First visitors!

Lots happening lately, hopefully I can remember most of it as I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write while Coco is "napping" (these days, that means throwing a fit in her room since I made her stop watching Peppa Pig on the iPad).

We had friends staying with us for the past week, which was excellent! Got down to the beach for a day--it was 100 degrees in Granada, so perfect timing to head down to the coast where it was 15 degrees cooler. Chose Burriana beach in Nerja and it was lovely, actually a sandy beach on the Mediterranean which isn't super common, and the water was pretty calm (and a tad chilly!).

We also made the first trip to the Alhambra and got to get a taste of it. We didn't realize the need to buy tickets very far in advance, but as soon as Rawlings' travel plans were firm Eric scoured all the possible options and managed to find some for one of the last time slots of their final full day here...of course it was 100 degrees and the place is at the top of the biggest hill around and you can't go through it with strollers, so we were a bit sweaty by the time we wrapped up :) Got to tour the Nasrid Palaces, which were built throughout the 1300's, but we'll have to wait until next time to see the Alcazaba (original military fortress built before the palaces), the Palace of Charles V (built in the 1500's post-Crusades) and the Generalife (the architect's gardens).

In addition to helping with baby Aiden, the highlight to Coco's week was probably the day we rode the "train bus" (hop-on/hop-off tour with audio guide) since she's been fascinated by it for the past month and has to stop and wave EVERY time one passes us on the street (20+ times a week at minimum). Once we'd hopped on, she wasn't too keen about the idea of hopping off, so we just rode it around for a couple hours enjoying our prime seating in the big handicapped space in the caboose. While we had probably walked along most of the same streets during our explorations, it was really neat to view it all from a different vantage point...so much of the time walking around is spent looking down at the uneven cobblestone sidewalk directly in front of you to avoid tripping or stepping in dog poo!

I think the rest of our days were filled with wandering and relaxing and the great Spanish pastime of drinking cerveza while snacking on tapas. Coco continued to be a very adventurous eater...I did my best not to let her know my stomach was turning while she savored the sardine tails and prawn eyeballs. We got down to the market, hit up the wine bar recommended by both Rick Steves and Anthony Bourdain, saw the big cathedral, and got to tour a gorgeous little church called the Basilica San Juan de Dios (probably the most gold-covered, intricately decorated church you could imagine). All in all, an excellent week--not to mention the chance to hang out with some dear friends and have conversations in English :)

The flat seems very quiet now, Eric is back in the US for a few days to see his dad and take care of some business. Coco will go back to school on Monday for a normal full week, which will actually be her first I think. Overall, that is the one area where we are having a tough time. She just hasn't warmed up to it yet :( She still cries every morning at drop-off and tells us she wants to go back to her old school in Minnesota. While the foreign language exposure was something Eric and I were both very eager for her to experience, I'm starting to feel like this may just be too much. It's difficult to really know how she spends her days, since she doesn't provide much detail and the teachers don't speak much English...of course, I imagine the worst and Eric tries to convince me she wasn't sitting alone in the corner chewing on her blanket for 6 hours and mumbling to herself. I've half-considered trying to find a different school, but it seems like we'd just be starting over at square one with her getting accustomed to a new place and new people who still don't speak her language. We'll re-evaluate after the next 2 weeks...starting then the travel schedule kicks into high gear and she'd only be at school 1-2 days/wk until early August anyway.

Besides that, we've been really enjoying the location we're in (so glad the flat has A/C as we get through this early heat wave!) and it feels like such an accomplishment to have most of our travels planned out. Getting all our flights, trains, ferries and hotels booked felt like a full-time job for a while there. We also took a leap and booked flights to come back to Europe following our MN/WI visit this Thanksgiving. Not exactly sure where we'll want to be then, or what we might have on the list for work options at that point, but we're thinking we might not be done exploring :)