Giro Adventures, Day Four

I was very glad that we spent the night in Valloire on Monday evening.

The road up the mountain was closed off very early, so this would have made for an early morning had we stayed down the hill.

The kids did not wake until 7am and then we began to get organized and packed up, as we were driving home after the start of Stage 16.

We managed to get everything and everyone back in the car and we found a parking spot close to the start.

It was incredibly cold, so this was a good thing.

We had to wait a little over an hour for the guys, so we walked around and I treated Eston to a yummy waffle with honey.

He was very interested in the motorcycles...

 The staff on Rory's team gave Eston a sticker for his bike.

Eston is incredibly proud of it and points it out to anyone and everyone!

 It wouldn't be the Giro d'Italia without some flashy Italian dancers.

Eston sat and watched for quite some time, hah!

 Riding his bike past the beautiful chapel in Valloire...

 This dog was in the pink Giro spirit!

Eston loves dogs and made quick friends with this guy.

He was waiting for his owner, who was getting her hair done in the salon.

Eston sat with him for ages and it was adorable.

 There were vendors all over the place selling pink Giro souvenirs.

I promised Eston that he could choose something on the last day.

He wanted this pink stuffed animal, but then he saw this dog backpack in a shop window.

I told him it was not a "Giro" souvenir, but just a nice souvenir from our trip.

He insisted it was what he wanted, so I gave him the money and he went in and purchased the dog.

He has not let the dog out of his sight and it is pretty cute...

 Daddy arrives at the start line!

Eston wanted to ride with him to sign-in, but a lot of photographers were trying to get a photo of it and Eston was not having it.

He wanted all the photographers to go away, though that is easier said than done.

 Koen's team was kind enough to give us an extra room they had at the hotel.

Eston managed to leave Johnny Monkey at the hotel (I had no idea).

We got a message from the team director saying he had something important of Eston's in the team car.

That monkey has been everywhere and now he has been for a ride in a ProTour team car as well!

Anyway, Johnny Monkey arrived at the start line in style and Eston was so excited to see him.

Special thanks to the director who had far more important things to do that morning, but made sure to bring Eston his Johnny Monkey.

 The start line area was tiny, so the buses were not brought in before the start.

This was great for Eston because he was able to follow Rory around non-stop for 30 minutes.

 All of the team cars are ready to drive 238km to the finish line...

We watched the start, waved goodbye to the team cars and buses, loaded ourselves back in the car, and began our drive back to Spain.

The kids did great, though Eston was a bit antsy the last hour and I had to break out the DVD player and jelly beans.

I owe a huge thanks to Kaitlin for all of her help...there is no way I could have done this trip alone!

We had a lot of good laughs along the way and I am sure she will wait a few more years before she and  Koen have children, hah!

I am glad we went because not seeing Rory for 28 days would have been a bit rough for our family.

Giro Adventure, Day Three. Rest Day

Day three of our trip was Rory's rest day!

We were fortunate enough to get an extra room in one of the hotels in Valloire (thank you to Koen and his team), so we had breakfast and then packed up a bit.

We had yummy fresh croissants for breakfast and Eston played outside in the sun while I fed Aurelia.

Kaitlin offered to watch the kids so I could go to the grocery store, so I took her up on that kind offer.

It was odd to be in a large grocery store and I could barely make a decision, but I enjoyed a few minutes of child-free time!

We then loaded the car and began the drive up to Valloire.

In front of our cabin...gorgeous view!

 Heading up to Valloire!

 A rest day for Rory is not really a rest day at all.

He wakes up, eats breakfast and then goes for a training ride.

We met him back at the hotel at 2pm and got to enjoy a delicious lunch with the team made by Chef Hannah.

We then relaxed in Rory's room for a bit.

 Rest days are tricky because Rory needs to do just that...rest.

Kind of hard to do with two kids around!

Eston and Rory decided to watch a movie, so I took Aurelia out for a walk.

There was nowhere to really walk, so I grabbed my camera and headed up towards the Galibier.

 The support staff do not get a rest day.

They are hard at work all day...cleaning bikes, cars, buses, making food, etc.

I took a few photos of the traveling circus...

 The truck below is the kitchen truck.

