I almost started this post two Saturday’s ago. But I didn’t. I would have started by saying… “Ever feel like throwing in the towel? Raising the white flag? Surrendering?” But I didn’t. Instead I’ve waited a little while in hopes that my attitude may have changed. And it has – a little.
The past 2 weeks have been good. But, I do have to question – why does there always have to be “opposition in all things”? Why? No, really – I’m asking. I sometimes get tired of opposition. Why does a perfectly fine “vacation” have to have a crappy moment or 2? Why can’t things just go right all the time? Really.
Bonnie & Bill (aka Mom & Dad) came for a visit. How great is that? We were all SO excited. They arrived on May 4th (a Wednesday) and we’d get to have them with us for 2 weeks. WooHoo!! So, shouldn’t things go perfectly? Shouldn’t the kids all get along and be on their best behavior for a mere 2 weeks? Shouldn’t the mom be the perfect hostess? And manage to have the patience of an angel with her children? Do those things ever happen in anyone else’s family? I would love to know. But, for us it’s pretty impossible. The kids managed to fight, I managed to lose my temper pretty badly, and to top off all the normal day to day stuff – our car got broken into and lots of things stolen out of it. Wow!!
So, let me share with you the good and the bad.
Mom & dad arrived in Lisbon (an hour and 15 min from our home). We picked them up and drove them home to very anxious kids. After the hoopla wore off, mom & dad took a much needed nap. Ever try flying international? The time change is a killer. The next day we toured our local (Tomar) castle, took a very bumpy train ride through town, and ate at a local restaurant that we’d been wanting to try. All and all the day was a good start for their trip. Not too boring/not too overwhelming.
Friday – we took them to the Feira (you know, the gypsy swap meet) so they could get yelled at by a few ciganos & see how the Portuguese treat animals (live animals for sale for food – very sad). After that we went to a park by the river in Tomar for a picnic lunch. We had to change our plans for the day because our missionaries called and said that they were baptizing a young guy and they wanted us to be there. After trying to figure out the logistics for the baptism, it was decided that Rick would pick up everyone and they would come to our home and they’d do the baptism in our swimming pool. Well, once they were at our home, Devan convinced them to do it in the river/lake instead. It was pretty cool. I’ll post some picts at the end of this. (So, scroll down if you are bored)
Saturday – we went to the Castelo de Amoural (the castle in the middle of the river). This time we took the boat both ways so no one would have to get wet or break a toe. We had just about ½ an hour on the island because the boat driver had been leaving for lunch (a 2 hour break), but Rick convinced him that making money was a good thing and he should put his lunch off for a little while. After we left the island we headed in to Tomar for a Soup Tasting Festival. That was fun. It was in a park across the river where we had picnicked the day before. We paid our entrance fee, got a souvenir bowl & cup, and headed to the booths where we tasted many different kinds of local soups. That evening we went to Torres Novas to attend their yearly Medieval Festival. That was fun. Lots of food & souvenir booths, costumes, vultures, eagles, owls, and camels on display (real ones), belly dancers, medieval street performers, parade with Knights, displays of ancient things. Pretty cool. We had a great time, until the end when I thought mom was going to strangle someone. We went to this booth where they were cooking these pork steak sandwiches. They had sold out and they told Rick that the next batch would be ready in 15-20 minutes. Most people had left, but Bonnie and I waited so we could watch them being made (pretty cool process), plus we wanted to get our sandwiches first and be on our way. Well, by the time they finished cooking them there was a massive group of people all along the booth and behind us. It became crazy quickly. People were yelling how many sandwiches they wanted and reaching over our heads. So, mom and I started yelling how many sandwiches we wanted and held out our money. It was absolutely ridiculous. The ladies working the booth would literally hand people sandwiches over our heads & our hands holding out our money. It was insane. And they knew we’d been watching them make the sandwiches for 20 minutes. Bonnie even screamed once, when the sandwiches were just about gone. That finally got their attention (one lady almost jumped out of her skin). We “expressed” our feelings and the lady gave us the last 2 sandwiches (for free), although we needed 4. That was a bummer way to end a fun event.
Sunday was Mother’s Day (for American’s and Brazilians, anyway – Portugal’s Mother’s Day was the week before). Kaylie fixed us a yummy French toast breakfast before church. We had an uneventful day at church (I’ve begun to appreciate “uneventful”). Then after church, Kaylie and the boys (but mostly Kaylie) worked very hard all afternoon preparing us a taco dinner (homemade tortillas and all). And for dessert we had homemade brownies (made by Kaylie) with ice cream, strawberries and whip cream. One of our missionaries, Elder Agee, came over to Skype his mom – and spent many hours talking with his mom and the rest of his family. That’s so awesome.
