We're back from our trip to the States.  The flights back were long and delayed but relatively uneventful, especially from the child and the dog perspective.  Both behaved themselves phenomenally.   I don't think anyone realized that we were traveling with a pet, except for when dinner was served.  When they asked, chicken or beef, the LOUDEST bark came from underneath the seat.  BEEF was her clear choice.  We were very amused, especially because we made beef just last night and heard that very same bark come from our dog.  A special request from our Jack Russell Terrier :)

We are constantly amazed by our nice it is to fly Iberia and how miserable the US Air flight attendants are.  More about it another day, but suffice to say, I am really amazed that US Air is still in business.  I'm sure it's the flight routes and the pilots.  On our first flight over on US Air, we were scolded for asking for water (remember you can't bring any on) and for standing in line for the bathroom.   (they assumed that we were just 'hanging out' with our toddler - which is not allowed)

Iberia gives everyone headsets, slippers and blinders to sleep.  The meals come with wine and bread which is passed out several times.  Mitch laughs that they don't give you detailed instructions on the loudspeaker on how to place the boxes on your tray once you're finished eating.

It cost us $180 one way to bring our dog.  In addition to the almost $500 for the paper work, health certificates etc, this was an expensive endeavor.  Worst yet, NO ONE asked for any thing.  We can't help but wonder if it would have been possible to simply.....bring the dog with us, w/o any of the processes we followed. 

The month before moving to Valencia was a tough one.  What were we doing?  Renting our house, giving up our jobs, imposing on our families to store all of our junk.  With the exception of one mini trip by me more than 20 years ago during one night of Las Fallas, we had never been to Valencia and knew only what we had read.  However, something made us take the leap.

The result.  We love it.  We're glad we came.  The feeling we seem to have is a cross between a vacation, a new beginning, an escape, a sabbatical experience.  We're really not sure.  We're just certain that we made the right choice to live here for the moment. 

Our apartment is spacious enough and full of light.  We face a pedestrian square and for the most part, it's fairly quiet.  However, Valencianos use fireworks to celebrate everything and it does seem like 5 nights a week, we hear fireworks of some sort.

Please come visit.  We would love to share this experience with our friends and family.

The laundry has become an almost daily chore here.  We have a washer but no dryer so we hang our wash out to dry.  It is typically sunny, around 82 degrees and slightly breezy.  The clothes dry really fast and smell great.  A bit hard - I think I need to iron them to soften them.  I have ironed a bit....but not as much as I'm sure I should. 

Our socks are getting dirty and the bottoms are not getting that clean.  I'm sure you can guess, as have I, that I need to either clean my floors more often or scrub the socks a bit before throwing them into the machine.  Whoa there.  This is my first foray into becoming a domestic goddess.  I'm working on it :)