Hola!! We hope you are all having a wonderful summer! When Dad's home we play hard, and then he leaves, and we rest. Ha ha! He was just home for the past 10 days, and then left again today for another 2-week trip. The kids couldn't wait to have time with him at the beach again, so that is one of the first things we did.
Hanging out in the sea with Luke the fish, Caroline the scuba girl, and Jackson the surfer.
He was so excited about his new Nemo surfboard.
A number of the beaches here in Sitges have these rock islands that you can walk out to, climb up on, and look for sea life all around. Here Brian is taking the kids out to explore an island.
I loved this shot of them playing by the island with sailboats in the background.
Then on Sunday after church we went to the port and went on a sailing cruise along the coast of Barcelona, it was about 1.5 hours long. When we saw it advertised we knew it was something Brian would like!
Here are the boys waiting to get on the boat. Picture taken by Caroline.
I asked Luke to take a picture of Brian and I, and we ended up with funny-face Jackson on our laps and Caroline dancing along the side.
Pretty view of a sailboat and the city.
The relaxing boat ride put Jackson right to sleep.
But not Caroline! She's always trying to keep me from taking pictures of her.
A view of Port Vell on our way back in from the sea.
After we have rain, the kids often find snails on our back terrace, which they just love!! One day after they found a new one, Caroline drew a picture of him on the terrace with chalk, and I thought it was excellent!
Jackson wanted me to take a picture of his snail drawing too. :)
I had to include a picture of this. On Brian's last trip he picked up some new princess underwear for Caroline in Hong Kong. She has kind of taken over the one sofa as her own, and one morning I came down and the underwear was all on display! I laughed so hard.
On to the mountains!! Then on Tuesday the 15th we left for 4 days in the Pyrenees mountains. It was such a wonderful trip!! We stayed in a rural masia (pictures of that later), and did some day trips from there. One of the first days we drove from our house near Campdevanol to the beautiful mountain town of Puigcerda, right on the Spain/France border. This is one of the sights along the way. Ha!
Once in Puigcerda we went to the lake for a picnic lunch. It was a pretty setting.
The kids had fun watching and feeding the ducks and swans.
Some mountain scenery.
I don't know if you can tell, but these two swans are fighting over a dead fish!There is a little yellow train just across the border from Puigcerda in France. We drove to one of the stations (Mont-Louis) and then rode for a hour to the medieval village of Villefranche de Conflent. Here we were racing the train on the way to the station.
More mountain scenery. The views were just so beautiful. Many times we were reminded of the mountains of Montana and Switzerland.
Waiting for the train to arrive in Mont-Louis.
View from the train.
Me and Luke.
Brian tickling Caroline.
A pretty Bed & Breakfast along the creek in Villefranche de Conflent.
More pretty mountains.
Playing UNO on the train!! :)
Here we're on the front of the train taking a picture as the back goes across the bridge.
It's a little hard to see, but there is a fort at the top of this hill, amazing!
A view of Puigcerda on our drive back through after returning to Mont-Louis on the train.
We had to admit we were happy to be back in Spain!! We had some communication issues while in France. Ha ha!
Pretty mountain scene with church.
More cows! Here we were trying to drive down our lane and had to sit and wait until they were good and ready to get out of our way.
Another day we went to a river that was really close to our house called Torrent d'estiules. There were a number of pretty waterfalls with great places to swim.
The water was a bit cold, but Luke really wanted to swim with Dad!
We stopped at a second water fall and had to hike down in the woods a bit to find it.
It was very pretty, and the kids loved playing in the water.
This masia ended up being a great hit with the kids. They had TONS of kids riding toys around, and it was actually a working farm so they loved seeing the cows, horses, donkey, pigs and chickens.
Here's a picture of the masia. There were 5 apartments along with the main house.
It was a very pretty setting!
More mountain scenery. The views were just so beautiful. Many times we were reminded of the mountains of Montana and Switzerland.
Waiting for the train to arrive in Mont-Louis.
View from the train.
Me and Luke.
Brian tickling Caroline.
A pretty Bed & Breakfast along the creek in Villefranche de Conflent.
More pretty mountains.
Playing UNO on the train!! :)
Here we're on the front of the train taking a picture as the back goes across the bridge.
It's a little hard to see, but there is a fort at the top of this hill, amazing!
A view of Puigcerda on our drive back through after returning to Mont-Louis on the train.
We had to admit we were happy to be back in Spain!! We had some communication issues while in France. Ha ha!
Pretty mountain scene with church.
More cows! Here we were trying to drive down our lane and had to sit and wait until they were good and ready to get out of our way.
Another day we went to a river that was really close to our house called Torrent d'estiules. There were a number of pretty waterfalls with great places to swim.
The water was a bit cold, but Luke really wanted to swim with Dad!
We stopped at a second water fall and had to hike down in the woods a bit to find it.
It was very pretty, and the kids loved playing in the water.
This masia ended up being a great hit with the kids. They had TONS of kids riding toys around, and it was actually a working farm so they loved seeing the cows, horses, donkey, pigs and chickens.
Here's a picture of the masia. There were 5 apartments along with the main house.
It was a very pretty setting!Caroline had to try out the pink bike!
One day the farmer offered to give the kids rides on one of the horses, and they wanted Brian to go first!
Jackson's ride.
Caroline's ride.