We had a little tour and it is pretty spectacular!

Hannah was kind enough to use her awesome commercial grade ice cream maker to whip up some fresh strawberry ice cream for Eston.

 Traveling circus...bus, kitchen truck, mechanics truck, six cars, one van.

 Rory received the schedule for the following day:

 They switch towns and hotels each night, so it takes a lot of organization to make everything run smoothly!

After lunch Rory had a massage, so I took the kids back to our hotel (where many other teams were staying).

Eston got a tour of Koen's team bus and their staff gave him a treat as well.

No wonder Eston likes bike races!

We relaxed at our hotel for the afternoon and then headed back up the road to Rory's hotel for dinner.

Poor Kaitlin had dinner with the teams staying at our hotel and I guess the food was barely edible that evening.

It was okay for her, but a lot of the riders were lacking the proper amount and nutrients needed for the next day...238km will not feel good if you have not fueled properly.

I was thankful to have another wonderful meal cooked by Chef Hannah, but I felt bad for Kaitlin!

The kids were exhausted after dinner, so we said adios to Rory and went back to our hotel for some sleep.

Our Trip to the Giro, Day Two

The kids woke up on Sunday morning and they were ready to go!

I had them watch a bit of Finding Nemo so I could get everything packed up and ready.

Aurelia was quite content to sit with her brother...

 We left Bardonecchia and made the 20 minute drive to the start of stage 15 in Cesana Torinese, Italy.

The drive was gorgeous, but it was very cold and windy when we arrived.

 I had the kids in every article of clothing possible because of the cold and wind.

We left Bardonecchia early to avoid road closures, so we had nearly 2 hours of waiting (outside).

Eston was ready to see his dad and was not amused...

 The small alpine village did have a lovely little parade!

 We had a snack in a local cafe and then walked around a bit more to stay as warm as possible...

 The bus finally arrived and Eston wasted no time climbing in to see Rory.

I kept Aurelia snuggled outside!

Eston was thrilled to see Rory and he rode next to him as Rory got things organized on his bike.

There were photographers everywhere (it was cute) and this did not please Eston at all.

Finally Rory had to leave for the start and Eston was sobbing for him, which was really difficult.

 We calmed Eston down and watched the start before racing back to the car.

By this time Eston was tired, so he decided to shut his eyes and take a cat nap in the car.

Good plan.

We drove about an hour to our next hotel in Saint Michel de Maurienne, France.

We had hoped to reach the town before the road to Valloire was closed, but no such luck.

We parked in town and decided to have a crepe and wait for the race to pass.

It was a really cute little town and we waited for two hours for the race to pass so we could drive a few minutes down the road to our hotel.

Eston enjoyed his crepe and then we found a spot to wait for the race...

Eston made up a lot of fun games in the hour and a half that we sat on the side of the road.

Waiting, waiting, waiting!

I am so thankful that he has such a great imagination and can amuse himself for hours.

The race finally passed and the riders made their way towards the finish in Valloire.

The original finish on the Galibier was scrapped due to snow.

We avoided the finish and went to the hotel.

We had rented a little cabin in St. Michel and though it was a little rustic, Eston loved the little playground out front.

He played all evening!

Our cabin did have lovely views of the mountains and it was 2 bedrooms, so it was perfect for us.

Kaitlin ran into town to get pizzas while I bathed the kids.

We all had a nice dinner together and I was fast asleep by 8pm.

We did not wake up until 8am the next day, so I guess all of us were exhausted!

Our Adventures at the Giro -Day One

We are back from our journey to Italy and France.

I survived my first trip with both kids, but I owe a huge thanks to Kaitlin for all of her help!

We had such a fun trip and saw a bit of bike racing between adventures.

I was up late Friday night getting us ready to go.

Eston was up early Saturday morning because he knew we were leaving.

He helped me carry everything downstairs and then he waited at our door for Kaitlin's car.

He was soooo excited and kept telling Aurelia, "We are going to see Daddy today!"

 It took us a few minutes, but we finally fit both car seats, all of our luggage, snacks for the ride, Aurelia's travel crib...even Eston's bike!

We were definitely filled to the brim, to say the least.

 We were on the road by 7:30am for our 6-ish hour drive to Bardonecchia, Italy.