Monday we headed to Evora, which is about 2 hours southeast of us. This is a town that I’d been wanting to go see – mostly because they have the “chapel of bones”. We spent 2 days there sightseeing. The “chapel of bones” was pretty cool. (pictures at bottom) The Roman ruins were pretty amazing (because of its age – built in the 2nd or 3rd century AD), we did a little souvenir shopping, and had some interesting food. It always amazes me that the restaurants here will have normal menus, but then when you go to order, the waiter will start to tell you what they “don’t” have (off their menu). We should be used to it by now, but for some reason we still get surprised. Anyhow, on the way home on Tuesday we drove to an area called Cromlech of Almendres. It consists of 95 giant stones set up vertically in some pattern, believed to have been for some sort of religious cult. It dates back to 4000 to 2000 BC.
Wednesday was a relaxing day at home, playing on the lake and doing laundry. Fun to watch grandma jump in the lake from the dock – she’s a sport. And to see grandpa go off in the kayak, and wonder if he’s ever coming back.
Thursday we drove up to Porto, but on the way we stopped by Coimbra University (the oldest University in Europe, I think). Thursday evening and Friday we enjoyed the sites of Porto. We took a little river cruise on the Douro River (a lot easier on the feet than walking up and down hills on cobblestone roads). We enjoyed touring a Palace and checking out some gold filled Catholic churches.
Saturday – we headed up North to Caminha. Caminha is on the northern border of Portugal. Just across the ocean/river is Spain. Devan had been wanting to swim across the channel to Spain since the last time we were up in Caminha. So, that was going to be the highlight of the day. But, it turned out that Devan wasn’t able to swim it (because I “forbade” him) and the highlight of our day ended up being that our car was broken into and 3 purses and a backpack were stolen. I’ll get to that in a minute. The water was very rough and very cold, and it was windy. I was very uneasy with the thought of him trying to swim it, with no boat along side. Then, as we were waiting for Rick to get his bathing suit from the car, a man with his dog stopped and was talking to us. I asked him his opinion (he’s a local guy from across the channel in Spain). He said it was very stupid to try and swim it, and the police probably wouldn’t let him do it anyway. He said people have died doing it. At the end of talking to him, he said if Devan was going to try it, for him to wait until he was gone because he didn’t want to watch him die. Devan was still adamant about doing it, but I nixed the idea by the time Rick got back. Power!! Well, we went to meet up with some friends that live in Caminha, but the girl Susanna had a yoga class. She wanted to me to stay and do it with her (it’s some sort of therapeutic laughing yoga class), but that wasn’t going to happen. So, we said we’d kill some time while she was in her class and meet up with her at her house later. So, off we went, back to the beach. Rick, dad, Devan, and Tanner took off first down a trail. We girls lagged behind getting ourselves together and eating a piece of chocolate. By the time we headed out we figured we’d only be down at the beach for 15 or 20 minutes so we left our “stuff” in the car. Kaylie put her purse under her sweatshirt on the front seat, and mom and I put our purses on the floor in the back seat, with the seats pulled up to “hide” them. Well, that didn’t work. We headed in the opposite direction from the boys because dad and Rick came back to tell us we’d have to go through bushes to get down to the sand. Well, the other direction had huge drop off’s to get to the sand and then we couldn’t find the boys. Long story short – we couldn’t find the boys, Rick headed back to the trail to go the direction they had gone, then dad went back, then we eventually went back. When we got back to the car – a young Spanish couple said their car had been broken into, she was on the phone crying. My heart sank – I rushed to the car and opened it and sure enough – everything was gone. What a sick feeling! The rest of the day was spent looking in bushes & trashcans, cancelling credit cards (via Skype), filing a police report, etc etc etc. Turns out – 5 cars on the street had been broken in to that day. Looking back on it, we could’ve been completely snowed by the Spanish couple – they could’ve been the ones that broke in to the cars and we caught them so they put on this act. Who knows!! It’s very maddening. Kaylie’s camera was stolen (200 pictures hadn’t been downloaded yet – bummer), mom & dad’s passports, lots of cash & credit cards, dad’s prescription glasses, tennis shoes, dad’s I-pod, I could go on and on. So stinky!!
