World Youth Day

Life has been full the last couple of months - especially for Elena. I will do my best to update. The end of July had Elena on a pilgrimage trip with our local youth group to Colorado. During this trip the youth leader introduced the kids to Blessed Pierre Giorgio Frassati, and Elena came back very excited about his inspiring story (more on that later). She got home and almost immediately left for Camp Beloved. After that she had one day at home before we took off for World Youth Day in Portugal!

During the few weeks leading up to leaving, we were frantically trying to figure out a way to rush Elena's passport even faster than the expedited service, which was predicted to arrive a couple of weeks after our flights. In the end, we called the senator, and had the passport a miraculous 2 weeks before our departure - who knew senators did that? I didn't! Thank you, internet. 

We went with family friends (and father-daughter duo), Dan and Ana. We had a great time. Dan was a super-planner who got us where we needed to go the whole week - or close enough when the crowds prevented us from going any further. My Spanish proved to be incredibly useful in Portugal. Between that and a month of Duolingo basics, I could get my point across and communicate enough to get by without trouble. The girls brought along their youthful enthusiasm for exploring a new country and meeting people from all over the world. 

Words really can't describe the experience so I will share a few pictures.

For starters, the accommodations were an experience all by themselves. We slept on the floor of a classroom. The toilets had no seats (quite common actually in Portugal), toilet paper had to go in the garbage instead of the toilet (harder to remember that you would think!), and I awoke the first night to find a cockroach crawling on my arm. I just killed it, said a prayer of thanks that it was me and not Ana, and went back to sleep. I kept that bit of information to myself until we were at the airport leaving Portugal so the Ana could sleep at night. Elena was unfazed when I told her. 

The biggest surprise was the shower situation. A line of hose-water shower heads in a very not-well-secluded area. The men's was on the left, the women's on the right, with a walkway going right past it. Apparently people who have been to WYD before neglected to tell us that we should bring swimsuits for the showers! (And of course our last day in Portugal we happened to stop at a nearby mall and found swimsuits on clearance for $1. Too late!) The cold water would have been nice during the HOT days, but we weren't there during the day plus we decided it would be better to shower when it was dark out given the situation. They did very soon close the gap for the doorways and added a make-shift door using garbage bags once they realized not everyone was comfortable with the set-up. 

Despite all of this, by the end of the week we were really quite fond of our home base (an elementary school) and the lovely people there who took care of us. At one point they even said we would be moved to a new location (because of the cockroaches) and we were really bummed. In the end they let us choose to stay or be moved and we happily stayed. 

Meeting friends from around the world and getting their hats signed. 

Navarre Beach

I suggested a goofy picture and then failed to pose in time. Oops.

Our rickety elevator at the airbnb in Madrid. There was a chance we would get stuck if it had too much weight, but the room was on the 6th story so it was a tough call. Look closely and you can see Elena and Ana peeking out.

The birthplace of St. Teresa of Avila

Sangria in Spain!

The outdoor restaurants in Spain had an amazing solution to beat the heat. The canopies sprayed mist every 30 seconds or so to cool the air (like the kind that mist produce in the grocery store)!

I assume they were aiming for "tasty seafood sauce."

I ordered a small coffee, forgetting the difference between America's idea of small vs. Europe.

The biggest highlight, of course was seeing the Pope. We arrived at his welcome ceremony almost 2 hours early to try to get a good spot. By the time we got there the crowd was so big, we could not even get into the designated seating areas so we just sat outside a fence as close as we could get. Soon, the fence was being lined on the other side by security and we started to suspect the Pope might drive right by us, and he did! We never dreamed we'd get so close.

We went to a talk by Chris Stefanick and Jason Evert. Having learned our lesson to arrive early, we got there very early and waited in the sun for a couple of hours. There were still 1,000 people outside who wanted to get in, but couldn't so we were lucky. As we were waiting for the talk, we noticed a line and discovered it was a line to see the relics of Blessed Pierre Giorgio Frassati (mentioned earlier) and St. John Paul II. The girls got at the end of the line, and just as it was their turn, a woman got up and said they would have to cut it short and end the line. Fortunately another volunteer there noticed that there were only 4 people left so they let the girls and the 2 others go through. This is a picture of the girls getting the chance to tough Blessed Frassati's pick axe.

Meeting Chris Stefanick

This is one of my favorite memories. As we were walking to the final vigil and Mass in 100 degree weather, locals came to their windows with buckets of water, dumping it on pilgrims who wanted to cool down. We did not take them up on the offer, but little did we know at this point that our walk was still another 4 hours to go in an incredibly large crowd (and no bathrooms)! Plus we were carrying all of our stuff so needless to say it was a real pilgrimage experience for us. 

 

These were our sleeping arrangements once we finally arrived. Did I mention it was hot? Because it was very hot. We were a good mile from the main stage, but we could see the screen anyway. The next day we assumed leaving would be easier, thinking they would allow people to leave in all directions, but they did not. Everyone leaving had to take the same road, which is a lot to ask of a crowd of over 1 million people. Again no shade and again several hours of walking. There was one single port-a-potty on the side of the road along the way, but everyone was so dehydrated no one even used it. We tried stopping to rest occasionally, but doing so only prolonged the heat exposure so we just kept going until we finally got to a park with some shade where we rested for 30 minutes before heading to the airport - also a challenge because of how hard it was to get a ride with the crowds. 

