Describing both this trip to Italy and my trip earlier in the year to Portugal and Spain to friends, I often get the sense (from raised eyebrows or a simple reaction like “oh”) that they are not sure that travelling with young kids to Europe is their idea of a good time. But, I think that they react this way because they are only focussing on the minor inconveniences and limitations inherent in travelling with young children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
i feel fortunate that I have been invited along on these two trips by Marley, Jesse and their spouses. First. I have now experienced the pleasure of two trips that I would not have otherwise taken. These trips have also provided an opportunity to spend significant and meaningful time with Jesse. Laura, Marley and Brandon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, I think the best part of these trips may be getting to spend extended time with these new grandchildren. It is heartwarming to see them get comfortable being around me. I felt good when Sage was calling for “Boppa” when I got separated from her and her parents while climbing the bell tower in the Seville cathedral. And I have lost track of the number of welcoming smiles they have given me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watching these kids voraciously learn is a real joy. I had this experience as a parent with my own kids (long, long ago when the world was young). But, to really see it, you need to be with them a lot over some extended time. The opportunity to see this and experience it again as a grandparent is the real bonus of these trips and a special gift that I have been given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bit sappy I know – But the urge to write this came after today watching Payton repeatedly (and with more and more success) try to pull herself up on wobbling legs into a standing position beside the furniture or on grandpa’s handy knee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Describing both this trip to Italy and my trip earlier in the year to Portugal and Spain to friends, I often get the sense (from raised eyebrows or a simple reaction like “oh”) that they are not sure that travelling with young kids to Europe is their idea of a good time. But, I think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}