Espana Part II

Day 7

Camille and I slept in until 11 AM while the team had practice. I ventured out alone with Mills to get some lunch from the yummiest bakery. Their fresh made croissants with ham and cheese baked inside were so, so good. Then we all headed to the beach in San Sebastian again. It was warmer that day and the beach was packed. The Europeans did not appreciate the team playing paddle ball around them.
That night they played a game in San Sebastian. Since we came straight from the beach we looked a little ridiculous filing off the bus in our swimsuits for a basketball game. We got there early to watch a game between Philippines and...another country. I don't remember. All I remember was the crazy loud Philippines fans. I tried sitting with one of her ears against my face and covering the other ear (pictured below) but Millie was not having it. I ended up in a random gross room with  a window that overlooked the arena.

One of our players had a cousin on the Philippines team. Such a weird coincidence. Two cousins who haven't seen each other in years both end up playing basketball games back to back in a random arena in San Sebastian, Spain.

It was pretty cool to watch men's players that close. They are incredible athletes.

BYU's game was against the Basque National team (northern area of Spain), which they won easily.
We went straight to dinner after the game, where Camille just wanted to go to bed and she threw one of the biggest fits of her life.

Day 8

We woke up early to go on a boat cruise of Bilbao, which was provided by the Basque National team. Unfortunately, the tour was mostly of an industrial area that apparently has been cleaned up over the last 15 years. As you might guess, it wasn't very interesting. The views as we got on/off the boat were pretty. Following the cruise we went to Bilbao's Guggenheim museum. The museum was mostly very modern stuff, which I often struggle to appreciate, but I liked a lot of it. We got a lot of rain that day. Enjoy lots of pictures of the river.

The team had another game that night against the same team, but in an arena in Bilbao. Camille slept through most of it, despite the fact that the stands were packed and some fans at drums and a blow horn.

Day 9
We took a long bus trip to Barcelona. At one of the rest stops Camille had the biggest blow out I have ever seen. We discovered it when Daniel picked up the car seat and liquid dripped out. I'll leave it at that. Yes, those clothes were thrown away.
When we got to hotel we discovered we had smoking room, but one of the other coaches kindly switched with us. That night we went to a shopping/dining district called La Rambla and ate our favorite meal of the trip. Daniel's pear/gorgonzola stuffed gnocchi was amazing. The only picture of the day was Jim (one of the donors on the trip) posing by the oil that had a BYU "Y" as it's logo.

Day 10
We went to church at a really cool LDS building. I was feeding Camille in the bathroom before church and church ended up so packed that we didn't get seats. After church this random woman walked around asking for pictures with everyone. She got one with just me and her.

That afternoon we had a team lunch where Daniel ordered a massive calzone and Camille was adorable.

Then we went to la Sagrada familia, which is the most spectacular architectural building I think I have ever been to. Construction was started in the late 19th century and it is still going on. It's supposed to be done in 30 years. Gaudi designed it in great detail- every inch of it has intricate details.

Day 11
We went to the beach. It was a different ocean and it was the perfect day for the beach. Sunny, but not too hot and Daniel and I both got a little sunburned. Daniel swam out to a buoy that looked somewhat close from the beach. 45 minutes later.... he got back to shore. I laughed at him. (Lexie I wish you could have been there to write messages in the sand with me about that swim) We were also treated to the sight of multiple nude men. Apparently that is actually not very common.

The fourth and final game that night was held in the hottest gym in history. Camille and I wandered to a sketchy neighborhood for a Coca Cola light. I was so sweaty after the game I felt like I had played.

We had our final meal at a restaurant our tour guide brought us to. It was supposed to be the most authentic Spanish dinner. We started with bread that we rubbed with fresh garlic and tomatoes and dipped in oil. The next course was cured meats and cheese, followed by fried calamari and chicken croquettes. The final course was various bbqed meats, vegetables and potatoes.

