Visitors, Belem and Pena Palace

My parents are here this week. Enroute to pick them up at the airport, I noticed my throat felt a little scratchy. A half hour later, my head started to ache, throat was worse. Perfect timing. I warned them right away that I, and, possibly, my whole family may be getting sick. The only upside to this is that Matt couldn't get time off from work to help me out unless I was, literally, on my death bed. This job makes him about as accessible as he was when he was deployed to Iraq. Therefore, having my parents here when I'm sick and have no hourly care option, is a perk. However, they came to see Portugal. And while they want to see and play with their grandchildren, they probably don't really want to take care of my kids while I lay in bed sick. And, the last time they both came up to visit, when we lived in Alaska, I went into labor less than 24-hours after their arrival. While their sole purpose of that trip was to take care of my girls and I, that is not their sole purpose of this trip.

So, I sucked it up. Dosed up on Zicam (I truly believe it helps), Sudafed and Motrin, and headed out. Matt was home this weekend and watched the girls while I took my parents to see the Tower of Belem (above) and Pena Palace (below).

Have I mentioned that I love my TomTom GPS? I don't drive anywhere without it. The streets here are poorly and inaccurately marked. Have a favorite restaurant, historic site or shopping center you want to recommend? Send me the GPS components and I'll find it. I was born without the life skill/sense of directional awareness. I can't read a map to save my life. Really, I'm pathetic. Someone my husband works with recently told him that GPS navigators are also accurately named, "Marriage Savers." How true! We no longer fight about wrong turns (taking the long way-according to my husband). Here, we can just go for a ride and when "lost," plug in "home" on our GPS and it'll get us there. If you don't have one, get one. Unless you pride yourself on knowing how to read maps and having a great sense of direction, you'll appreciate these handy tools!

So, you can imagine how upset I was when my GPS wouldn't turn on after we got back in the car to head home from Belem ! I knew how to get home that time. But, how the heck would I drive my parents around Portugal without it? I really began to panic. $550 piece of &%$&!! What would Matt say? Who could fix it on a Saturday afternoon? Oh my gosh! What was I going to do?? My throat was killing me, my body ached and I just wanted to get home and lay down. Now, I had other plans. I had to get it fixed.

After many deep breaths, reassurance from my husband and a quick search on the manufacturer's website, I figured out that it only needed to be reset. I handed it over to Matt, who reset it and all is good. TomTom is okay and we can now hit the back roads of Portugal on many TomTom aided adventures (I'm feeling a little better and hoping my girls continue to stay healthy)...