Kings In Spain

Hasta Luego Sitges!

2009-03-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos!!!!!

We hope you are doing well!! We really miss everyone in Sitges and Barcelona. We're sending lots of hugs and kisses your way. I was hoping to post pictures of our hasta luego fiesta before leaving Sitges, but...here we are. We've now been back in the US 10 days and it's been a bit loco, to say the least! So anyway, for those of you who would like to see a few pictures from the past week: here is Caroline on her first day of pre-school, which was St. Patrick's day. She was thrilled to get a bag of sweeties! She told me tonight that she loves school, and her teacher said she is doing great!
When Luke came home from school we decided to go for a walk because it was the first day that it was sunny and warm! Luke is also doing SO WELL in school. He jumped right in and made friends, has a nice teacher, rides the bus, and really likes all of his classes. We really miss having him around during the day, but he seems to really enjoy school!
We were walking to a neighboring farm to see their pregnant sheep and some cows, and I got such a kick out of hearing Luke and Caroline talk about their days at school.
Okay, now back up a few weeks to our last week in Spain. Our pastor Dan and his wife Kathy from our church in BCN stopped by one day to bring Caroline home from a play date and take some filled suitcases for us!!! Their daughter lives about an hour from us in PA, and they were flying into Philadelphia the SAME day we were! How incredible. So they took 3 suitcases for us!
They're really great people...maybe a little goofy. :)
Taking pictures during dinner one night.
Other side of the table. I think Luke had already cleared his plate and gone to play.
When she wants her picture taken, we take it. :) Doesn't happen very often!
Luke went through a phase where he really didn't want to play in his futbol games, but the last few weeks we were there he really wanted to play, so we made sure that happened! His last game was the morning of our hasta luego fiesta.
After his game we went to the Palau del Rei Moro in old town Sitges to set up for the party. Miss Annette helped us to find this AMAZING place to have the fiesta!

Jackson LOVED the strawberries and cream.
People visiting in the outdoor courtyard.
This is the place where the castellers practice (the people towers). This net had a whole in the middle where the people climb up through to practice the towers.
Me, Ellen & Annette. Annette put us in contact with Ellen, Arthur & their boys when we first arrived, and they ended up being great friends of ours.
My American running friends - Ellen, Kim, and Suzanne, with Caroline and Kirsten peeking through.
Uncle Yves and Kim's husband Alvaro.
Jacqueline, Jim, Arthur, Daron & Nicole - their sons Dylan, Sean, Nathan, and Nil were all friends of Luke. They are from England, Australia and Germany - we just loved meeting people from all over the world.
Me, Lisaneas, Patricia and Brian - our wonderful small group leaders from Brazil.
Josep, Teresa, Miquel, Brian, Jackson and me - our special friends from Barcelona who taught us SO much about Catalonia and all of its history and festivals.
Miss Annette and her sweet little friend from Barcelona.
Annette made one of her amazing chocolate cakes complete with fireworks!!
Arthur & Ellen, great friends who were so easy to connect with. Their son Sean and Luke decided to have a sleep-over later this night, our last night in Sitges!!
Luke's friends Dylan and Nathan.
Pilar and Miquel - eating something good!
The kids had fun playing in all of the nets outside.
Me, Yves, and my Tarheel friend Sarah.
Around 5.30pm the castellers came to practice, and some of us stayed to watch - it was really interesting!
Some of the kids who climb up on the very top are really small. I didn't realize how much practice actually went into this.

Annette had also made cupcakes for the kids, which Luke was VERY excited about.

Jackson said "I wike these!!"

Miss Annette and Caroline.

So we will always remember!

Sunday morning we went to church in BCN to say hasta luego to more friends there. Miss Anca was the kids' teacher that morning.

We went out for lunch with Anca and Bogdan, our Romanian friends. Luke and Bogdan were playing futbol at the table. :) Every Sunday during the greeting time, Luke would say "Mom, I'm going to go find the futbol player!" He and Bogdan would talk about whether their teams won that week.

Caroline had fun hanging out with Anca.

Crazy pirates!

Sweet Jackson.

We had such a fun time, it was hard to say "hasta luego"! We then went back to Sitges to meet with our landlords, pack up the car, say a sad hasta luego to our neighbors, and head to Madrid for the night. Our flight was 11.30am out of Madrid on Monday the 9th.

We finally made it to Madrid around 2.30am! After a couple hours of sleep and a few issues at the airport, the kids and I finally got on the flight to Philadelphia. Brian wasn't able to get on our flight, but was able to get on a flight into NY 2 hours later, and we were all together in PA later that night.

Caroline reading the safety instructions. :)

Luke was happy to be going back to Pennsylvania to see his cousins...

but sad to leave his friends in Spain. :(

Amazing views of mountains as the plane left Madrid.

And more snow-capped mountains.

Now that we've been back in our house dealing with mice and their deposits, along with other difficult things in the house and yard, life in Sitges seems like it was a dream!!! We feel so blessed to have made so many amazing friends in the time we were there, and we really can't wait to come back and visit you all.

God bless you all!!

Con mucho amor,

Tonya

Last Visitors, Birthday Party & Carnival

2009-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

Hola!!

We had a great time with our last visitors, my crazy aunt and uncle Toots & Dale. :) Here is my favorite group shot from their time here.
They returned from Italy late on February 18th, so on the 19th we had a relaxing day. We got ready for futbol at 5pm and went to the field, but there was no futbol that night! We don't always know what's going on. :) So we drove them up to the look-out point where the kids and I started our hike the other weekend to show them the views. It was a beautiful clear day.

View of Sitges at dusk.

Grown-ups and big boy Jackson.

Nice shot of Toots and Dale.

Family photo.

Brian saw where someone carved Caroline 2008 into the wall!

Since there was no futbol, we went home and made our paella and sangria dinner. After dinner we went into town to meet up with our friends Gina & Kathryn, and happened to be at Cap de la Vila when the parade announcing the arrival of the king of queen of carnival went by.

Jackson on Gina's shoulders. Gina also flies for Atlas with Brian, and lives here in Sitges.

Kathryn & Toots.

Dale got some pictures up close.

Queen's float.

Late night ice cream before heading home.

Friday morning we took them to the tour of Codorniu.

Painting from before the Frenchies made them change the name from champagne to cava.

Same tour guide we've had probably 10 times! He tells the same jokes every time. :)

Cutie-pie Jackson. He couldn't wait for the train ride.

Looking down a corridor of aging bottles.

The train ride through the "caves".

Sr. Codorniu's first grape vine covered in copper.

The next day was Caroline's 5th birthday party at the beach!! We had it at the same place as last year, and had another gorgeous day. What a lucky girl.

Two friends Molly & Mya.

Emily, Ruby & Caroline.

Sweet Caroline!

And her pirate brother Jackson. :)

Luke & Jack with their friends Gabriel & Sean. We'll miss their family a lot.

Birthday girl - she said it was the best birthday ever.

Teresa and Miquel sharing a piece of pizza.

Easy entertainment for a birthday party!

We had a treasure hunt for the kids, where they each had a treasure map and had to find their hidden treasure. Here Gabriel is finding his inside the wall. :)

Hunting more treasures.

Caroline's turn! The older kids helped the younger kids read the directions, it was very cute.

Caroline and Mya.

The Dads had to get involved because we couldn't find two of the treasures that we buried!

Miss Annette made an amazing pink cake just for Caroline - she loved it!!!

Yum, yum. It didn't take long until it was completely gone!

Caroline opening her pirate costume, how fun.

She received so many sweet and generous gifts.

Pinata time!! Dad didn't have time for a princess creation, so her art project from a few months ago had to do. :) He painted a princess on the other side which was beautiful.

Sweet picture of Emily and Caroline.

Toots, Dale, Yves and Brian.

Maresa trying to get some candy out of Jackson.

Hmmm...he's thinking about it!

Mya and Caroline reading a book while we were cleaning up.

Jackson playing dead in the sand. :)

Now Luke is reading to the girls.

Saturday night our sitter Gabriela came, and we went out for dinner at the port with Toots and Dale. We had a great time!

We ate at Laury's, which was recommended by Yves. The food was wonderful.

Sunday morning I realized I had my camera in my purse so I took some pictures at church. :) Here is the choir.

Moses leading a great song by Kirk Franklin.

Our favorite band member Bogdan, from Romania. He and his wife Anca always make a point to say hello to the kids, they're very sweet!

Bogdan with the crew.

Jackson teaching him how to make a good pirate face. :)

After church we went up to the castle/fort on Montjuic. Here crazy Dale is trying to keep the kids out of a watch tower. There is a funny video of this below.

The soldiers and the watchtower.

View of the city from the top of the castle. You can see La Sagrada Familia in the distance.

It was a bit windy up there!

Picnic lunch enjoying the sunshine!

We then hopped in the car and drove up to our favorite castle in La Bisbal, just off the Costa Brava. We had made reservations for Toots and Dale to stay there, so we hung out for a while and then went to find a hotel that was a bit more kid-friendly. :)

Jackson playing with Tootsie.

We climbed the tower at the castle and Caroline wanted to take a picture of her puppy up there.

Group photo on the top of the castle!

Brian had a liking for the stuffed antelope (actually, I don't really know what it was), and the kids thought this was hilarious.

