooms.  I have been telling my kids about this for many years so it was important to take them there.  Most of them didn't like them (they don't like mushrooms)  But Jackson and Miranda thought they were pretty good. If you are ever in Madrid, I highly recommend the Meson del Champinon.

Travel

I have tried to post this particular post 3 times so here is hoping it works correctly this time

There are thousands of post out there that tell you the perfect way to travel with ease when you have children,  This is not one of those posts.  That being said we know that we are a little crazy and that traveling with our family may be a challenge, especially since this would last over 24 hours.  All in all the children did pretty amazing.  We only lost one child for about 3 minutes, one boarding pass for about the same 3 minutes, and only had one child get so hot they had to sit down with their head in a throw up bag with the hopes they would not throw up or pass out.  Trust me it really was a great traveling day.  Here are the details.

The Tiny Plane

We began our day with a 2 1/2 hour drive from our home to Mason City, Iowa.  We had tickets to fly in an 8 passenger plane from there to Chicago.  We have 8 passengers so we basically chartered our own private plane for the family to get to Chicago.  It was an interesting experience.   The same lady that checked us in had to weigh each of our bags, weigh each of us, and then they inspected each of our bags by hand.   We then walked 15 feet over to go through the TSA check, which was surprisingly thorough.  Then the check in lady came back and took all our carry on luggage to the plane for us, walked us out to the plane, and then put on a bright vest and used traffic control sticks and signaled the plane onto the runway.

We all had fun watching the world go bye with takeoff.  The kids did take a little time to play on the tablets in the middle but the time went by quickly as we reached Chicago and prepared to land, which was an adventure all in itself with a tiny plane and you can watch the pilots.  A lot better than driving to Chicago!

To be honest I was most worried about the Chicago airport.  I have had experiences there that resulted in hours of lines and changing gates a few times.  I am so grateful this was not our experience.  We did have to haul all the luggage from our 1st flight to check into our international flight which was a challenge.  Check in was a short line and went smooth.  Even the security line was not very long. We only waited about min before we were up front.  If I was behind us I would have avoided our line for a little while.  We were slow and looked crazy and this is the moment that everything went sideways for about 5 minutes.  Keagan said he felt really hot and needed to throw up ( he was super dehydrated and you can't take water through security ahhhhh)  So... when he got through he sat on the other side with his head down and a throw up bag.  At about this same moment Steven got though security and he misplaced his boarding pass,  WHAT!!!  And again at the same time Jackson gets through security and wants to go find a bathroom, He tells his Dad (who is still looking for his boarding pass and doesn't hear a word he says).  Miranda noticed Jackson walking away but couldn't get his attention and had Kaden in her hands.  It was just one of those crazy messed up moments that everything goes wrong at the same time.  Thankfully it only lasted about 5 minutes.  Jackson came back quickly, we got some food and water in Keagan and the panic moment was over.  whew!

The Huge Plane

The international flight did not dissapoint the kids with with their  personal entertainment screen for each of them they quickley explored the game and movies and played and watched a fair bit.  After dinner we made the mturn it aff and try and sleep.  Most of them with no big fuss.  It was mostly smooth sailing from here.  We landed in Amsterdam, switched to a different flight, slept most of the flight to Madrid.  We Made it.

A Metro to the Palace

The kids loved the Metro (Madrid's underground railroad system)  It was a maze of fun and new experiences. 
We took the metro to go visit the Royal Palace area and just walk around and see a few sights.  They loved the gardens and instantly thought they looked like the Peach Gardens in mariocart.  It was a good first day out. 

El Supermercado

The first need after a bed to sleep in is food to eat.  We are lucky to have a supermarket very close to the apartment we are staying at for the week.  I remembered to bring my reusable shopping bags as many stores will charge you to use their plastic bags.  It was fun to watch the kids be amazed at the things they could find at the store.  Their favorites were the deli counter carving pieces of cured ham off of a full pig leg and the seafood department. 
We are finding plenty of delicious food and even a few things my picky eater will eat.