Loving the BEACH!

Hola! It feels like forever since we´ve been on here. Yesterday was really not a great day but by last night we were VERY happy little girls! Yes, yes, the stories are true. We checked into our hotel in Alicante and then walked around for a little bit and realized... no. So we checked out and went to a new hotel that is perfect and great and there are some people here on the streets who weren´t born here. We are not alone. Ok.. lets see for all those interested in my love life.. i fell in love with our waiter last night. He started out hating us because of a wine incident but by the time we left we had worn him down and we got him to actually smile and he sat down with us and joked in a different language.. which is tricky!! Oh and girls remind me to tell you about Valentino. hee hee

Justine.. i know i´m in Europe but you´re just making up stuff to make me come home now.. nuns playing softball.. really? I took a great picture of a nun doing a questionable deed near the vatican. Good times!

Ok, so today we went to the beach and all i can say on here is APPLEJACKS... and trix and cheerios and fruitloops and cocoa puffs and rice krispies and all cereals and all breakfast food! HAHA. We really did have lots of fun though. I applied sunscreen every 10 minutes and I´m NOT exaggerating. I have a teeny burn on my upper leg and that is all!! We are good girls!

It´s is about 9:30 here so no dinner for like at least an hour. These people are crazy with the eating. I do like all the food though except shannon ordered food with eyes last night. I´m not good with that. Well I don´t remember what else i was going to say but I will say that I love you all and now that we found this internet cafe maybe we will be back. I LOVE Alicante though. It is very cute, picturesque. Beautiful marina and palm trees, very tropical and very hot. Love to all!!

Re: no more hiccups

Shan G: You are so funny! After you said you hoped we would have no more hiccups for the rest of the trip, Amy and I both got actual hiccups the very next day!

buonas noches Madrid...

I just wanted to set you straight on a couple of issues. First, the art museum. Reina Sofia. Eek! dont go. Now you have heard it from me. We all know Amy is not a fan of any museum of any kind, but its true this one was especially bad. A canvas with two lines and three dots probably doesn´t count as great art. Also, there is quite a delima when you walk into a secured room with like five security guards, and only 20 people are allowed in at a time. You start to think you might walk in and see something amazing. But then its a giant pyramid made out of caramel or something, a square on the floor that someone tells you is milk, and a bunch of pie tins filled with uncooked rice. And then, you have to try not to laugh hysterically. Its more work than anyone can really handle. The rest, seeing as the museum was dedicated to Picasso and Dali, was disturbing as I have been quoted as saying, and will probably give many people nightmares.

Luckily, we love almost every other part of Madrid. Tonight Amy and I walked down to the very end of Gran Via to a plaza. Every building is lit up beautifully. And I think every single person in the city is out on the sidewalk, all dressed up. On our way back at about 11pm the dinner crowd was just warming up. As for us, we have our train tickets for tomorrow afternoon to go down to Alicante for a few days at the beach! Adios!

You Know I Don´t Speak Spanish!

Hola! That title is mostly for the girls and Josh because I am constantly saying, ¨In English Baxter, you know I don´t speak Spanish!¨ HAHA.. people keep talking to me in Spanish and I obviously don´t ever know what they are saying! Aunt Colleen I haven´t heard from you in a while.. you out there? Happy softball to you Justine, everyone will love you the most, and dont listen to Kate, its not about having fun its about winning! Kate and Kassi, it sounds much TOO hot for stripping.. which is a funny sentence! The triplex of course! ; ) Grandma and Grandpa I´m loving your comments.. thanks! Gpa I will resume texting you when I get home! So.. here is something I have noticed. Spanish guy and Italian guy in a fight.. Spanish guy wins everytime always. They have much more muscle and I believe more the fighting attitude. I LOVE this city!! It is definitely my favorite so far on this trip! The streets are so gorgeous! There are these big buildings with intricate designs on them and then the streets are lined with big bushy green trees and lots of hanging flowers and there is almost no garbage and no grafitti! I just love it! I will share with you people a section of my journal now. It is my list of things I miss from home.. I´m sure it will grow.

1. Family and Friends (all of YOU).
2. Iced Grande non fat no whip white chocolate powder coconut mocha.
3. Texting.
4. My bed.
5. Subway.. we ate at a subway today but it was really just pretend.
6. Cheese you have to chew.
7. Salad dressing.
8. American TV.

Well tomorrow is a pack day :( but at the end of it I will be sitting on the beach in Sunny Mexico.. oh wait that´s the end of a different plan. haha.. I mean I´ll be on the beach in Alicante! Love you all! Thanks for the prayers! The foot is doing ok, but today was a particularly bad day for it. Ouch! :(

Milk is not Art!!!

