Spain Trip Part I: Palma de Mallorca

Hola!  I'm currently in Madrid, Spain accompanying Bryce on a business trip that I could not pass up.  While he's literally out being wined and dined, I'm alone in our luxurious hotel passing time by blogging.  I figured I'd better do it now before I forget the names of all the places and things I've seen.  Keep in mind, I'm not a great photographer so don't expect this to be some sort of geography or history lesson.

We began our trip by flying to Palma de Mallorca, a beautiful island off the East coast of Spain.  Although I've never been to the Carribbean, I imagine it's Spain's equivalent for the US.  The intent of this part of our trip was to relax and I can wholeheartedly say, mission accomplished.  While the city of Palma has a lot of history, it's largely a tourist town now with all of its beautiful beaches.  We stayed in one of the beach front resorts and did our best to be lazy with only enough energy to seek out delicious food.  Here are a few pictures from our 3 day stay. 

View of the Mediterranean Sea from our balcony.  We were lucky to have perfect weather during our stay, which meant the water was cold!

Another view from the restaurant balcony.  We spent many hours lounging around here and it was blissful.  And yes, there were a few topless women.  The first "pair" we saw belonged to a very pregnant woman.  It put the rest of them to shame - haha!

Our resort was actually in a town called Illetas, about a 20 minute drive from Palma.  We rode the bus to Palma each night for dinner (all I can say is tapas, tapas y mas tapas!) and had a chance to explore the city.  Of course, there is no shortage of cathedrals in Spain and this was one of them.  My favorite part of a cathedral is the rose window, followed by flying buttresses. 

Back in Illetas, I can proudly say that I swam in the Mediterranean Sea!  Well, techically it's the Balearic Sea which is a body of water IN the Mediterranean Sea but that doesn't sound near as impressive since I guarantee only a few know where that is (hence my handy dandy hyperlink above).  It's hard to tell from this picture but I swam from behind the rocks on the left to just on the other side of the picture on the right (basically from one cove to another).  The water was painfully cold, which explains why it took me about 10 minutes to get my entire body submerged.  At first when I swam away from the rocks, I think I had a small anxiety attack at the sudden realization that I was bobbing around vulnerably in an open sea!  As you can see from the picture, my fear was irrational as there was practically no current at all.  But still, those that know me know I'm not exactly a water person so this was quite a feat.  I kept thinking about how much I would regret it if I didn't at least try. 

Carpe diem!

This is visual proof that Bryce CAN read!  It's a miracle he made it through high school and college.  He can barely get through a child book with Abby but guess who was able to turn over this new leaf for Bryce.  None other than...Tina Fey!  I already read her hilarious book Bossypants and I cannot even begin to describe how many uncontrollable, laugh-out-loud moments there are in this book.  I guess all my guffaws did not go un-noticed because it was enough to peak Bryce's interest and he actually started reading it on his own!  My goodness, I would say the sight of Bryce reading a book is as common as a lunar eclipse but even that is too frequent.  But alas, now I have proof to show Abby that her daddy really isn't the illiterate he claims to be.

I can't post without expressing how much we miss our little Abby.  She is safe and sound at Grandma and Grandpa's, no doubt having the time of her life but we miss her hugs and kisses.  I can't say it's gotten any easier considering we've been gone for 7 days now.  It's just a constant level of missing her that can only be remedied once I have her in my arms (and I probably won't let go for at least 3 days...).  We'll see you soon Xiao Xiao and we love you!