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On Thursday, David returned from his long awaited YPO Forum trip to Marbella, while Julie departed for her chicas escapadita to Dublin. The Telluride Robinson crew had one more day in Granada, so we tried to accomplish a smooth handoff of both family and our children. Ryan walked our kids to school and he and Miles got to chat about Ender’s Game. All of the kids and their cousins really wanted to spend their final afternoon together at a trampoline park, so after a quick lunch at La Papaupa (including jumping around with Martin and Camillo chanting “Ole! Ole!”) we all headed to Nevada shopping center to let the kids have a couple of hours at Isla Tortuga. Anna did some shopping while Ryan and David “supervised.” Following 45 sweaty minutes in the trampoline area, the kids were excited to go down the giant slide. Since they had on shorts, they were required to wear potato sacks around their legs, which was supposed to protect their skin but ultimately made them go even faster down the slide. Dean, Fox, Abe, and Miles went first. One hundred percent of them got injured on the first go, namely skin burn, but also bruising and the general feeling of being tossed around. No bueno. Daisy and Nina were up next and both quickly realized it was a dangerous and horrible idea. Abe, Fox, and Miles wisely chose not to go back for more but Dean’s sense of adventure took over and he took two more turns. He got “air” both times and had the wounds to prove it but loved the thrill. They did a few of the other activities and had ice cream at the mall before driving home. We finished the last night by ordering dinner to the house so the kids could do a magic show, only the magic show turned out to be a series of pranks on the adults including throwing a bucket of water from the balcony onto our heads down below! We said our goodbyes to Ryan, Anna, Nina, Fox, and Daisy with a few group hugs and were all glad we will see each another in Hilton Head in July.

On Friday, David had the finale for P&B golf, including lunch at Faralá and dinner near Angel Ginevet. Anna, Nils, and Ebbe kindly picked up our kids from comedor and had them over to their house until David returned home.

Saturday was pretty tame, with the main activity being Abe’s scrimmage against the older Smilo basketball team to help prepare them for the upcoming semifinals. It was their first L of the season and they got humbled by the older kids to the tune of 30+ points but stayed positive and focused. Following basketball Abe begged to take his brothers to a buffet called City Wok, so we stuffed our faces, ran a few errands, and spent the rest of the day at home.

On a beautiful springy Sunday David and the kids went on a five hour hike in Monachil with Jaldo, the De La Platas and the Penalvas (dads and kids only because all of the moms were still in Dublin). We had an amazing Spanish-style picnic (meats, cheeses, fresh vegetables, and of course wine), then made the trek up the mountain to our car. David stopped counting the times the kids asked “are we almost done?” after the 40th time. Towards the end of the hike a sizable bull stared us down, and Dean somehow thought it was a good idea to yell “toro, toro!” at the bull while waving his red hat. Fortunately the bull didn’t respond, but it better be the first and last time Dean ever tries that stunt…

Meanwhile Julie had a phenomenal time in Dublin with Maria Jose, Lucia, Charo, Julia, Pilar, and Blanca. After months of these friends’ generous patience and assistance with Julie’s Spanish, it was nice to be able to take the lead on making reservations, ordering at restaurants, and generally communicating in her native language. Julie loved getting to go with Blanca to visit Angel’s future boarding school (aka Hogwarts) just outside of the city. The Flamencas did a walking tour of Dublin and took the train to hike around the gorgeous town of Howth. They enjoyed delicious meals and bar hopping to take in lots of live music and some traditional Irish dancing.

When Julie arrived home Sunday evening the kids warmly greeted her in the street with hugs and flowers from our garden. We were all pretty spent from the weekend, so had a bite to eat, finished watching a movie, and went to bed.