Barcelona and the Beginning of a Very Sad Goodbye.

I thought an entire year would take forever. Well I am completely sad to say it has come and gone and we are very close to returning home. This post is mostly about our last trip to Barcelona. I will post one last time after we return home about our final goodbyes in Germany and the beginning of being home in Canada. At that point my thriving career in blogging will come to an end;-) 

Since Robb finished up school it has been a whirlwind of trying to get in last visits with everyone, last little trips, and then our last big trip. On our ten year anniversary, we flew to Barcelona. This was Micah's first time getting her own seat on the plane. She is two and no longer free. Every flight attendant tried to pass me the baby seatbelt that attaches to the mom's seat belt, and I kept having to tell them, no she is two, I swear and has her own seat. I think even when I cinched that seatbelt as far as it would go, she still wasn't tight. Micah was super excited though to have her own seat. But she wouldn't keep her seatbelt on. Eventually, we asked the flight attendant to tell Micah she needs to keep it on. The flight attendant told Micah, in the sweetest way possible,  that she had to keep her seatbelt on.  Micah hung her head in total shame for at least 5 minutes and wouldn't look up:-) Good trick to keep it on. We will have to keep that in mind for our flight home. Anyway, we got to Barcelona and rented a car this time, a first for us in Europe. We stayed for five days and weren't in a huge hurry to see every possible touristy place there. We spent a few days on the beach. It was beautiful, Peyton loved floating in the waves with me and would last almost an hour in the water each time. Micah on the other hand liked to take a 2 minute dip and was done for the day. This kid hasn't been on the beach much either in this past year. Whenever I try and put her in the sand she holds her feet up so they don't get dirty. Thus she never gets fully put down because the sand is, "Yucky!" We are definitely going to get her out of that! On other days we did the usual Gaudi sightseeing. His works are so amazing and worth the line ups and money to get in. The Sagrada Familia was by far my favourite church in Europe and one of the only ones we ventured to stay in for any length of time with the girls. Also a little fun fact, we have a million family photos on each trip because Robb is shameless and will ask strangers to take our picture over and over. And after they have taken it he examines it and might ask them to refocus or shows them what to aim at or what to include in the background. He actually asks people to redo them over if it is not to his liking. One Russian guy was about to take him out! But Robb gives really good photo tips if your interested. He super embarrasses the rest of the family. I am often  yelling 'It's good enough, no we don't need another one." Just a little behind the scenes footage for you. 

Some friends recommended for us to go to a Flamenco show while we were there. By this time the girls had already wanted a Flamenco dress because their friend Rylee had one and they thought it was beautiful. So, we let them wear their dresses to the show. I tell you, they could have been the entertainment for the people with tickets. However, when the show actually started, poor Micah was terrified of the stomping. She laid on me and said she wanted to go, "Nu-night." She squeezed my hand and closed her eyes. She would always turn around and clap when everyone else did, but as soon as the dancing started again she was terrified. With some kids it's clowns, or animals, with Micah her nemesis is Flamenco dancers! When the show was over she stomped the whole night away and pretended she was a dancer as well. Then we walked through the Gothic District and back to the metro station. It was in a super busy tourist area and we joked about how hard we could have cashed in on our kids! Since they had their dresses on, people would take pictures of them, clap for them to dance, stand, point, and stare at them. Robb joked that they would be trending online by the end of the night. If we struggle financially in the future we may have success living off our girls success, just kidding... kind of. I mean after taking two fairly high maintenance toddlers through 12 countries in one year, I think it could have been a nice pay off. 

On our last day in Barcelona, we ventured up to Monserrat Monastery, which was about 45 minutes away up a winding mountain. It was incredibly beautiful and one of my favourite spots from this year. We toured around and bought some of their fresh bread they make there and had a nice peaceful lunch. You will be able to see a little more from the pictures below. After this we spent one night close to the airport before heading home. If any of you have more than one kid you know it can be incredibly difficult to get them to sleep in one hotel room. We had this kind of night the night before we flew home. We had already kept them out late quite a bit on the trip (ahem, Chris Rowe quit judging me) and then they stayed up until about 11pm because they kept feeding off each other and refused to sleep. We had a 7am flight home and they had to be up by 5am. Thus little sleep occurred. On the drive home from the airport neither of them slept. They ended up going to bed that night a 6:30pm and they didn't wake up until 10am the next morning. Even after that Peyton fell asleep again for two more hours. We decided that we have officially 'broke' our children and we can call it a year now. Game over. It might be a little while before we take a trip;-) All in all Barcelona was a great trip and it was a really nice time for our family. A wonderful way to end an incredible year. 

Since, being back from Barcelona. We have just been trying to get in all we can with our friends and are SO sad to be leaving. We have done amusement parks with our friends, gone swimming, playgrounds, dinners, lunches, and shopping trying to get in every last thing. FYI German amusement or kids parks are walking lawsuits at every corner. They seriously need to get some ambulance chasing lawyers here, because they could seriously cash in. Half the rides are DIYs and the playground equipment has drop offs at every turn. It's not that bad, but we always laugh about how certain things would NEVER be allowed in Canada. We have started packing now and should be ready to go in a few days. We head home on Wednesday and are not looking forward to the long flight and jet lag when we get home. When we return home, I will be starting a part time job right away. We get home Wednesday and I start for a few hours on the Sunday then a full day Monday. I am praying for grace to get me through the first week of all the changes. I am very excited to start a new position with the Adoptive Families Association of BC. It is a huge answer to prayer for me as well because I really only wanted to work part time, which was not available to me in my previous job unfortunately. I had an interview on Skype and everything worked out very well and I am thankful for the opportunity. Robb will continue to work on his Masters when we return home and will be completing his Field Experience/practicum at a local counselling agency for about 9 months on top of his regular job and has one last class to finish. He will graduate in June. It is going to be really busy for us and a huge change to what it was like living here for a year. We are so thankful that this year has brought us closer together as a family, enabled me to stay at home with the girls, and have more time together with no evening commitments. Initially, it was really hard, confusing, and frustrating, but it grew to become this amazing experience, and we have made so many amazing deep friendships. This part was such a bonus! Overall, we are very blessed. We want to say thank you to all the incredible friends that we have met here that have made us feel welcome, loved, and became like family. This is the hardest part about leaving; however, we know we have made many lifelong friends and hope to come back again one day. Peyton and Micah will really miss our friends and the lifestyle in Germany. Anyways, before I get too sad, I will end this! 

