the tropps have arrived

It’s Saturday morning and the entire Puzo Family has all successfully landed in Barcelona. The first to depart the states was Xavi, Ian and I

The alarm sounded at 4:30am on Monday morning and as quickly as you can (with 2 children), I scurried out the door with my left hand pushing the stroller and my right hand hauling a carseat. In the dark, we made it out the front gate of the condominium complex and into our taxi.

We met up with the entire team at the airport. Before I knew it, Xavi and Ian’s “aunts” had arrived and one at a time, they were taking Xavi on his favorite past time ride, escalators, helping me feed Ian his formula and getting him to sleep. And finally, they made sure that I had a teammate to help me at all times.

It might have been 20 hours of travel time. But, it was one of the easiest trips to date thanks to the group!



We arrived in Barcelona and were greeted by family (my in-laws). The boy’s grandma and great-aunt picked them up at the airport. I quickly explained to them all the tendencies of each kid. Xavi is a picky eater. His favorite foods are pasta, pizza and fruit. He likes milk before he falls asleep and sometimes wakes up scared at night. Ian drinks only formula and eats rice cereal twice a day. He sleeps on his back but normally rolls to his belly within minutes.

After the quick recap, I helped them into a cab, kissed my boys good-bye and watched them drive away, as Xavi was crying on the other side of the glass window. It was sad, ok very sad. But, I knew that they would have a great time. And, lets face it, my husband, Inako was arriving in just three days and I needed a little rest. It was time to focus on hockey and the games ahead.

The final Puzo to arrive was Inako. He flew from Ohio to Barcelona and successfully landed on Friday morning. After picking up our sons at his Mom’s house, he made his way west to Terrassa. He didn’t quite arrive in time to watch our second game, but he was there to give us all a hug afterwards.

With two games down and the whole family here, we are getting ready to start the official 4-nation tournament. Today is a day off. I am heading into the city to spend the first half of the afternoon with my boys and then back to our hotel to get my legs up and rest for Sunday’s game.

I am off to the train station and looking forward to some wonderful tapas for lunch with my family!

Until next time……

Keli Smith Puzo #13

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