Jackson was completely enamored with the soldiers in the display of the Battle of Waterloo. He kept asking which ones were the good guys, and which ones were the bad guys.

Toots and Dale in front of the castle.

We saw a gorgeous sunset from their terrace.

That's my boy, drinking his coffee!! We had a nice breakfast at our hotel in the morning.

View from the breakfast room.

This is actually Hotel Llafranc, which we had found and stayed in with the twins when they visited a year ago! It was fun to go back there.

We then drove back to Sitges, and Caroline had fun checking out all of her new birthday gifts. So cute!

Going to Spanish class later that day, now we have two pirate girls! Caroline wasn't really in the mood anymore. :)

While they were at Spanish class, Dale was chased around town by a lion. Toots and Dale stayed home with the kids that night so we could go to small group. The next morning they left for the US. They were able to take two checked bags and our two Sitges paintings for us, which was such a blessing. While they were at our house Brian and Dale got a lot of the painting done, and Toots was always cleaning up after us. Thank you guys SO much for what a huge help you were. We had a blast with you!

Later that day was the kids Carnival parade, so we took the crocodile, lion, and two pirate girls in town.

The kids had fun checking out all of the costumes.

Even Darth Vader was in the parade!

Jackson was more interested in fighting.

Caroline was busy throwing confetti.

Scary lion.

Cool pirate ship float.

Caroline loved all of the pretty costumes.

The parade is over, and the street is covered.

Brian's first carnival parade - he was thrilled. Ha ha.

Luke had missed a few weeks of futbol due to the flu and Caroline's birthday, and the time we went and there was no futbol - so he was really excited to play again!

Jackson was happy to be at futol again too. :)

Luke's team won, and they stood and clapped as the fans cheered for them. It was very cute.

I love how the boys help to clear the field after the game.

Yeah Luke! We are sooo proud of him. :)

I can't even believe it's our last week in Spain. We will really miss all of the wonderful friends we have made here. We are in the process of selling things, giving things away, and packing up. Our pastor and his wife are actually flying into PHL the SAME DAY we are to visit their daughter in Pottstown, and so they brought 3 suitcases over today for us to fill. What a blessing. Things are coming together! We just found out tonight that Annette was able to get us into the Palau del Rei Moro in Sitges for our Hasta Luego Fiesta this Saturday, so that will be a very special time I'm sure. Brian arrived today, so we're looking forward to doing a few more of our favorite things in Sitges this week. Have a great week!

Con mucho amor,

Tonya

Birthday, Hike & Basketball

2009-02-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

Hola todos!!

Hope you all had a nice weekend! We had a gorgeous day on Saturday, so the kids and I took a hike. Here is a view of our town of Sitges from the trail. More on that later, I just had to start the blog with this photo. :)
Feliz Cumpleanos Caroline!! Caroline turned 5 on Thursday, February 12th. Brian wasn't home, but my aunt and uncle Toots & Dale arrived that morning, and we had Mya and her parents over to have a little party with Caroline's choice: donuts instead of cake!
Caroline opening ladybug tea set from Pop-pop and Grammy.
Great new clothes from Auntie Nellie and Uncle Josh.
A mermaid doll from Luke and Jackson.
And a jacket and make-over set from Auntie Tootsie and Uncle Dale! What fun gifts!!
Saying thank-you to Auntie Tootsie.
Saying thank-you to neighbor Maresa.
Having fun with the make-over gift from Auntie Tootsie, a nail/tattoo/sticker set!
Then on Saturday, the kids and I set off on a hike from the top of the neighborhood Llevantina to the Ermita de la Trinitat, a beautiful setting on the edge of the mountain where I had been to a birthday party.
View of the port from the trail.
View of Sitges from the hike - just beautiful.
Jackson did not want any help, since he's big and huge you know. :)
First lunch stop - Luke enjoying his sandwich along the trail.

Caroline with her favorite - jello.

Hiker Jackson eating his jelly sandwich, yep - just jelly.

Luke did a great job being the leader of the hike, and they all had fun looking for the red and white paint to make sure we were on the right path.

Second lunch stop.

Loved this sign in the middle of nowhere!

On the path to the Ermita. We thought it just HAD to be right over the hill. :)

We found it!!

At the very end of the path, right along the edge with views of the sea all around, was this great gazebo.

Lunch stop number 3. Finishing off the gummy bears!

Smiling Luke.

And smiling Caroline! I asked her why she didn't smile like that for her birthday pictures, and she said she didn't know she was supposed to. :)

Jackson running around the gazebo in circles.

Caroline taking a siesta and preparing for the return hike. I love this picture.

Group shot thanks to the self-timer.

Great places to explore and play at the Ermita.

Kids outside the Ermita.

Funny face picture.

Gorgeous day, pretty flowers.

Luke peeking through the stone hand-rail.

Caroline's turn.

Last but not least - Jackson with rabbit ears.

Beautiful spot with breath-taking views.

Caroline by the wall of seashells - still all smiles!

The walk home started off as a parade, which helped to distract them from the journey ahead.

Made it to the Sitges sign and stopped for a snack.

We found Sitges again!!

This is my favorite, they were saying "We made it!!" I was SO proud of them! They actually said the return trip wasn't so bad and went by really fast. :)

Incredible views of Sitges.

Then today, Brian arrived at the Girona airport at 8.30 in the morning, took a bus to BCN, and met us at church! The kids didn't know he was getting home today - so it was a great surprise. I then surprised all of them with tickets to the Barca basketball game. We went with Josep & Joan, and had a great time!

The player in blue & red near the middle of the picture is Daniel Santiago, who we had actually met at our church a few weeks ago. When he's in the off-season they have a place in Sarasota, small world!

There are also two videos posted below, one of Jackson showing his different pirate faces, and one of the kids at the Ermita on Saturday.

Toots and Dale left on Friday morning for Italy until Wednesday. When they return we will spend a few days around here, have Caroline's birthday party on the beach in town, and then take a short trip to the Costa Brava. We're looking forward to a fun time with them.

Take care and God bless you all -

Tonya

Time with Dad!

2009-02-04T13:00:00.001-08:00

Hola!! It was so nice to have Brian home for a stretch, but it was much too short. Yesterday we had a really lovely day and the kids couldn't wait to show him the new castle by the sea that we found, so off we went. In case you think the scarves look a bit strange on a day of sun in the upper 50s...

this is how they looked for the past week - with the flu (luckily not the stomach kind). From the day Brian got home until yesterday, they were all fighting the flu and it was raining. This combination provides no real opportunity for taking any sort of decent photos. :)

He managed to get them off of the sofa long enough to try on their carnival costumes that he picked up at the Chinese market in Dubai.

On Sunday we had plans to meet up with Josep, Teresa, their boys, Teresa's brother and mother for a birthday lunch at a restaurant in Casteldefells called El Avion. We've been trying to schedule this for about 6 months, so we went thinking we have to eat anyway, right? :)

Miquel seemed to be the only one who was feeling okay!

Although they were troopers, they clearly weren't feeling well. And neither was Joan.

Carlos blowing out his birthday candles. We had a really nice lunch together, and then each headed home with our sick kids in the rain. :)

The sun is back! By yesterday it really seemed like the kids needed some sun and fresh air, and the afternoon out did us all good. We arrived at the castle and started on a hike along the coast, here's a little fort where we stopped for a snack.

Luke took some photos so that we actually have some of us together!

Now I know where the looney comes from. :)

Brian along the edge of the cliff.

View along the trail.

Cool rock formation in the sea.

Los ninos y yo.

Closer up, looks like Luke is about to sneeze - nasty!

Brian by the sea.

We hiked to a point where there was a small cove with lots of fun places to play.

Caroline in the sun.

Dad & kids.

Caroline had fun climbing all around.

Crashing waves.

Jackson found a little "pond" and was fishing with his stick. :)

Brian trying not to think about going back to work.

The trail looped back around toward the castle, and it went past this watch-tower with a fence around it and nice blue gate. It really looked like someone lived in there!

Back at the castle. By this point they had had enough and it was time to head home.

On the way out, a cool little archway of stones.

And a view through one of the outer gates.

This morning the kids and I drove Brian up to catch a flight out of Girona, which was a first. He usually flies out of BCN or Reus, which are much closer. But the views of the mountains were just beautiful on the drive. Here is a shot on the way home where you can see the snow off in the distance. Skiing is actually quite popular here, and there are many resorts on beautiful mountains within 2-3 hrs from where we live.

Next week is Caroline's 5th birthday, and my aunt and uncle Toots and Dale Smucker are coming for a visit! They're going to Italy for 6 days and will be here for 6 days. It will be fun to go around with them and do many of our favorite things for the "last" time. :( I can hardly believe our time is coming to an end in a few short weeks. It has been such an amazing experience that is almost hard to put into words, but I'd say it was life-changing for sure. More on that later, I'm trying not to think about leaving. :)

Hugs and kisses to you all!
Tonya

Castillo de Tamarit

2009-01-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

Hola!!

