Getting ready for Munich

We are in our usual pre-vacation crunch period:

• I'm stressing about getting everything in order at work and stable while I'm out
• Downloading and converting new movies for the kids' iPads
• Letting the kids pack their own suitcases. Then Jess secretly going back in and re-packing them because she's Type A. :)

Our flight is tomorrow at noonish. It's a direct flight to Munich. A little longer than to Paris but still a short, easy flight.

The man, the legend, Doug Sharp arrives in Madrid this morning. Jess is going to grab him at the airport and immediately launch into her Madrid tour guide routine since it is his only day in Madrid and it would be a shame if he didn't see a few of the sights.

Adeline and I went to a Father/Daughter luncheon at a cool restaurant in downtown Paris on Saturday. Here she is sitting with her friends in the booth.

Paris - Day #5

Last day before our travel day back to Madrid, school and work.

After a repeat of our "supplemental English breakfast" we hopped on the bus to Disney Studios. Disney Studios is very similar to MGM in Florida, only so much colder!

Little T-Rex hands:

Waiting for Disney Jr. Class Cooper face:

Handy Manny:

Stopping for crêpes. Apparently needed the energy since Disney Studios doesn't sell popcorn:

Truman gave a convincing argument to get his own crêpe:

Stunt show had a real-life Lightning McQueen!

Pork knuckle and sauerkraut for supper! :)

Henry tasting a waffle and jam in Disney Village:

Henry at the hotel pool getting soaked by a bucket of water:

Related Reading:

• Paris - Day #4
• Paris - Day #3
• Paris - Day #2
• Paris - Day #1

Paris - Day #4

Fourth day of trying to find a proper breakfast. :)

The hotel informed us that they had a breakfast buffet but if you wanted to have a "English breakfast" then you had to order and pay extra. We weren't really sure what that meant but upon further clarification, "English breakfast" meant "hot breakfast". Otherwise, they offered cereal, bread, donuts, croissants, hot chocolate and cold cuts. The kids were in heaven with the cereal and donut options. Needless to say, Jess and I opted for the English breakfast of over easy eggs and bacon.

After breakfast, we took the bus to Disneyland. My ever-organized wife had the tickets printed off in advance (of course) so we didn't have to wait in line to buy new. The park was decorated for Christmas which was a really nice touch.

On our way to Disneyland. Truman not being a team player:

We road several rides and had a few fast passes. Addi and I road on the Space Mountain ride together which was probably my favorite. The November weather in Paris was cold but not terribly cold. We had to deal with many people smoking in line (despite the signs posted saying 'No Smoking'). Oh well.

We really struggled finding a proper restaurant inside Disneyland so we made a last minute decision to leave the park and try to wait in line for a table at Mickey's Cafe (a mostly reservations only restaurant where the kids get to meet five of the Disney characters). Probably the best food we had while at Disney.

Main Street:

The specialty of the day. I didn't eat it but I'm sure one of the unintended side effects is it induces vomiting. Gross.

Buzz Lightyear. Jess beat us all.

Henry driving cars:

Remember, when you're on a ride at Disneyland, you can sit holding hands but spontaneous dancing is STRICTLY PROHIBITED!

This is my favorite picture from one of the rides. You can't see Addi, but look at Henry and Truman's faces. Compare that with my face and Jess's face. We look like we're sitting at a bus stop. :)

Eating Disney popcorn, waiting in line.

Christmas parade.

Dinner at Mickey's Cafe.

When we lifted up the carafe of water, it left a smiley face. Life is good. 

We saw Mickey at Mickey's Cafe. Go figure.

The park closing show that night was a Christmas themed show. It was pretty cool. 

Related Reading:

• Paris - Day #3
• Paris - Day #2
• Paris - Day #1

Paris - Day #3

Because we've so far been unable to find a decent warm breakfast in Paris, I decided to go to the corner grocery for some eggs and butter so we could make over easy eggs before we met the owner of the apartment for the checkout. The corner grocery store had eggs and butter, but they also had cheese, wine and chocolate. So while the kids watched cartoons and Jess packed up their things, I relaxed. :)

Saturday morning I work up early and made some coffee and got the eggs and onions started. Towards 10:00 (our checkout time) things got a little hectic as we tried to pack everything up and throw out the uneaten food and garbage.

Truman and Adeline guzzling from the cartons before we threw out the food:

The original plan was to walk (with our luggage) to the nearest subway stop, and then take that down to where our train would take us east out of Paris towards the city that Disneyland is at. Unfortunately for us, the very day we were leaving, the subway line closed for maintenance. We had several different options of buses but none were convenient with kids and luggage. In the end, we wound up walking longer to a different subway line, but avoiding the hassle of taking a bus, to a subway, to a train. Truth be told we weren't 100% sure where we were going but you never can be when you dealing with strange public transit.

