Thoughts From The States

I cannot believe that I have been away from my family for almost two weeks.  I have enjoyed the blog from afar as so many have since November. The fun that Kathy, Katie and the boys are having sustains me during lonely times. Since returning to the States, the effects of the trip upon me have multiplied.  While I have spent many hours working, I have also reflected upon the gift of spending nearly four uninterrupted months together with Kathy and my boys.  A frequently asked question is, "Was it difficult to spend so much time together?"  I can honestly say that the answer in no.  Particularly for Roman and Mabret who have treated each other with amazing mutual trust and respect. 

Recently, I posted the link to the blog on Facebook with the following thought from Kathy and I:

Although we have learned countless lessons about ourselves and our children, perhaps the one that resonates most is simple...the world did not stop spinning in its axis when we walked away from our everyday lives and responsibilities.  We understand that our trip is extreme and was years in the making, however, the simple lesson for us is put down the electronic devices and shut out work and other responsibilities just for a day or a weekend.  Do an activity with your family that requires your full attention on someone or something else.  We hope that our blog encourages a few of you to turn off the noise the next time that there is a choice between a family activity and working.

We hope to follow our own advice when we ultimately return from our journey as a family.  

On March 4th, I will fly to London where the RTW Adventure Family will reunite and rock it out for a few days exploring the city before returning to the States as a family.  I cannot wait!

Play Day in Sevilla

Today was a beautiful, relaxing, kid fun day in Sevilla. The goal was soccer in the Parque Maria Luisa and the Plaza de Espana.

Again we began with lunch of inexpensive tapas (tapas for Mabret, Katie and I, nachos with guacamole for Roman).  The restaurant, Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, is an order at the bar and pick up in ten minutes type. Tables are on the sunny sidewalk outside with mostly Spanish speaking people taking up the majority of the tables. 

The conversations the kids and I have had at this relaxing sidewalk restaurant have been enlightening. The opportunity for open honest questions and answers are much appreciated from both the kids and adults. Time well spent.

 

Aside from the 'presents' from the birds we all had fun here.

We then walked over to the park for play time and movie making.

The Maria Luisa Park (Parque de María Luisa) is a public park that stretches along the Guadalquivir River in Seville, Spain. It is Seville's principal green area.

The park is home to many monuments, and to numerous ponds and fountains. Among the most famous are the Fountain of Lions (Fuente de los Leones) and the Water-lily Pool (Estanque de los Lotos).

The Plaza de España was a principal building built on the park's edge to showcase Spain's industry and technology exhibits. The Plaza de España complex is a huge half-circle with buildings continually running around the edge accessible over the moat by numerous beautiful bridges. In the centre is a large fountain. By the walls of thePlaza are many tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. Today, the plaza buildings are mainly used for government offices.

While at Plaza de Espana we took the opportunity to recreate a scene from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones which was filmed at this spot. (Sorry blog.spot does not allow me to post videos) I can send it directly to you via email if you ask nicely. Roman portrayed Anakin and Mabret Padme.

After a full day of wandering the plaza and soccer time, I realized that I did NOT have the keys to our apartment. We called and emailed the manager/contact person repeatedly ...to no avail. We were locked out. Long story short, one hour and fourty five minutes later a server from a nearby restaurant cut a soda bottle's top and bottom off and used the curved plastic to pop the lock on the apartment door. The boys cheered and said they love him. Mabret tried to force him to take some money. He refused and quietly left us to celebrate having beds to sleep in for the night.