Now that the holidays are over and Brian is away, we have been getting back into the routine of things. After a good week of home-school, Spanish class, gymnastics, and futbol, we decided to go castle hunting last Saturday. We had heard about a great castle about 40 minutes from our house, so we decided to pack a lunch and go find it. It was a gorgeous day, and we had SO much fun exploring. I skimmed over the directions on the computer before we left, figuring I knew the general direction and that surely there would be a sign. HA HA! Not so, but luckily we drove back a little side road through a campground and found this gorgeous spot!
This is Castillo de Tamarit, between Altafulla and Tarragona along the Mediterranean. And here is Flat Stacy posing with the kids - she has rabbit ears thanks to Luke. I think Jackson has already shifted into knight mode, which happens when we visit castles. :)
The castle wasn't actually open for tours, but it can be reserved for weddings and big events. There were some really nice trails, so we went on a little hike.

View of an interesting rock island that you could walk out onto from the beach by the castle.

Three nice kids on the island.

Three looney kids on the island. :)

While we were having lunch on the island we saw 2 people on horseback riding along the sea.

Horse and riders up close.

And off they go. So beautiful!

View of the castle by the sea from the island.

Three nice kids eating dessert.

Three looney kids eating dessert.

We then realized that you could see the Altafulla castle in the background, so I tried to get a picture of both of them.

Back toward the parking area there were lots of fun little caves and archways to walk through, stuff kids love.

We then walked around to the beach on the other side of the castle (where the horses were), and found some fun places to climb and play.

Jackson went to peak in the little "house", and he said it was a "trashy house" - I guess there was glass and litter in there.

Picture of the bell tower from the beach.

Another view from the other side.

There's nothing like a wide open beach that will make the shoes and socks come off, and the kids run wild.

Oh yeah, Flat Stacy! Caroline thought she might like to play in the sand.

Woohoo! I'm making a sand angel!

Caroline liked being in charge of her.

I love pictures of the three of them playing by the sea.

Caroline practiced writing her name.

More playing.

Luke drew our family, complete with rocks for eyes and noses.

As you can see, they were completely covered in sand from head to toe by the time we left! This spot was such a fun and surprising find. We all said we definitely want to go back, and it ranks up there as one of our favorite sea-side spots.

I posted two movies below - one from when we were having lunch on the island, and one of the kids playing in the sand.

Hope you are having a great week - Happy 40th Birthday this week to my old sister Tina!! :) Love to you all,

Tonya

Parade, Dia de Reyes, and Sitges Half-Marathon

2009-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hola!! While the rest of you went back to work last week, Spain was still celebrating. :) On Tuesday night there was a really nice parade in town to show the arrival of the Three Kings. They were all on camel-back, and the parade also included some horses, and floats of Disney characters. As we were walking in to meet with friends before the parade started, we passed by where they were trying to get the camels up and cooperating. Ha ha!

Luke with friends Adam and Sean posing nicely.

Luke with friends Adam, Sean, and Nil in the background, posing not-so-nicely! Ha ha.

And the parade finally started. Not sure what they're doing here, but Caroline liked this picture.

Drummers.

One of the royal post-ladies who was collecting letters for the Three Kings - same idea as letters to Santa I think.

Caroline loved this princess.

Donald, Minnie, & Mickey.

The next day - which was a holiday to celebrate the Three Kings Day - we were invited by our friends Josep & Teresa to celebrate with their families at their house. Here is Miquel playing with a toy we got for him at Montserrat.

Josep made a great treasure hunt for the kids to find their gifts! They loved it! Caroline's gift was outside on a terrace by his bike, and was a pink Barbie suitcase!! Inside the suitcase was a jewelry-making kit, which is right up her alley!

Luke found his shooting Spiderman gift behind the coffee maker - and we were all getting shot at the rest of the day.

After patiently waiting for his turn, Jackson found his gift in the dishwasher!

His was a Playmobile pirate ship, complete with pirates, treasure, palm trees, and sea animals. Could not have been more perfect for him! We hardly saw him the rest of the day. :)

Josep's mother Montse and his son Joan.

The first course of dinner was small bites of olives, dates wrapped in bacon, chips, and tortilla de patata. The second course was Catalan cannelonis - YUM. The third course was fruit. The fourth course was cake. The fifth course was coffee. What a great way to spend the afternoon!

They have a special cake that they only serve on this day, and it comes with a crown which Caroline thought I should wear. Inside the cake are hidden 2 things: a bean and a small king. Whoever gets the piece of cake with the bean inside has to pay for the cake, and whoever gets the piece of cake with the king inside gets to keep the crown.

The cake is served - and look inside Caroline's piece! It was the king.

Josep with baby Miquel.

Caroline was soon busy making jewelry. She made necklaces for Teresa, Teresa's mother, Josep's mother, herself, and me.

Also during dessert there was a plate of coal for all of the kids who had been bad. :) It was basically solid sugar - ha.

Josep & Teresa's mothers wearing their necklaces from Caroline.

Caroline posing with her crown and the king that had been in her piece of cake. Teresa had the bean in her piece. :)

What a fun day!!

Then this past Sunday I ran in the 26th annual Sitges half-marathon! It was a great experience. I ran it with my friend Kim and our friend Suzanne's husband, which made it much more enjoyable. Brian and the kids did a great job getting to spots where they could cheer us on, I think we saw them 5 times! For those of you who have been here, the route consisted of 3 different loops, each one with a leg on the paseo which was beautiful. The longest loop included a leg which went over toward the next town of Villanova. There were 2500 participants! My goal was to run it in 2 hrs, and we did it in 1hr and 55min. We've already made plans to come back and do it again next year. :)
Just a few other shots from around home last week. I went out one day for something and came back to find this scene on the sofa. I think Jackson came over to tell Brian something, and the next thing Brian knew he was fast asleep. :)

One of our neighbors in Landisville sent over a school project - Flat Stacy! She came to visit Spain! So far she's only been playing with the kids Christmas gifts, but we're planning to get her in town soon. Here she is visiting Caroline's castle.

Visiting the nativity scene.

Visiting Jackson's castle.

And she even was allowed onto the aircraft carrier!

Our other big news is that Tarheel went back to the US yesterday! It all came together somewhat quickly, and we didn't know for sure that they would let her on until the morning of Brian's flight due to the weather in NY and her weight. He had a meeting in Miami, and Atlas allowed him to fly through NY - but they only bought his ticket last Wednesday. So I took her to the vet Thursday and got all of her paperwork together. We scrambled around the house over the weekend looking for all of the parts to her crate, and now all of a sudden she's gone! But she made it fine on the plane and is having a great time at my parents house. :)

We hope the New Year is off to a great start for all of you! Wishing you lots of love -

Tonya

Celebrating with Friends

2009-01-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hola y Feliz Ano Nuevo!!

On December 27th we were invited to the Barcelona home of our Landisville neighbors Henry & Maite for a WONDERFUL Catalan lunch. We had such a fun time visiting with them and celebrating the holidays. Henry was great at entertaining the kids (even played chess with Luke) so that Maite and I could catch up! We really enjoyed our time with them. We left their house and drove straight to the BCN airport to pick Brian up.

The next day we were invited to a Christmas tea at the home of our friend Miss Annette. The kids loved her tree which was covered with little wooden German figures.

Miss Annette with the kids.

Caroline wanted to take a group photo.

Caroline was "reading" the pirate book that Miss Annette gave Luke for Christmas.

That night Tarheel finally showed interest in the pink pig we had gotten her for Christmas - a little too much interest! She went over and dug it out of the toybox, it was hilarious.

Poor pig.

Snout-less pig! The kids got the biggest kick out of it.

Also on the 28th, our friends Chad & Lisa Groff arrived from the US for a birthday, anniversary, New Years celebration! I took them to Sagrada Familia on Monday, and as we were walking around the cathedral I saw these snails on the exterior for the first time. There is always something new to discover on this amazing piece of architecture.

From Sagrada Familia we went to Parc Guell (sorry, don't know where those pictures went!), and then down to Placa Catalunya to see the beautiful lights.

Lights on La Rambla.

Lights on El Corte Ingles.

We walked through the Barri Gotic and were able to go inside the Barcelona Cathedral.

These peaks were on the back of each chair of the choir members.

From the Cathedral we went to Placa Sant Jaume to see the nativity scene there.

We then walked to Calle Petrixtol for Maite's recommended xocolata amb xurros stop! YUM YUM.

I think they liked it. :)

Back out on the street we saw more pretty lights.

The next day (30th) we took a walk into Sitges.

We walked in town and the entire way down the paseo to my favorite spot to have lunch in the sun. :)

Lisa ordered what we thought was a provolone and herb sandwich, which turned out to be a bowl full of provolone cheese with bread to dip in it! She loved it.

Thought my goat cheese salad was worthy of a picture too. :)

After lunch we ran into neighbor Mya on the paseo, who was trying out her new rollerblades that she got for Christmas.

She took the kids for a stroll.

On down the paseo the lights came on and it was very pretty. Luke had fun picking on Chad.

And Chad & Lisa had fun picking on Luke!

Chad & Lisa by the church.

The following day (31st), I took Chad & Lisa into BCN again to show them the Montjuic and Port Vell areas. We first stopped at the National Museum of Art.

And then stopped at the Olympic ring.

On down the hill we hopped on the cable car up to the Montjuic Castle. It was a bit hazy, but I was struck by the view of the city with Sagrada Familia standing tall and a view of snow-capped mountains in the far distance.

The castle moat looked very pretty filled with gardens.

Cool design made by flowers.