Paella in Spain! It was not the best, but it did the job. Unfortunately we struggled finding restaurants that were not targeted for tourists and it showed in the quality of food. We learned in Avila to go to a restaurant that did not have it's menu posted and was not trying to attract tourists. We had our best and cheapest meal there. The service was terrible, but it was well worth it!

Baseball!

 

All 3 boys were in summer rec this summer, which made for a lot of running around. It was a lot of fun, though, to see them all progress over the years. Charlie's team took 3rd place in their tournament, and Sam's team won 1st. 

Celebrating with the cousins and Coach Jack!

I didn't manage to get a picture of Frank playing baseball - probably because we forgot to bring him to half of his practices. But here's a picture Seth's aunt got of him on a hayride!

I got this picture when Sam was looking away and Jack snuck into his picture

 and caught him by surprise

In other, totally unrelated news, I came home one evening this summer to see a stick poking out of Coco's abdomen. She didn't seem to be in pain, but it looked like she had been impaled. Upon closer examination, I discovered that she had a sucker stuck to her abdomen. Someone (probably Olivia) must have decided not to finish their sucker, and then Coco laid down on it. It took a few days, but it we eventually got it off!

Quotes!

Livi: (in an upset tone) Sam watched Calliou with me this morning!

Me: Well, that's ok.

Livi: No, it's not! He farted right in my face!!

Me: He did? Why would he do that?

Livi: Because he doesn't love me!!!

He does tell Livi he loves her all the time, but actions speak louder than words!

Frank was super excited to show me a home and his friend had built for a grasshopper. It was essentially a hole they had dug and lined with rocks and stuff. It looked very nice and you could tell they had put a lot of work into it. I was surprised to see that the grasshopper wasn't hopping out, though, because it could have easily escaped. 

I said: "I'm amazed he's staying in there. He must really like it."

Frank responded: "Yeah." 

Then after a brief pause he added: "We had to pull of its jumping legs."

That makes more sense. 

Elena: (singing the Rolling Stones song) You can't always get what you want....

Olivia: Yes, I CAN!!!!

Frank: I really like being 7! It's a great age.

Me: Where are you going, Livi?

Livi: I need to go in to show Frank that I found a butt-cheek strawberry.

Livi: Some car faces are happy and some are bad and some are sad.

Children's Museum

 

We made our yearly summer trip to the Children's Museum in Brookings. The youngest 3 are finally at ages allowing me to bring them without additional help. It's always fun to see what the kids do there.

Charlie made this message on the giant "Lite Brite" board. When he finished he said, "I really hope there is someone named Bob here."

The new vet clinic was a huge hit with all 3 kids. Charlie got really into his role as a veterinarian. When it was time to go, he announced to all the other kids in the room: "Well, everyone...it's time for my retirement. Goodbye!"

Even the ride there was fun! Our kids are used to a pretty flat landscape so going on the hilly road to South Dakota was quite entertaining. They pretended it was a roller coaster on every hill and turn, screaming and laughing with their arms in the air for a good 30 minutes!

Talent Show & Concert

Sam and Charlie both performed magic tricks for the talent show. Sam didn't find out Charlie was also doing magic tricks until the day of and he was not happy, but it worked out fine. 

Below is a video. The audio is horrible and it's far away so you might not be able to hear some parts. For Charlie's first trick he is holding a toothpick that disappears and reappears. The second trick doesn't quite go as planned but was nonetheless entertaining and continued to entertain through the 3rd trick. In Charlie's last trick, he had a volunteer think of a number (he picked 68), and animal (he picked a tiger) and then to think of the word "yes" or "no."  Charlie wrote down his predictions for each before asking for the answer and then revealed his predictions, which were all right! His volunteer was completely mystified.

The very last performance is of Sam, Ian and RJ singing a song RJ found online. In case you miss the intro, it's called World on Fire. They did not warn the music teacher about the song other than to tell her the title and to say they didn't need mics. I stopped taping before she talked at the end, but she made it a point to let everyone know that they can in fact play guitar and sing better than the performance indicated. Even though Mrs. R wasn't too impressed, I think this performance got the biggest applause of the day.

And here are some highlights from the Spring Concerts - including Elena's solo at the high school concert. 

Wrapping up the year at St. Edward's

 

The boys finished the school year with a bang this May. All 3 boys had field trips (highlights below) and Sam passed 8th grade (with better than average grades!) so he will be moving onto the high school in the fall.

Charlie' class had an overnight field trip to Lake Shetek. Seth was a chaperone and everyone had a blast - even if they didn't sleep much.  When they were gathered around the campfire, Charlie led everyone in the song I Have an Aunt, which is loads of fun. Seth captured the tail end of it on video. 

Frank's class took a trip to the children's museum in Brookings and Sam's class went to Sioux Falls for various adventures. We weren't able to chaperone these field trips, but everyone came home completely exhausted so they must have enjoyed themselves to the fullest. 

The evening of the last day of school, we had Mass and a reception for the 3 graduates. Sam, Ian and Elizabeth have been quite the trio at St. Edward's and they will be greatly missed! The picture on the left was the one chosen for the school bulletin board featuring the graduates. 

To celebrate the end of school, the boys destroyed their workbooks. I think 3 workbooks kept these 7 boys (4 cousins included) busy for about 2 hours as they hit them with baseball bats, had snowball fights and jumped amid the pile of paper on the trampoline. (And they did clean up the mess, in case you're wondering.)