May 29, 2025
Our hopes of getting an early start today were trashed with the post-10pm bedtime for the kids last night. I brushed out their hair this morning in an effort to stave off a shower and the volume achieved is a sight. Ollie’s hair especially might rival his cousin Bri!
We grabbed pastries and sandwiches at a small cafe and then started our walk south to La Plaza de España and Parque de María Luisa. Today was our 9 year wedding anniversary and the kids were excited to take turns taking pictures of Kyle and I to varying degrees of success. We spent part of our honeymoon in Seville and when planning this trip it was lost on both of us that we’d be in this city for our anniversary. Its been a fun teaching the boys about what an anniversary is and reminding Lenny that he was in fact not at our wedding multiple times. We all loved the purple blooming Jacaranda trees so made sure to capture those. At the playground, Len got the hang of pumping his legs on the swing and was terribly proud of himself. His new ability has not seemed to reduce his requests for extra pushes, though.
When we arrived at Plaza de España, it was nearing noon and the temperature was rising. We soon found these 4-person bikes to rent and immediately booked one for our crew. Len was happy (at first) to sit in the front and act as captain while Ollie was less than thrilled to sit between Kyle and I without a job. He tried to pedal for a bit, but his legs were just barely too short. We stopped for ice cream pops at one point, the boys choosing the small bag with 5 mini pops in each. I got a small lemonade slushy and Len probably had more than half of it.
The rugby ball toss competition returned but it was not the boys’ best showing. They were feeling hot and extra feisty and somehow wound up wrestling on the ground. We returned the bike and began the brutal 25 minute walk home in ~96 degrees. Len slowly marched yelling, “Tired!!!! Tireddd!” for the first half of the walk. I grabbed more slushies about halfway through and that quelled the complaints slightly. On getting home, we had lunch and cooled down for a bit. We then decided to let the boys fully chill out and watch a movie before we started homeschool. Kyle and I enjoyed 90 minutes of peace, free from whining.
After homeschool, we went to the roof for some pool time. We played sharks and minnows briefly before trying to take some family pictures. It took a handful of attempts but eventually captured one with all of us jumping into the pool. Kyle and I tried to hold up 9 fingers for 9 years but I think that part got lost in the jump.
The boys ate a pre-dinner dinner of pesto stars and beans before he headed out for real dinner around 8:30pm. The sun had mostly set behind the buildings which made for much more pleasant walking weather.
On our honeymoon, we ate a ton of snails at small bars in squares across Seville. We stayed a bit north of where we’re staying now so didn’t think it’d be possible to drag the boys to one of the bars we went to. Instead, Kyle found a hole in the wall spot nearby that was serving snails tonight. We stood at a high top inside and ordered two small bowls of snails (caracoles), a beer and a glass of wine and waters (all under 10 euro!) Ollie was excited to try the snails as we had been talking them up this week, “they’re just like garlic clams.” He slurped about a dozen before taking a break. Len showed no interested beyond digging in the bowls of snails with a toothpick looking for “monster snails.” Eventually we deployed a bit of bribery for Len and he was game to try. He spit his first one out but chewed and swallowed the second the proclaiming, “good!” I told him, “I can’t believe you’re a snail boy, Len!” Then later in the night he would look at me and say, “I can’t believe I’m a snail boy mama!”
We went to a small tapas spot nearby to round out our dinner. I had small treats in my bag for the boys that kept them happy and entertained for a bit at the start of the meal. We then played hangman and MASH on the paper tablecloth to avoid playing Uno for a night. We wrapped dinner after 10pm and ate gelato near 10:30pm then it was straight to bed. When tucking the boys in tonight, I told them, “Thanks for spending our anniversary with us!” and Lenny goes, “Whats an anniversary?” and Ollie, “Wait that was today?”
