Sol

Almost gone

A week ago I was busy prepping as if we actually had a trip to plan for. While Nacho worked his way through a busy week, I took care of the laundry, helped the girls celebrate the end of camp--and their great movie making abilities--and ordered an array of early birthday gifts to make sure we had at least a few fun things for our soon-to-be five year old to open in Spain. Fortunately, the days ticked by smoothly and preparations were almost ready for a Saturday departure after Nacho's surprise green slip (which saw him make serious bank for a 2 day LA turn that became a 3 day after landing in the wee small hours on Saturday morning). I also made a difficult decision about my position on the Board of the park which I only mention here because it definitely added to the heavy resignation I felt ending the week. It was time to get away. Far, far away. Snagging two first-class seats on the flight to Madrid for myself and Elisa was just the ticket I needed. Since Carolina is still under six, they won't allow her to non-rev up front which meant we had to be strategic about it. But thankfully, Nacho could sense I needed a little extra pampering and he listed me with Elisa in the "comfortable seats" as Elisa now calls them. I didn't resist. The flight was easy enough and in no time we were landing and finding our way to Encinar...in full summer. It had been too long. 

The next few days were all about relaxing poolside, doing nothing at all and getting to spend as much time as possible with family. When this whole idea of a vacation came about, we really didn't know what to plan for. But as the days counted down, we filled in some of the gaps with the dates of Jesus and Cristina's own family vacation and figured out how we might make our own beach getaway coincide with that so as to maximize the kids' time with their cousins. It also helped that we narrowed down our flight path to Madrid in the days before, foregoing the idea of flying in to Malaga or Barcelona to squeeze in a pre-family trip. So that by the time we actually made it to Spain, we had a vacation to Murcia already booked with a stay at the Parador in Lorca and several beaches along the coast to investigate. It was all coming together and I was so eager for it. Sometimes travel is just the cure for what ails you.