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
Tonya
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