Packed up and ready to go:

Truman was not interested in helping:

Stopping at a bakery for treats:

It turns out that we needed to walk some more after our subway ride but the walk was through a really nice section of town. I'm glad we got to see it.

Four year olds don't have legroom problems on trains:

After a 45 minute train ride we eventually made it to the hotel near Disneyland. The kids got a nice swim in before we headed off for lunch/dinner at Disney Village. Don't even get me started on the mandatory speedos (French hygienic law, apparently) we had to buy just so we could swim in the hotel pool. Truman loved his new swim suit but Henry and I were less thrilled.

We had a nice slow supper at Rainforest Cafe (Truman fell asleep on the way to the restaurant so we took our time).

After dinner we went back to the hotel so the kids could swim again before bed. Unfortunately, their swim was cut short because someone saw a floater in the pool. And no, it wasn't a Baby Ruth.

Related Reading:

• Paris - Day #2
• Paris - Day #1

Back in Madrid

After a very early morning Paris - Madrid commute, we are in Madrid and back in our normal weekly routines. Luckily it's a slightly short week. :)

Paris - Day #2

We set off again to find a good hearty French breakfast at a local cafe. The one recommended to us by the owner of the apartment was closed the first day, so we checked on it again today and it was open! 

We went in and ordered drinks (coffee and juice), and then tried to look a menu. :) There were two choices of food with our coffees: croissants and little croissant rolls with chocolate inside them. We were a little surprised since the material we got with the apartment said we could get a typical breakfast at this restaurant. Only then did we realize that coffee and croissant is the typical breakfast, and if we wanted scrambled eggs and bacon we were out of luck!

After that we paid our bill and hit the road, a little disappointed but determined to make the most of our day.

Our missions for the day were the Louvre, Notre Dame, Starbucks, and then somewhere that sells a swimsuit in November (Jess forgot hers).

Success on all accounts!

French cartoons before bed: 

Walking the streets:

This is the French equivalent of scrambled eggs:

Street markets:

The Louvre:

ML:

Ask Henry how to hold it when you have to go to the bathroom :)

Paris - Day #1

We made it to our rented apartment by 11:00pm and were asleep by 1:20am last night. Jess arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport since hauling sleepy children and luggage on train and subways in the dark is no longer on our 'must do fun list' (we did that in Japan in 2011).

This morning after we managed showers and a few French TV cartoons, we did our usual routine: just start walking in the city. We do that in every city we visit and I absolutely love it.

When I travel for business I usually see the inside of the airport, the inside of a taxi, the inside of a hotel, and the inside of my office. Very little else. When we travel for fun we do a lot of walking and get to see a lot of normal city life, which is super cool.

Today was pretty busy since we ​will likely not have many days without rain.

• French donuts for breakfast (Jess and I skipped. I can't believe she turned down a croissant. It's her kryptonite food ...)
• hiked to the top of a cool church
• excellent lunch in a random French cafe
• a few hours of (very chilly) open top tour bus around the city
• hiked up the Eiffel Tower
• nighttime boat ride on the Seinne
• figured out how the train and subway system works
• made it back to the apartment in the dark with no phone GPS

Walking the streets ...

They keep the feet on!

First time Truman caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (from the top of a church). 

Random. We saw those two famous people again at the same cafe we had lunch at:

Daddy and Truman selfie under the Eiffel Tower. 

Subway action:

We found a Costa Coffee. Jess was ecstatic!

There is a glass platform on the Eiffel Tower. Of course I had to test it out. 

View from one side of the Eiffel Tower. 

Almost ...

Right now we're packing, packing and packing.

There's a saying in Ericsson that no vacation goes unpunished before, or after (i.e. You build up work before the vacation and then have to dig yourself out when you return from vacation). The same is true with family vacations I suppose.

Olive goes to doggy camp today. Then we head to the airport around 4:00pm or so. We'll be in our hotel in Paris before the end of the day. :)

Tired already?!?

Tired already. Not sure how that can be.

Getting ready for vacation in Paris Wednesday - Tuesday! That means lots of logistic work for Jess and lots of work planning for me (to be away from the office). It should be worth it though.

Luckily there is no time change and the currency is the same. Awesome.

Truman threw a huge fit about wearing his uniform yesterday. After I convinced him to put it on, he just threw himself on the floor in defeat. He was in complete denial that he'd have to go to school in his uniform (last week he refused and he got to stay home with Jess ...)

