It is three years, almost to the day, since we returned from our family sabbatical and today we embark on another adventure. This one is much shorter and less ambitious, but it is a celebration to mark many milestones. In the last month, Tom and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, Jonah graduated from middle school, and Sierra graduated from high school. When we returned from our sabbatical, I still felt like the mom of two kids.  Now, Sierra is a young woman about to head off to college in two months and Jonah is a teenager who has made me the shortest person in the family. I certainly have a heightened awareness of the passage of time these days.

For this adventure, we will first head to Spain, where Jonah will travel in Madrid and Barcelona with friends from Gateway School, and Tom, Sierra and I will chart our own course through Madrid, Sevilla, the Costa del Sol, and Barcelona. At the end of our Spanish adventure, we will reconnect with Jonah and the four of us will head up to Norway. It is not your conventional European summer vacation, but we all look forward to experiencing the contrasts between these two climates and cultures. And, we are so thankful to be able to share this last hurrah before we return home and begin the adjustment to our new family configuration. I hope to post stories and photos along the way, so check back often!