A Day at the Zoo

Hola! To help pass the time before Brian came home, we went to the zoo for the day yesterday! We had signed up for a family pass on-line, and the cards came on Monday, so off we went. We took the train from Sitges, and here is a shot of the kids looking out the window at the futbol stadium where Luke played.
One of the first things we saw was a monkey playing futbol.
And the next thing we saw was two of Luke's friends looking at the monkey playing futbol! Here are Caroline & Luke with Dylan on the left and Nil on the right. We spent some time walking around with them and their Moms, which was nice.

Lazy lions taking a siesta.
Speaking of lazy, this guy was completely out.
When we went to the zoo in the fall, we did not get to see the dolphin show, so the kids were VERY excited about seeing that. Here are Luke & Caroline in the front row waiting for it to start. Jackson said he was too "scawed" to sit that close.
It was a very nice show, with lots of jumps, flips...
and other tricks.

At the end, they let everyone stand around the edge of the pool and the dolphins came by to splash everyone and wave good-bye. Here's Luke right up close.
Then they wanted a picture with the statue out front.
Luke being a roaring tiger!
A pretty peacock that was just strolling around.
Caroline being a giraffe.

The real thing getting some lunch.
They also had a really nice play area there, which we hadn't seen before. Jackson is in the background riding a crocodile.
Watching the hippos swim on the way out.
And the last thing we saw were the meerkats! Luke really likes them for some reason. :)
Luke said this one was on the look-out for hyenas.

We had a really nice time! And it definitely helped the day to go by quickly. Brian flew in this afternoon and the kids just LOVED showing him all they had learned in the pool. He was amazed!! We have a quiet weekend and are then taking a family trip to the Pyrenees mountains next week, we're all looking forward to that!

Love to you all and have a great weekend!
Tonya

Swimming & Other Accomplishments!

Hola!! We've had a quiet two weeks and thought it was about time to touch base again! We've made a lot of progress with swimming, and have a few other accomplishments to tell you about as well! First, on Sunday June 29th we went with Josep & Teresa to his parents' country house, about an hour from Barcelona in the hills. It was a beautiful setting in the mountains! They had a small pool for the kids, which they loved.

They also had an old "foosball" table that was Josep's when he was a kid! Here Luke is playing with Josep's Dad.
Here's a picture of their house.
Kids enjoying snacks: Jackson, Joan, Luke & Caroline.
Jackson making a scary face.
And baby Miquel trying to eat his toys. :)

The following Saturday Josep, Teresa, Joan & Miquel came over to swim at our place. Here Jackson and Joan are on surf boards in the kiddie pool! Just a couple weeks ago Jackson would only play outside the pool, so his big pool news is that he is swimming in the kiddie pool, and even putting his face in the water!
Jackson swimming!

Luke's big pool news is that he can jump into the deep end and swim to the side under the water! He is gaining so much confidence, it's great. He also wanted me to take a movie of him jumping in, which is included below.
Here are Josep, Joan & Teresa, with baby Miquel getting his toes dipped into the pool.
Caroline's big pool news is that she swims under the water with her snorkel mask on!! She has also come a long way and we are so proud of her.
She also loves to get in the big pool with me and swim around holding my hands.
Luke learning to float on his back.

This past Sunday we rode the train to church, which at least is air-conditioned compared to our car, ha ha!
After church we stopped at a playground for a little and had a picnic lunch before heading home. There was a cool zip-line type swing that Luke liked, also included in a video below.
Jackson found a little thing to drive that he called his space ship.
Kids on the see-saw.
Guess who this is...JACKSON!!! He's wearing big boy race car underwear, and is SO proud of himself.

He thought Ezzie might like to see the race cars. He is doing so well with potty-training, and was BY FAR the easiest of the three. It's only been 2 weeks and he's only had 2 accidents. He seems to get it.
Luke's other news is that he got a really nice trophy and medal when he finished futbol!! We missed the last ceremony because it's when we were camping. I had no idea they got anything, but the director called so we stopped by and this is what he got! He is so proud. :)
A close-up of the trophy and medal, they're actually really nice!
This is just a random shot of the kids eating breakfast one morning. I thought they looked cute out there. The barricade under the bushes in the back is because Tarheel has crawled through and jumped into the pool! The neighbors weren't too thrilled about it!
Here the kids are eating dinner Saturday night. The evenings are just lovely and we really enjoy being outside! This picture was taken around 8:30 or 9pm, and it doesn't even get dark until 10pm. It makes it hard to go to bed very early!
Brian has been gone for 17 days and is coming home on Thursday. We can't wait to see him! We hope you are all doing well, lots of hugs and kisses to you!

Tonya

Camping, Birthdays, Biking, and Guests!

