Farewell to Grammy and Grandpa... Normal life begins today

When a dress fits perfectly, don't you think you have to create life circumstances to be able to wear it?? This dress was hanging in our laundry room, and we almost convinced Grandpa to let Grammy stay as our nanny and housekeeper. :) Sophie is sitting by me as I type this and she piped up "Actually if Grammy had stayed, I would have wanted Grandpa to stay too. He tells awesome stories!"

We walked to the Plaza de España, which is very close to our house

Right by the magnificent buildings and fountains is a vast park, like a Spanish version of Central Park in NYC. Bike paths, trees, ponds and bridges, museums and acres of space for Stone to run free

We were in denial that this moment would come. Grammy and Grandpa had to pack their bags and roll them to the bus stop. Many tears. :( I am not exaggerating that the joy and comfort and relative ease of the past two weeks has been largely thanks to them. They are enormous forces for good in all of our lives and I am SO grateful that they were willing to come with us! We needed their help and support more than I realized.

So.... on to normal life! Here is our washer and dryer - note the size, and thank your lucky stars if your washer takes less than 2 hours to run a cycle. Actually, it's a blessing that Erik spent two years washing his clothes in a bucket with a washboard in rural Argentina, and in Chile I had a washer that hooked up to the kitchen sink and hung clothes on a clothes line. We promised ourselves we wouldn't take things for granted afterward, so this is a good reminder of how lucky we are.

You thought we had a "No living creatures except humans" policy but here in Spain we are hosting animal friends! While we made dinner the other night Lucy spotted a gecko  on our kitchen wall, then another baby gecko on the stairs. We like lizards but the family of ants living in our walls? Not so much. We usually grab paper towels but sometimes just squish them with our thumbs. We like to give them the dignity of a name before they die - Ant Rachel, Ant Lulu, Ant Courtney, Ant Whitney, Ant Noelle, Ant Franceskay, Ant Marjorie or Ant Nancy. :)

This fridge is much bigger than I expected for Europe! And  we have a freezer, an oven, a microwave and even a dishwasher!! I am getting used to no disposal.

We re-arranged the family room to accommodate wrestling and snuggling, bought an IKEA rug, and Erik bought an XBox since we don't have TV or movies. We have a few toys and books, but the afternoons are SO hot and sometimes it helps to spend a half hour with Lego Star Wars.

Hopping on the bus for our first trip to a big department store called "El Corte Ingles" - it's like Nordstrom  combined with high-class Target and grocery. You can buy anything you can think of in the world (even the kids' text books!!) for an absurdly high price - which people acknowledge is sometimes worth it because of the convenience.

Riding the bus - learning our way through the city!