Happy Thanksgiving!!

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

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!

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