Camping, Birthdays, Biking, and Guests!

HOLA to all!!
This past week we experienced a lot of firsts: our first camping trip in Spain, my first birthday in Spain, Luke riding bike without training wheels for the first time, and going to pick up people at the airport that we didn't know for the first time. HA! It was a GREAT week! We camped at the "finca" of Luke's friend Dylan. It turned out to be very much "roughing it", but we had such a fun time. Here is Luke giving the thumbs up on a hike.
Their property had almond trees, and a few cherry trees, and you could tell that at one time there was a very nice terraced farming system up the sides of the mountains by the stone walls and terraced levels.
Here is their shed, which they've turned into a cute little living space. They have plans to add on this summer. There is no electricity or running water, but they plan to keep it that way. We cooked over an open fire and stored food in a deep hole in the ground.
They were so kind to sleep in a tent and let us sleep in the shed! Luke slept up top, and Caroline, Jackson and I slept on the bottom (Brian wasn't home yet).
We all went on a hike to look at the old shepherd's shelters and old wells.
A view across the valley of their property.
Brian arrived home on Monday, and then on Tuesday we had a very fun day together as a family for my birthday. We went out for lunch to a restaurant at the very end of the paseo. All you could see was the sea! It was wonderful. Here's Luke giving the thumbs up, I guess it's his new pose. :)
And Jackson giving his version of thumbs up! Ha ha!
Sweet Caroline.
Family picture. My dish was black noodle paella (in case you were wondering!) and it was awesome!!
The kids posing after lunch before heading to the beach.

We then spent the rest of the day at one of our favorite beaches, where there are rock islands you can climb out to when the tide is out.
Caroline happy at the beach!
It wasn't long until Brian was sculpting in the sand again.
Brian and Luke going out to jump some waves.
This time the sculpture was a 747! Big surprise!

Then on Wednesday, Brian's uncle Barry and his wife Janice arrived from Africa on their way back to the US. It was so nice of them to drop in to see us! We took them around Barcelona and had lunch at Sagardi.
Here is a plate of tapas from Sagardi. I don't think we've included a picture like this from our other trips there, but now you know why we keep going back!
Just down the street from Sagardi is the cathedral Santa Maria del Mar, it's very beautiful.

After leaving Sagardi we walked by a soap shop which was very interesting!
We then went to Sagrada Familia, and Barry took some great shots of it with our camera.


This is a view of Sagrada Familia from Avinguda de Gaudi, which Nikolina and Jaspreet found and told us about. It led from Sagrada Familia to the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau that Gaudi designed, and it was just beautiful.

Here is the hospital.
We then took the train back to Sitges and walked through town. Here's one of our favorite bakeries...yum!
A view of some of the beaches with the Sitges cathedral in the background.
Janice in the Mediterranean.
Barry in the Mediterranean.

The following day we spent some time on the paseo riding bike! Here's Brian working with Jackson. He mostly just likes to sit on it and honk the horn. :)
Luke made GREAT progress this day, and rode for the first time without Brian holding on. I will try to post the movie I took below. We were so proud of him!!
Jackson got tired of riding his bike and decided to drive our car instead. :)
Our friend Josep found this bike for Luke (at the neighbor of his wife's mother), and they kindly gave it to us! Brian helped Luke paint it green and then got some flame stickers for it, he was thrilled!

The following day Brian left on a long trip, and the kids and I went to a birthday party of Luke's friend Adam. They had an outer space theme, and his Mom had made a rocket pinata, I was impressed!
She also made a solar system cake, which the kids loved!
The little guys in the swing: Jackson, Nathan, and Gabriel.

After the party we headed to the train station to pick up Amy Schulz and her friend Casey who had arrived the night before and had just spent the day exploring Barcelona. Amy and Casey are Penn State students who are studying in Seville for 6 weeks and came to Barcelona for the weekend. I went to pick them up at the airport on Friday night and then realized I didn't know who I was looking for! It was so funny, I made a quick sign that said "Amy & Casey" and tried to spot some American-looking girls. Our friend from home Linda Hershey had connected us with Amy, who is dating her son, but we had never met her before. Luckily we picked each other out without too much trouble! We had such a great time with them!! So after picking them up at the train station in Sitges Saturday night, we showed them around town and got some beautiful shots as the sun was setting. Here's one of the Sitges church.
Here's Casey, Amy, me, Jackson and Luke by the sea (except you can't see it!) - taken by Caroline.

And Caroline making a funny face on our walk through old town.
Hanging out and making funny faces!! Jackson wore his Carolina jersey because Amy's boyfriend Mitch is a huge Carolina fan too (GO HEELS!)
Then on Sunday morning we took them to the International Church of Barcelona, and then had a picnic lunch by the National Museum of Art. It was a very hot day so we were happy to relax in the shade!

We walked through some pretty gardens to get from the museum to the Olympic area, and the kids wanted to take turns taking pictures. Here Luke was the photographer.
We then rode the cable cars up to the castle on Montjuic, and had some ice cream!
Amy, Casey and Luke in a look-out by the castle.
Caroline in her own look-out with a nice view of the bridge and Barcelona in the background. She just learned how to blow the dried dandylion petals off the stem. :)
We made one last stop by the port before taking them back to the airport. What a fun day!! We really enjoyed having them here and getting to know them.