Primary Graduation

 The end of an era! Tonight Kiersten graduated from primary school. It was definitely a little different to do it here in Spain. Mitch was away on a work trip so I was flying solo. The parents go up and place the graduation sash on their graduates. I had no idea what I was doing but since our last name starts with “S” I had time to watch the other parents and figure it out. We’re so proud of the young lady she is becoming. She's a good friend, a dedicated student and always works to achieve her goals, she’s a sweet daughter and after a hard week watching the tragedy unfold in Uvalde Texas, I definitely hugged her a little tighter. Congratulations my sweet girl. 

A few of our favorite things

 Monday morning we got the girls off to school and we headed back in to the city. We had breakfast at Mercado Colón. Uncle Jeff finally got to try Tortilla de Patata. Laura and I shared some Valencian Toast. We took them to the Catedral de Valencia so they could see the Holy Grail. 

We walked through ayuntamiento and stopped at Central mércat. While we were there we picked up a few more goodies from Horno Pastelería…an eclair, a dulce de leche merengue, a white chocolate strawberry cake, just to name a few. By then it was time for lunch…so we headed back to Mercado Colón and Uncle Jeff had one more Tortilla de Patata. Laura and I shared a Mediterranean salad with artichokes, olives and raisins and a salmon bocadillo. After lunch we took them to the train station and they went back to Barcelona to catch their flight home. We ate our way through Valencia. It went by much too fast but we’re so thankful for the memories made!

Sunday in the City

 One of Laura’s former teammates lives near Valencia, so On Sunday morning I drove Laura to Castellón. We toured the new Sergio Garcia Golf Academy. They are hopeful it will open soon. Laura went to school with Mar at Arizona…and Sergio has created quite a legacy for his family.

After we returned from Castellón we headed into Valencia. We had reservations at Arrozeria Terra I Mar…so of course we had Valencian Paella and Marisco Fideau. The Valencian Toaat, Calamari and Croquettes were fabulous, too. It was a good thing we had planned to walk over to Los Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias after lunch. We definitely needed to move. It was a perfect day, sun shine, blue skies and a bit of a breeze. 

Later that night we were still so full we didn’t need dinner, but that didn’t stop us from serving up a chocolate coulant from Horno Pastelería. Jeff and Laura agreed with Mitch that it might very well be the best dessert they’ve ever tasted. 

Castillo de Sagunto

 On Saturday afternoon we decided that Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura needed to see an Ancient Roman Castle. So why not start with the oldest in our area…Sagunto. It was built between 0 and 100 and they STILL use the Roman Theater for special occasions. Aunt Laura was super impressed by the ancient Agora and the views did not disappoint. It was warm up at the top but we enjoyed it anyway. We ended up ordering pizza for dinner and Mitch made a fabulous pitcher of sangria.

Mi hermana

 Oh how I’ve waited for this day! A day I wasn’t sure would even come. When Laura booked the trip for her and Jeff to come visit Spain we knew it was possible she’d have to cancel. Her team made it to the final 4, three out of the last four years. But after a few of her players left for the professional tour this year was looking questionable. And they missed it by two strokes. Hattie said it best “it’s a win/win for Aunt Laura, if they play good age goes to the National Championship, and if they don’t she gets to visit Spain.” Well…they made it to Spain!

They spent the first two days checking out some of our favorite spots in Barcelona and took the train to Valencia on Friday afternoon. We had an amazing dinner at La Boibella in San Antonio Friday night.

On Saturday Mitch had booked a brunch on lake Albufera for us to enjoy. It was a beautiful setting and the pastries and croissants were fantastic! It was so peaceful just chatting and catching up out on the water.

Gandía Open

What a weekend! We left our house at 6:30am and got home at 12:40am. Mitch and I spent several hours walking the beach and strolling through the mall, while our little fish were giving it their all in the 25th Gandía Open, with over 400 other swimmers. Team Ribarroja had great showing and all three Schultz girls walked away with some hardware. Happy to have some solid time drops today. Leah dropped 2-3 seconds in all three of her races. She looked the strongest she has looked in a long time and took the bronze in backstroke…even though she says she’s not a good backstroke swimmer.  Kiersten crushed the competition in her 50 back taking 1st  and swimming the anchor on her relay she passed two girls to get on the podium. Biggest surprise of the meet came from Hattie. When she told me she was swimming the 200 breast I couldn’t believe it. But she knew what she was doing…she got the bronze and was so happy! What a day! So happy that even in Spain my girls are still in the water.