Inside the castle we saw this knight helmet that I had to take a picture of for Jackson.

From the very top of the castle you can see an outdoor cafe in the courtyard and a view of the city in the background.

Chad & Lisa looking out over the city.

Chad in the look-out tower watching for bad guys.

From Montjuic we went down to the Port Vell area, and into the El Born district looking for a place for lunch. After Lisa's provolone lunch in Sitges it was really funny that we ended up at a restaurant called "Cheese Me".

From there we walked by the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral, and since it was open we took a peak inside. We then headed back to Sitges to get ready for New Years Eve!

There really wasn't much going on in town (we were told that it's more common for people to have house parties or go to hotel galas), so we made reservations for us, Chad & Lisa, and our neighbors Mark, Maresa & Mya to have dinner at La Nina and then meet up with other friends on the paseo by the church at midnight. Happy New Year!

Our German friends had some fireworks and sparklers that the boys LOVED.

The one tradition that we heard about was that you were supposed to eat one grape with each ring of the bell at midnight. So I had plastic cava glasses with grapes for the grown-ups and plastic cava glasses with sweeties for the kids. The funniest part of this whole night was that our dinner was so late and the service was so poor (although the food was great!) that we were running down the paseo putting our hats on, throwing confetti and passing out our plastic cava glasses right at midnight. So we were late for New Years and didn't even get to do the grape thing. HA HA!!

On New Years Day we all took a trip to Montserrat. We rode the yellow cable car and tried to catch the boys' choir, but found out they were off for Christmas holiday. Here's a view inside the cathedral.

Jackson and I sat in the back of the cathedral while the others took the tour up through the area where the statue of Mary and Jesus is displayed. Here you can kind of see Luke, Lisa, Brian and Caroline.

Kids posing, and Jackson wearing my scarf. :)

View of cathedral entrance and twelve disciples with Jesus.

Group photo outside of the Abbey.

We stopped at the cafe for lunch, and Chad had fun teasing Caroline.

Jackson was happy to chill out for a while.

We then headed up the trail to the big cross. Here's a nice view across the way, with the kids posing with their toys. Caroline got a stuffed duck there that she named "Quackie".

She wanted to take a close-up of her new friend Quackie.

Going on a hike! Jackson pretended to be a toll booth and we had to pay him euros in order to pass.

Along the path is a gate that you actually have to go around.

Luke & Caroline showing the way.

Caroline and Jackson got tired, so I sat with them while the others continued on to the cross. We could see them when they got there.

Here they are waving to us!!

The morning of their flight we did some last minute shopping in town at the Barca store. :) I'm sure their kids were thrilled with their gifts!

While Caroline, Jackson and I were waiting for the rest on the hike at Montserrat, we made up a new 12 days of Christmas song:

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me: a Savior born in a manger (Lisa thought it should be "a monastery on a hill" since that is where this song was created. But Luke fought for his choice, since it WAS Christmas he said. :))

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 2 Jacksons jousting and a Savior born in a manger.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 3 soldiers fighting, 2 Jacksons jousting, and a Savior born in a manger.

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 4 Quackies quacking, 3 soldiers fighting, 2 Jacksons jousting, and a Savior born in a manger.

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: FIVE CHEESE BALLS! etc.

The following refrains involved:

6 Carolines dancing

7 Chads teasing kids

8 Lukes setting off fireworks

9 Daddies flying

10 Moms going to the beach

11 Tarheels howling

12 Trips to the bathroom :)

It was a memorable week!!! We had a great time catching up with Chad & Lisa, and it was nice for Brian and the kids to get to know them better. Happy New Year to all of you and many warm wishes for a memorable 2009!

Con mucho amor,

Tonya

Feliz Navidad!!!!

2008-12-25T15:19:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from Spain!! We hope you had a wonderful day today with family and friends! Here is a view of the Sitges church tonight as the kids and I went for a walk at the beach.

Here are two Santas and a little Tarheel wishing you lots of love and Merry Christmas from Sitges.

To back up a bit, I had to include this picture from Jackson's actual birthday on the 15th , I loved it. :)

Opening Christmas packages and cards has been a highlight for the kids this year, it really helped to spread out the holiday!

Luke showing off his new headband and other treasures from Auntie Nellie and Uncle Josh.

Caroline was tickled with her new Christmas socks.

Then on Friday December 19th we had our Christmas celebration here with Brian before he left on a trip. We had snowflake and snowman pancakes for breakfast, then Brian read the Christmas story from the Bible, and the kids opened a few gifts from us, the Harnish cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa Siegrist.

Tarheel could hardly stand it, and had to help open the presents.

Caroline spent some time drawing a pretty girl wearing a beautiful Christmas dress. :) She can now write her own name, which is quite a feat since it has 8 letters!

I couldn't remember if I included a picture of our nativity yet this year, so here it is. The kids had fun opening one small piece a day in each of their stockings until it was all assembled.

More gift-opening, Caroline was all smiles when she opened her flamenco dress.

By the end of the day Tarheel was covered with tape and wrapping paper, it was hilarious!

Jackson received a great airport book from Grandma. In the background Luke is creating things from different shapes on a magnet board - a great gift for him.

And Brian surprised me with this GORGEOUS painting of the Sitges church!! I love it. I was really hoping to be able to take something like this back to the US.

On to Christmas Eve! Our small group leaders Patricia & Li kindly invited us to have Christmas Eve dinner with them and their son Pedro visiting from San Diego, and Patricia's sister Isabella visiting from the DC area.

We had an amazing meal of different Brazilian dishes - it was delicious.

They bought a box of chocolate eggs for each of the kids, and of course they were thrilled. We had a nice conversation with Brian while we were there, he was in a rental car on his way to the Christmas Eve service at our church in Lancaster!

Santa Jackson showing you the toy from his first chocolate egg, which he ate at midnight right before we left their house. Merry Christmas!

We slept in this morning, and when we got up we remembered it was Tarheel's birthday! So she got to open her presents first. Ha ha. She's now 9 years old. She's actually lost 10 lbs since we got here, I guess because we have been running more. She's in pretty good shape for an old girl.

We then ate reindeer snacks for breakfast. :)

The kids saw this in a magazine and begged to have it Christmas morning, so Caroline helped me make them. :)

Jackson had fun eating his reindeer.

Next, Luke read the Christmas story out of his kids Bible, it was precious.

The kids then opened their gifts from our neighbor Aunt Shirley in Landisville. They loved when she used to read to them, and she spoiled them with LOTS of great books!

Caroline's turn. Sometime after breakfast she turned into a fairy. :)

Along with her great books she also received a butterfly umbrella!

She noticed that one of the butterflies matches her flamenco dress with its red and white polka dots.

Finally, Luke's turn. He was thrilled with his pile of books.

THEN, there was one more set of gifts. They were so big I didn't have enough paper to wrap them, so I hid them and made the kids go on a treasure hunt.

Luke found his! An aircraft carrier set from Grammy & Pop-pop Sharp.

They helped Jackson find his, a deluxe castle set.

And finally Caroline found her's too, a princess castle set.

Wow, three gifts that need to be assembled, and one parent. I was busy for the next little while.

Luke helped Jackson with his fortress, and this kept them busy for a loooooong time.

Later in the day we made it out to town for a walk on the beach. They always love climbing on the rocks. Today we started at the very end of the Sitges beaches where we hadn't climbed before.

More exploring.

Merry Christmas from Spain!!

We then stopped by the pirate ship playground, where we hadn't been in a while. Luke brought along some airplanes from Aunt Sandy that we had fun flying.

Jackson was happy to play with his diggers again.

The three King kids took over sailing the ship.

As the sun started setting the sky was just amazing, here is a picture of the church from the playground around dusk.

Looking the other direction, the sunset was gorgeous and you could see all the people out for a walk by the sea after their Christmas dinner.

The sand sculptors were out with a nice nativity scene, much better than their recent Simpson's carvings. :)

The palm trees along the paseo are decorated with pretty blue lights, it's actually a bit shocking when you first see them!

One last shot of the kids and the sky - time to go home.

And a video below of the kids saying Merry Christmas!

Jackson's 3rd Birthday!

2008-12-21T14:40:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Jackson!!

On Sunday, December 14th we had Jackson's 3rd birthday party here at our house. Because he is so into castles and knights we looked all over for a castle where we could have his party, but it just didn't work out. Then when we were on our trip to the south of Spain every time we saw a castle he said "Maybe we can have by biwtday pawty at that castle!" Sorry bud. Brian's comment: "He's only 3, he won't remember anyway." Good point.

Caroline, Adam, Luke and Mya sitting at the table eating pizza with the Birthday Boy.
Miquel wants in on the pizza action!
Cake time! Miss Annette made him a soldiers and knights yummy chocolate birthday cake!

Hmmm...cool toys.

Better view of the cake.

Surprisingly, he was a bit shy with all of the attention, which we were not expecting! Here Maresa finally got him to show his pirate face.

After the cake the kids had a treasure hunt. We had gotten each of the kids a playmobile figure, and they had to read clues to find where each child's gift was hidden. They really had fun with this!

Brian, Annette, Maresa & Mark...the only problem is I don't remember why they were laughing. :)

Brian didn't have time to make a knight pinata, but he had actually helped the kids each make a pinata a while ago as an art project. So he painted a knight on 2 of them, and filled them with candy. The first one was for anyone age 3-5 to hit (rules made by Luke).

