Back from Barcelona

Dave and I are back - and it feels "oh-so-good" to be home. Carmyn and the kids had a wonderful time while we were gone but I think we all feel better to be together again. This homemade sign welcomed us on our return. Notice Lucy's drawing in the bottom right-hand corner: "Family Flower of Five." How creative. You can just see the emergent writer in John with his writing of random words he knows - in, the at... and Sophie always loves to practice her cursive.

After the kids were in bed last night Rose, our babysitter, came so Dave and I could have dinner at the "happening" local restaurant in town with two other couples. (It was a date set over a month ago - long before the effect of jet lag was considered and certainly long before it hit us.) In honor of the beautiful fall night and all the walking we did in Spain Dave and I decided to stroll downtown. What with all six people and two dogs we saw on our walk it certainly wasn't Las Ramblas but it was nice to have space around us again. I swear that is what I dislike most about traveling - jostling crowds and the constant maneuvering around people.

My feet were hurting (I'd taken an earlier walk as well) so Dave walked back home with Margaret and Jon while I caught a ride (in Emmett's car seat) with Michelle and Paul. What a nice night though - great people, great food, and great surroundings. It is really good to be home.

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater......

On Sunday afternoon Lucy spent some time with her pal Maia. John and Sophie hung out with me as I stopped to pick up some pumpkins from a local pumpkin patch. We found lots of good ones for my apartment and the kids found some fun things to do there too. After dropping those at my place, Sophie, John, and I went to the park for the rest of the afternoon to explore and play. As you can see in the pics, these two got along great all afternoon. We're sorry Lucy had to miss it, but rumor has it she and Maia had a great day too and today she got to go on a school field trip to a pumpkin patch that included a hay ride, a corn maze, and everything.

Barcelona

Dave finished with his meetings yesterday and we went touring with Craig (NJ), Rick (FL), Brian (Ireland), Harley and Lorraine (NJ), and Steve, Mary and Alisha (TX).

We spent the better part of the afternoon at the Sagrada Familia and were astounded at the beauty of it. People were telling me that this place is how the term "gaudy" got its name - after the original architect, designer and builder of it but I just don't agree - it was beautiful even though the work is ongoing.


Remind me to get Fodor's tour book from now on - it had so much more information than my Frommer's. With Steve reading we got a nice explanation of the Passion Facade as well as the Nativity Facade. Our necks got sore as we peered up looking for the boat powered by Joseph and the Holy Spirit.

We then had our best meal (and according to everyone else, the best Sangria) in Barcelona at a little outdoor cafe across the street from the Sagrada Familia.

The Day the Lights Went Out in Dakota

So, our Saturday adventure began with a simple shower regimen in the morning. One after the other they were going to pop into the shower in the "upstairs bathroom" and so John was the first in line. I was scooting around in the kitchen putting away the breakfast dishes when suddenly everything shut off... the lights, the sounds. At first I thought it was a fuse but then we realized EVERYTHING was off... and that included the lights in the bathroom. Poor John was calling out... calmly with a bit of concern in his voice, "Ummm. Carmyn?" We found a flashlight and and directed it into the shower so he could see. Lucy and Sophie seemed to think a spotlight shower would work for them too. Hey, there's a first for everything. Thankfully the lights came back on a short time later.

In other news, the kids have been crafting and coloring and creating like crazy. First we painted pumpkins in the morning. Lucy even created a crown for her pumpkin princess. Sophie went for the traditional spooky black cat and John's creation had pictures all the way around with a blue stem. Go figure.


On the computer Sophie discovered coloring sheets for Halloween and she printed a few for John and before long all three of them were printing and coloring and cutting out pictures of vampires, bats, witches, pumpkins, and more. We now have enough to give one to everyone in Lucy's class and for me to take home and I think to decorate every bulletin board in their school! Okay, maybe that's exaggerating... but this seemed like endless entertainment, even if we did use a lot of paper.

Street Statues in Barcelona

The first day in Barcelona Lorraine and I wandered down Las Ramblas - the top of it is just a block away from our hotel and it's a leisurely one mile stroll down to the waterfront and the famous statue of Christopher Columbus (Mirador de Colon). The statue is beautiful - tall and full of intricate details but the joke is that he's supposedly pointing toward the New World. In fact, he is pointing the opposite way.

Along the walk there were at least twenty different "people" statues that came alive when people threw coins into the buckets at their feet. Lorraine threw a coin into the "pirate's" bucket and gave a jump and screech when he "Arraghhhed" her. Then he playfully put his sword to her neck for a picture.

The woman rolling the ball was absolutely beautiful to watch and the green troll was pretty fun too - he was a ham for the crowd.

I've been up and down Las Ramblas quite a few times by now - both during the day and at night. I'll just say it's quite a different experience during the evening hours - quite a different experience.

Please Mr. Postman

Lucy got a letter from her friend in the mail on Friday and immediately found some paper and an envelope and began to respond. She thought for a second... how do you start a letter? Oh yeah... Dear... And then she proceeded to ask me how to spell what had to be EVERY word in the letter. It was fun to show her how to address the envelope and it really brought me back to the days before email when I was a kid and all my friends and I used to correspond by mail. Ahhh.... I love real mail. And I love that it's still in vogue. At least among the 2nd graders of the world.

And the Beat Goes On....

On Thursday after school we watched a Scooby Doo episode featuring Sonny and Cher, as a honeymooning celebrity couple. Sophie asked me who are Sonny and Cher? And I tried to answer her and explain they sang one of my favorite songs, "I Got You, Babe." She responded by asking which one was MOST famous. I said that Cher had a longer musical career or maybe just a better known one and that Sonny became mayor of Palm Springs, California. Sophie said she figured as much since Cher was so bossy and they made Sonny seem like he was doing everything wrong. I asked her if she'd ever heard a song by Cher and then I burst into a rousing "If I could turn back time.... if I could find a way" and Sophie stared at me and then paid me the best compliment I've had in a long time. "Wow, YOU could be a singer." Yup. Me and Cher...

Science in the Tub

While mom and dad are soaking up the Mediterranean air, enjoying sangria and paella in Barcelona, the kids and I are taking in our usual fare of Parmesan noodles and so forth.

Last night John entertained Lucy and me with his science experiment that demonstrated that air exists or something profound like that. He wadded up a big of napkin into the bottom of a plastic cup and then pushed it straight down to the bottom of the tub. When he removed the glass the napkin was ... drum roll please.. dry. It was DRY! That's because there was air inside that got trapped and kept it dry, but if he turned the cup at all you could see the air escape and sure enough... that napkin was WET when he removed the cup.

Unfortunately I didn't stress how important it was to remove the wet napkins and tissues he'd used from the bathwater and so it was full of partially dissolved bits of wet paper by the time John emerged from the bath.

Starting a new quilt...

and here it is all cut out - just waiting to be sewn together. My first quilt, on the other hand, still needs to be finished. I tore out the binding yesterday as I did it the opposite way I was supposed to. Ooops. It'll have to wait until we get back from Barcelona to finish it. But in the meantime, Halloween is right around the corner. Let's hope the Halloween one gets up on the wall before October 31st.