2 months old and all smiles

Hoping to learn from our mistakes

We have promised ourselves that we will never try to travel like this again. Between stroller, carseat, breastpumps and all their assorted accessories, books and sheet music, the next larger baby sizes of family hand-me-downs, and Tabasco sauce (you cannot get the green kind in Spain), our luggage morphed into enough cargo to seemingly fill the entire arrivals lounge at Barajas airport. Since Mateo has yet to be able to carry his share of the burden (he is just barely managing the weight of his own head, really), it was quite a bit of luggage for the two of us. In fact, we would have missed the train from Madrid to Asturias had it not been for a terribly conscientious stranger--a guardian angel, I am convinced--who saw me fighting a losing battle with two suitcases while toting a baby on my chest and asked if she could help me get from the platform onto the train. Thank goodness for such kind souls.

Lessons learned/revisited: (1) It is nearly impossible to be low-maintenance when you are traveling with an infant; (2) One must nevertheless attempt not to travel with more luggage than all travelers can collectively carry at one time; (3) Don't assume that TSA employees recognize a breastpump when they x-ray one; (4) There are good people everywhere.

Mateo was, once again, a phenomenal traveling companion. He made not a peep during the whole trans-Atlantic flight and most of the subsequent train ride from Madrid, crying only once the train crossed into Asturias, which Bernardo is quite sure was due to the emotion of returning home.

Great-grandmother and -son

Four generations of Leaders spanned in a rocking chair:

Summertime nourishment

Gazpacho and Spanish tortilla, one of the many beautiful meals that Bernardo prepared this summer


We like our meat. And our Mom.

(It is no wonder that as Mateo healthily regained his birth weight, I spent this vacation regaining all of my pregnancy weight...)