Oct 28 - Nov 2: Spain Conference

I realize this post is nearing 3 months late, but better to get it up late than never at all. It is, again, a very long post, so read at your own risk.

Art had to attend an MPI workshop in Spain – about 1.5 hours from Barcelona. We spent some time over the summer trying to decide if it was worth the money for Zach and I to go along with Art. Mostly in Europe, hotel rooms are paid for by person, not by room, so there would the cost of the flights plus the additional cost of the room and meals. But after thinking about spending an entire week at home with Zach by myself, the extra money started to seem EASILY worth it. We were all relieved that we decided that once we got to mid-October, and I was SO VERY sick w/ morning sickness. It was completely worth the money just to be somewhere that required no cooking, cleaning, or laundry for me. For 46 Euro a day, Zach and I were able to tag along and have breakfast and dinner at the hotel restaurant. We found out that there were several other families going with several kids that would be around Zach’s age.

Oct 28: Uggh. Our flight was at 6:45am. We ordered a taxi (paid for by MPI) for 5am. We took poor Zach directly out of bed, in his jammies, and into the taxi. It was SO VERY early. We had to check in at the ticket counter b/c of the infant ticket, but it went fairly quickly. Soon we were at the gate w/ the rest of the Sandia people with Zach running around in his jammies and winter cap. He was very charming for 6:30am. The plane was pretty empty so Art, Zach and I took over 2 rows of seats for the 3 of us. Zach ate breakfast, played a bit, then took a good nap with Mom, both of us lying down across 3 seats. So an A+ for that flight. We got to the Barcelona airport and had about a 3 hour wait until the charter bus left for the hotel. Zachary did great during the wait, and finally changed from his jammies to his normal clothes. He started to get sleepy right around the time the bus was due to depart. Worked out great – Zach fell asleep during the entire bus ride. We got there and all checked in and were disappointed to see that our room was very far away from the main building, meaning it would be a hike and many stairs to get to and from meals. But our room was plenty big – 3 twin beds and enough room for Zach’s bed. We explored the resort a bit until I got tired enough to want a nap. Zach however had other plans and kept standing up in his crib “talking”. After about an hour, I was near killing him, so Art took him to the playground and I slept. We found out at reception that dinners for MPI were at 8pm, but that the restaurant opened at 7:30pm. I was worried that this was going to be very late for Zach, given his bedtime is 8pm. Several of the other families with small kids were also in the same mindset. Sure enough, we all had reason to worry…none of the kids adjusted well to the late dinners. Tonight, I went down to the restaurant at 7:30pm to get us started, thinking that Art would join us. Apparently he did not see us when he came down at 8pm and sat w/ his co-workers. Unfortunately, Zach saw him, and spent the rest of the dinner pointing at his Dad and whining. Finally, as Zach started melting down, I went over to Art, who was shocked to see us, and asked him to help get us back to the room. After that we agreed that I would come down to dinner early and save a place for Art. I had to have Art help take Zach to our room after dinner nearly every night. Zach was always so tired that he refused to walk, and carrying him all that way was difficult for me. Art would leave his dinner early, help us out, then go back to the dinner w/ his coworkers.

*****NOTE: I am finishing this blog SO VERY far after the trip actually occurred, that I am no longer going to give full daily reports. ********************************






Oct. 29: Excellent breakfast. I was even able to take a croissant and some creamy cheese back to the room for me to have with my lunch. This got to be a daily routine! Zach and I spent the morning at the playground with some of the other kids before he went back to the room for a nap (one for me too!). We woke up in time for Art to be on lunch break. Art had several hours each afternoon off, so today we did something special for Zachary – he got to go to the pool for the first time! He was definitely not thrilled about it – I think the water was too cold, which I can agree with! He did not love the floaty swim thing we had for him, but he did get used to floating around with us. Mostly he just loved to stand on the stairs, holding onto the rail, and stomp the water. Not bad for a first attempt. Art had meetings again at 5pm-8pm, so Zach and I went back to the room for his (yes, and mine) afternoon nap. This time, Art looked for us at the restaurant and we all ate together.

