Your passenger isn't all that thrilled.

I have more photos which I will post later but for now I just want to post my candidate for movie of the year. Your first “Free Fall”.

As you rode up it was clear to me that you didn’t quite grasp, while watching from the ground, what you had signed up for…on the initial drop I could see signs of the whole thing going very wrong very quickly but you quickly found your feet, so to speak, and had a blast…so much so that on the way out it wouldn’t do but you had to ride it one more time (luckily for me, we made it on line just before they shut it down!).


(The whole thing is great but my favorite bits are the little wave before you got going and your “bravery” at the very end).

Before we left you also rode your first carousel which you enjoyed very much after having your fill of slushy and ice cream treats.

Other than revisiting the Monkey’s and Elephants we didn’t really tread new ground. Although you did manage build up your courage to let the Flamingos eat from your hand! You were tickled.

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You had quite the extended birthday this year.
It started with a visit from your Nana, who left with LESS luggage than she arrived with, in mid-June. Next up was a visit from Mam and Poppy in early July who brought gifts from the whole family. Your Maw-Maw, Scott and Aunt Elaine were able to join in the festivities thanks to a video feed streamed live over the internet.

The week before your birthday a package arrived from your Granddaddy, and it wouldn’t do for you to wait so we had to open that right away. Needless to say by the time your birthday finally arrived on the 18th of July 2009, you were inundated with sticker books, new clothes, art supplies and plenty of cards.

Unfortunately late July is a bad time to have a birthday in Europe, as all your Spanish friends were out of town or busy over your birthday weekend. So instead of a party your Mom and I took you to the Madrid Safari which you enjoyed quite a bit (the original plan was to go to the water park but the weather proved to be a bit to cool for that).

When you wandered into our bedroom that morning you said to your Mom, “I saw the presents and I heard a voice in my heart telling me not to open them and I listened to it”. Luckily you didn’t have to wait long as we opened presents first thing and followed that up with some of Mom’s CHOCOLATE CHIP pancakes.

We arrived at the park just as the bird show was getting started. This performance featured birds of prey circling high above us before screaming down to pounce on a “rabbit”. There was also a fox and two wolves.

From there we took a walk over to the petting zoo to see and feed the goats. As usual you were less than thrilled to have the goats eat out of your hands so I had to brave the throng of goats, pigs and deer with a bag of carrots. Nothing makes you more friends in a petting zoo than a bag of carrots.


After the worlds worst hamburgers (again if you are going to any “park/zoo” in Spain it is best to bring your own lunch) you went for a much anticipated ride on a pony. From there we visited the aviary to see the tropical birds. Our last “walking” stop was the mini-zoo where we saw a really big tiger, some raccoons (funny to see raccoons in every zoo), a close up visit with the birds of prey and, of course, the monkeys.

Finally we made it to the drive through safari where the animals were free roaming (except the lions and elephants) and very happy to slobber on the window in hopes of a carrot. You were very nervous about the animals getting into the car and insisted that the windows stayed up anytime an animal approached, especially the Emu towards the end. There were two elephants, when we first drove up one had his trunk in the other one’s ear, you mommy said “he is tickling his ear”. Shortly thereafter the elephant moved his trunk to the bottom of the other elephant at which time you commented that he is “tickling his bottom”.

That evening you Mom and I went out to see Lucinda Williams at the Joy Eslava theatre for our first evening out since coming to Madrid while you slept peacefully with MariaJose watching over you.

Your birthday, however, didn’t end there. Your friend Alaia had a little party for you as well later the next week, sure looks like you girls had a good time.

Camille finally got around to getting some plants for the apartment, apparently a snail was thrown in for free. Well Lilah has adopted him as her pet being that our apartment will not allow dogs or cats.

And without any further delay,heeeeeeeeere’s Beee (munching on an apple):

(When Lilah named him we asked whether it was spelled “B” or “B-e-e” and she responded with “B-e-e-e”)

Third trip to Ikea and your first “playpen” experience.

At long last the remaining pictures from our visit to the Madrid Zoo (you know, where Lilah got kissed by Eddie the sea lion?)

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Well the “Why” game has begun, it started innocently enough earlier in the week as Lilah tested the waters with her first “Why” series which only went 2 levels deep.  However, today as we walked to the Madrid  Zoo and Aquarium she really started in earnest; “What is that people doing?”, “Riding a Bike”, “Why?”, “Because he enjoys it or maybe has somewhere to go”; “What are the cars Doing?”; “They are parked”, “Why?”, “Because their people are in the Zoo”, “Why?”, “To see the animals”, “Why?” this time we were able to distract her and put an end to it relatively quickly, however, I have a feeling that the next time will be a bit tougher (and if you ask my Mom, I have it coming….)