Hola! So today Shannon took me to an art museum! It was Shannon´s first time ever taking me to one. We had some good laughs though and at one point we turned a corner and there was a male form of me. It was sooo funny! There were three guys and this one guy (me) was just saying to the other ones... ¨seriously? We have to go in there again? We already went in that one!¨ So naturally I started laughing at him and he was like, ¨have they made you go in there yet? You go in there and tell me what you think.. and don´t forget to watch the little ¨movie.¨ It is always very exciting to hear people speaking English. I remember now that I do know how to flirt in English.. I like knowing all the words people are saying about me! I bought TWO presents for mommy today. Very exciting! I really do love Spain. I am making Shannon buy lots of cute things.. you would all be proud! Hi Shannon G!! Say hi to the FAM, I can´t wait to meet the little one. Oh ya, Kate this is mostly for you... So we saw a LOT of Picasso today in the museum. It reminded me of the goat face club; not like you have the face of a goat, but like your face is an entire goat. HAHA... Also Shannon decided that Picasso was clearly disturbed. DUH! Overall, I couldn´t find one piece of ärt¨ that I would actually want to have in my house and that wouldn´t scare me. Although I did like that milk art. Love to all, more later!

Milan Malpensa is My Frankfurt!!!

Ok. Let´s begin with my rage. Yesterday we woke up early and everything and had planned to take a taxi to the train station and then an express train to the airport then go check in! Easy as pie. So we go down to call the taxi and wouldn´t ya know the taxis are striking. Well who wouldn´t? So instead we walk with the 30 pound packs to the bus station then ride, standing with WAY too many people to the metro station. Then we take the metro to the train station. We get on the express train which apparently makes four stops and takes 45 minutes instead of 30. We arrive and realize that we have to go to terminal 2. How far could terminal 2 be from terminal 1. It´s not like we were going from terminal 1 to terminal 40. We take a shuttle bus to terminal 2. It was the equivalent of landing at the cda airport and taking a shuttle bus to a terminal in PF. It was a 20 minute ride. So we get there to check in and of course our plane had already boarded. SHOCKING! So we buy tickets for the next flight to Madrid. It is 1100 when we get there and the next flight is at 1800. Of course. So we sit in the airport for hours. Finally at 4 we can go check in. Our flight has been delayed. only any hour, now it will leave at 7. So it is nearing 7 and they delay it again to 8 now. All of these little delays cause Shannon to rage but none as much as the fact that they said we were at gate D. However there were actually like gates D1 through D30 or something. They wouldn´t put up on the screen what number D. This made her Rage a lot and she looked at the screen quite frequently until every flight out that night before and after ours had a gate number but us. Finally they put our number up and also the notice that it´s boarding. of course we have to walk downstairs because what are the chances that we just happened to be sitting by the right one. We found it alarming when we arrived at the gate and there was no plane. They were boarding us to an area slightly to the right through some ropes. After they ¨boarded¨us they decided that actually we should move ALL of us to a different gate and ¨board¨there. Still no plane. So we ¨boarded¨again. Its like 2100 now and the screens all still say the flight is leaving at 2000. cute. My most frustating part was that they would make announcements all this time but in Italian then all the people would yell and swear and laugh and moan and while they did this they said it in English so we couldn´t hear. I was very annoyed. WE moved gates again and boarded. Still no plane. I have never before boarded a plane that wasn´t there. Eventually we take off at like 2130 or so. I don´t know. It was just one of those typical everything goes wrong traveling days. We finally made it to Madrid and we loveit!! This city is gorgeous! I will get on later and write more about it! If is my favorite.. I know I say that everytime. Also, they have Starbucks here and we had lunch at TGI Fridays and had amazing grilled chicken and vegetables and while we ate they were replaying game 2 of the ducks and senators! I was SOOO happy! Love to all! Sorry this was long.. rage will do that to ya! Adios!

Hola de espagna

I feel like we are that sad team on the amazing race who is going to get kicked off at the next pit stop, and they know it, but they keep going anyway, and they come in after dark like 9 hours after everyone else. That´s us. Luckily, phil wasn´t there when we got to Madrid, just an awesome taxi driver who took us, very speedily to our hotel. When we got in the taxi, he asked us if we spoke Spanish, and we said no, but somehow that didnt stop him from trying to speak it to us the entire way to the hotel. It was very cute. From what I gather, Madrid is very beautiful, and we agreed, and we are from America, and we no comprende any spanish! duh! we told you that to begin with. I think he was our favorite person in the world just at that moment. Anyone who would take us to a hotel with a bed and let us put down the packs is our hero! We finally got there at about 1 am I would guess, but who would know because there are no clocks on this continent? and we slept this morning until noon. Then we were starving and went and had real salad with real salad dressing and real chicken breast at TGI Fridays across from our hotel. Then we took off exploring the city. It really is beautiful, everything about it is bright and sunny. Everyone is in the park relaxing in the shade, but since we woke up just in time for siesta, we decided to keep walking around. We of course had to do some shopping, because the shopping (and food) in spain is my favorite! Amy says Madrid is her favorite, but she says that about every new city we have come to so far, except of course for Milan. We are having a really good time so far, more later....love!