So we are very excited to return to our home in Canada and see our family and friends we miss so much! Peyton is counting down the days to hug Samson. I am hoping our flight is as smooth as it was on the way here. Anything will be incredible after flying discount airlines in Europe where they charge you for everything and try to sell you things on the flight. See you soon Canada, where we will no longer be mistaken for American, British, or Scotish anymore (Yes Robb got confused for a Texan and Scotsman in the same week). Where we will understand what people are saying to us and be able to converse without hesitation;-) 

The girls at the farmer's market. 

The last ballet class with Rylee and Mia. I will miss those matching tutus.


Saying goodbye to our friends Jason and Michelle, who we became close with. The girls will no longer torment Caleb.


Bowling for the first time with the Delisio family.


Giving Caleb some proper goodbye loving.


Super excited to be babysitting Rylee.


Slumber party and minion time!


This girl!


Hard to ever get them all to look. Eliana's dedication celebration.


Pastor Ron and Uli and their kids Anja and Alex. We are thankful for our time at their church.


Frankfurt




Shopping day with Steffi with the Frankfurt Opera House in the background. We had a great day!


Our friend Michaela and Emily, who is also our neighbour. She helped me with many things around Wiesbaden for the kids and has become a wonderful friend. We will really miss them.

Micah's first time being solo in a seat.

We made it to the ocean. This is Micah's "don't try to put me in the sand again" face.


Christoper Columbus Monument.


A little surprised by the wave.


Love this picture of this beautiful girl.


Our usual family pics.


As you have come to know it, Dolson family selfie.


A little pizza on the beach kiosk. Shortly after this Micah ran around the table, tripped and scrapped up her knees really nicely.


I took many pics of buildings, sorry.


Placa Reial




I loved all the narrow streets and alley ways, I kept stopping Robb to take pictures.


More beach time. Peyton loved it.


This is about 30 seconds into Micah's two minute water time.


I loved all the laundry hanging off the balconies for blocks and blocks.


A very peaceful, not crowded beach.




Peyton would love waiting for each wave and saying its the biggest one yet.




Beautiful Barcelona, and the stroller that has been through it all.

Sagrada Familia

Inside.


Pretty incredible.








The back of the church.

One of my all time faves.

Taken by Robb's Russian "Friend"

Gaudi's home, now a museum.


Park Guell


The view from Park Guell









Gaudi's El Drac




Some delicious Paella.

Micah kept wanting to lay like she saw everyone else.


The area where the Flamenco show was.


Here we go with our two Flamenco dancers.


The show.


Practicing their moves after the show.


Honestly, I am in love with these streets.

Taking the metro home. 

The gothic district.


Micah rejecting love from this living statue.


Micah really wanted to say "hi" initially. Normally, we just walk by these kind of things, but she insisted. It didn't end well:-)


Gaudi's Casa Batllo.


Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya


View from Montjuic.

Having a little nap in the car before walking out to Montserrat. We are in a parking lot, not on the highway.


Montserrat Monastery.






Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey






Peyton saw everyone posing like this and decided to follow suit.







Back at home. Impromptu goodbye to our friends. Peyton and Mia are close in age and so are Tim and Micah. Can anyone guess who has more fun?


Eva and the girls at Mainz Volkspark


The last dinner with Sven and Judith. Believe it or not, this was the best, bad lighting at night!


Having a tea party with Caleb, who is always awesome with the girls.


We have only known Emely and Jared a short time here, but the kids really hit it off (as well as the parents). We wish we had more time together.


Some social faux pas after church.


I am in love with this picture. For some reason these fountains magically take away Micah's ability to listen to us. They have great powers!


Adventures at Lochmule.


Still can't get one of them all looking! Peyton and Micah always have a great time with this amazing family.


Addicted to the swings.


Who doesn't want to ride a giant mallard.


Some more dizzy rides.


Caught a cute, candid moment with Micah and her daddy.

Peyton and Sarina

Getting more brave each day.


Am I the only one not comfortable with being handed a pony and no instructions for all of the pony rides in Germany?


We love the Fuhrmann family so much. We will miss them!


Peyton felt like a big girl getting to ride the donkey all by herself.


Tractor riding.

German's know how to serve ice cream. 

Playmobil FunPark. Our girls love playing with Playmobil toys and were so excited for this.




The King and his Queens, one not so impressed with her position in the Monarchy.


One day she will love you Malesa!

Jack, Rylee, Peyton, and Micah at Playmobil FunPark.

Sam and Robb discussing if they should ride the Zebras and face the Playmobil non-existent staff.


Saying goodbye.

Always love this. 

Washing the horses. 

Micah and her knight.

The whole gang. We are really going to miss these two families, both with a baby on the way. They have become great friends. We were so happy Peyton was able to make such close friends as well. In this picture Peyton and Rylee are fighting for the space closest to the Playmobil lady:-)

Peyton, Rylee, and Jack, I'll miss these three buddies together.