We ended up leaving Susana’s home at about midnight that night. She was so great to feed our kids and then us after a very long day. We drove back to Porto with a sunshield taped over our nonexistent window. We spent the night in a hotel in Porto with intentions of going to one of the wards that Rick served in on his mission. Sunday we got up and headed to church. Bill stayed behind, but the rest of us went. After we drove down the street a little ways, Rick realized our tire was flat (it had a slow leak). We had a pump in the trunk area, so he filled it and we headed out again. We jumped on the freeway and about 3 or 4 minutes later the tire popped. Bummer (again)!! Well, after tearing apart the car looking for the spare, I read the manual. With our model car you have the option of a spare tire OR 2 small backseats (we did not realize this when we purchased the car). So, no spare tire!! No road side assistance plan either. And calling our car insurance, we had no “flat tire” protection. Bummer again. Well, the kids and I decided to walk back to the hotel. We jumped the guard rail and found an open spot in the fence and headed back. It looked like a fairly short walk (by the GPS). Rick called a tow truck to come rescue him and mom and get them to a tire place. The short walk ended up being over an hour. We got lost. And since my phone was in my purse that had been stolen the previous day… Well, you get the drift. Luckily Rick had written the name of our hotel, and the city it was in, on a piece of paper. With several “do you speak English? Oh, no? Ok (and then showing them the paper)” we finally managed to get back to our hotel. It was pretty funny. Good exercise too. I was very grateful that I no longer have toddlers, because if I had had to carry anyone I would’ve died. Needless to say we missed church. Luckily, Rick had already asked for a late checkout (so that we could go to church). The lady at the hotel was so nice, she gave us a loaf of bread and meat and cheese and some yogurts after I told her our saga. We had a little snack in our room waiting for Rick and mom. From there we went to Fatocha’s house in Coimbra. She’s a great cook, as I’ve said before. She fixed us a duck/rice meal. First time I’ve ever eaten duck. Pretty good – surprisingly. Had a fun time with them and then headed home.
Monday morning we did laundry and then packed up for Lisbon. First thing – The US Embassy!! Never been in an Embassy before. Was not what we were expecting. I just always figured the embassy was like you see in the movies. You know – big gates, open, waiting to greet the Americans who are running away from the bad guys. Safe haven!! But no, you have to “prove” you have a need to be there, and then they unlock the doors to let you in (one at a time), where you have to “empty your pockets” and go through a metal detector (you know, like at the airport), all of which you are doing with a guard watching you. Then, they let you in. They send you up a pathway to the actual building. Now, the other thing that was so unexpected was that most of the embassy workers were Portuguese. Wouldn’t you expect everyone to be American? Well, not the case. Interesting. We got there shortly before they were closing and we were the only people in the whole place (besides 1 guard and a couple of workers on the other side of the glass). After the passports were issued we went to find a hotel. We ended up at a nice hotel for the next to nights (that was a plus).
Tuesday was spent siteseeing in Lisbon. We went to a place called the Quinta das Regaleiros, which is a house that was owned by a wealthy family at one time, then sold to a Japanese company, then acquired by Portugal. Beautiful, amazing grounds. It was like a fairy tale. It even had a Repunzal castle. The time spent walking around the grounds would have been amazing except this is where I lost my temper with one of my kids. So, that kind of ruined it. Oh well. We went and dropped off the car to get the window replaced and took the subway back to another area to check out the sites. Devan and Rick went back a little while later (by subway) to get the car and pick us up. Somewhere along the way, Devan lost his camera. Bummer AGAIN!! Wow – bad luck. And the camera was part of the reason I lost my temper at the Quinta earlier in the day.
The 2 weeks with mom and dad went by way too fast (at least for us, anyway). They left early Wednesday morning. Sad to see them go. But, only a month and a half till we get to see them again.
We had intended on going to the Lisbon Zoo after we checked out of the hotel, but the weather was rainy and I have a hurt toe so walking around a zoo didn’t sound like too much fun. We took the kids to “Chili’s” (yes, the America “Chili’s” - the only one in Portugal). It’s always a breath of fresh air to have a reminder of home. Had a great lunch and dessert (chocolate molten cake – who could ask for anything better?). Hit a huge rain storm on the way home.
It’s been hard to not dwell on the negatives of the last two weeks. Every time I think of something else that was in my purse, all the negativity comes back – but I’m working on it.
Tanner keeps saying “I miss grandma & grandpa so much”(remember it’s only been a few days). I keep reminding him that we’ll be home in about a month. HOME IN ABOUT A MONTH?!!!!!! Woohoohoo!!!
(Well, it's going to take me forever to upload the pictures. So, I'm going to post this now and work on the pictures over the next few days.)
Sounds like you had a great time with the grands. Too bad all that other stuff had to happen. Oh, well. We really look forward to your coming HOME!! Let us know the exact day K?
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