Come on, everybody's doing it!

A "2010" review that is.  I just thought I would post some of my thoughts about the last year.  Wow!  What a learning experience 2010 has been! 

Our year started off with Ryan spending his time travelling back and forth to Barcelona while the girls finished up their school year in the U.S.  I spent my time supporting, playing single parent, maintaining our home and cars, and preparing for our move.  There were many ups and downs during this phase, but mostly we all realized how important it was (and is) for us all to be together...living in the same place. 

We finally made the big move in late July.  Ryan's visa had been approved and we wanted to make sure the girls had time to adjust to the new country before the beginning of the school year.  The movers came in late July and a couple of days later we left the dogs behind and got on our flight to Barcelona.  We enjoyed the rest of the summer playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, and playing on the playground across the street from our house.  During this time we also added to our family.  We 'rescued' little Artemis our kitten.  She has been a very nice addition to our family, but she is definitely not a dog...no matter how much I have tried to turn her into one!

September 6th was the first day of school.  Kaylee had a very rough first few weeks adjusting to her new school routine.  Previously, she had only gone to school three days a week for two hours a day.  All of a sudden she was in school five days a week for 7 hours a day.  Throw on top of that being surrounded by people who speak a different language...even the "English" sounded different and you have a very overwhelming situation.  But thankfully, she adjusted quite well and is now doing great in her new school.  Alexis was the opposite.  She integrated quite well in the first few weeks of school.  She quickly made friends with the other new kids at school.  It took almost no time though, for us to realize that she was not going to be academically challenged this year.  Her attitude toward school had begun to degrade as the year went on.  Eventually she didn't even want to go, which is very uncharacteristic of Alexis.  So that has prompted discussions about beginning the next school year back in Avon.  We are doing everything possible to make that happen.

To add to the educational experience, we have high hopes of doing a lot of travelling around Europe.  We had our first excursion at the beginning of December.  We flew to Paris, France and spent four days exploring the great city.  You can read all about our trip here.  Other trips we hope to make are Italy, Greece, and perhaps Egypt or Turkey. 

We were able to travel home to visit family and friends during Christmas break.  Unfortunately though, Ryan has had to go back to Barcelona without us because the girls and I are still waiting for our visa approval.  Until then, we are legally barred entry to the country.  On a passport or visitor's visa, you are allowed to stay in a particular country for a period of 90 days in a 180 day period.  We have reached our limit.  Hopefully the visas will be approved in a few weeks and we can get back to being together as a family.  Until that time, I am going to be homeschooling the girls with some familial assistance.  We plan to take a few field trips and work on things at home so they are not behind when we finally make it back to Spain. 

Looking back, would I ever recommend an international assignment to anyone?  Probably not.  That being said, I would not give up our experiences in the last year for anything.  We have learned so much, talked so much, and this experience has really reshaped our future.  There are some big changes we have planned for our family...some of them will take a while happen, but I am excited about the future and I'm ready to get started!