Oct. 30: Another great breakfast. The other moms had decided that they were going to walk the 10-15 minutes into town to visit the beach. This was by far the warmest day so far, and finally none of that awful, biting wind. They were heading down at 10am, which was cutting it close w/ Zach’s 10:30 naptime, but I thought he could stay awake long enough to enjoy himself, and fall asleep on the walk back if he was really tired. So another first for Zach – being on the beach. He enjoyed playing in the sand with the other kids, and even ventured into the ocean a bit, even though it was VERY cold. He fell down twice, which he HATED, because then he got totally wet. Around 11am, he was cold, wet, and tired, and started to melt down. I changed him out of his wet clothes into his warm, dry ones, and he did not stop screaming until he was totally clothed again. Surprisingly, he did not fall asleep during the 15-20 minute walk (uphill entire way) back to the hotel. He was relieved to get into bed for a nap, as was I. After a late lunch, Zach and I met the other kids and moms at the pool for another try. This time, after playing in the water some, we joined the other group in the oversize hot tub which was shallow enough for the kids to stand in. Zach was very shy about walking around, and did fall under once which freaked us both out. After that, he did not let go of my hand, which I was just fine with. He started to wind down after over an hour at the pool, so we left for another afternoon nap. Woke up in time to play for a bit, then off to dinner. Poor Zach is exhausted by the time we make it back from dinner, and just collapses into bed, barely making it through getting his jammies on.

Oct. 31: Happy Halloween! Boo morning sickness. This was the first time the entire trip that I actually threw up. I had been quite nauseated most of the day, every day so far, but was pleased that I had not thrown up since the previous Saturday (Oct. 28). I was hoping the morning sickness had passed. No such luck. Art had taken Zach with him to breakfast while I showered. Then it took me quite some time to recover and make it to breakfast. The other moms were talking about going to the beach again, but I had to bow out, still feeling weak and sick. I took Zach up to the yoga room to play for a bit before heading to the room. They were decorated for a Halloween party, and balloons were everywhere. Zach and a 2yr old girl (Spanish mom, German dad) played around with the mats and balloons until we all got in trouble by the hotel for being there. Time for nap anyway, so that was ok. In the afternoon, MPI took everyone on a trip to a museum. I decided that Zach and I were not going to go. Art was disappointed, especially when he found out other wives and kids were going. Turned out to be better though because they all got back very late, after a long bus ride, and most of the kids were pretty irritable. Zach and I went to the pool while everyone was gone.






Nov. 1: Art took Zach to breakfast again while I took my sweet time getting ready, making it down there by the time Art needed to go. I think Zach spent the morning playing on the playground, and walking around the grounds. Art took Zach with him for lunch while I got to eat by myself, very relaxing! I met up w/ Art and Zach and we all walked down the hill into town. Art had not yet seen the beach, and we wanted to walk around the town some. Almost everything was closed – I guess for the afternoon siesta time – so we didn’t go into any shops. We just walked around, let Zach play on a coin-operated ride, and then headed to the beach. It was warm enough outside, but the wind was brutal. It was just so cold. We did not stay on the beach for long. Zach did not show any interest in going into the sea this time, lucky for Art, who had been elected to have his shoes/socks off to walk w/ Zach. We headed back to the hotel and checked email for a bit before Art had to be back for a talk, and Zach had to take an afternoon nap. I decided to pack our stuff while Zach napped, since we were leaving tomorrow. I wanted as little to be done after dinner as possible, since I was always so exhausted after dinner.

Nov. 2: Disaster! We were running late late late. I thought we had gotten up in plenty of time to meet the bus at 6am. I thought it was about 5:30 when Art’s co-worker called and said that everyone was already at the bus. We had not gotten any of our suitcases down there, and Zach was still in his bed, which needed to be packed up. Abijeet came up to our room and helped us take the suitcases, bed, and stroller. Dr. Rabbe even came down the steep hill to help us carry things up. It was pretty embarrassing to be the last people on the bus with everyone waiting. Some nice person had grabbed extra ‘to go’ bags of breakfast from the hotel and gave one to us, since we didn’t get one. Sigh. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. Zach again did just fine on the flight. We were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the house. Art and Zach were both sick, but luckily I felt fine…someone had to take care of the two boys! We got back on Friday, and by Monday, Art was feeling a little better, and Zach was totally better. Art found out that several other co-workers spent the weekend sick as well.

It was a nice, relaxing trip, even if the resort was not as nice as I was expecting. Even with the inconveniences, it was well worth the money spent for Zach and I to go with Art. A week spent at home w/ just myself and Zach, with me feeling so badly, would have been miserable! It was also nice to be around other moms and kids that spoke English!