Day 80: A Long flight Home (Aug. 2):

    It’s hard to believe that this day is actually here! That we really did this 3 month Europe extravaganza, that we all survived, and that it is over. It is sad to say goodbye to Europe

   We wake up at 6:40, get ready and go down to breakfast. We eat fast – the kids love the hot chocolate machines and the chocolate brownies for breakfast!

   We take one last drive in our Peugot 

and drop it off with a record breaking 15,000 miles! 3 dents, a broken window and ashtray, and a slashed tire! Whew! Benson did some amazing driving throughout this trip! And, needless to say, we wouldn’t and couldn’t have done this trip without him. He is a man of big ideas and someone who finds nothing too difficult. I am thankful for him and this trip, and what it has done for our family.

   As we wait for our flight, we give the kids all of our change (1 and 2 Euro coins add up fast!) , and they think it’s Christmas at the vending machines!

   On the flight, Dallin and Ashy completely finish the book of Mormon (Talie finished in Pont du Blanc, France) – so they all accomplished their Book of Mormon challenge and I am proud of them! Ashy started each study period with a prayer for more understanding as she reads – she is a wise little soul.

    Tanner did amazing once again – a sign of a super future world traveler! He fell asleep on Benson first and then on Talie. We watched the move, “Lucky” with Zac Effron.   I think this summarizes the whole trip for our little family, Kennedi was sitting behind a little girl (who happened to be from Ohio), and said, “Mom, that girl speaks really good English!”

    We get off the plane in Chicago, go through customs and security, and boy is it wonderful to understand all of the signs and everyone around you! The room is also full of posters and billboards of lots of famous European landmarks that the kids recognize and say, “We’ve been there!”

   As soon as we sit down to wait for our four hour layover, Peyton crawls under a seat and falls right to sleep with his back pack still on.

   Talie and I go walking and we find her store! It is called “Talie”.

    We play cards and although it is a long layover at 2:00am in (our time) Spain, we know we are going to make it safely home, so we can relax.

   This last flight is a 2 ½ hour flight and Jeff will meet us at 10:30 at the airport. We will probably get home around midnight, which will mean we have been up for 26 consecutive hours – Whew!

Thanks for joining us on our trip! Here is a Trip Summary List:

80 days

2 adults/ 6 kids

15,000 miles driven

many many miles walked = many pounds lost

2 continents

19 countries

64 cities visited

27 different homes (apartments, houses, hotels, van, etc.,)

1 night homeless

12 beaches

countless kind people that helped us find our way

3 dents, 1 slashed tire, 1 broken window

3 times getting robbed

11 teeth lost

8 passports left behind (but returned)

1 camera left behind (later shipped to the states, phew!)

countless ice cream cones eaten

4 fevers, 3 ear aches

2 sets of grandparents come to visit

3 temples

5 churches

12 missionaries met

0 children lost (permanently)

2 journals kept

3 Book of Mormons read

1 house sold

countless pictures taken/memories made

Day 79: Last Day in Europe!! (Aug. 1):

   Today is our last day in Europe;(  We are sad to say goodbye and it’s hard to believe that our BIG trip really is almost over! But, we are excited and ready to return home. 

    We want to really enjoy our last day in Madrid, but first we have to make sure everything is in place for our car lease drop off and make sure we have at least some seats together on the 9 ½ hour flight home tomorrow.

    We get everything squared away and Benson does a great job at continuing to contact Tiziana (the Barcelona landlord), letting her know exactly

where to find the camera and how important it is to us!

    We punch Palacio Real into Genie and follow her directions to find our last tour sites.

    On the way, we get some gas and luck out to find our favorite pastries: pan chocolate! And some strawberry gummy candy, and water – with no gas of course. 

   We find parking, and we walk around the palace, the cathedral, and down the streets with all of the other tourists, weaving in and out of overpriced tourist shops.

  We keep walking and find a plaza filled with street performers and beggars. There was Sponge Bob, Elmo and two Mickey and Minnie Mouses (a little confusing for the kids).  Peyton and Kennedi run up to them and pose with them for a picture, and immediately after, they say, “1 Euro”, probably the least amount of money we’ll ever pay to see Mickey and Minnie!

 

We walk of the shop-lined streets and run into two Elders on P-day, we chat for a while and then they take our pictures.

      We walk back to the car and pause at a park – which is Kennedi’s favorite part of the entire trip.

      On the way home, we stop at a shopping center, to pick up snacks and activity books for the flight home.

      Then we go home and pack everything up for the early morning.

Day 78: Full Circle. A drive back to Madrid, Spain (July 31):

   A sign of a good, long trip: Peyton & Kennedi start wearing mismatched shoes today because they can’t find a complete pair.