Mya taking a turn.

Yummm...candy!

The second pinata was hit by anyone age 6, which didn't take too long. :) More candy for everyone.

Caroline got a pretty good stash (and was wearing her pretty new flamenco dress!)

Joan made sure that none of the good candy got away. :)

And his brother was happy with the cookies.

Next up - present time! Jackson was VERY excited about everything he opened.

He had just opened more knights and soldiers. :)

Brian and Josep talking about Barca.

Teresa, Miquel & Joan.

Mya was showing us how she learned to twist her tongue. Ha! She actually lives a couple doors down from us and has been a great friend to the kids. Caroline said she will miss her when we leave Spain.

We'll talk to you all again soon - FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

Con mucho amor,

Tonya

Preparing for Christmas & a Trip to the South of Spain

2008-12-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hola!! We hope you are all enjoying this special time of year! We went into Barcelona one Friday to meet up with Alisha one more time before she left for the US. We went to the Christmas fair by La Sagrada Familia, and the kids loved it! It was very festive.

We then went to Placa Sant Jaume to see the Nativity display there. Here's Caroline with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

Luke with two of the wise men.

And the huge camel!

From there we went to the Christmas fair by the Cathedral.

There were TONS of stands selling all kinds of things for your nativity display.

The next day we went and bought our Christmas tree! The kids were so excited, and Tarheel too. :)

We had picked up a few lights and ornaments, so the kids had fun decorating.

Here's our little tree! But the kids soon realized something was very wrong, we didn't have a star for the top!

So they each made one! Then the problem was they each wanted theirs at the top. :)

Here's a close-up of Caroline's pretty star.

The following day (Sunday) Brian came home, and then on Monday we had a Christmas party with our small group from church. Uncle Yves brought the traditional cured leg of pig!

Here's the whole gang: Yves, Patricia, Brian, me, Suzanne, Marc, Diane & Lisaneas.

We had a WONDERFUL meal, and really enjoyed our time with everyone.

I left to take our sitter home and then brought the kids back to say hi to everyone.

The boys love attacking Uncle Yves!

Daddy's girl. :)

Early the next morning, December 9th, the five of us flew to Malaga in the south of Spain. We stayed near Marbella, and this was the view from our apartment.

View of the pool by the sea, unfortunately it was too cold to swim outside! But we did swim at the indoor pool and hot-tubs the first day.

The apartment had 2 bedrooms, which was great! The kids had fun sleeping together.

On the second day (Wednesday), we drove from the coast to visit the city of Sevilla. On the way we saw LOTS of windmills.

We saw a number of these huge black bulls across the countryside.

And then we saw windmills and bulls - real ones! Bull-fighting is still pretty big in this area in the summer.

We parked near this gorgeous hotel - Alfonso something, and then headed to the cathedral.

The cathedral was amazing! I think it's one of the largest in Europe.

Another side of the cathedral.

Across the placa from the Cathedral was the entrance to the palace area.

Walking around the old town area.

Pretty pottery shop.

Caroline and I went to buy her a flamenco dress (her Christmas present) while the boys found a restaurant for lunch. She couldn't WAIT to go show Daddy.

Here's the bull that was above our table at this tapas restaurant.

Caroline wanted to dance AND have her picture taken. For those of you who know her, this was quite amazing.

She twirled around and around and around, there's a movie below to prove it. :)

Pretty view of one of the towers of the Cathedral.

Another pretty building.

Another view of the cathedral.

From the placa by the cathedral we went on a horse-drawn carriage ride.

Luke asked to sit on the front with the driver. He said he giggled inside when he saw the horse go to the bathroom right in front of him. HA!

Brian and Caroline on the carriage ride.

Jackson and I on the carriage ride.

The ride took us through the Parque de Maria Luisa - que bonita!

More views from the carriage.

Pirate Jackson!

Inside the palace courtyard. There were clementine trees everywhere. Brian picked one and ate it and said it was awfully sour!

One of the MANY pretty fountains - I think this was in Placa Espana.

The driver stopped and took a picture of us at Placa Espana.

Another pretty fountain.

We then stopped for some cafe and chocolate eggs. :)

Always intrigued by water.

Now that's a park bench!

Pretty rose garden in one of the many little open placas.

View down one of the pretty streets in the Santa Cruz quarter, I just loved this area.

It was getting cold and dark by about 6pm, so we decided to head back to the apartment. Brian took this one last shot of the castle with the moon in the background.

The following day (Thursday), we stayed closer to the apartment, and went to see the rock of Gibralter. It was amazingly huge! From here you can see across the sea to the mountains of Africa.

We also stopped at one of the "pueblos blancos" in the area - Casares. It was a pretty pueblo of white houses perched on a hill with a church and ruins of a Moorish castle at the top. Very picturesque!

Another view of Casares.

The last day (Friday) we headed to Granada to see the famous Alhambra palace high up on a hill near the Sierra Nevada mountians. These are the castle walls as you walk toward the entrance.

The Moorish architecture here was just amazing. The arches, and all of the carved detail on the interior were so beautiful. The location on the hill gave pretty views out of every window.

The wall behind the kids in this courtyard is completely covered in carvings and tile-work. If you're wondering who in the world got them dressed that morning, keep in mind that it was the last day of the trip and they had to wear whatever was clean. Ha ha!

A view of Granada from one of the windows.

One of the many beautiful courtyards of the palace.

Carvings on the floor.

The court of the lions. Apparently there used to be lion statues around the fountain in the middle. Maybe they were being refurbished.

This was the design in the ceiling of one of the rooms!

We walked around like this the whole day. :)

More beautiful arches.

Tried to take a family picture on the one terrace, but the lighting wasn't quite right.

One of the many beautiful gardens.

This was our next stop, the Generalife (summer home) up the hill.

Pool of fish near the path to the Generalife.

This family shot turned out a bit better.

Along the path to the Generalife, there were lots of little hiding places where they hid to try to scare us. They were very scary!

We stopped to take a break along the path, and the kids got distracted by picture taking...

and racing. :)

Somebody was a little fed up with sight-seeing. :)

More racing. Of course when we tried to continue the tour they could hardly walk because their legs were "soooo tired." :)

Happier after a little break.

On to the Generalife. Near the entrance was a cool maze of shaped shrubs.

Lots of running and hiding going on here.

Fountains and garden at Generalife.

On every floor the views kept getting more amazing.

Can you tell it's about time to go home? :)

More fountains and gardens.

And more views of the village and mountains.

We then left from Granada and drove back along the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the coast, and then up the coast to the Malaga airport to return back to BCN. We really had a fun time away!! I was so glad we got to see this part of Spain, it was so beautiful, and had more of the Moorish influence in the architecture. We returned home LATE Friday night, and then spent Saturday getting ready for Jackson's third birthday party which was on Sunday. We had a great time celebrating his birthday, and I'll post those pictures next time. I had so many of our trip that it seemed overwhelming already without including those.

Lots of hugs and kisses from Spain, we love you all!
Tonya

Roman Aquaducts, Castle on the Coast & Valencia

2008-12-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Hola!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We certainly have a lot to be thankful for...including all of you.

Last posting I left off with us preparing to head south a bit with Jess, Chad & Esme. We left Wednesday November 26th, and our first stop was at the Roman aquaducts near Tarragona, a town south from Sitges. Here's Jackson ready for a hike. He kept saying "I don't see any aquaducts, where are the aquaducts - quack quack!"
Caroline and Esme were too cute in their matching sweaters.
Here they are - the aquaducts! The structure and architecture were just amazing.
The top was open to allow people to walk across - I'm not sure this would have been allowed in the US! Jess and I arrived first with the girls, and we made our way across.

Caroline and Esme on the aquaduct.
Once the guys arrived Caroline couldn't wait to take them across the top.
Picnic lunch in the sunshine.
Caroline sitting on Rudy the deer, he came along on the trip - that's a long story!
Group shot by the aquaducts - Rudy too!
There were a number of nice paths to take, we chose the red route which was best for the kids.
From Tarragona we continued on about another hour and then found the castle at Pensicola by the sea. It was about halfway to Valencia, our final destination. It was definitely a sleepy town in the winter! We drove straight to the castle since it was almost dusk. We thought about leaving the boys in the jail there. :)
The views from the castle were amazing!

Luke in front of the church that was attached to the castle.
Off to the one side there was also a pretty lighthouse.

Like I said, the views were amazing, especially at sunset!! We loved it. This was the view to the north from the castle.

And to the south was a fishing port. Que bonito!

We found a great hotel for the night, and headed back to the old town and castle in the morning. I love the contrast of the mountains with the sea.

Morning views to the south.

Bell tower and coast to the north in the morning.

From inside the watch-tower.

Inside the church.

We found a room underneath the castle that had all kinds of knight and soldier statues on display! Jackson was in his glory. Most of the time he just stood there and stared. Ha ha! This one was his favorite.

And this was Luke's favorite.

On the way out of the old town, we stopped at this amazing ceramics and hand-crafted gift shop. Chad really enjoyed talking with the guy, since he's a potter as well, and we got some great gifts there!

