Looking Back

This may be a little backwards, but I wanted to post some pictures that have captured the last few weeks/months.  The beauty of having an iphone, or any phone with a camera, is that you always have it with you to capture life's moments that are unexpected but important.  As I was going through my phone looking at the pictures yesterday, I was pretty amazed at the story they told...From when I was pregnant with Mia, until yesterday at the park, we have every important moment captured, even if just with one picture.  So here is a little slide show into our lives...

Jump back to November 29, 2011, our house hunting trip here to Barcelona.  These pictures of Chris and I are taken at the Zurich airport, our layover on the way to Barcelona.  It was after a very long overnight flight, so we were a little giddy and out of it at this point, excited and nervous for the 5 days ahead of us. 

 Chris and I enjoying the fact that we are in Zurich, alone, in front of two really good beers.

We spent five days in Barcelona, and toured 4 of the neighborhoods we were interested in.  After looking at close to 20 apartments, we decided on a winner.  We loved everything about it.  The trip itself was a little more stress filled than either of us expected--we missed the kids and we were totally exhausted mentally and physically.  But overall, the trip was a success.  We met up with some other Vistaprint families during our time here, and felt good about our new home. 

View of our apartment from the outside patio

Meat counter at the fresh market

Before we headed back to the US, we managed to quickly run through the XMAS markets that had just started here in Barcelona that weekend.  It is a huge outdoor market filled with vendors selling handmade crafts, ornaments, wreaths, trees, and jewelry.  It was fun to see all the decorations, and shop from the local vendors for some family souvenirs before jumping a cab back to the airport. 

XMAS markets

Giant cathedral located just next to the XMAS market

Chris's snack at the airport: ham flavored potato chips...the pig leg on the front doesn't seem appetizing to me...

View from the plane on our way back to Zurich to catch our flight back to Boston

The next two months were, how shall I put this...freaking stressful.  The original plan was to be out by January first, but after deciding on an unfurnished apartment, we realized we needed to ship all of our furniture which was going to take at least six weeks if not longer.  We braced ourselves for the months ahead of packing, planning, organizing, and of course, filling out more paperwork. 

I found this one day in the office and had to laugh, even the stress had gotten to poor Dolly.

Through the packing and planning, we managed to have some fun, and keep our sense of humor.  This was a fun way of using the many boxes all over the house, and letting our imaginations run wild.  We had a ball, and the kids LOVED painting each other.

December was drawing to a close, and more than anything, we just focused on enjoying the holidays with our families.  There were so many celebrations...dinners out, a surprise party, and low key days and nights spent with family and friends in the weeks leading up to our departure.  Although it was a busy time with the move and the holidays, we were so thankful to have our family and friends there to support us and wish us well.  I do have pictures from many of these gatherings and events, but can't seem to find them at the moment.  But a big thank you, again, to everyone who took the time to be with us during our last few months in the US.  We felt (and continue to feel) very loved, and were so happy to have had that time with everyone. 

The months flew by, and before we knew it, it was February and time to get going.  Our last week in the US was spent packing and having some last goodbyes with our parents.  Here we are out to dinner the night before we left with Nannie (Judie) at a local Irish pub. 
 

Miss Mia loving her hoodsie sundae!

Much to his excitement, we had an early birthday cake for Evan in the house before we left.  He's 3!

At dinner with Nannie Judie before our departure to NYC the next day

The morning of our move...poor kiddos watching Sesame Street on the floor :(  Note the Cheerios all over the place, I did NOT feed them off the floor, we did still have bowls at that point!

Our last day in our house was a long and busy one, but pretty smooth...The movers were gone by 4pm, and our house was completely empty by 6pm.  We did one last walk through, taking in the fact that we were leaving our first home.  I admit, I cried and wondered if we were doing the right thing.  That house symbolized starting our life together...when we moved in, I pictured our future inside it with kids running down the halls and a dog laying on the porch.  It was everything we imagined it to be, and was something we were so proud to have purchased together.  It was hard to leave...even though we knew the buyers would love it just as much as we did, they are a young couple about to get married, just like Chris and I were when we bought it. It was a great house, but it was time to move on.  So, we gathered up the last of our stuff, packed into our rental car, and headed down to NYC to check into our hotel.  We stopped at Chili's for dinner on the way, and made it to NYC just around midnight.