     Oh my gosh! 2 more days! I honestly can’t even imagine leaving! But it is time to go! Soon! Well here is our last drive to a new city. A 6 hour drive back to Madrid, the place where we started! 

Once we arrived at a Novotel, our favorite!! We started swimming and I checked Facebook.

    We set out to find dinner and find a Dominoes and eat at a park. Ok, I have to say that Italy has nothing over this Dominoes when it comes to pizza! I think I missed thick pizza with lots of toppings. We get back to the Novotel and everyone kind of spreads out and does their own thing – computers, play area, X-box, etc., Then we discover to our horror that we forgot our big camera at the last apartment, and with our luck in Barcelona . . . well we are very concerned as to whether or not we will ever see it again.  Because of all of the theft, Benson had hidden the camera on the top of a tall armoire, so that no one would steal it if they broke into our apartment. We call the landlord, and she claims the camera is not there . . . .

Day 77: Another walk down Ramblas Street & The Hard Rock Café! (July 30):

  This morning, Benson, Dallin and I take off to take care of some errands. We find an apple store to purchase an ipad charger (our only source of communication).  We are able to pick up our passports – phew!! We also make a phone call about returning our Peugot, and then we stop at a Michellin store to have our spare tire checked out – yep, they confirm it, it was slashed. We clean and vacuum the car, and return home

   They came back and we walked to the Ramblas St. again! I like the cities because you can walk almost anywhere! We took pictures with street performers. There was one blue lady with pink eyelashes, an alien that would grab your face with his claws, and the Johnny Depp character from Alice and Wonderland! 

    I was so excited we were having an end of the trip party at . . . THE HARD ROCK CAFÉ BARCELONA!! It was a 30 minute wait, not too bad with all the millions of people there. Any way, there was a guitar from the Rolling Stones, a shirt that Shakira wore on tour, and a Madonna jacket! It was such a cool restaurant! You had to yell over the music that was playing. Anyway, it was really expensive. My Dad said that Talie, Dallin, and Ashlynn had a budget of 22 Euros (for meal, drink and dessert!) I got a HUGE plate of mac & cheese with chicken and bread – also a side of smashed potatoes=) along with my water. It was delicious!!

   I was stuffed, about to explode! 

   We walked back down to the harbor, got our last European crepes. I am going to miss Europe!

   We walk back home (we decided no more parking garages=) and stop at a park where the kids play, and Dallin and Talie find a basketball game to join. It’s fun to just be among the Spanish and see how they live their lives.

Day 76: Church in Barcelona & the famous Ramblas Street (July 29):

     This morning, we wake up and find a church. It is a ward, and the largest one we have attended in all of Europe. There are three sets of missionaries and a missionary couple. There were at least 4 families of tourists stopping by because their cruise ship is ported in Barcelona. Benson even finds a picture of an old friend from Idaho Falls who had been a mission president in Barcelona.

   Back home we had a BIG home cooked meal! I really miss that.

   We take off to explore Barcelona! It is the first large, port town we have stayed in and it is pretty cool! It was a pretty town! I liked it!

  We parked in a parking garage, then we walked up the famous Ramblar street full of street performers and characters, and a Hard Rock Café! I bought a lucky anklet. 

    We looked at souvenirs, bought sunglasses, ice cream, waffles and crepes. We love to watch the street performers and artists. There is a spray paint artist who paints landscapes with spray paint and they are surprisingly good!

   We walk back to the parking garage to find that our tire is flat – which we find out later was slashed. While we are changing the tire, some obnoxious Spanish guy keeps coming up to us and trying to ask questions about his parking ticket – as if we don’t have enough going on! 

    We finish with the tire and try to leave the garage, only to discover that we can’t leave until we purchase another parking ticket and pay .80 more Euros to leave. When we get home, we realize that our diaper bag backpack is missing – ok,. This is getting old! So we drop the kids off and Benson and I drive back to the parking garage to see if we can find it. At the garage, there is no backpack, but that same Spanish man is still running around, pretending not to have a parking ticket, making phone calls and I’m sure slashing tires, and stealing diaper bags. HA! I would have loved to see his face when he went through all that work and opened the bag to see that all he made off with was a couple diapers, wipes and some tampons! Hope he enjoys them!

   Boy are we blessed, because until earlier that day, our wallet, with our last two credit cards had been kept in there. These experiences in Barcelona have made me realize how much the lord has helped us and protected us throughout these past three months!

   Back at the apartment, we played another game of Take II while watching the gymnastic Olympic team! Man they are good! Well, so much for a lucky anklet!