Off to Valencia! Another 1.5 hours later and we found Valencia. We drove straight to the old town area to find lunch and walk around a bit. I had read that Valencia was the home of paella, and a number of the restaurants that we saw listed Valencian paella as the special. I was excited about trying this, since our paella here is more of a seafood paella. Well, I didn't realize that Valencian paella was made using chicken and rabbit. Yuck! :) Here are Jess & Chad walking through a cool archway in old town.

As I'm sure you know, Valencia is known for it's oranges, and there were pretty orange trees all over the streets of the city.

Pretty doorway, this may have even been the back side of the Cathedral, I'm not sure.

Another view of the same building, I liked the curved archways to the left. Just amazing.

The Valencia Cathedral exterior.

Valencia Cathedral interior. So beautiful.

On our way back to the plaza by the Cathedral we found Brian and the kids in McDonald's, they weren't crazy about the rabbit paella!!!

This is the plaza by the government buildings, it was fun to see their Christmas decorations and of course pretty fountains.

On the same plaza there were beautiful flower stands.

We ended up staying at a great hostel on this plaza, after driving around for an hour looking at other places! The kids were happy to chill out for a while. They found a great zoo animal show in Spanish.

Friday, November 28th. In the morning Jess, Chad and I went out to find the Central Market, and left Brian at the hostel with all 4 kids. :)

There were about 1,000 vendors, and it was almost all fresh produce and meats, with a whole seafood section. We bought a HUGE bag of clementines for about 5 euros, not sure whether we'd be able to eat them all. They melted in your mouth and the kids just loved them. The entire bag was gone in 2 days!

Took a picture of the seafood section but we didn't spend much time there. The smells were a little overwhelming. :)

After we returned from the market, Brian and the kids and I headed to the aquarium while Jess, Chad & Esme stayed in the city to explore some more there. It was a great aquarium! Here are some pretty fish.

Jackson loved watching the fish.

Cool seahorses.

Walking through a tunnel with fish all around.

And a beluga whale!! He swam all around and always had a smile on his face. :)

The aquarium had really nice inside and outside spaces, but most of the restaurants were outside and closed for the winter. We found one that was open and had a nice warm lunch. It was pretty cold walking around outside.

After lunch - the sharks!!

And at the end of the day there was an amazing dolphin show. Brian said he thought it was the best one he had ever seen. There were 4-5 trainers working with different groups of dolphins all at the same time, so there was lots to watch. Here are 3 of them twirling hoola hoops.

It was really fun to see how the trainers swam with them, and went flying through the water being pushed by them.

Six jumping at a time. It was a great show!!

And a sea lion trying to catch some sun on our way to the exit. Along with the aquarium tickets we purchased tickets for a show in the Hemispheric (like an IMAX but you lay back in your seat and it's not 3D). The way the timing worked out, we saw the show on the Mystery of the Nile. It was an amazing documentary of the first every voyage from the origin of the Nile in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea. Very impressive. We then met up with Jess, Chad & Esme and headed back to Sitges.

Back in Catalunya, we spent Saturday around Sitges, and Sunday in Barcelona. Jess had heard about a great restaurant called 99.9% Origen, which we went to for lunch on Sunday. We loved it!!! They made local food from all over Catalunya with local products, and it was excellent. I just accidentally deleted the nice group photo I took there (sorry), but here's a picture of the restaurant.

And last but not least...Jess & Chad taught Luke how to play hangman, which he loved. This kept him occupied while waiting for lunch. :)

On Monday I stayed home with the kids, while Brian took Jess & Chad to Montserrat. It was another cold day, and while the kids really did great with all the traveling, they were ready for a day at home. They watched the kids that night while Brian and I went to small group, and then left early Tuesday morning. As always, it was great to spend time with them - this time in a very different environment - showing them what we love about Catalunya and exploring new things with them as well!

Brian left on Wednesday and it's taken me a few days to get caught up with things. Yesterday we met up with Alisha in BCN to see the Christmas fairs and displays - very festive. Today is a holiday here and we didn't have anything going on, so we got the house all decked out for Christmas. It was very fun! I will have to post those pictures next time. :)

Happy holiday season to you all, and lots of warm hugs!
Tonya

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-25T06:27:00.001-08:00

Hola!!
The day before Jess & Chad arrived Luke lost a tooth! He was so excited to show you. Right away he said "Mom! Take a picture for the blog!"
Nothing like a close-up. Keep this picture in your mind and we'll come back to it later. :)
He also wanted to show you the lobster that he built out of k'nex - very cool!
On the walk into town there is a large carving of "SITGES" that the kids like to climb on. Here Caroline is in the G.

Here's the large version.

All three of them by the E, for Esme! But she was hiding. :)

Jess & Chad arrived on Thursday, and by Saturday we had them working hard harvesting olives. :) We had a beautiful day out at our neighbor's masia. They had a record-breaking olive harvest this year, and we'll get to enjoy the oil in another month or two.

After a nice lunch we loaded the kids into the wagon for a ride down to the next field where we were going to work. Here's Esme, Emily, Luke, Jackson, Molly and Caroline.

And Farmer Tim. :)

The kids helped to pick olives for a little while, but it wasn't long until they were off and playing.

Cousins in the bathtub. :)

Riding to church on the train Sunday morning, Esme was all set with her sunglasses.

On Monday we had our Thanksgiving dinner! We did this so that we had the flexibility to travel somewhere later in the week. We're planning to leave tomorrow to drive down the coast to see the castle at Pensicola and then on to Valencia. While Chad & Brian were stuffing the turkey I had the kids making turkey placemats for everyone.

Here's the one Caroline made for me, I loved it!

Luke's turkey.

Caroline's second turkey.

Esme's turkey.

Jack's turkey.

Brian, Chad & Jess made a WONDERFUL dinner of turkey, roasted sweet potato wedges, salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and Annette had made cranberry applesauce for us - it was all very yummy! We had a great time. That afternoon some friends stopped by, and then we took Jess & Chad along to small group that night. What a fun day!

And THEN, during lunch today, another one of Luke's teeth fell out!!

Notice the now wider gap. :)

We sent Jess, Chad & Brian into the city today. The kids all have a cough, and Luke actually slept 14 hours last night! But he seems much better today. They're resting up for our little trip south tomorrow. We hope you all have a very special Thanksgiving Day on Thursday with family and friends. We're thankful for all of you!!

Hugs and kisses,

Tonya

Hiking, Chocolate, and Manners

2008-11-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Hola!!
Last Friday afternoon the kids and I set out for a short walk, and came back almost 2 hours later! Here we are starting off on the trek on a road that we can walk to from our neighborhood. It heads back through this tiny village and then on to some trails. The girls I've been running with have been teaching me all these great trails through the vineyards and hills behind Sitges, so I thought I'd take the kids out to show them the area. Jack's in the double jogger stroller at this point.

This is the tiny village we pass through, called Les Torres.

The flowers were so pretty.

Through a pretty gate we could see a nice entrance to someone's house.

Eventually Jackson wanted to walk with the others, so I'm pushing an empty double jogger stroller. :)

Here you can see from the trail, across the grape vines, to the next little town of Sant Pere de Ribes (that's actually our address). The old church is the tallest building and the first thing you see.

Luke held Tarheel's leash almost the entire hike, and kept asking me to take pictures of the two of them. We got to a point where there were two trail signs, and I wasn't exactly sure where the one ended up. But the kids really wanted to keep going, so we did! I was SO IMPRESSED with them. They were looking at all of the scenery, picking up walking sticks and other treasures, and every time I said I thought we should go back they wanted to continue on! Here we are heading up the unknown trail.

The sky was so pretty, but as you can see the sun was starting to set, so around 5pm I finally convinced them that we really did need to head home. It was such a fun hike and a wonderful afternoon to be outside.

The next day, to make up for all of that exercise, we went to a Chocolate Festival in Barcelona!! It was held by the Arc de Triompf in a huge white tent. We met our friends Josep, Teresa, Joan and Miquel there.

There were vendors from all over Barcelona, here is one of the stands where they had lots of different free samples. The one chocolate was labeled as 90% cocoa, and it was so INCREDIBLY bitter, I have never tasted anything like it!

They had a great kids area (which we have found to be very typical of local events). Here Jackson and Joan are waiting their turn to join in on the festivities.

The first event: painting with chocolate. This actually kept them entertained for quite a while! Jackson said he made a chocolate castle. Yum!

Next stop, chocolate fondue! Josep is helping Joan and Jackson put pineapple, grapes, and squares of cake onto sticks and then dip them in the chocolate.

Jackson was very excited about eating his creation.

But he had a little trouble with the fondue! He ate every last piece of his treat.

In the center of the tent were professionals from all over Europe making these chocolate creations for a contest.

Here is the one made by the guy who was listed as the best chocolatier artisan in all of Spain. I'm not sure what it is but I'd be glad to help eat it!

When I saw the forecast for Monday, I knew I had to come up with an excuse to do something outside by the sea. At the end of the paseo is a big beautiful terrace restaurant, where all you can see is the sea, so I decided it was time for some lessons on restaurant etiquette. :) This was part of school of course. The whole way to the restaurant we had true/false questions about what proper behavior looked like, it was hilarious! Here Jackson is properly drinking his orange Fanta.

My favorite lunch dates (and Brian too, of course).

