Spain Pics (Alhambra and Gibraltar)

Spain Pics Part 1 (Semana Santa and Malaga)

Caleb and I had a good view of one of the smaller afternoon processions.

Maddie at the Malaga Alcazaba

Caleb and Jimmie in front of the Alcazaba

Maddie and Henry playing on the cathedral grounds

Malaga cathedral

The photo doesn't do justice to a large, impressive procession.

Churros and chocolate with the Neels

Maddie and Jessie

19 Years Later

I started my church mission in Spain 19 years ago. We just concluded a ten-day spring break tour of where I served, including some places I did not get to see as a missionary (Gibraltar and Alhambra). A few take-aways (photos are coming soon):

Memory creates weird psychological problems. For example, despite deliberate effort, I could not remove my hope of seeing people I knew almost 20 years ago as they were 20 years ago. That they had aged was unbelievably shocking to me. Also, memories of streets and places had been mashed up like some Facebook celebrity couples meme. I was surprised to learn (by getting lost) that things that I remembered as one place are really in different parts of the city.

Spain meant more to me than I meant to Spain. I sort of already knew this but had never spent much time with the idea. There were a few church members in Malaga who invited me to dinner at their home every week for months. I love these people. They do not know who I am. One person kind of recognized my face but mostly I was just an American tourist until I insisted I had served with them. They fed the missionaries, not a missionary. I temporarily played the role of a character they love dearly. Then I passed the role on to another. They sincerely love the characters, but hardly know the actors.

Spain felt like home. I was never in one location longer than seven months, yet I was surprised at the deep familiarity I felt. It felt as much like home as when I return to Idaho Falls. I love Spain.

Having a sense of mission is a great feeling. However, Spain is not my mission anymore. I spoke with the current missionaries. Great young people. I hugged them all and told them I loved them. They were confused, since I was so excited to see them that the hugging and loving took place before any kind of introduction. Being with them for a few moments brought back the old missionary zeal. I wanted to put on the name tag again and go out teaching. But it's not my mission anymore. They have the keys. I thanked them for carrying on the work and returned to my mission: with my family in Frankfurt.

I'm Not Your Friend

I will skip details to preserve a bit of privacy for my kids and just say that several weeks ago, one of them made me really mad. Like, really mad. And it occurred to me that the "fun parent" reputation I earned after Pakistan came at too high a price (often paid by Katie). It was time for rebranding.

I had to lock someone in a bedroom for about 30 minutes every night for the next few days, and they were not excited about the new Saturday morning chore routine when it was presented. But all has worked out surprisingly well so far. After the first Saturday of intense chore-doing a few weeks ago, the kids were rewarded with a dollar bill and a trip to the neighborhood store to buy candy or soda. Maddie came home and declared it the best Coke she'd after tasted. I asked why. "Because I earned it," she said.

A bit of parental success. Now, to keep the momentum.

Hart Family March Madness Smack Down

Katie won the inaugural episode last year and got her name on the trophy. Yes, I bought a trophy with space to engrave winner's names for the next 15 years. It appears that, fueled by her complete ignorance of college basketball, she might win again this year. Sigh. Really, who picked Georgia State besides her? Well, Henry did, but I think they're the only two in the world. Here's the Hart Family bracket summary after one day:

We all did terrible picking the play-in games. I did the best with two: Hampton and Robert Morris. But we only count those games as tie-breakers.

Madeline

12 picks right

Big Win: UNC (predicted Elite 8 barely survived Harvard)

Big Loss: Iowa State (predicted Elite 8)

Caleb

11 picks right

Big Win: Notre Dame (his predicted champion looked vulnerable, so he was glad they stuck around)

Big Loss: Baylor (predicted Final Four)

Henry

10 picks right

Big Win: Georgia State and UCLA (how many people got both of those right?)

Big Loss: none, no predicted Sweet 16 teams eliminated

Katie

10 picks right

Big Win: Georgia State

Big Loss: SMU (Sweet 16)

Tim (last as usual)

10 picks right

Big Win: nothing noteworthy

Big Loss: Baylor (Sweet 16)

A Year of Caleb

Happy 9th buddy.

A Few Years in Disney Movies

The Oscars were recently awarded. I haven't seen any of the major winners other than Big Hero Six, our copy of which was purchased yesterday and it is awesome. We have family movie night most Friday nights. Disney is a frequent choice.  Since Pakistan, Disney has been pretty perfectly aligned with our family psyche, delivering winner after winner.

Summer 2012--Katie finally got some much deserved rest and relaxation after a year as a single mother. I promptly ran the kids to the theatre to watch The Avengers. Thus began my at times divisive reputation as "the fun parent."

Spring 2013--Brave arrived in Egypt about 6 months after its U.S. release. It was the first movie we watched in a Cairo theatre, so the experience included cultural enlightenment about talking during movies, intermission, and projectors that break. It took two attempts to see the movie all the way through.

Spring 2013--Wreck-It-Ralph came to us via iTunes about month later and immediately took over as the most-frequently-viewed-and-quoted movie in our library. "Just because I am the bad guy doesn't mean I am a bad guy."

Summer 2013--Oz Great and Powerful got us across the Atlantic ocean twice. Excellent airplane movie. In my view, an underrated gem. "Greatness? No, something better than that. Goodness."