Addi reading to Truman for bed last night:

Saw these two super cool and hip people last night while we were putting the kids to bed so I needed to take a picture. I'm not sure who they were, but they sure looked awesome! I bet they are famous ...

Jess Is a Pro

One more thought for the day.

I once heard someone describe the difference between a professional and amateur. The professional is someone who can step up and deliver no matter the circumstances. An amateur can deliver, but they need to feel good and have a good day.

Think Tiger Woods. He can stand there when the pressure is on and deliver a killer drive off the tee, despite hecklers, bad weather, or illness. A good amateur golfer can hit a great shot, but everything needs to go right. That great shot is in there, but the stars need to align for it to come out.

When it comes to traveling internationally with kids, Jess is a professional. She delivers every time, despite not feeling well, huge flight delays, bad food, etc. To an amateur like me, that type of consistency and calmness is simply amazing.

They're coming ...

Jess and the kids come back today and I'm SOOO excited! Not that I don't enjoy my summer monk-like existence, but I'm really looking forward to being with the kids and having all five of us together again. Once nice thing about living abroad and being segregated from everyone we know is that the five of us get a lot of 'family unit' time. I miss that.

This year is not quite as complicated as this time last year, but it's close. Last year they were getting off the plane in a strange country, eat strange food, move into a new house, to attend a new school, and meet new friends. This year, the country and the food are the same, but the house, school and friends will change.

There is a lot of anxiety.

Of course we can overcome it, but it's hard to do that when we're separated. Together, all things become much more manageable!

Travel Day

It's finally here!

Friday was the last day of school and now Jess and the kids are off to their annual "Iowa Summer".  Yesterday was basically an all day packing event. Things are more complicated this year since we are moving houses in July. Jess has been trying to do some house move packing as well but it's slow going. 

Everyone was up at 5 to get ready and headed to the airport in high spirits. Three flights and they'll be home!

Hello, my name is Jorge and I will be your driver today

On Sunday afternoon we went into town to find a doctor. After all the parents took turns looking over him with well-intentioned but completely unknowing eyes, we decided to take Truman in to get looked at by an actual doctor. That morning he had developed very distinct red dots on his upper thighs and face. When we saw the first one we thought perhaps they were mosquito or spider bites, but when they became more and more numerous, we began to get worried. After he woke up from his afternoon nap, he had rashes in addition to the dots.

All sorts of possible illnesses started popping into our minds, beginning with chicken pox. I have terrible memories of itchy, painful pox all over my body when I was small and I was really hoping that Truman would not be patient #0 for chicken pox in a house of nine children under ten years old. Truman, like Henry and Addi, had been vaccinated for chicken pox, but we weren't sure how reliable those things were. Plus, there had been a case of chicken pox at ICS (the kids' school) earlier in the week. And, if I'm being completely honest, having one or more of my children coming down with chicken pox was going to seriously increase the amount of parental work I was going to have to do on my vacation. More responsibility on vacation es no bueno.

Much of the parental diagnosis was taking place on the patio by the pool. Since we aren't medical professionals, there is no stigma with diagnosing children's illnesses while drinking wine. Estamos en España, after all.  Depending on which mobile network provider we each use, we either got no service at the vacation house, or extremely little service with almost no data. I am one of the lucky/unlucky (depending on your point of view) ones without any service at all. We are so used to being able to look up any fact in an instant that when we cannot we feel a little lost. In this particular case, we needed the location and opening hours of all the hospitals and clinics nearby. Try asking Siri that when there is no internet connection; that lady becomes completely worthless. We also wanted to see pictures of chicken pox eruptions and meningitis spots so we could compare them with the marks on Truman.

Meningitis?

Yep, one of the parents mentioned meningitis and that immediately changed the urgency of the exercise from 'theoretical' to 'concerning'. Apparently in the UK they teach parents to check for meningitis by pressing a cold glass on the eruption and if the red color doesn't leave the skin, then it could be meningitis so rush to a hospital as soon as possible.

We weren't in the UK, but instead in an old rental house in a valley in southern Spain. Instead of a cold glass, we found a room temperature plastic cup. Not optimal conditions for a diagnosis but we tried anyway. After taking turns pressing the cup repeatedly against Truman's spots, we realized that the results to our hi-tech operation were inconclusive and we couldn't trust them either way.