Day 12
We headed to the airport. When we tried to check in the ticketing agent couldn't find a ticket for Camille. We were at the counter for about 45 minutes before a manager told her how to find infant international tickets. Luckily, our flight was already delayed so it didn't matter at all. During our 4 hour layover in Atlanta we were stopped by several people who commented how much Camille looks like Daniel. One guys was going up the escalator as were going down and he yelled "there's no denying that kid is yours!" Thanks, random guy.

We finally got home and into bed by 3 AM Utah time. 

Happy and exhausted. The end. 

Espana Part I

Daniel, Camille and I recently returned from an amazing 12 day trip to Spain with the BYU women's basketball team. I felt like we needed to bring Camille, which made it slightly less relaxing, but hey, a free trip to Spain is a free trip to Spain. As I mentioned earlier, I lost my phone 3 days into the trip. I left it on a chair at the team's first game. All of these pictures are from Daniel's phone. 

Day 1

Spent the entire day travelling to Spain. Millie was an angel. Did not cry at all; however, she was being held the entire time so, really, it's not that impressive. 

During our layover in NYC we tried Shake Shack, which was most definitely delicious.

Day 2

Got off the plane around 10 AM, Spain time, to find that the handle of our gate-checked stroller was completely gone. We are still waiting to hear back from Delta on that one. It wasn't the end of the world because we could push the stroller by the cup holders, but annoying.
Then we went down to Mercado de San Miguel, one of the oldest markets in the world, and ate what we came to know were classic Spanish sandwiches- small ham and cheese baguettes. They were everywhere in every city we went to. Ham is a specialty of Spain.

This was where I had my first somewhat public nursing experience on the trip. (The list of interesting places I fed Camille grew fairly long through the trip.) We sat down at some chairs and I got set up, only for us to realize it was a cafe where we had to buy something in order to stay. Some mediocre horchata was ingested by Daniel.
This was followed by a walking tour of old Madrid, through Plaza Mayor, which was really interesting, but at that point we had been up for 24 hours straight so it was hard to concentrate. The things that struck me the most were 1)the tiny streets (which still have 2 way traffic and lots of pedestrians) and 2)these buildings were all centuries old, with the oldest dating to the end of the 15th century.

That night we had a delicious dinner. It started with bread and oil (as all meals in Spain did), then a salad with tasty tomatoes, and a final course of raw beef. We were all concerned initially but then they brought out a hot skillet (reminded me of what Chili's serves fajitas on) and had us cook our meat how we each wanted.
We crashed by 10 PM that night and slept straight until 9 AM. Even Camille. 

Day 3

Went to church first thing. The chapel we went to was right next to the Madrid Temple and MTC. The temple was stunning. Most LDS temples are, but this one had beautiful stone latticework and lots of stained glass windows.

We went to lunch at a place known for paella. It was delicious, although I didn't enjoy the seafood one. I really really try to like seafood, but it just makes me want to dry heave.

Then we walked around Madrid and relaxed at a beautiful park while we talked to our kids on the phone. The girls both cried and we realized it was completely counter-productive so we would only talk to Mimi from then on.

 

That evening we attended a bull fight. It was gory and disturbing. There is a lot of culture and tradition surrounding bull fights, but they are a controversial topic among Spaniards. We left after 2 bull fights (there are 6 total), but bought a bobble head bull as a souvenir.

The bull fight probably wins as the most unique place I nursed Millie. On the stone floor of the 95 degree arena with the sun blazing on the two of us while I tried not to flash everyone around me- all while watching a man dressed in a costume trying to stab a bull as it charged at him.
That night we walked around the city closer to our hotel. It was weird for us to see school-age kids out and about at midnight. Most families eat dinner around 9:30 or 10 PM, so why wouldn't the kids still be awake?

