Porto, Portugal

We arrived in Porto after a hectic transfer in Madrid at around 12:00 PM local time. A car picked us up and transferred us to our hotel in the heart of old town Porto. Our hotel was conveniently located close to the Duoro River as well as some other amazing spots. We dropped our bags and quickly began exploring, we first stopped at the world's most beautiful McDonald's and grabbed a Portugal snack then we made our way down to cross the iconic Ponte Luis into Vila Nova de Gaia. Once we crossed the bridge, we found sky gondolas to take us down to the riverside market where we explored the shops and grabbed small bites. Once our hotel was ready we quickly changed and headed out for our tour of  Livraria Lello. Livraria Lello is one of the oldest bookstores in the world and its ornate design and staircases are said to have inspired JK Rowling in her depictions of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. Afterwards, we had dinner scheduled at MUU Restaurant, an amazing steakhouse, for the official Father's Day dinner. By the time we arrived at dinner, the girls were hanging on by threads and nearly delirious from traveling almost 24 hours straight. We all pulled it together and toasted to the amazing Dad we are blessed with for Casa Ledezma. He pulled this entire European leg of this journey together on his own and meticulously planned it so we don't have to worry about a thing while we're here!

After dinner, we grabbed a gelato and cappuccino from a nearby coffee shop then headed home for a much needed rest! We woke up refreshed and headed out to see the Mercado do Bolhão. There we had an amazing lunch and drinks. Then we walked over to the Chapel of Souls, a beautiful 18th century chapel known for it's blue azulejo tile facade. Afterward, we went back to Vila Nova de Gaia for a Port wine tasting on the River Duoro. Finally, we headed to the airport to catch a late flight into Barcelona!

Much Love,
Moises & Jennifer

Casa Ledezma Summer Vacay Extravaganza

So, Casa Ledezma is about to embark upon an EPIC 3 week vacation which will span 3 continents, 5 countries, and 9 cities. Given the amazing experiences we're about to have, one blog entry simply will not justify it. So our plan is to do a blog for almost every day of our journey that way we have the memories catalogued for years to come! Since we are going to be out of the country for both Father's Day and Abigail's 14th Birthday, we decided to do a mini celebration with cards and gifts at home the day before our big trip started. 

We began our journey with a flight from Fort Smith to San Antonio to drop our pups off with Bibi & Jorge. We're sure going to miss those puppies but we know that they're going to have a blast at Camp Bibi & Jorge playing with Pickles and Sparky. Once we dropped the dogs in San Antonio we continued on to Plano for our first stop. We first got pedicures and the girls got manicures. Then we went to dinner at Yao Fuzi to celebrate an early Father's Day. We tucked in early to prepare for our first long flight to Europe. 

Our first flight was a direct from DFW to Madrid, then we were taking another quick flight to Porto as our final destination. The flight to Madrid was about 9 hours and was an overnight flight so we all tried to get enough sleep to avoid jet lag. Unfortunately, our flight to Madrid was slightly delayed so we were in a mad dash trying to make our connecting to Porto. Adding to the problem was the fact that the flight number updated so the boarding passes we previously downloaded no longer worked! Once we made it through security it was a mad dash to the gate. We were hot, exhausted, and sweaty but we made it in time to catch the flight to Porto.

Much Love,

Moises & Jennifer

Rodeo

 We finished our whirlwind May with a trip to the rodeo! This year Kitty wasn't able to attend because she had foot surgery so she gave us all the tickets to her box and we let the girls each invite two friends. We had dinner, got snow cones, bungee jumped, and painted faces! The kids all enjoyed all the activities and we enjoyed watching them have fun. 

Much Love,

Moises & Jennifer

TCS Graduation

 We celebrated Abigail's graduation from middle school tonight. It was originally scheduled for May 19th but was postponed to today due to the severe weather forecast. We have been overjoyed to see her growth academically, socially, and physically. She has grown into such a confident, intelligent, and smart young woman and we couldn't be prouder. After graduation, we went to Hardscrabble for dinner and gave her a Apple watch to celebrate her accomplishments. Next year, it's off to high school!!

Much Love,

Moises & Jennifer

Last Day of School

 Today is Allison's last day of school! We now will have a fifth grader and it's hard to believe that the school year is already over and we're nearing the completion of Allison's elementary school years. Even though she's excited about summer, she says she will miss school, a little bit! 

Abigail's last day of school was last Friday, May 16 but we didn't get photos of her last day in a Catholic school uniform because she kept asking us "not to talk about her last day" haha! She was sweet enough to get up early, put on her uniform, and take pictures with her sister so we made it 'official'. 

Much Love,

Moises & Jennifer

Eighth Grade Awards

 Abigail may have wrapped up classes at Trinity but she has a few more events that celebrate the eighth grade students before she's officially a Trinity graduate. Tonight was the eighth grade awards banquet. The banquet awards students for their academic and athletic achievements during their time at TCS. Abigail won awards for her MAP testing scores, cheer and cross country. After the awards banquet we went to her favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. She got a little emotional and mom snapped a picture of Allison comforting her. 

Much Love,

Moises & Jennifer

Spring Carnival

This weekend was the annual CTK Spring carnival. Allison had not one but two separate performances! On Friday night she performed with her cheer team and littles. It was precious to see how patient she was with her little, who apparently was very shy about performing. Then on Saturday night she had her choir performance. They sang 5 songs including some from the Spring musical. Both performances were great! We ended up staying most of Friday and Saturday because both girls were having such a fun time. 

Much Love, 

Moises & Jennifer