Vote Obama!

Madrid

We only had one day to spend in Madrid … a Monday.  Everything closes in Europe on Monday.  So we couldn’t go to the museum we really wanted The Museum of the Americas.  We were excited to see the treasure taken from the Americas but it was closed so we made other plans.  We started with churros con chocolate at La Chocolateria San Gines.  Just imagine a pot of dark, rich, delicious chocolate!  Honestly the best thing ever!

We visited the Royal Palace. 

Image found here.

Elizabeth decided that she wanted a mansion too.

Image found here.

Then we visited San Miguel Market for lunch.  I thought it would be more like the Market Boquería and it wasn’t.  I was a little disappointed.  We finished our day at Reina Sofía because I wanted to see Guernic.  I didn’t love the museum and wished that I’d chosen to go to the Prado instead but c’est la vie.

Bri’s Road Test

I’m sure you are wondering why I am driving over two hours away for a road test.  The answer is simple … I live in Massachusetts.

See?

Massachusetts closed down a lot of RMVs (including the one in my town).  Usually I go to the one 30 minutes away, but why would it be simple to schedule a road test in Massachusetts?

I had 3 options.

Option #1.  Schedule through the driving school, pay an extra $165 (after paying over $700 for the classes) for someone to drive Bri to Milford to take the test.

Option #2.  Pay an extra $100 to the driving school for Bri to take the test in our town.

Option #3.  Schedule the test myself and drive her myself and not pay the driving school anything extra.

I chose option #3.  However, when scheduling I checked for anything during the month (any day, any time). 

Within 10 miles … nothing. 

Within 20 miles … nothing. 

Within 50 miles … nothing. 

Within 100 miles … nothing. 

Within 200 miles … oh look, Pittsfield is available.  Ok, we’re driving to Pittsfield.

I am now forced to conclude that the driving school somehow arranged the hurricane.

Hurricane Sandy

On Friday, I went to the grocery store.

Why do I always forget that everyone in New England prepares for every big storm by buying groceries?

Somehow, it surprises me every time!  But as long as I was at the store I figured I should get some extra food as well to make waiting in the extra long line worth it.  At home I unpacked my extra 5 bags of apples, then stared at the gallon of milk, two cartons of eggs and the two packages of tater tots I bought and thought, "when the power goes out, boy will I be grateful for those tots!"

Obviously, I have lost the emergency preparedness skills that come standard in Utah.

School has already been cancelled for tomorrow and you know what else is tomorrow?

Brianne's road test.    Yup, the one that we are driving 2 hours and 15 minutes away to take.  Because why wouldn't there be a hurricane on the one day this year that I scheduled the test?

I don't know who to call to complain about this ... but I know someone who does and I will be calling her to find out who to yell at!

Wrapping dad around her little Finger

A friend of mind told me that there is something about girls and their fathers.  Well, he actually said … And I quote, “my boys, they can drive any old beater car around but for G… I’ll probably need to buy her a pink car.”

I had found a super attractive, almost “antique” car for Bri to drive for the attractive price of $1,000.  My husband asked, “What does Bri think of it?”

I said, “I don’t care.  It’s $1,000.”

My husband responded, “Bri wants a Bug.” 

I said, “This car costs $1,000, what is not to like?”

And so, he bought her a bug that cost a bit more. 

… *Sucka!

*Ok, I don’t really mean that because he is super sweet (nicer than me).  I just didn’t care that the car was not attractive because I never planned to drive it!

Improving My Life By 25%

I am convinced that when Brianne gets her license my life will improve by 25%.  (Which is a significant amount of improvement!)  I would seriously bury a statue of a saint in my yard if I thought that would help Bri pass her road test and I'm not even Catholic!

Taragona was Fantastic

We loved Taragona!  Fabulous food and a fabulous town!  Tarraco was a Roman Provincial Capital so there are a lot of Roman ruins to explore.  There are remains of a Roman amphitheater, a circus, a forum, huge walls surrounding part of the old city.

Image found here.

Check out more pictures of Taragona here.

We walked by a statue of people making a human pyramid.  And a lady tried to tell us that it was going to happen that night but we didn’t speak Catalonian and so unfortunately we didn’t figure out what she was trying to tell us until after dinner when we came upon people climbing down.  Darn it!  We missed it by minutes!

Image found here.

We went to Les Voltes for dinner twice because we couldn’t resist having dinner in the vaults under the Roman circus.

And the kids had been dying to go to the beach since we got to Spain so we went.

In the rarely accessed portion of my brain where I stuff  “not needed information that I read about once,” ironically not far from the “Pick Pockets in Paris” section, is a section on Nudity on Beaches in Europe.  I basically forgot that there are topless beaches.  We, naturally, walked down to less crowded section on the beach and once there I got some wide-eyed, slightly distressed looks from my children.

“Sorry!  Try not to look in that direction?”  I said as I tried to drag my own startled eyes away.  Not that everyone was topless but we were definitely the most covered up family there.  I had Jake and Elizabeth in swim shirts and I wore a hat, even in the water.