San Sebastian with the bebies: Jenkins Family Abroad

Post date: May 21, 2018 5:4:46 PM

My sister-in-law, Krystal, has had the dream of coming to San Sebastian since college. It’s one of her “bucket-list” travel destinations. She now has a settled life: two kids, 3 ducks, 2 horses, a miniature donkey, a few dogs, and a mortgage. But, she also has my older brother, who wants to give her whatever she wants.

So when she decided she wanted to fulfill her dream of a european vacation, he agreed. They then decided to invite my sister, my mom, her mom and me. A whole Jenkins family european vacation!

At first I was on-board for the whole trip. But then I got a new job, and had to back out of the majority of the long road trip from Barcelona to Burgundy, and simply joined them in San Sebastian for a long weekend.

I got there a day before they did and had a lovely time walking around the old town area cruising bars.

Now, it should be noted that my niece and nephew are the cutest human beings on the planet. I know I’m genetically predisposed to think that, but I think the photographic evidence proves me right. Feel free to challenge me, but I’m pretty sure I’m right on this one.

When they arrived in town, Annie and I immediately went to the playground across the street. It was raining, so she stole my umbrella, which given her height, really did a great job of keeping us both dry.

Her brother, Mars is just starting to get a personality (I don’t think babies younger than 6 months have anything happening behind their beady little eyes). Unlike his sister, he is the most laid back baby ever. He has two emotions: happy and hungry. And as a result he grins whenever I walk in the room.

Moreover, he’s a little chunky. For the record, Annie is 34 lbs at 3 years old. Mars is 27 lbs at 7 months. An old lady in Barcelona apparently came up to him and exclaimed “Hola Gordo!” and the nickname has stuck for the rest of the trip. Yes, we’re fat shaming the baby, but look at those rolls. His rolls have rolls.

Annie and I were both ready to go, and everyone else was sharing mirror space trying to catch up. We got out from underfoot and headed to the bar downstairs. Aunt CJ’s legacy: Annie’s first bar. I’ve never been more proud.

The big event was the first day. We had no touristy plans, so we did what you’re supposed to do in Spain: eat and drink. We went to a bar, had a few tapas and a drink. Then we went to another bar and repeated. We did this from ~4pm to ~Midnight. It was delicious and hilarious. My little sister is awesome, and we mixed and matched our tapas effortlessly.

Krystal’s mom wasn’t able to come because her grandmother fell ill right before the trip. So her highschool friend Bianca joined us instead. Bianca, however, made a rookie mistake. She wasn’t eating tapas, she was just drinking. As a result, Bianca had a slightly different experience from the night. For example, we all walked across this bridge to get to the old town at the beginning of the night. And everyone except Biance walked back across the bridge towards the end of the evening. Bianca has no memory, and swears we only walked across the bridge once…

The next day we were all suffering from various stages of dehydration, so we took it easy. We walked around town for a few hours, found some tapas, and this very ill-fated balloon. When Krystal bought it for Annie I looked at Shorty:

“What are the chances she loses that balloon?”

“100%. There is no way that balloon is making it back to the AirBnB”.

Look at my Gordo, happy with his people. Also: new Aunting level unlocked: Pro. Not a drop of wine was spilled with the baby in my lap. Pro.

The final great part about the trip, was that for the first time in memory (seriously, it has to have been 15+ years), we were all together with my mom for Mother’s Day. She got to be surrounded by her children and grandchildren. Which was enough of a treat for her. But we also bought her black licorice candy, for a real present.

I would like to go back to San Sebastian with one of my foodie friends. It apparently has the most michelin starred restaurants of any city in the world. But for this trip we ate well, drank well, and enjoyed the beautiful beach.