HOLA to all!!
This past week we experienced a lot of firsts: our first camping trip in Spain, my first birthday in Spain, Luke riding bike without training wheels for the first time, and going to pick up people at the airport that we didn't know for the first time. HA! It was a GREAT week! We camped at the "finca" of Luke's friend Dylan. It turned out to be very much "roughing it", but we had such a fun time. Here is Luke giving the thumbs up on a hike.
Their property had almond trees, and a few cherry trees, and you could tell that at one time there was a very nice terraced farming system up the sides of the mountains by the stone walls and terraced levels.
Here is their shed, which they've turned into a cute little living space. They have plans to add on this summer. There is no electricity or running water, but they plan to keep it that way. We cooked over an open fire and stored food in a deep hole in the ground.
They were so kind to sleep in a tent and let us sleep in the shed! Luke slept up top, and Caroline, Jackson and I slept on the bottom (Brian wasn't home yet).
We all went on a hike to look at the old shepherd's shelters and old wells.
A view across the valley of their property.
Brian arrived home on Monday, and then on Tuesday we had a very fun day together as a family for my birthday. We went out for lunch to a restaurant at the very end of the paseo. All you could see was the sea! It was wonderful. Here's Luke giving the thumbs up, I guess it's his new pose. :)
And Jackson giving his version of thumbs up! Ha ha!
Sweet Caroline.
Family picture. My dish was black noodle paella (in case you were wondering!) and it was awesome!!
The kids posing after lunch before heading to the beach.

We then spent the rest of the day at one of our favorite beaches, where there are rock islands you can climb out to when the tide is out.
Caroline happy at the beach!
It wasn't long until Brian was sculpting in the sand again.
Brian and Luke going out to jump some waves.
This time the sculpture was a 747! Big surprise!

Then on Wednesday, Brian's uncle Barry and his wife Janice arrived from Africa on their way back to the US. It was so nice of them to drop in to see us! We took them around Barcelona and had lunch at Sagardi.
Here is a plate of tapas from Sagardi. I don't think we've included a picture like this from our other trips there, but now you know why we keep going back!
Just down the street from Sagardi is the cathedral Santa Maria del Mar, it's very beautiful.

After leaving Sagardi we walked by a soap shop which was very interesting!
We then went to Sagrada Familia, and Barry took some great shots of it with our camera.


This is a view of Sagrada Familia from Avinguda de Gaudi, which Nikolina and Jaspreet found and told us about. It led from Sagrada Familia to the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau that Gaudi designed, and it was just beautiful.

Here is the hospital.
We then took the train back to Sitges and walked through town. Here's one of our favorite bakeries...yum!
A view of some of the beaches with the Sitges cathedral in the background.
Janice in the Mediterranean.
Barry in the Mediterranean.

The following day we spent some time on the paseo riding bike! Here's Brian working with Jackson. He mostly just likes to sit on it and honk the horn. :)
Luke made GREAT progress this day, and rode for the first time without Brian holding on. I will try to post the movie I took below. We were so proud of him!!
Jackson got tired of riding his bike and decided to drive our car instead. :)
Our friend Josep found this bike for Luke (at the neighbor of his wife's mother), and they kindly gave it to us! Brian helped Luke paint it green and then got some flame stickers for it, he was thrilled!

The following day Brian left on a long trip, and the kids and I went to a birthday party of Luke's friend Adam. They had an outer space theme, and his Mom had made a rocket pinata, I was impressed!
She also made a solar system cake, which the kids loved!
The little guys in the swing: Jackson, Nathan, and Gabriel.

After the party we headed to the train station to pick up Amy Schulz and her friend Casey who had arrived the night before and had just spent the day exploring Barcelona. Amy and Casey are Penn State students who are studying in Seville for 6 weeks and came to Barcelona for the weekend. I went to pick them up at the airport on Friday night and then realized I didn't know who I was looking for! It was so funny, I made a quick sign that said "Amy & Casey" and tried to spot some American-looking girls. Our friend from home Linda Hershey had connected us with Amy, who is dating her son, but we had never met her before. Luckily we picked each other out without too much trouble! We had such a great time with them!! So after picking them up at the train station in Sitges Saturday night, we showed them around town and got some beautiful shots as the sun was setting. Here's one of the Sitges church.
Here's Casey, Amy, me, Jackson and Luke by the sea (except you can't see it!) - taken by Caroline.

And Caroline making a funny face on our walk through old town.
Hanging out and making funny faces!! Jackson wore his Carolina jersey because Amy's boyfriend Mitch is a huge Carolina fan too (GO HEELS!)
Then on Sunday morning we took them to the International Church of Barcelona, and then had a picnic lunch by the National Museum of Art. It was a very hot day so we were happy to relax in the shade!

We walked through some pretty gardens to get from the museum to the Olympic area, and the kids wanted to take turns taking pictures. Here Luke was the photographer.
We then rode the cable cars up to the castle on Montjuic, and had some ice cream!
Amy, Casey and Luke in a look-out by the castle.
Caroline in her own look-out with a nice view of the bridge and Barcelona in the background. She just learned how to blow the dried dandylion petals off the stem. :)
We made one last stop by the port before taking them back to the airport. What a fun day!! We really enjoyed having them here and getting to know them.