Summer...

Hola!! We hope you are enjoying the summer! We sure are. Most of our days are spent either swimming in the pool or playing at the beach, and believe it or not I don't have pictures from EITHER of these activities on this post. Next time. The biggest news from the pool is that Caroline has made INCREDIBLE progress in the last couple of weeks. She is swimming freely in the deep end, all around, all by herself! Brian is determined to teach Jackson to swim the next time he comes home.
Before he left on this trip the kids were thrilled to be able to take him to the zoo one Sunday after church. Here the kids are watching some monkeys play.
We met up there with our friends Josep, Teresa, Joan & Miquel, who also have a family pass for the year.
We were jealous of the sea lions going for a swim, it was pretty hot that day!
The following Sunday I had the crazy idea that the kids and I would drive into the mountains somewhere for a picnic lunch and a hike, and escape the heat for a bit. In my one tour book I found Santa Fe del Montseny in a beautiful mountain range just 40 miles from Barcelona. I thought "great, it'll only take us <1hr to get there, perfect!" So we went to church and then headed for the Sierra del Montseny mountain range. The drive was just gorgeous, but I forgot to take into account that the roads winding up a mountain are just that...winding!
We finally made it to our destination and had a nice lunch in a lovely shaded picnic area. We were at a height of 3,610 feet, and it was much cooler!
Caroline was very hungry by the time we got there!
There were some beautiful old buildings at the "village", although it wasn't much of a village!
This was actually converted into a hotel, and there were lots of great hikes leading out from this area.

We chose a nice, kid-friendly hike. Luke is always a couple steps ahead.
Caroline with her walking stick. I love this shot with the mountains in the background.
The highlight of the hike...a stream!
They loved figuring out how to maneuver back and forth across the rocks, it was great.
Yes, Jackson is only wearing a shirt. As I was getting our lunch ready, he peed through his underwear and shorts. Couldn't stop playing long enough to go to the bathroom! I didn't have anything else along, so this is what he wore. Everyone who passed us cracked up. :)

Once in a while they really get into drawing pictures or painting. This happened to be Barca day I guess!
Another day we went to the grocery store, and as we were checking out the cashier pulled out 3 spiderman costumes for the kids! Score! They loved them.
One day by the pool they were having a surfboard lunch and some of the neighbor kids brought things by to sell that they had made. :) It was so cute!
Holding up their 30 cent purchases!

On Friday afternoon we went to a birthday party for Luke's friend Dylan at the Terramar Park near the sea.
The party was over about 8pm, and it was so lovely out we just couldn't resist going to the paseo to play for a bit. :) There are some nice grassy areas overlooking the beach, so we chose one and hung out for a little. Here's Jackson hanging out!
And here they are jumping. There is a video included below of them rolling in the grass and running during this visit to the paseo.
Tonight Dylan's parents invited us to come to see Dylan drumming in a parade in the little village of Olivella out in the hills. It was only about 10-15 minutes from our house, but felt like it was in the middle of nowhere! My pictures don't do the village justice, it was so quaint with beautiful old stone buildings.
An old building with a flag advertising the festivities tonight.

Brian's trip has been extended into another 3-week trip, so we've got one more week until he's home. Luckily we have some fun things going on this week, so the time will pass quickly. We have friends coming to swim, we're planning to go to Tibidabo (the amusement park), our Catalan friend Maria from Landisville is visiting, and we are going to the beach with other people visiting from Belgium. The summer here has been just beautiful so far. It's hot, and we don't have air conditioning in the house or car, but we manage and just make the best of it! :)

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Love,

Tonya