Since the glass parlor trick failed us, we went back to our non existent data coverage. After several failed attempts to use the internet to find a doctor, we found a listing in a local tourism book for a hospital in the neighboring town of Iznájar. Since neither Jess nor I are proficient in Spanish, we took our friend Pascal with us to be our pseudo translator. Pascal is the same guy we took with us to write the contract when we bought Jess's Fiat. He's super handy. :)

The road from our valley into Iznájar takes you around the cliffs that surround Iznájar's signature feature, a large beautiful lake that was created by damning up a nearby river. The lake is absolutely gorgeous and there is no boat or people activity on it. The entire scene creates a very pretty vista as you drive into town.

The lake and bridge going into Iznájar.

Once we made it into Iznájar proper, we had to navigate the windy small town streets to find the hospital. Even though it was 4:00pm in the afternoon the streets were mostly deserted. After driving to the center of the city we began looking for a place to park. As is common (in my experience) every bit of on-street parking was occupied, so we drove until we found the familiar "P" sign indicating a parking lot. The parking sign had us drive down a steep one-way alley. I am so glad we switched out our large 7 seater van for a smaller minivan. The larger van would not have fit in the alley. Even with the smaller car I only had a 2-3 inches from my side mirrors to the alley walls. The entire time I was driving I was thinking What happens if this street is a dead-end? Driving down a tight alley is one thing, but reversing a quarter mile with no clearance would likely be impossible!

Trying not to scrape the side mirrors off the rental car.

After we managed to park, we hiked back uphill (Truman refused to walk to Jess had to carry him up the hill) we found the hospital down a small side street. We knew it was the hospital because the entire street was filled with a large ambulance parked awkwardly out front. The door to the hospital was locked so we had to ring the bell. A woman came to the door and showed us to the deserted waiting room.

Where are all the patients? We are the only people in the hospital.

After a few moments, Jorge came out and we followed him into the examination room. He examined Truman and Pascal did all the translating for us. Jorge was cool as a cucumber throughout the entire examination, and gently nodded after each of Pascal's answers. Finally, he concluded that it wasn't life-threatening meningitis but insect bites, most likely fleas. It turns out that during the morning, Truman had been petting the mangy farm cats that live near the rental house.

Jorge wrote us a prescription for a few different medicines (some sort of steroid cream and a Tylenol equivalent, I think) and then came the moment I was dreading. He asked for our national health cards. Umm, yeah. We don't have those. Due to the fact that dealing with the government bureaucracy is a time and energy suck, we had been putting off registering with the local town hall and medical service which means, you guessed it, we did not have the medical cards to receive medical care. I had assumed that our best option was to try haggle and pay outright, and then find some way to get reimbursed for the doctor visit later.

After Pascal explained the situation to Jorge, he seemed completely uninterested in the details. He explained to Pascal that he's actually the ambulance driver and normally there is a lady that does the administration work.

The ambulance driver.

Oh well, estamos en España.

We asked where the pharmacy was located. He gave us approximate directions and sent us on our way. And yes, the woman locked the hospital door behind us.

The pharmacy was locked and the noise from the street party made using the intercom impossible.

We make it to the pharmacy and it's locked up tight. There is a sign that says if it's locked, ring the intercom. So we did. Or rather, Pascal did. Did I mention that there was some sort of afternoon street party going on? See those people sitting in the red Coca-Cola chairs behind Jess? They are sitting in the road drinking and eating tapas. Everyone was so loud that it wasn't really possible for Pascal to make himself understood on the intercom. The entire thing was absurdly comical.

A few minutes later, a young man shows up, unlocks the gate and allows us into the pharmacy. We give him our prescription and asks for our national health cards. Hmmm. Pascal launches into the same explanation that he gave Jorge and, equally unperturbed, the young man simply shrugs and rings up the medicine (it cost 17 euros by the way).

For all we know the young man was the local bartender who lost rock-paper-scissor when the foreigners wanted to go to the pharmacy. We didn't even want to ask.

5 Things I Learned During Our Andalusian Easter Vacation

1. British people do not speak English, and apparently, neither do Americans. Wellies, jumpers, rucksacks, biscuits, crisps, rubbish and bloody hell. I found myself saying "huh?" quite a bit during our vacation.

2. I can drink copious amounts of Spanish wine every day. Even after a "rough night" nothing goes better with Spanish sunshine than a nice glass of Spanish red. Is that a problem? I suppose not as long as I live in Spain ...

3. We miss road tripping. We drove about 2000km around southern Spain over the last week. It's definitely been too long since we've just hopped in the car and drove as a family. Olive has the makings of a good road-tripping dog. She did very well, although not quite as well as Avery use to do.

