We last left off starting our journey from Bordeaux down to Barcelona – fingers crossed for minimal hiccups. Let’s just say that I sat in the back with the boys most of the ride holding a plastic sack…

By the time we made it to our hotel, both boys had high temperatures. Not exactly the direction I wanted things to be going. We gave them some medicine and ordered room service and settled in for the night. The next morning we woke up to beautiful views, but with two sick kiddos. Around Noon we decided that we better see if we can get Everett seen by a doctor. We then started our journey to find a hospital. After arriving at the emergency center at the wrong hospital, we were finally pointed in the right direction. We took a taxi to the children’s hospital and were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this hospital was compared to the last. We were hopeful at first, but then realized that it was going to be 200 euros for Everett to be seen. Marcus then spent the next hour trying to reach our health insurance provider back in the States in hopes of providing verification for coverage, but since it was a weekend (and a seven hour time difference), no one was around to help. At that point we had been sitting there for a few hours and the boys were restless. A kind nurse came out and visited with us, and was able to give us some reassurance that she felt Everett was going to be ok.

After hearing from the nurse, we hightailed it out of there and just decided that we would be moving up our departure date from Barcelona. In the meantime, we were just going to try to keep the boys comfortable and not overdo it. That meant a lot of hotel room time…

We did decide to go to our originally planned flamenco dinner at Tablao de Carmen that night, and I will say, it was nice to get out!
We spent our last full day in Barcelona with a slow morning at the hotel, followed by a delicious lunch of pintxos at La Taverna Catalana and ice cream at Haagen-Dazs.   
The boys went back to the room to nap and I was able to get out and explore a bit. Gaudi’s Casa Batlló was right around the corner from our hotel and so were a few of my favorite shops.
That evening we all ventured out to El Nacional before joining the masses for the Three Kings Parade. Akin to what I would imagine the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is like, we were multiple people deep as we lined the street and claustrophobia was the name of the game. After a while, we decided we had seen(ish) enough, and headed back to the hotel.
The next day we headed to the airport to catch our moved up flights, and wouldn’t you know it, as soon as we get settled at the terminal to wait for our boarding call, Everett pukes all over the floor and Marcus carry-on bag. I scramble to get him to the bathroom and Marcus works to clean up the mess, but I have never felt more homesick than at that point. We truly just wanted to get home. Once on board, we settled in and said a prayer for safe (and a non-diverted) flights.
A few hours outside of JFK, Everett had an issue in the bathroom that I was not prepared for. I had some quick thinking and we managed to get him in a pair of Fitz’s underpants and threw Marcus’ athletic shorts on him cinched as tight as they would go. Thank goodness for having to go through customs so that we could get our suitcases back for a hot minute. I grabbed him some fresh pants and we did a quick change right there near the baggage carousel.
We got to the next gate and waiting to board our flight to Chicago. Our flight wasn’t going to get in to O’Hare until after 10 p.m., but Marcus and I had already made the decision that we were going to be driving home upon landing. The photo below depicts exactly how we all felt when we landed back in the midwest. With a 5+ hour drive ahead of us, we loaded up into the car and hit the road.
Just when we thought we were in the clear, about 30 minutes outside of Chicago, Fitz proceeds to wake up for a dead sleep and vomit all over the back seat. At this point, Marcus and I just have to laugh. Everything that could have gone wrong had and did go go wrong. After cleaning him up, we got going again and took turns driving while chewing sunflower seeds and sipping a Mountain Dew slushie. I clocked it, and took the photo below for good measure, as we arrived back home at 4:11 a.m. And with that, the trip had finally come to an end.