Summer 2013--Monsters University provided Henry's birthday theme and activity. He was not disappointed.

Spring 2014--Frozen. We saw it. We sang it. Caleb and Henry loved it but quickly stopped admitting as much.

Spring 2014--Our spring break in Rome included a theatre viewing of Captain America: Winter Soldier because duh.

Spring 2014--Winter Soldier's success in captivating the family's imagination prompted catch-up viewing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase I and Phase II through Thor: The Dark World. The family that geeks together...

Summer 2014--Maleficent and Planes Fire and Rescue got us through the summer. One of those entertained both parents and children while the other only entertained the children. Can you guess which was which?

Fall 2014--Guardians of the Galaxy is now a family all-time favorite.

Fall 2014--Million Dollar Arm provided excellent Friday night home movie uplift and cultural diversity talking points. It's like Slumdog Millionaire light. Kind of.

Winter 2015--Big Hero 6. "I go front. I go back. I go inside out. And then I go front and back." Also, any movie that makes my kids really want to study science is all right in my book.

Winter 2015--Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day is fun, okay. Just get over your ego and admit that Steve Carrel chasing a kangaroo is fun. More excellent Friday night movie material. We even ended up talking about positive ways to respond to adversity.

Then I look ahead to Marvel Phase III, Star Wars VII - IX, Indiana Jones reboot, and I realize Disney is going to continue dominating our entertainment agenda for a long time.

Ski Week--Bavarian Alps

Henry rocked the giant slalom

Caleb and a few friends from the U.S. Olympic ski team

Our apartment was conveniently located above a pub

Valentine's Day Just Got Owned

I have been experimenting with Valentine's Day traditions for all 12 years of my married life. I think this year I might have found something that will stick. Some background:

We move a lot. In moving a lot, one thing we've noticed is that everywhere you go, there is always a person (or a family, or a church group) that "owns" just about every holiday. Christmas is always taken. Usually there is a family in each location that is famous for a big New Year's Eve bash, so no one else plans anything because you already know everyone is going to that family's event. And so on.

But Valentine's Day is always open. So I decided to own Valentine's Day. Inspired by the success of our Hart Family Reunion Lip Sync Contest last summer, I invited several families over for Love Song Lip Sync. The kids were especially enthusiastic, though they didn't really get the "love song" part. "The Awesome Mix" from Guardians of the Galaxy got a lot of coverage. Luckily, Frozen appears to have run its course.

Then we put all the kids in the media room with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, blah, blah, blah and had a nice evening of conversation. Valentine's Day just got owned!

Valentines Playlist 2015

Some that just make me think of Katie and some that relate to a fun memory of the last year. Valentine's Day Playlist 2015

1. Barking at the Moon, Jenny Lewis
2. Home, Phillip Phillips
3. Titanium, David Guetta
4. To Make You Feel My Love, Garth Brooks
5. Come and Get Your Love, Redbone
6. I Will Wait, Mumford and Sons
7. I'll Never Let You Go, Steelheart
8. Shut Up and Dance, Walk the Moon
9. You Were Born, Cloud Cult
10. Good Hearted Woman, Willie Nelson

12 Years

When we met, I had just started graduate school at Temple University. My ambition was modest but noble. I intended to get a PhD and find a college in some quiet town where I could teach, write, coach youth football, have a house with a yard, and drive a Honda Accord.

The curriculum was so dull as to be unbearable. The culture shock of North Philly for an Idaho boy was severe. I looked ahead to four to six more years of it and it looked awful. Katie and I were soon engaged and when she said she wanted to transfer to her firm's Boston office, I immediately started looking for work, any work, in Boston. Anything to no longer be a student years away from a degree I wasn't sure I wanted.

Selling life insurance was what I could find. We moved to Cambridge, MA. We bought a condo. We could hear the crowd at Fenway Park if we opened the window. Before we had any furniture other than a TV, we sat on the floor watching the Red Sox come from three games down against the Yankees and listening to the live crowd cheer three seconds ahead of what we saw on TV. Awesome memory. I sold life insurance. It was hard.

Three babies and the accompanying stress, joy, anger, and education.

I switched from life insurance to mutual funds. We moved to Utah so I could get an MBA.

Two years of business school. We felt poor. We discussed, debated, argued, fought quite a bit about which job offers to pursue. It was hard.

We chose what seemed the most adventurous option. The Foreign Service. We moved to Virginia. When circumstances dictated that my first overseas assignment would be a year without the family in Pakistan, we wondered anew whether we had made the right career choice. I went to Pakistan. It was hard.

After Pakistan, I met up with Katie and the kids at Disney World. I was delayed a day getting out of Islamabad so Katie had some time there without me. During this time, she told some Disney staffers where I was, why I was delayed, etc. Oh, Disney. This staffer called ahead to our reservations and our fees were waived as cast members thanked me for my service to the country. Awesome memory.

Then we moved to Cairo. We were evacuated during the counter-revolution and even when were allowed to return, our movement was severely limited. It was hard.

Then we were moved to Frankfurt to complete my "Cairo" tour.

So far, we've lived in Philadelphia, Cambridge, Provo, Arlington, Cairo, and Frankfurt. Doing hard things has been easier than I would have predicted, mainly because Katie Hart is awesome. 12 years. Bring on the next adventure.