Mu Sool Won in June

Glenn continued to attend Mu Sool Won in June and continued to love it.  

The BEST video I took in June was Glenn learning this move.

SeaWorld: Last Time with Season Passes

June 27th we took one last trip to SeaWorld with our season passes.

We wore our 'Thing' shirts and got several compliments from people as they passed us.  It sure makes it easy to find each other if we get separated.  Glenn also wanted to wear his swim clothes because he knew he would get wet.

Glad to be Home

Despite all the realities of life that hit us when we returned home from Spain, we were happy to be home.  Glenn was so happy to be in his bed again with all of his books and ALL of his stuffed animals.  He definitely missed them while he was away.

National Donut Day

June 5th was National Donut Day!  So donuts we would have to consume!

Martial Arts Trial Week

The last week of May Glenn had a free trial week at a martial arts studio.  Some people from our church have been going there for a long time and they told our good friends, the Denson's about the free trial week.  Erin Denson knew I wanted to get Glenn involved in some things, so she told us about it.  After pulling up and getting out of the car, before we went inside, Glenn hesitated.  He was nervous about it and wasn't sure if he was going to like it.  I told him that it would be okay and to just give it a try.  If he didn't like it, then we wouldn't continue.  We had just finished listening to James and the Giant Peach on audio book.  I asked Glenn, "Do you think if James had been afraid to climb into the peach if he would've had his great adventure?"  He said no, grabbed my hand and walked into the studio.  I love my little boy!

He was excited to see his friends, Matthew and Seth, and that helped him get over his nerves.  Then during a warm-up run he kind of stepped funny and that made him kind of scared.  He sat with me until he was ready to go back out again.  The instructor, Master Kevin said he could join at any time.  After calming down, he decided to join.  And he had a BLAST!

Flooding in Texas

Memorial Day weekend in Texas wasn't very good.  We got A LOT of rain!  It caused a lot of  flooding throughout the state.  We went down to San Antonio on Saturday to spend the day with Mark and Bonnye.  We hadn't planned on spending the night, but the weather got so bad they closed down the freeway!  There were tornado warnings and flooding all over.  So we spent the night and left early Sunday morning.  Things were looking just fine on the freeway and then all of a sudden there were cones directing us to exit.  There wasn't any signs or detour arrows or anything, so I had to just follow the other cars that had gotten off.  We drove through San Marcos.  At first we wondered why because we hadn't seen any sign of flooding.  At one traffic light just before the freeway entrance, we looked to the left and then we saw it.

Back to Life, Back to Reality!

We were happy to be home, but coming back brought us back to reality...in kind of a hard way.
While we were gone, our freezer had warmed up--I can't remember now if I had turned up the temperature for the fridge.  I remember thinking about it because we didn't have much food in there and it wasn't going to be opened in 2.5 months.  But I may have accidentally turned up the freezer as well.  Or it may have just happened.  But our good friends were even better friends when they came the second week to check on the apartment.  The first week they thought there was a slight smell in the apartment.  They thought it was just that no one was living there and slightly stagnant air.  But by the second week, they knew something was wrong.  And wrong it was.  All the food in the freezer--all the frozen meat and the freezer meals and ice cream and such--ALL of it went bad.
And stinky.
Really, really stinky!
When they opened up the freezer, they knew they were in a bad way.  So they not only checked on our apartment each week while we were gone and brought in our mail, but they had to deal with the stinky, gross, rotting food from our freezer.

Souvenirs!

Wednesday morning after unpacking everything, I decided to take pictures of the souvenirs we bought.  

We're Home!

Tuesday May 19 around midnight--so I guess technically Wednesday--we arrived home!  Yay!  Our flight had gone well.  The movie screens and sound all worked well for us and we all enjoyed watching several movies on the way home.  

Last Meal in Spain

After our flight from Zurich to Madrid we rode the metro one final time.  

Adventures with Othmar and Esther Day 3

Monday May 18 we drove the short distance from Othmar and Esther's apartment to Rhine Falls, where there are some spectacular water falls on the Rhine River.  

Adventures with Othmar and Esther Day 2

Sunday May 17 we had breakfast at 'home' and then went to church.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but that's okay.  We LOVED attending this ward!  There was something about it that was just so amazing!  The people, so different from one another and some so different than us, were beautiful and incredible.  They were so kind and welcoming and we felt so loved as we worshiped with them.

After church we stopped at home to get something to eat.  Then it was back into Stein Am Rhein.  We entered through a different gate this time.

Adventures with Othmar and Esther Day 1

Saturday May 16 we said good-bye to Geri in the morning and got picked up by Othmar and Esther Weber.  They took us a scenic route through Switzerland, where we stopped at a few places to get out and see them.  Our first stop was at Alpschaukäserei Schwägalp.  It is a little cheese factory/shop in the mountains.  Othmar had been a cheese-maker by profession so he wanted to show us different places that make cheese.  He hadn't worked at this location, but we went anyway!

Off to Switzerland to visit Geri

Wednesday May 13 Paul went to work in the morning, finished up what he needed to there and then met Glenn and I at the metro stop at the airport.  We made sure we were there with enough time to get through security and not have to rush.  They had a little playground inside which was fun for Glenn and we were very grateful because our flight was delayed from a departure of 3:30 to 5:30.  So we were there all afternoon!  We finally boarded the plane and it seemed as if things were going fine.  Then a man a few rows in front of us shouted out, "Vive Espana!"  He was acting strange and eventually the steward invited, or rather escorted him off the plane.  We had to wait for that to happen and for the security to come and get him.  We had never been on a flight in which this happened.  Kind of interesting.

Traditional Madrid Meal

May 11, our last full day in Spain, we made sure our bags were packed, went to Retiro one last time, checked out a few more souvenir shops and then had dinner with our new friends Daniel, Paloma and Estrella.  While walking to the metro from the souvenir shops we took a few last pictures.

Madrid Temple

May 9

Paul and I took the opportunity to attend the Madrid Temple two times while we were there.  It is a another beautiful building, but instead of being extensively decorated and touristy, it was peaceful and quiet.

Retiro Park Again and Again

Our time in Madrid was coming to an end.  We wanted to enjoy Retiro Park as much as possible.  So after breakfast and listening to an audio book--which was our daily routine--we packed a lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches,Glenn's workbook and a reading book for me.  Then Glenn got his scooter and we made our way to Retiro Park.  We first fed the pigeons and other birds. 

Happy 30th to Me!

We headed out to San Agustin del Guadalix to visit the Hubers on Thursday April 30.  We had a long weekend and decided to spend the night at their house.  We watched the kids play soccer, we played games and we had fun.  Paul got a cake at a grocery store nearby and we celebrated my birthday with the Hubers on Friday May 1. 

Templo de Debod and New Friends

As our time in Spain was coming closer to an end, I wanted to take Glenn to the Egyptian temple.  He hadn't remembered going 2 years ago and I thought he would really enjoy it.  April 29th Glenn and I took the metro and found our way to the Templo de Debod.

Parque Rio

April 25th we were set to meet up with the Hubers again at the park--the same park this time.  And that park was Parque Rio.  We took the metro there and had fun running and chasing through the hedge mazes.