The Lohreys: Canary Islands-Day 1

Oh where to begin. It was such a long, dreadful day. After Brian left Colorado, Kai and I stayed behind to get a little extra time with the family...and it didn't really make sense for me to fly back to MO just to fly again, so it helped delete an un-necessary flight. Packing was a pain, but somehow I managed to get it all (most) of it packed. Do you know how hard it is to pack for 2 totally different climates in one trip? It's challenging!! Thankfully Doug and Vicki let me borrow one of their smaller suitcases so I could pack a few more things as a carry-on :) So we set off Tuesday morning ready for our Spanish adventure...until we hit a very large speed bump. If you are thinking of flying with your toddler (under 2), then pay attention. EVEN IF THEY DON'T HAVE A SEAT THEY STILL NEED A TICKET. This would have been great to know when I was buying the tickets. I looked everywhere online for children under 2 and NOTHING was posted so I assumed he was set. I assumed incorrectly. We walk up to the American Airline counter and I hand the lady our passports and flight information and she says, "okay I just need the little guys ticket" - ummmmm what? I had a minor (major) anxiety attack and to make a long story short(er), I had to call Iberia Airlines and pay for the taxes on a ticket. Apparently you need to do that with a lap child. So dumb. But what I thought was going to cost me thousands really ended up because a couple hundred...which is still a lot, but it could have been a lot worse!

So we get through security just fine and are on our way to Chicago to meet up with my sisters! YAAAAAY for sisters. Seriously, I always miss them, but I never realize how much I miss them until I see them. But first, on the flight from Denver to Chicago I sat next to the sweetest lady. She was probably in her late 70's and told me all about her kids, grandkids and great grandkids. She was just the sweetest thing. She pretty much held Kai for the entire flight, in which he slept through most of, so needless to say...that was my easiest flight :)

We arrive safely to Chicago and walk to my sister's gate (Meredith and Allison) to greet them with big hugs and kisses. We have a 3hr layover in Chicago so we grab a little something to eat and wait for Rachel to arrive. But guess what...Rachel doesn't arrive until we are ALL already on the plane. Her flight had been delayed from San Diego to Chicago and I was a little stressed about it, but thankfully she made it!!! It would have been a super long flight without her help...

Kai, getting ready to go international.

Our flight leaves about 5p Tuesday and we touched down in Madrid at 7a on Wednesday. Let me tell you that the time change knocked Kai (and the rest of us) on our bums. Not to mention it was about an 8hr flight and Kai slept for...oh maybe 2hrs of it. Needless to say we were exhausted and we still had another 3hr flight to the Canary Islands.

We landed safely in Madrid and he was PUMPED to be able to run around!!

Thankfully the rest of our 24hr day of travel went fairly smoothly. Baggage claim was a little intense, but my dad was there waiting for us at the airport ready to take us back to the hotel...which turned out to be quite the expensive ride (2 taxis...yikes), but once we got there and got a little settled in everything was fine. They even had a crib all set up for Kai :) Not sure how clean that was, but I wasn't too worried. We headed down to the beach and walked around for a little bit before our fancy feast at the hotel. Kai chased after his first topless woman (she was actually a little girl) and loved playing in the ocean. We headed to bed fairly early considering we had ANOTHER flight to catch the next day to the other island...I know, we're crazy, but my dad really wanted to go to 2 of the islands and we thought it would be less exhausting to go to the 2nd island and then back to the first. It was a little hectic, but glad we did it that way in the end...