Day 4

We got off to a late start because Camille needed to eat, so we walked down and met the rest of the group at the National Cathedral and Royal Palace. The funny thing is, when travelling with a group of 50 people it takes forever to get anywhere, so we ended up arriving only 5 minutes after everyone else. The Almudena Cathedral was so, so beautiful. It was cool to recognize some symbolism that span religions. The cathedral was only finished 20 years ago, although it was started in 1883. The pauses due to political/religious turmoil seem to be typical of much of Spain's landmarks.

 The Royal Palace was massive. Apparently, it has over 3,000  incredibly ornate rooms, but we wouldn't know since we weren't willing to pay the $20 to take the tour. We did get to witness a tourist getting a ticket for climbing up on a window sill for a photo op.

That night the team played their first game. The opposing team didn't have enough players in town (it was their off season) so they got some men.

Dinner that night was one of our favorites. A pasta salad with very fresh vegetables, like most of the restaurants in Spain. Then some really really tasty steak. When we got back to the hotel I realized I left my phone somewhere, which unfortunately, was never found.

Day 5

We were up bright and early to for the 5 hour bus ride to Bilbao. The scenery along the trip was beautiful. So many little towns and each one marked with a super old church. Also lots of sunflower farms.
After checking into the hotel we walked around the city to find some dinner and we got to see an eclectic festival going on. It took over an hour to find a place that was serving dinner and not just alcohol and appetizers.

The architecture was, again, beautiful. The picture below is the police station that was right by our hotel. Took this picture before we found out it wasn't some kind of museum. And check out the street in that pic of me and Camille. Gorgeous.

Day 6

We took the team bus over to San Sebastian and up to a look out point. Too bad it was overcast because it was gorgeous. The look out point had some random rides. A bunch of the girls jumped into the bumper cars. The ride operator let them stay on for like 15 minutes and it was highly entertaining. Camille, as you can tell, loved it.

The bus then dropped us off by the water. We walked around shops and restaurants, eventually settling on a place called Hollywood Burger, which was really tasty. We ended up at the beach, which was a little cold, but not too bad. Camille is our first kid to touch ocean water and we may have gone slightly overboard in documenting it.

After dinner that evening we walked over to the other beach, which had less waves, but was more scenic.  

We headed back to Bilbao that night. An international fireworks competition was going on, so each night we were treated to amazing fireworks shows. We took Camille to it and she surprised us by not crying at all.

The Big 4

So, while I continue to nag Daniel about getting all our Spain trip pictures off his phone, I will blog about other things. I don't have many pictures from the past month, since I lost my phone and all. 

Big Millie is one third of the way to her first birthday. And her head looks massive compared to her body in that picture above. 

Changes this month include completely holding her head up, grabbing things with her hands, pulling hair, putting her hands together (and chewing on them in her mouth) and eating slightly better from a bottle. She really needs to improve with her bottle feeding. I am afraid our new, amazing babysitter is going to quit if Camille can't figure out how to eat from bottles more, and cry less, when she is hungry.

It was so fun to spend 12 days with Camille as our only kid. She will never have that again in her life. Just me, Daniel and Millie Mills hanging out.

She continues to get cuter. And taller. At her 4 month appointment Millie was 12 lbs 11 ounces (19th percentile) and 25.5 inches (89th percentile). And her head has jumped to 76th percentile. I suspect once she starts taking a bottle and eating solids her weight will shoot up. I am surprised she is so skinny because she doesn't seem that way to me. 

Millie continues to sleep in our room in her rock-n-play bassinet thing, but I am going to start transitioning her to the crib this weekend after we get Elise's big girl bed set up. Camille sleeps decently at night, but her noises wake me up so I frequently end up feeding her around 3 or 4 AM to make her be quiet. I am hoping once she is in her own room we will both sleep through the whole night. She prefers to sleep with a blanket completely covering her face. I remember Sadie sleeping that way at the same age, but it scares me. I have gotten pretty good and pulling it off her face without waking her up. 

Official 4 month photo