All packed up and ready to go!  En route to NYC, our first stop before flying out he next day to BCN

Dropping off rental car at the JFK airport, waiting for our cab to the terminal

We had an absurd amount of luggage...

Happy as clams with lollipops at the luggage check in...it was an hour in line, so I was thankful we had treats ready to go...

Our plane!

Burning some energy before boarding...they were running in circles around the terminal laughing...they entertained the rest of the passengers for sure

Mia loved jumping off the window sill, so proud of herself

 The flight to Barcelona was pretty good, all things considering. The kids had had a crazy week of missed naps, sleeping in pack and plays, and movers in and out of the house leading up to the flight out.  The night in the hotel in NYC wasn't exactly the most restful, we had to wake them up at midnight to get them in the hotel, then spent all day getting ourselves to the airport and checked in, so that meant no naps, but they held it together pretty well. I was especially impressed with Evan... He just smiled through it all, enjoying the adventure.  Miss Mia was a little more, how shall we say this...pissed off. She is a girl that likes her beauty sleep, and to stick to her routine.  She also likes to be able to run whenever and wherever she wants, so the day in the airport was tricky, but we made it. I decided to bring the carseats on board, which was a pain to drag through the airport, but totally made it worthwhile when, just as we taxied down the runway, both kids were completely passed out and stayed that way until we arrived in Barcelona. Chris and I exchanged relieved glances, clinked mini-wine bottles, and breathed a sigh of relief. We were on our way. 

The boys snooooozing away...about halfway to Barcelona!

 We got to Barcelona at 7am in the morning, and decided to head right to the apartment.  We knew our furniture hadn't been delivered yet, but we just wanted to get inside and see it again.  At the time, we had delusions that we would just stay there without our furniture--Chris's co-worker had nicely arranged the delivery of our beds from IKEA the week before, so we all had someplace to sleep.  But once we were there, I knew we needed to just check into a hotel.  We didn't have towels, soap, nothing we needed...regardless, we set up the pack and plays, and put the kids down for a nap in their new rooms as soon as we arrived, and Chris and I laid down on our mattress in our new room.  Dazed, a little shell shocked, and pondering what to do next, we drifted off to sleep using our jackets as pillows.  When we all woke up, about 3 hours later, we headed down to the beach to have some lunch, and plan the next move.  We went to a fabulous cafe, called Cafe Blu--the best salad and pizza EVER. 

We made it!  Our first lunch in Barcelona, enjoying some pizza and salad in our new neighborhood, Poblenou

A little tired...

Walking down to the beach, hitting the playground on the way

Determined!

At the end of La Rambla, beach ahead of us! 

Evan playing with the other kids on the jungle gym

Loving the beach

Evan, in deep thought as he stares at the Med Sea

 After lunch, we decided to check into a nearby hotel to wait until our furniture cleared customs.   We headed back to the apartment, gathered what we needed, and grabbed a cab to the hotel, about 5 blocks away. 

Tired and a little grumpy...waiting to check into our hotel in Barcelona

Jet lag is setting in, day 2 in Barcelona

 After two days in the hotel, Chris managed to use a little brute force to get the customs agents to hand over the goods, and on Friday we were in our apartment, with all our stuff!  We had a lot of unpacking to do, but we were HOME.

Our shipping container arrived!  Evan is reunited with his first love...his train table.  He hasn't seen it in two months!

Toys!

First lunch in our new house

 Friday evening, we got another wonderful delivery...MOLLY!  We had used a pet relocation service to ship Molly, who had flown out mid day on Thursday.  I was worried all day Friday, thinking about her and hoping she was OK.  She flew on a great airline, Luftansa, that actually had a pet hotel at her layover site in Germany where we was able to go for a walk, eat, and drink before heading on to her final destination in Barcelona.  I received an update at 4pm that she had arrived in Barcelona, and was waiting to clear customs.  At 6pm we got a knock on the door, and there she was!  Wagging up a storm!  We were so happy to see her, and very thankful she arrived safely. 

Molly is here!

Molly's first trip to the beach, SOOOOO happy

Making doggie friends

Some more random photos...

Evan playing at the playground on his birthday

Making crepes for breakfast...a new twist on his old favorite, pancakes

On our morning stroll down la rambla in Poblenou

Mia got sick the second week we were here...here she is watching elmo on the laptop, trying to cheer her up!