Luke trying to figure out the best way to drink out of a glass with a stem.

And the best part was heading down to the rocky beach in front of the restaurant after lunch. Here is where the sea heads inland to form sort of a canal.

I didn't think the pictures taken directly into the sun would turn out, but Caroline looks kind of cool in this one!

It didn't take long until they were wading in the sea. Jackson is saying "wait for me guys!"

So Luke came back to help him.

Splashing in the sea.

And it didn't take long until their pants came off. I'm sure they'll hate me for this one when they're older!! Ha ha! I couldn't resist.

This weekend we are heading to the countryside after Luke's futbol match for the annual olive harvest at our neighbor's Spanish masia, I can't believe it's been a year since we did that last! Then late Sunday night Brian will be flying into BCN - yeah! We had a fun conversation with him tonight on the computer (he's in Anchorage), the kids were all full of stories. Then on Wednesday, Brian's sister Jess, her husband Chad, and their daughter Esme are arriving from the US! We're going to cook a turkey and all the fixins to celebrate Thanksgiving together which will be fun I'm sure.

Abrazos y besitos!
Tonya

Grammy Time!

2008-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hola!! On Tuesday, October 28th, Grammy arrived from Pennsylvania! We brag about the weather here, but the first two days of her trip it poured down rain all day! We couldn't believe it. The first day we just rested and took Caroline to gymnastics. The second day we went to the aquarium in Barcelona, along with all of the tourists who were avoiding the rain! FINALLY on day 3, Thursday, we had sun! We showed Grammy around our favorite spots in Sitges.

Kids and Grammy in front of the Sitges church.

View of sailboats and beaches of Sitges from the church.

Caroline took this picture of us in front of the San Sebastian beach.

We rounded the corner and headed up Caroline's favorite road.

Pretty side street in old town.

At the top of the road we came upon the Thursday market. Luke had control of the camera and took this picture of himself...scary!

He then took this one of me trying on an orange jacket so I could see what it looked like before I decided to buy it. I know what you're going to say Mary - more orange!! But I couldn't help it, it was only 6 euros. :)

We then went home to have lunch on the terrace.

The forecast for Sitges was more rain the next couple days, so we headed north to explore the medieval village of Besalu, where the forecast was at least a little better! The first thing we found when we arrived was a playground with a nice stone table for a picnic lunch.

We then followed the signs to the historic area, and found a pretty plaza with this monastery of Sant Pere.

We were able to peak inside at the old sanctuary.

The other side of the plaza had some nice cafes.

We continued following the old streets to see what we could find.

Nice colorful art shop, which was a nice contrast to the gray sky outside.

We made our way to the bridge over the river Fluvia, which marks the entrance to Besalu.

A fun place to run.

On the other side of the bridge we found a few shops and a hotel. The Grammy train kept them occupied while I looked at the pottery.

It wasn't long until they ended up in the shop that sold wooden medieval toys!

Looking back across the bridge toward Besalu.

The kids couldn't wait to get settled and play with their new toys from Gram.

So we walked back to the main plaza and found a hotel that had a nice suite to fit all of us. Grammy and Caroline slept downstairs, and the boys and I slept in the loft.

We had a terrace that wrapped around 2 sides of the hotel, and this bell tower was the view from one terrace.

Jackson playing on the bed.

Outside view of the hotel.

The next morning we woke up to rain, and then the sun came out! We headed back to the edge of town to play down by the river.

The kids admiring the massive bridge, and all the rocks. They kept trying to figure out how the people would have gotten up into the watch tower.

We picked up a nice map at the tourist office, which had 13 sites of interest highlighted on it. Each site had a sign with a description. Luke loved reading the map and leading us around. This was the Hospital de Sant Julia.

There was a museum of miniatures in the one plaza, which was really cute! Here is a miniature tienda.

Caroline looking at miniature tea sets.

Continuing on the tour, we found the site of the old Jewish baths (Mikve) and place of the Jewish synagogue. The Mikve in Besalu is the only one that has been found in Spain, and only one of a few found in Europe. Apparently there was a population of Jews here at one time, but they were eventually forced out of town.

Picturesque view of the bridge to Besalu (puente fortificado).

We spent some time enjoying the sun down by the river. Caroline was fishing.

All they need is water, sticks and rocks.

Under the bridge.

Back in town we found a great little pizza shop.

We had seen a chocolate shop advertised, but unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there.

Jackson was practicing his pirate face. :)

Another stop on the tour was the Iglesia de Sant Vicenc.

We had a really nice time exploring and enjoying Besalu! It was just the right size for us. On the way out of town I happened to look in the rear view mirror and see these snow capped mountains.

On Sunday we headed into Barcelona (in the rain) for church. It kept raining off and on, but every time we needed to walk somewhere it stopped. We had a nice lunch with Alisha Sangrey from Lancaster, and then decided to show Gram some of the Barcelona sites from the car. We drove around La Sagrada Familia, Parc de la Ciutadella, Port Vell, and then up to Montjuic. Luke REALLY wanted to take Gram up the cable car to the castle, and Caroline REALLY didn't want to. So Caroline and I dropped Gram and the boys off at the cable car ride, and drove to the top to meet them. Luke absolutely loved being in charge and being the tour guide. He had done the ride enough times he knew just what to do. Here are some pretty flowers in the moat around the castle.

Gram and the boys on the bridge above the moat.

On the drive back to Sitges the sky was really pretty, and we had a nice view of Sitges by the sea.

Another view of the sea and sky.

On Monday we had sun in Sitges again! We thought about going to Montserrat, but decided to have a relaxing day around town and on the beach instead. There were lots of surfers out.

Grammy taking Caroline for a ride on the rocks.

Grammy and the kids: nice faces.

Grammy and the kids: funny faces.

Down on the beach we found a collection of rocks in the sand that we thought would make a great medieval village.

Caroline didn't feel like going to the beach that day, so it took her a little to get warmed up. Grammy told her that she was going to be like Pop-pop when she grew up - happy to stay home!

Working hard on the medieval city.

Picnic by the sea.

The kids drew some great pictures in the sand on the walkway. Luke said this is he and cousin Juli with two hearts and two kisses because he really likes her.

Caroline said this is her and me with two hearts because we "love each utter." :)

During Gram's week here we made two trips to King Jouet, the local favorite toy store. The playmobile figures were on sale for 2.95, so they got quite a collection of them from Gram. Luke wanted to take some pictures to show them to you. I am only including a few of the 20 some pictures he took. :)

Soldier guy.

Pirate guy.

Knight guy.

Princess with her unicorn.

Also included below is a video of one of the many races that took place on the grassy area along the paseo after our picnic lunch. There is something about a long stretch of grass that they just can't resist. We had a GREAT time with Grammy and are so glad she came to visit! We really had a lot of fun with the kids. They took turns sleeping with her, and she was able to do school with them as well. They really liked that. Now we have a quiet 2 weeks until Brian returns, followed by his sister Jess and her family. Gotta run - time for futbol!

Hugs & kisses,

Tonya

Hurricane Mary Hits Spain :)

2008-10-27T15:51:00.001-07:00

Hola Amigos!! On Monday morning October 20th at 6.30am (1.5hrs early!) Hurricane Auntie Mary hit Barcelona, Spain!! She came the whole way from Durango, Colorado. The first day we just rested, went for a walk, ate lunch on the terrace in the sunshine, and then we were so happy she could go along to small group with us! We are studying the book "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat" by John Ortberg. Mary caught up to us on her flight over, and we had a great meal and discussion of Chapter 5, which was very relevant to all of us!

The forecast for Tuesday was mid-70s and sunshine, so we knew exactly what we were doing!! A day at the beach! We packed a lunch and headed out. After laying on our stomachs on our towels for a while, we got up and realized that we had both been digging our feet in the sand while we talked. Ha ha! It was a gorgeous day by the sea.

We got home in time to take Caroline to gymnastics, and then she showed Mary around the Sitges church and old town areas of our pueblo.

Caroline took a picture of us at the base of the church, a favorite spot.

Mary and Caroline walking down the street from old town towards the San Sebastian beach.

And of course, Caroline's favorite road! We then went home and found garlic and saffron wafting out the kitchen window - Brian was making paella for dinner!!

Wednesday morning we woke up to a cloudy sky, and decided to catch the train to the next little town of Garraf. There is a pretty beach there with nice terrace restaurants where we thought we would eat lunch.

Here is a view of some little houses along the beach.

Mary, Caroline and Luke looking out over the marina.

Jackson wanted in the photo too!

There was a pretty old stone lighthouse in town. Brian had to jump up and down to get them to laugh. :)

I liked this view because you could see the sea and boats as well.

Well, we found that the town was pretty well shut down after the summer season. There were some nice houses to look at, but the restaurants were closed during the week.

Brian and the kids headed back on the next train, while Mary and I went to explore the old church and restaurant on the other side of town.

Here's where we were headed, but we had a little trouble finding our way there. Mary ended up taking me out along the railroad tracks, and we got scolded by two Spanish construction guys!

When we finally got over there, the restaurant was closed, but we found an iron gate that wasn't locked, so we let ourselves in. :)

Old watch tower looking out over the sea.

We climbed up to a look-out on the top of the church!

We had fun exploring, but then decided to head back to Sitges to have lunch with Brian and the kids at Pizza Marzzano.