Luke's ride.
Another day we did a drive through the mountains to visit some beautiful, quaint little villages, recommended by Josep & Teresa. The first of these was Sant Joan de les Abadesses. It was so fun to walk around these little towns.
This village had an old walking bridge that we crossed. In case you are wondering why the kids are always wearing the same clothes...I let them pack their own bags, and this is what we ended up with!! Go Barca! Ha!
Jackson asking for toll money in order to pass him by.
The kids loved running on the bridge.
Jackson posing so nicely, a rare moment! :)
From here we continued on through the winding mountain roads to the village of Beget. You had to park on the edge of town and walk in, it was amazing!!
Here is a view of Beget from the parking area.
This place was just incredible, tucked into the mountainside! We wondered what in the world these people do in the winter!
I could have taken a picture of every turn, it was so beautiful.
We found a nice place for a picnic lunch, a stone table with tree stump chairs!
There was a cute little square with maybe two restaurants, that's it!
The kids didn't care much about the cute restaurants, but found some stairs down from the bridge to the creek, and had a blast playing down there.
This kept them busy for quite some time!!
From here we drove to the village of Camprodon, which is known as a summer escape for lots of Spanish families. They come here to enjoy the fresh, mountain air, the hikes, and the beautiful scenery.
View of a cute street in Camprodon.
On the last day we drove to Ribes de Freser and took a train up to the ski resort of Vall de Nuria. You can only access this place from this train!
View of a little village on the way up the mountain.
God's beautiful creation.
Here's the view as the train comes through the last tunnel, amazing!
We had a great picnic lunch by the lake, as you can tell by our clothing it was a bit cooler up here than in Sitges! :)
Just to prove that I really was along...
One of many great look-out points.
Boys hiking.
Girls hiking. Yes, I am wearing a skirt AND jeans, every piece of clothing I had along!! :)
View of the mountains and the train track.
Family photo at the top of our little hike.
Luke posing by a cross.
Brian and Luke hiked down to a cool old bridge. It was such a beautiful place, and we really enjoyed our time there. We also rode cable cars up from here to the very top of the mountain where there was a small lodge and more views. We didn't really have a plan for when to leave, and still had to drive the whole way back to Sitges this day. By the time we took the cable cars back down to the train, and the train back down to our car, and drove back to Sitges, it was about 10pm. We were cracking up as we made and ate dinner at 10:30pm at night, we were feeling very Spanish! :) We really had a wonderful trip, with lots of great family time. It was such strikingly different landscape and climate than Sitges, and the amazing thing was that it was only 2 hours away!
One day the farmer offered to give the kids rides on one of the horses, and they wanted Brian to go first!
Jackson's ride.
Caroline's ride.
Luke's ride.
Another day we did a drive through the mountains to visit some beautiful, quaint little villages, recommended by Josep & Teresa. The first of these was Sant Joan de les Abadesses. It was so fun to walk around these little towns.
This village had an old walking bridge that we crossed. In case you are wondering why the kids are always wearing the same clothes...I let them pack their own bags, and this is what we ended up with!! Go Barca! Ha!
Jackson asking for toll money in order to pass him by.
The kids loved running on the bridge.
Jackson posing so nicely, a rare moment! :)
From here we continued on through the winding mountain roads to the village of Beget. You had to park on the edge of town and walk in, it was amazing!!
Here is a view of Beget from the parking area.
This place was just incredible, tucked into the mountainside! We wondered what in the world these people do in the winter!
I could have taken a picture of every turn, it was so beautiful.
We found a nice place for a picnic lunch, a stone table with tree stump chairs!
There was a cute little square with maybe two restaurants, that's it!
The kids didn't care much about the cute restaurants, but found some stairs down from the bridge to the creek, and had a blast playing down there.
This kept them busy for quite some time!!
From here we drove to the village of Camprodon, which is known as a summer escape for lots of Spanish families. They come here to enjoy the fresh, mountain air, the hikes, and the beautiful scenery.
View of a cute street in Camprodon.
On the last day we drove to Ribes de Freser and took a train up to the ski resort of Vall de Nuria. You can only access this place from this train!
View of a little village on the way up the mountain.God's beautiful creation.
Here's the view as the train comes through the last tunnel, amazing!
We had a great picnic lunch by the lake, as you can tell by our clothing it was a bit cooler up here than in Sitges! :)
Just to prove that I really was along...
One of many great look-out points.Boys hiking.
Girls hiking. Yes, I am wearing a skirt AND jeans, every piece of clothing I had along!! :)
View of the mountains and the train track.
Family photo at the top of our little hike.
Luke posing by a cross.
Brian and Luke hiked down to a cool old bridge. It was such a beautiful place, and we really enjoyed our time there. We also rode cable cars up from here to the very top of the mountain where there was a small lodge and more views. We didn't really have a plan for when to leave, and still had to drive the whole way back to Sitges this day. By the time we took the cable cars back down to the train, and the train back down to our car, and drove back to Sitges, it was about 10pm. We were cracking up as we made and ate dinner at 10:30pm at night, we were feeling very Spanish! :) We really had a wonderful trip, with lots of great family time. It was such strikingly different landscape and climate than Sitges, and the amazing thing was that it was only 2 hours away!Lots of hugs and kisses to you all!
Con mucho amor,
Con mucho amor,
Tonya
