Castillo de Tamarit

Hola!!

Now that the holidays are over and Brian is away, we have been getting back into the routine of things. After a good week of home-school, Spanish class, gymnastics, and futbol, we decided to go castle hunting last Saturday. We had heard about a great castle about 40 minutes from our house, so we decided to pack a lunch and go find it. It was a gorgeous day, and we had SO much fun exploring. I skimmed over the directions on the computer before we left, figuring I knew the general direction and that surely there would be a sign. HA HA! Not so, but luckily we drove back a little side road through a campground and found this gorgeous spot!
This is Castillo de Tamarit, between Altafulla and Tarragona along the Mediterranean. And here is Flat Stacy posing with the kids - she has rabbit ears thanks to Luke. I think Jackson has already shifted into knight mode, which happens when we visit castles. :)
The castle wasn't actually open for tours, but it can be reserved for weddings and big events. There were some really nice trails, so we went on a little hike.

View of an interesting rock island that you could walk out onto from the beach by the castle.

Three nice kids on the island.

Three looney kids on the island. :)

While we were having lunch on the island we saw 2 people on horseback riding along the sea.

Horse and riders up close.

And off they go. So beautiful!

View of the castle by the sea from the island.

Three nice kids eating dessert.

Three looney kids eating dessert.

We then realized that you could see the Altafulla castle in the background, so I tried to get a picture of both of them.

Back toward the parking area there were lots of fun little caves and archways to walk through, stuff kids love.

We then walked around to the beach on the other side of the castle (where the horses were), and found some fun places to climb and play.

Jackson went to peak in the little "house", and he said it was a "trashy house" - I guess there was glass and litter in there.

Picture of the bell tower from the beach.

Another view from the other side.

There's nothing like a wide open beach that will make the shoes and socks come off, and the kids run wild.

Oh yeah, Flat Stacy! Caroline thought she might like to play in the sand.

Woohoo! I'm making a sand angel!

Caroline liked being in charge of her.

I love pictures of the three of them playing by the sea.

Caroline practiced writing her name.

More playing.

Luke drew our family, complete with rocks for eyes and noses.

As you can see, they were completely covered in sand from head to toe by the time we left! This spot was such a fun and surprising find. We all said we definitely want to go back, and it ranks up there as one of our favorite sea-side spots.

I posted two movies below - one from when we were having lunch on the island, and one of the kids playing in the sand.

Hope you are having a great week - Happy 40th Birthday this week to my old sister Tina!! :) Love to you all,

Tonya

Parade, Dia de Reyes, and Sitges Half-Marathon

Hola!! While the rest of you went back to work last week, Spain was still celebrating. :) On Tuesday night there was a really nice parade in town to show the arrival of the Three Kings. They were all on camel-back, and the parade also included some horses, and floats of Disney characters. As we were walking in to meet with friends before the parade started, we passed by where they were trying to get the camels up and cooperating. Ha ha!

Luke with friends Adam and Sean posing nicely.

Luke with friends Adam, Sean, and Nil in the background, posing not-so-nicely! Ha ha.

And the parade finally started. Not sure what they're doing here, but Caroline liked this picture.

Drummers.

One of the royal post-ladies who was collecting letters for the Three Kings - same idea as letters to Santa I think.

Caroline loved this princess.

Donald, Minnie, & Mickey.

The next day - which was a holiday to celebrate the Three Kings Day - we were invited by our friends Josep & Teresa to celebrate with their families at their house. Here is Miquel playing with a toy we got for him at Montserrat.

Josep made a great treasure hunt for the kids to find their gifts! They loved it! Caroline's gift was outside on a terrace by his bike, and was a pink Barbie suitcase!! Inside the suitcase was a jewelry-making kit, which is right up her alley!

Luke found his shooting Spiderman gift behind the coffee maker - and we were all getting shot at the rest of the day.

After patiently waiting for his turn, Jackson found his gift in the dishwasher!

His was a Playmobile pirate ship, complete with pirates, treasure, palm trees, and sea animals. Could not have been more perfect for him! We hardly saw him the rest of the day. :)

Josep's mother Montse and his son Joan.

The first course of dinner was small bites of olives, dates wrapped in bacon, chips, and tortilla de patata. The second course was Catalan cannelonis - YUM. The third course was fruit. The fourth course was cake. The fifth course was coffee. What a great way to spend the afternoon!

They have a special cake that they only serve on this day, and it comes with a crown which Caroline thought I should wear. Inside the cake are hidden 2 things: a bean and a small king. Whoever gets the piece of cake with the bean inside has to pay for the cake, and whoever gets the piece of cake with the king inside gets to keep the crown.

The cake is served - and look inside Caroline's piece! It was the king.

Josep with baby Miquel.

Caroline was soon busy making jewelry. She made necklaces for Teresa, Teresa's mother, Josep's mother, herself, and me.

Also during dessert there was a plate of coal for all of the kids who had been bad. :) It was basically solid sugar - ha.

Josep & Teresa's mothers wearing their necklaces from Caroline.

Caroline posing with her crown and the king that had been in her piece of cake. Teresa had the bean in her piece. :)

What a fun day!!














Then this past Sunday I ran in the 26th annual Sitges half-marathon! It was a great experience. I ran it with my friend Kim and our friend Suzanne's husband, which made it much more enjoyable. Brian and the kids did a great job getting to spots where they could cheer us on, I think we saw them 5 times! For those of you who have been here, the route consisted of 3 different loops, each one with a leg on the paseo which was beautiful. The longest loop included a leg which went over toward the next town of Villanova. There were 2500 participants! My goal was to run it in 2 hrs, and we did it in 1hr and 55min. We've already made plans to come back and do it again next year. :)
Just a few other shots from around home last week. I went out one day for something and came back to find this scene on the sofa. I think Jackson came over to tell Brian something, and the next thing Brian knew he was fast asleep. :)









One of our neighbors in Landisville sent over a school project - Flat Stacy! She came to visit Spain! So far she's only been playing with the kids Christmas gifts, but we're planning to get her in town soon. Here she is visiting Caroline's castle.








Visiting the nativity scene.

Visiting Jackson's castle.

And she even was allowed onto the aircraft carrier!












Our other big news is that Tarheel went back to the US yesterday! It all came together somewhat quickly, and we didn't know for sure that they would let her on until the morning of Brian's flight due to the weather in NY and her weight. He had a meeting in Miami, and Atlas allowed him to fly through NY - but they only bought his ticket last Wednesday. So I took her to the vet Thursday and got all of her paperwork together. We scrambled around the house over the weekend looking for all of the parts to her crate, and now all of a sudden she's gone! But she made it fine on the plane and is having a great time at my parents house. :)

We hope the New Year is off to a great start for all of you! Wishing you lots of love -

Tonya