"You're Doing What?"

Today we returned from a 2 week family vacation to France and Spain. In the weeks preceeding our trip, people asked me about the journey and after I told them the travel details, many would reply with, "I can't believe you're taking a 3 and 5 year old to Europe. Glad its not me!". After hearing this so many times, I started to doubt that the trip would be worth the journey. Europe is half way across the world. Were we crazy?

As it turns out, the answer was no-we were not crazy. In fact, we had a blast. Sure, the airplane ride over to Eurpose and train ride to Southern France were a little rough. I won't powder puff the reality of travel with a toddler who has just flown across the world. However, hanging out with the Haakansons and all the adventures we had and yummy food we shared together made it all so worth it. Plus, our family grew closer. I learned some new tactics in dealing with Stuey's strong-headedness from Sven and Balika. Our kids had a fun time with Balika and Sven's kids. It was a true pleasure. And our lack of internet access for the 2 weeks provided good solid time to share with eachother. WIFI hot spots are a rare find in Europe, so even updating the blog quickly wasn't possible. Or checking Facebook. Or e-mail.

We arrived home to happy dogs and snow this morning. When I got into the house, I said, "Its good to be home." and Stuey replied with "Our house smells good." This made me smile. Theres nothing better than the warm smell of your own house after a long trip.

Zoya

Photos:
-Boating down the Canal Midi in Southern France. Sven was the brave skipper of our boat! He navigated us through over 55 locks.
-Group photo at Gaudi Museum in Barcelona.
-Hannah K., myself and Balika at a girls dinner in Barcelona. Self photo by Hannah! :)
-Sven and Stuey upon arriving at the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the week long canal trip.
-A silly posed shot of us pointing the same direction as Christopher Columbus--as seen in Statue behind us. We believe Columbus is pointing West. Taken in Barcelona.