On Thursday, Mary and I took the train and headed to Barcelona for the day. It was a bit rainy at first, but cleared up as the day went along. We first went to Sagrada Familia, and bought an umbrella so that we could walk the block around the cathedral and study all of the carvings. It's really amazing! We then took the metro to Montjuic and rode the red cable car out over the sea!

This ride gives such a good overview of the city. Here is the old port area (Port Vell).

Mary looking out over the beach at Barceloneta.

At the end of the cable car ride, from the edge of Montjuic.

We then walked up La Rambla from the port area, and stopped at Placa Reial.

We continued up La Rambla and stopped at El Mercat de La Boqueria. The colors are just amazing in there.

We then made our way across the Barri Gotic district to El Born where we stopped for tapas at a great little restaurant!!

We continued down that street to the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral that you can see in the background.

How appropriate, Placa de Santa Maria!

We then walked up Via Laietana in search of the Palau de la Musica Catalana, and got side-tracked by this authentic little shop where we stopped for churros and cafe. YUM!

We finally made it there, and it was a gorgeous building, but we were too late to get inside for a tour. There was a classical music concert there that evening.

So we headed through Placa Catalunya with the pretty fountains, to the Passeig de Gracia.

We stopped by one of Gaudi's houses, Casa Batllo, before catching the train back to Sitges. A very fun day in the city!

On Friday we met up with a group of Americans from Atlanta for a tour of the Torres Family Winery. Here is a view from the winery across the vineyards to the neighboring town. I like how the church is often the first building you see.

We enjoyed a really nice tour! Here we are with Caroline on the train ride of the grounds of the winery.

View of part of the original homestead and more vines. The grape harvest has just ended, so the vines are looking a bit tired.

Taken by our photographer, Caroline.

Inside the winery we walked through a museum that had beautiful Spanish tiles on display.

Of course Mary ended up knowing one of the people from Atlanta! She had lived there for 27 years. This group was here from Northpoint church to help with a little church in Sitges, where some of our friends go.

After the tour of the winery, we took Caroline home and then headed out to visit Montserrat, the monastery built high up on a beautiful mountain range. We rode the cable car up to the monastery, and then hiked out to a point which gave us this nice view of where we had come from.

Mary and I at Montserrat.

Beautiful views from our hike.

And more views.

We even found some flowers way up there. I liked this shot. You can see how strange/different the rock mountains are in the background.

Mary and I at the top of our hike.

We then went back to the monastery to go through the cathedral and grab a cup of coffee before riding the cable car back down. Here Mary is watching as the clouds are approaching.

That night the three of us headed out for a waterside dinner at the port in Sitges. We ate at Cafe Tiburon (shark). We had a wonderful time together. We thought about kidnapping her so she couldn't catch her flight out the next morning, we didn't want her to leave!! It was a very special visit. We love you Mare!! Come again soon. :)

She left on Saturday, Brian left on Sunday, and then my Mom arrived this morning! It's been raining all day, so we're all enjoying a day of rest. The kids are excited to show her all around, so we're hoping for more sunshine again soon.

Have a great week and we'll be in touch again soon. Hugs and kisses to all!
Tonya

Fieldtrips

2008-10-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Fieldtrip #1: The zoo! Last Friday we took the kids to the zoo for a fieldtrip, with plans to actually read the signs and learn more about the animals. :) Brian hadn't really been all throughout the zoo yet, so the kids had fun showing him around. First stop, the flamingos.
Flamingo Luke.
Next stop, the cats. One of Caroline's favorites: the jaguar.
One of Luke's favorites: the meerkats.

They all like the hippos.
The big guy. What an interesting body shape.
Every trip to the zoo requires a stop at Noah's Ark. Here's Jackson the elephant, Caroline the monkey, and Luke the camel.
We stopped for a snack on the upper walkway by the giraffes, and this guy wanted some of our food.
The kids liked having Brian tell them about all of the animals.

Caroline continuing with the monkey theme.
The zoo closed at 7pm, and on our way out we saw them setting up for a wedding! I couldn't believe it. Now there's a new idea.
It was a very pretty setting!
Fieldtrip #2: Exploring the Parc del Garraf. There are a number of beautiful Natural Parks near our town, and we've been wanting to explore them for quite some time. So on Sunday after church the kids and I took a road up through the hills/mountains of Parc del Garraf. We saw some rock climbers, stopped for a picnic with a nice view over the sea and Port Ginesta, saw a bunch of great trails for hiking (took a short hike), and came upon a Buddhist Temple in the middle of no-where! We had heard it was there, but weren't sure exactly how to find it.
It is apparently the only Buddhist Temple in all of Catalonia.

There was a nice courtyard there, a store, a restaurant, some fountains, and flags.
There was also a big garden area with lots of walking paths and this structure in the middle.
We followed one path through the woods, curious to see what we would find...
and we found a pond with some cool rock formations all around it.
In the pond there were turtles,

lots of fish, and ducks!

The kids found big dried leaf things to use as swords.
Instead of driving back the way we came, we decided to find our way through the Parc back to Sitges. What I didn't realize was that the roads soon turned into dirt roads, and we had a very bumpy ride home. The kids loved it. We finally came over the crest of a hill and had this view of Sitges and the sea in the distance.
Fieldtrip #3: Parc del Foix. We had heard from a number of people that there was a nice castle on a lake less than 30 minutes away that was a nice place for a visit. On our drive through Parc del Garraf on Sunday we picked up some information on all of the local Natural Parks, and realized that the castle with the lake was in Parc del Foix. So we headed there today, and this is the castle that we found! The kids said it was a good guys' castle, they were sure.
As we walked around the grounds there were some nice views of the lake and small village by the castle. However, we learned that the castle is only open to the public on the weekends. We'll have to go back.
Up the hill from the castle was the old church.
The boys sitting by a beautiful old door at the church.
A cemetery between the church and castle.
The bells of the church, which we heard ringing a couple times.
The kids found a nice shady spot to sit.
I had brought our home-school books along, so we stopped for a little school near the castle over-looking the lake.
Luke wanted to show you the workbook he was working on.
The flies got pretty bad while we were sitting there (thanks to the grape harvest, so I hear), so we eventually moved on to a different spot for our picnic. We followed a road that went down near the lake and found a great cool, fly-less spot with a view of the castle across the water. There wasn't another soul around! Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the picnic, ha!!
Here was the view through the trees.
On our way out of town we stopped for another nice shot of the castle. We look forward to going back again sometime!

We are now preparing for my Aunt Mary's arrival on Monday!! We can't wait for her to come visit! Brian should be arriving the same day. I'm sure I'll have more to report then.

Have a great weekend and we'll talk to you again soon!

Con mucho amor,

Tonya

Turning 40 and Harvesting Almonds

2008-10-07T06:16:00.000-07:00

Turning 40 ain't so bad! :) We think he still looks pretty good!
Barcelona even had an airshow in honor of his 40th birthday, can you believe it?! :) Well, not really. But he got home 3 days early from a trip, and was here in time for an amazing airshow in Barcelona, as well as his actual birthday! They had an interesting array of airplanes, this is a fire suppression bomber demonstrating a water drop.

We decided to sit right by a playground to watch the airshow, which was one of the smarter things we did that day.
This is the same water bomber coming in to pick up some more water to do another drop.
Here is a view of some of the thousands of people who came out to watch the airshow.
There were even hot air balloons!
A Spanish armed forces F-18 did a demonstration, which was the highlight of the airshow for Luke!

Helicopter formation demonstration team.
The Spanish version of the Thunderbirds was this 7-aircraft formation team.
Caroline liked when the smoke trail made a heart shape in the sky.
Same group, sideways view.
At the end of the airshow the jets flew with red, yellow and red smoke trails to make the Catalonia flag.

On the actual day of Brian's birthday, we spent a really nice afternoon on the beach. As you can see, we had the place to ourselves! We had a picnic lunch, played futbol, went for walks, and played in the sand. It was a beautiful day, and very relaxing.
Caroline and Jackson going for a walk.
Luke playing in the sand.
And Brian enjoying turning 40. :)

This past Saturday we went to the "finca" of Luke's friend Dylan to help them harvest their almonds! It was a great experience. Here are the kids playing in the small shed.
And here's a view of the shed, with people husking the almonds, and Tarheel happy to be invited along.
I don't have a good picture of the first process of the harvesting, but the guys would go out to the almond trees with bamboo type sticks and knock the almonds off the trees onto plastic tarp. They would then bring sacks of almonds over to where we were husking them.
Here we are having a nice picnic lunch.
Husking the almonds was actually pretty easy, and the kids even enjoyed stopping and helping in between playing. We just peeled the outer fuzzy skin off, and made a big pile of the almonds in the middle. They will be sold to the cooperative, and then someone else gets to crack them to get the small piece inside that we actually eat. It was a really nice day, and we were happy to just spend it outside, doing some work, and being with friends! We went for a hike later in the day, cooked dinner over the fire, had a nice campfire, and then drove home. We decided not to camp out this time. :)

Much love to everyone,

Tonya

Hi all,

Tonya and the kids made my birthday very special, as did all of you who sent cards and greetings! I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family and thoughtfull friends! I hope to have 40 more to enjoy with all ya'all!

Thanks again and may God bless you!

Brian