4. I'm on a country music kick. I've never been a country music super-fan, but it's very simple music and it's very "American" subject matter, which I'm into at the moment. 

5. Given the choice, our kids would eat a bag of flour and bag of white sugar every day. I thought after a few years of indoctrination, they could withstand the peer pressure of other kids eating more "standard" foods, but they can't. Apparently, delayed satisfaction is not a naturally occurring trait in children.

Made it home!

Tired. We had unbelievable hospitality in London, but we'e glad to be home.

Morocco - Last Day

[Note: This is one of those half-written blog posts that I never got around to publishing. In this case, from October 2013.] When you travel you are like a dry sponge. As you take in the new sights, sounds, and experiences of your destination, you are slowly wetting that sponge. Different people have different size sponges, but eventually one of two things happens:

1. Your sponge saturates and you need to return home; back to "normal", or
2. You fall in love with the new place and wind up staying.

Rest assured that the Cooper family will not be moving to Marrakech permanently.

Right now, our sponge is saturated; filled full with Moroccan experiences and it's time to return home to wring it out. The tide has turned and the charm and excitement of many of the new things have worn off and in their place is a longing for our own beds, our own food, and a little routine boredom. Sounds nice, right?

I was discussing with Jess that I think a perfectly planned vacation is when you are ready to go home on your last day. If you want to go home on your first day, that's no good, if you want to stay on your last day, and you can't imagine going back home, that's no good either. When you've vacationed, learned a few things and relaxed some, and are ready to get back to your normal life, that's a vacation well planned!

Well done Jess. Without you, I'd probably never go anywhere, due to the unbelievable hassle of the planning.

Morocco - Sneaky Bacteria

[Note: This is one of those half-written blog posts that I never got around to publishing. In this case, from October 2013.] We don't talk often about things like upset stomachs, diarrhea, fever and vomiting. I sounds like the list of symptoms on a medicine box, and frankly, doesn't make for very exciting reading.

On Tuesday, after a few days in Marrakesh, I started having an upset stomach. This is not unusual for me when I eat things that I'm not use to, so I chalked it up to too many carbs and some low quality grub. However, by Wednesday morning I needed to skip breakfast because of the cramping. Simply excellent. I practice quite safe travel hygiene, especially around food, but in the end I got it just the same.

Jess followed me down the path to ruin about 36 hours later. This wasn't like Thailand when I made a bad decision about some Chinese food and that night wound up puking and laying on the bathroom floor in a fevered sweat. No, Morocco was more gentle to us, and we only had to endure stomach cramps, fatigue and constant diarrhea. It definitely could've hit us worse. In this case it slowed us down, made us a little grumpy, and took some of the charm out of our Moroccan experience.

Like crime scene investigators, Jess and I tried to figure out how we got sick and the kids didn't (thankfully). In the end, we zeroed in on the coffee that we were drinking by the carafe-full in the Riad. It wasn't espresso, but Moroccan coffee, and I'm pretty sure they used tap water.

Those bacteria are so sneaky.

"No, the Queen will not see you now ..."

So, the queen is a big deal. I implicitly knew that, but it's hard to understand until you start wandering around Windsor (the town built around Windsor Castle). Most things are about the queen. Or the royal family. Or people that used to be queen, or the royal family. I find it incredibly confusing trying to keep everyone and every title straight, but I can see how people get obsessed about it.

Today Yvette drove us to Windsor Castle. The Queen was there at the time (you can tell because the royal flag is flying over the castle if she's in residence). We tried to see her but apparently we weren't on the invite list. Go figure.

The castle itself is incredibly old and quite amazing. We saw St. George's Chapel inside the castle. The Chapel is architecturally amazing and extremely ornate.

We all received headsets to feed us information as we walked through the open parts of the castle. Truman hung in there for several hours before he got bored and just wanted to leave. He spent more than a little while laying on the red carpet of the inside of the castle. :)

After we finished the castle, we needed to change our plans around to accommodate the kids' interest and energy levels. Instead of driving to the zoo, we walked across the street to an old British pub (across the street from the castle) and enjoyed a nice pint of ale and some traditional British food.

Henry, Big Ben and Parliament

Respect the Espresso Machine

So, Yvette and Allen have a full coffee shop in their kitchen. It's like a bed and breakfast combined with a Starbucks. They have an industrial grade espresso machine from Italy, locally sourced freshly rusted beans, a grinder, grounds box, and a large assortment of syrups for flavored lattes. Allen gave me a crash course before he left for Houston. Remember, two 1 oz shots in less than 30 seconds or you're doing it wrong. Respect the espresso machine.