I was thrilled to finally get out of Spain!

This is the longest I have ever gone without traveling, so it was great to be out of Girona.

 The kids did amazingly well in the car.

I brought the DVD player with us, but we never used it on the drive to Italy.

Eston read, told us stories, daydreamed, looked out the window, and just amused himself.

Aurelia slept, ate, stared at Eston as he made up stories, and only cried when she needed a diaper change.

What great travelers I have!

 The weather was horrible.

It was difficult to see in some places, so we had to take it slow and safe.

It basically rained for 5 hours straight.

Yuck.

The drive was quite beautiful when you could actually see the scenery.

 I snapped this photo as we drove through Grenoble, France.

 The sun came out briefly as we neared the Italian border.

We had about 30 minutes left in our drive and I made the mistake of commenting on how smoothly everything had been going.

Bad mistake.

Within minutes Eston was puking.

Kaitlin pulled the car over and we were near some sort of power plant that has heavy security, which we did not realize.

Within seconds the French police were behind us.

Whoops.

They took one look at me standing next to a puking Eston and went on their way (they did give me sort of a smile/pitiful look).

He changed his clothes and we cleaned everything up and all was fine.

Within a few minutes we were at the Italian border and apparently the police had told them about our situation, as we were waved through while other cars were stopped.

We got another glance of sympathy on our way through, but I was just pleased to not have to stop.

Always nice when people are understanding of certain situations!

 We reached the small alpine village of Bardonecchia and had hoped to drive straight to the hotel before the race finish.

Unfortunately, the Italian police shut the road down earlier than stated in the race book and we were stuck on the outskirts of town in the freezing cold and rain.

Not good.

We tried talking our way in, but they were not having it.

Eventually we decided to walk the short distance into town.

Eston got on his bike with his winter jacket and backpack.

Aurelia was in the baby carrier and I dragged our suitcase.

And Kaitlin was carrying everything else, poor thing.

We made it to our hotel and put on as many layers as possible, as it was freezing.

We then ran out the door and down the street to watch the race go by.

Thankfully the race course was about 50 meters from our hotel, so it was not far.

The guys had been racing in the rain for the better part of six hours, so nobody looked happy.

We did see Rory and yelled his name as he went past.

Eston was thrilled to spot his dad!

We watched the rest of the race from the comfort of the hotel.

The race finished up the hill that leads to the ski area in Bardonecchia and it was snowing when the riders reached the top, so I was glad we decided against going to the finish!

We all took warm showers and relaxed in our room, which was a small 1-bedroom vacation rental.

We then walked down the street to the hotel where Rory and Koen (Kaitlin's boyfriend) were staying.

Teams are usually spread out at many different hotels (lots of people!) but thankfully the guys were at the same hotel on Saturday night.

Rory was exhausted, but we got to spend a few minutes with him before he had to go have his massage and dinner.

His team has a chef that travels with them and makes all of their (amazing) meals!

The other teams eat at the hotel restaurant in a space designated for each team.

The food is okay, but obviously not as fantastic as what Rory gets to eat.

We were going to have dinner in town, but it was getting late and Eston was tired and starving.

Koen managed to get us a couple of spots at his team table for dinner before the riders arrived, thank goodness!  Eston ate two bowls of risotto and then we walked back to the hotel.

Kaitlin went to get the car and parked it at the hotel and we all fell asleep quite quickly!

Quite happy to be reunited, even if it was for about 10 minutes!

Temps de Flors

Temps de Flors is a very popular festival here in Girona.

Basically it is different types of art forms using flowers or objects that mimic flowers.

Everything is done in an abstract way, making it much more fun!

Girona is an absolute tourist disaster due to this festival.

Our neighborhood is stuffed with people and it takes twice as long to get anywhere.

Nicole and I have been doing the rounds early in the morning (well, early for the Catalans).

We drop Eston at school and then walk around town to see the displays.

This is the display on our block...

Dyed cauliflower...

At the Cathedral...

Lumps of clay...

This one is Eston's favorite...the spider web...

We always check out a few displays on our walk home from school.

Eston is very respectful and observes everything very carefully.

I love it.

Here he is yesterday: