Determined to make up for my indecision yesterday about the car rental, I headed to Hertz in the morning, picked up the car and drove it to our parking spot in the building. Taking the elevator straight up to my apartment from the garage, first thing that became clear to me was man this is convenient. Maybe we should get a car?
In chapter 1 of The Fast Forward Mindset, I share the phrase “Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows.” Which means to never label a situation as bad or good. And that phrase applied here as well. While it could have been labeled a bad thing that we did not go to the beach yesterday, it turned out to lead to a beach day today and this time we went with two other families.
We arrived at Gava beach around 12:30 and quickly got chairs with umbrellas by the beach club. With 7 kids and 6 adults, as soon as we got there they all went off to play in the Ocean. Kids need other kids to play with besides their siblings. We continue to realize this is the secret to prevent the not stop fighting that would happen if not.
After lunch, a strong storm system flew by and while it did not rain the winds picked up to 20+ miles an hour and the waves came alive. For the kids this meant a whole new level of play. They would start off 60 yards down the beach and the current was so strong they would end up 60 yards past us on the other side. Then they would get out on the beach, run back to where they started and do it all over. If felt like a theme park ride with no lines or costs.
As the day was coming to an end the other two families headed out and as usual we pushed our luck and stayed. Without the other kids as a buffer, the fighting started within 15 minutes between the 3 of them.
On our way back we caught up to the storm that flew by us and we were in a torrential downpour. As we came out of it I saw the biggest most complete rainbow in my life. Of course our photos do not do it justice.
At home, I was glad with our first night of our new 9:30pm bedtime routine all three kids were in bed by then. That was the first time they were in bed that early since we been here. In fact, Jonah fell asleep within a few minutes of getting home. He was exhausted from hours in the ocean.
One of the highlights of my night was chatting with one of my good friend’s from the states who said she loved reading my blog. She said “It is raw and emotional and comforting and relatable,” and went on to say “I adore keeping up with your story as you’re inspiring us to do something with ours.”
That was so energizing to hear. Her only suggestion was to not call it a blog. She said it needs a title, like “The First 100 Days of the Rest of Our Lives- a story told daily by David Schnurman.” I got what she was saying right away. A title brings emotion to it vs a blog or journal which is less emotional and very self-focused. What do you think?
Anyway, Kel and I were exhausted from a full day, full weekend, full first 20 days of Barcelona. I would not have it any other way!