By the way the Madrid Zoo and Aquarium is quite depressing, even more so than the usual Zoo experience as the habitats are smaller than you typically see and the water and pens are absolutely filthy as people seem to be allowed, and even encouraged, to throw any and everything to the animals.  That being said Lilah really enjoyed her day at the Zoo, she was able to pet a Camel, get kissed by a sea lion, see the elephants, see lots of monkey’s, and had the opportunity to touch a Flamingo but chickened out at the last moment.

just wanted to let you all know the mundane- yet exciting milestone. Lilah is now walking up and down steps with alternating feet. I know, I know, something a nana,or mam, would be happy to know
: )

Also she now is 3T clothes and size 8 shoe. And according to the baggage weights at the airport, she weighs 38 lbs… everyone comments that she is tall for her age, and guess that is so.

We have her enrolled in a “dance class” here in Madrid which she likes as long as I hang out. She’s not yet comfortable to see me leave, but I chalk it up to being in a strange city, etc. We also attend a “music class” on fridays where she sits and sings her heart out. I plan on taking movies, but haven’t found our spare memory cards.

After 6 months of anticipation and preparation we were finally on our way.  The van arrived to take the family and I to JFK for our move to Madrid Spain.  We traveled light carrying only 1 large roller suitcase, 3 large roller duffel bags, 3 carry-on rollers, 2 overstuffed laptop bags, stroller, car seat, 1 insulated bag of food stuffs, 1 oversized cloth bag, and a medium sized plastic tote covered in duct tape.

We made it to the airport and through security without much hassle and plenty of time to spare.  The flight was uneventful, Lilah, as always, was a great traveller and did very little crying and/or complaining, Camille was able to nurse her to sleep shortly after the dinner service.  I believe Camille was able to get a little sleep at least she seemed to drift in and out.  I, on the other hand, tried lying still for about 45 minutes then gave up  and watched the the first few episodes of “Flight of the Conchords” and the first season of  “Curb” .

As we finished our breakfast the plane finally descended beneath the cloud cover and we could finally see the city of Madrid……covered in SNOW?!?!

As we prepared for the landing Camille entertained schemes of ensuring that Lilah stayed asleep as we deboarded the plane…the welcome to Madrid announcement from the Captian took care of that plan…so after sleeping only ~4 hours since waking up from her nap on Friday afternoon at 2pm Lilah was up and rarin’ to go for her arrival in Madrid.

As we came off the end of the jetway Lilah, the ham that she is, threw her hands up over her head and shouted “ESPANA!” (now as we left NY we asked Lilah where she was going and provided the answer as “ESPANA” but this was completely unprovoked).    It took over an hour to collect all of our bags, thank goodness for Blue’s Clues.

Being that we had arranged for a car service to take us to our apartment from the airport we figured immigration was basically the last bump in the road, we couldn’t have been more wrong.    Upon finding the car service counter we were told that the city of Madrid was “closed” due to the snow (less than 6 inches mind you) and that all of their cars were stuck in the city and our best bet would be to take the subway into the city….out 2.5 year old and two luggage carts piled with 13 bags disagreed.

We went out to the taxi stand at which there were about 15 people and no taxis.  After about 20 minutes of sitting outside 3 taxi’s finally show up…now I don’t speak spanish but they were clearly telling the folks in front of us that they could/would not take them where they needed to go b/c the roads were to bad.   We knew our apartment was only 12 miles from the airport so Camille walked up to one of the cabbies and gave him our address and he was more than happy to take us.  Somehow he managed to pack all of us and our 13 bags into this tiny european hatchback, we were not very comfortable as we were 3 abreast in the back seat, luggage and stroller in the floorboards, bags stacked in the passenger seat and the back completely full, but hey we only had to travel 12 miles…..

As we got out of the airport and onto the motorway we quickly realized that our day was no where near bein over traffic was at a standstill in all directions on all visible roads.  That 12 miles took almost 3 hours and 280 euros.   About 45 minutes into the trip after not moving for what seemed to be an eternity Lilah, completely unprovoked, started yelling “Rapido, Rapido” (translates to “faster”)  which gave us all, the cabbie included, a nice laugh, probably the last one of the day.

(we learned that the airport was closed down at noon for over 5 hours…so in the end I guess we are lucky that we even made it Madrid).

As we learned over the next few days it had been 5 years since the city of Madrid had seen snow, and it hadn’t seen this much snow in over 30 years.   The general population of Spain were very pleased with their snow as Snowmen could be seen on almost every median in the city center and adults were hurling snowballs at each other everywhere you looked.  The kicker, of course, is that by the next morning you could barely tell that it had snowed at all…..