The Princess from Brave

We just arrived back from our trip to Andalucia (the southern part of Spain) and we had a great time. It was super relaxing and no one got hurt!

It's a great time in our lives for family vacations. I shall list why:

1- No extra equipment needed (diaper bags, portable cribs, strollers, etc.)

2- The kids are still easily enthralled--
   The beach? Awesome! A swimming pool? Great! Bowling? Is this paradise? Movies? Best trip ever! Popsicles? My parents rock!

3. Kindle Fire and Nintendo DS-- the quiet in the car lasts as long as the power supply.

4. There's a marked improvement in bladder control. Now if we have to pull over for a restroom, it's probably my fault.

So we began our journey by leaving Madrid before traffic hour, which meant I had to actually set an alarm and get out of bed. It was probably the worst day of my life.
Most days that I have to set and alarm and get out of bed become the new worst day of my life.

I believe this is an indication that my life is good.

We made it out of Madrid and to our first destination: Mérida, España
It's the northernmost underlined town on the map below, a little over three hours from Madrid.

It was a great half-way stop; Josh had researched the things we should see and we spent a couple of hours touring the town.
 Mérida was founded as a Roman city, and has preserved more Roman architecture than any other city in Spain. The center of the city is small enough that we were able to park on the street and then walk around to see the sites. Or sights, if you will. Both will work.

Theater

Temple of Diana

Roman Bridge

The kids' favorite part:

Then it was back on the road to the U.S. Naval Station in Rota, Spain (near Cádiz, which is underlined on the map).
It was time for a little bit of home!

To be continued. I hope. Because I'm really bad at continuing trip updates, as evidenced by the fact that no one has seen photos of our last two cruise ports from spring break.