"Do we have an extra backpack" Luke asked as we get ready to leave LA and go back to Spain
"I am sure there is one in Holden's closet," I say.
I always forget the airports around the winter holidays are the worst. Flights are delayed from bad weather, people are traveling with extra snow gear, and the airport are extra packed with travelers. Luckily we have a 3 hour cushion to battle the lines......
Luke wearing the soon to be troublesome BACKPACK.
"Who is H-DOG?" a friendly TSA guy asks, holding up Luke's backpack. H-DOG was written in sharpie by Holden on the side of the backpack during one bored day in Math class.
My mind begins swirling as to all the possibilites that could be found in any of the pockets of Holden's old backpack. Second thought.....depending what is in it, who should take responsibilty for it. Holden is now 18, so that could be risky. If it is Ricky's, it could be made public....
"Whose is this LEATHERMAN (a tool that looks like a pocket knife)?" The TSA Security guy asks after searching Luke's back pack.
"Luke why didn't you search through the back pack before traveling?" Ricky and I question him.
"The airports are strict about this stuff..," my voice trails off. Luke has mastered tuning out my lecture voice.
"Thank goodness it was nothing worse." Ricky whispers in my ear. As parents of 3 teenagers now, we are getting used often unwanted surprises.
CUT TO: London Heathrow Airport Security
"Are you H-DOG?" a stuffy English Security guard asks holding up Holden's old backpack again.
I am running ahead to catch our close connection to Barcelona and so Ricky decides to take ownership of the backpack.
CUT TO: London Tarmack Night
"I am sorry Mrs. Schroder but your husband won't be making this flight. He will be detained in London overnight until we sort things out."
JET LAG
We have learned that when you travel counter clockwise around the world it is much harder to get adjusted to the time. For about a week we find ourselves waking up at 2am and being ready for bed at 3pm in the afternoon.
Ricky and Faith crash in the middle of the day.
ANDREA's BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
"I have a surprise for you this year," Ricky divuldges when I try to make plans for my birthday. Knowing there is a surprise can be dangerous, because the mind wonders too much. One day last year, I told the girls that I had a surprise for them.
"Are we getting a horse?" Cambrie asked
"Are we going to Africa to adopt a baby?" wondered Faith.
"Lower your expectations," I said thinking that they were going to be very disapointed when the surprise was going to a Cafe for breakfast.
"My husband surprised me on my birthday last year by flying my 4 best friends into Barcelona," my friend here recently told me.
"My husband surprised me with a new Porche on my birthday," a friend of mine in LA said.
"Oh what could Ricky be surprising me with?" my mind wondered.
This morning I woke up with a nightmare wondering about the "Surprise". In my dream, Ricky had thrown a surprise birthday in our apartment, which was a huge mess. The whole party I was fretting about the beds not being made, and dishes in the sink and laundry everywhere. My expectations are low, and I make an extra effort to keep the apartment clean while I wait to find out about the surprise.
SURPRISE!!!
Anke greets me with a double kiss.
A couple of my friends here got together and had a dinner party for me and the whole family is invited. I couldn't be happier. Anke's place is filled with pink roses, pink cupcakes and pink balloons.
Our friend plays spanish birthday music after recently learning to play the guitar.
The family gave me a new camera for my birthday, and to my surprise the kids were all quick to test out their artistic photography skills. These were the first pictures taken with my new camera.
Faith takes a nice shot of my birthday roses.
This is Cambrie's shot.
Holden' gets creative with his photography.
SNOW SURPRISES
I didn't realise that there was so much skiing so close to Barcelona. Within an hour and half, you can be in the Pryenese Mountain skiing on amazing snow.
Yesterday Luke went snowboarding all day, then came home and went surfing in the ocean and later in the evening skateboarded to a friends house. He was very proud of himself for doing so many board sports in one day.
Cambrie on the other hand, broke her arm on the first run of the day and we came back to Barcelona to spend the rest of the afternoon in tears at the hospital.
Cambrie with my friend Anke waiting as I load the car back up.
The good news is that it was a simple break and will heal fine, the bad news is that there most likely will not be any more snow boarding the rest of the season.
MUSEUM SURPRISE
I feel like the more settled we get, the easier it is to become complacent. With Holden's new Apple TV we have rediscovered American TV. In the past month we have watched 5 full seasons of Survivor, and we are addicted to The Bachlelor and The Modern Family.
"I heard Keeping up with the Kardashians is pretty good," Ricky says as Holden searches for a new series for us to get sucked in to.
"Enough is enough, and we have to get back into being in Spain," I announce.
"Who wants to go to the Picasso Museum with me today?"
No response from the couch potatoes....
"Well you have no choice, we are going, we are not spending another afternoon watching Apple TV."
The Gothic Area is a really cool part of town where most of the Museums and one of a kind shops and restaurants are located.
"Hey look, what is right next to the Picasso Museum....a Neandrathal Museum," says Ricky excited.
"You have got to be kidding?" I think remembering the Hunting Museum trap in Germany.
Ricky has this crazy energy that whatever is going on in his mind, he attracts into his world. Recently he has been researching Neadrathals for a movie idea he has. Did I mention I have zero interest in Neadrathals?
"You know how lucky you are to get to hold a real Wooly Mammoth tusk?" Ricky tells us.
Did you know that there used to be furry rhinocerous's roaming the earth?
After the whatever Museum, everyone is hungry and would rather eat than go to another Museum. What a surprise.
My spanish teacher is on her way over and it's not a surprise we are starting back at the basics again. I am still having trouble conjigating basic verbs, and so I need to go back and review from the beginning. Time to go....
oxo Andrea
