Hello everyone. Hope that your summer is going well and that you are managing to fit in some good bonding time with your kiddos. With my boys away at a sleep away soccer camp, I savored two tranquil weeks alone with my girls. On a whim, I decided to take them to Madrid for the weekend and to do some day trips from there.

Moms of more than one, how do you manage to get alone time with your kids? Comment below and enter our weekly giveaway!

Here are Annaliese and Marielle at the Barcelona train station awaiting our train. The speed train from Barcelona to Madrid took only two and a half hours and the bucolic view plus some new sticker books were enough to keep them occupied. I even managed to take a nap! They also sold a delicious brand of potato chips!

With no big brothers around to do the heavy lifting, we had to cart our own suitcase around!

On our first night, we decided to stay up late, go out for dinner and then enjoy the lights of Madrid at night. To me, one of the finest things to do in Madrid is simply to enjoy the regal architecture. In the heat of summer, this is best done early in the morning and during the evening hours. My girls usually get to bed by 8 so you can see how happy they were here to have Mommy snapping photos at 10 p.m.! When in Rome …

The next day, we took a day-long bus trip to Toledo, Segovia and Avila, three other historic towns in Spain. Here are the girls looking out over Toledo. Once the Spanish capital, Toledo is also known for being the home of Spanish painter El Greco.

After a brief respite on our air-conditioned bus, we headed down to see this Roman aqueduct in Segovia. This aqueduct ran nearly 80 miles, providing water to the city from the mountains above during the Roman empire. Amazing that this level of technology existed 2,000 years ago!

The girls delighted in making the acquaintance of a real Roman solider outside the walls of the city castle.

After Segovia, we swept through Avila, staying just long enough to admire its majestic, medieval walls.

With our family on the move, I’ve been snapping too many photos per week to include in my Wrap Ups but I promise more images through the videos I’ve shot from our trips.

Thanks so much for reading and check back in this week for some more fun content.

Gratefully,

Melissa

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