Our Trip to Spain

Every time I think of Spain that song from "My Fair Lady" pops into my head. For the past week I've been humming the tune. I choose to hum because I'm pretty sure Mr. Higgens would be appalled at my pronunciation. Anyhow, our mini-vacation with Emily and Caleb was great! We had hot weather, a beautiful house and pool to relax in and a gorgeous (and might I add DANGEROUS) city to stroll through. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to, there is always that voice in my head that says "oh, there's always later" and then later arrives and I realize I have no photo of me with my good friend! Luckily, I did snap some here and there so without further delay here they are.

Caleb was a darling with Maddalena. He really wanted to play with her or help her play (you had this in your mouth earlier now let me do it for you) but M has this thing with personal space, if someone is too close she lets them know it. Often Caleb would try to console her by either touching her face or what seemed to be him trying to hold her hand, so sweet of him. Little did he know, he was the problem.

The house we stayed at was gorgeous! I'm sure Emily will give all the details about that when she has a minute. The only thing I will say is that there were 11 bedrooms, each with it's own bathroom! And it was pretty spooky sleeping at night when everyone else was gone.

Besides the house being huge and the grounds being beautiful there was also a chapel. Yes, a chapel, two hops and a skip away from the main door. It also came with these bells that rang every hour, every quarter hour, every half hour, in short, ALL THE TIME. And it was loud. It was loud no matter where you were- inside, outside, in the wine cellar, underwater, those bells made sure you knew what time it was. M didn't get much napping in those days but she is making up for it now that we're home. 

We spent most of the time relaxing with the babes either inside or by the pool. One day we did take a drive over to the nearby town enjoying some Fanta at a little bar. Some little old lady decided to chat us up even though it was obvious we were not Spanish and understood little to nothing of what she was saying. The story of my life. 

On Saturday we decided to be adventurous and journey into the city. After a 30 minute drive, 30 to 40 minutes on two different trains, and some screaming fits and whining, two sweaty moms arrived in Barcelona without any major catastrophes. Woohoo!! We had already chosen Park Guell as our destination for the day and the city is pretty well organized so we found it fairly quickly. The plus side of having little arrows guide you through a big city is that you get to where you want without getting lost. The down side is you find yourself amidst other tourists and that just feels dorky.

Fortunately, we took a bathroom break which helped separate us from the herd. We grabbed some more Fanta here in this pastry shop/bar before heading out under the hot Spanish sun. Did I mention that our children had made a pact? We're not sure when they had worked this out but while one was sleeping blissfully, the other one made sure to whine and fuss just enough so that our day was never really peaceful. 

The park was definitely original. We strolled about for a good while and saw some good views of Barcelona.

 

Here are the little world travelers. Yes, I'm pretty sure we put the brakes on before we parked them for these photos. 

And see that lady in the photo!? How obvious was it that we were trying to take this adorable photo of our babies and a view. Can you move you and your ugly bag out of the way?? 

In an attempt to tire out the little ones we let them play (well, Caleb played, M watched). Though our attempts were in vain I did have the bright idea to take a picture of me and my little girl together. 

After playtime in the park it was time to head home. While heading towards the main train station we hoped on a bus to avoid walking more than we wanted to. Did you know that people in Barcelona actually pay for their bus tickets?? It was unfamiliar and after awhile the guilt weighed on us so we got off and meandered down one of the main streets.

 

So that is about that. I need to go before M wakes up from a nap, I have baby food to make and other random things to do. I did save the best for last, however. These last two photos are my favorite. Emily really helped recharge my batteries with this visit, a special thank you to her. And this made me miss all of you all the more! 

I think those bells might have rung while we having the picture taken...