Saturday, October 29, 2016

Charlotte turned 10!!

Charlotte is in the double digits!! 


For her birthday this year, she wanted to have a Harry Potter themed dinner party with a couple of friends and watch the first Harry Potter movie. Toby and Jake also got to have a friend over (to fulfill my overdue birthday promise to Toby.) We had sandwiches from Mrs. Weasley, French Onion soup from Kreacher, Lemondrops from Dumbledore, Dirigible Plums from the Lovegoods, and of course, Butterbeer.

Charlotte asked for a cookie cake.  
(One of my favorites too!)

After playing for a while and watching Harry Potter and having cake and all that good stuff, I gave the kiddos the chocolate frogs I had made with wizard cards.  Those were a big hit! It was a fun, low stress party, and I am glad Charlotte enjoyed her special day.

We sure do love our Charlotte girl.  She is spunky and opinionated, but smart and so very, very good at being the big sister. She loves to come up with games or imaginative ideas and get everyone involved. She also LOVES to read and write stories, and is developing her talents for writing and drawing.  I love that she has such a strong idea of who she is as a person and what she thinks is right and wrong.... and that she truly wants to be good, helpful, and kind. 



 Charlotte's birthday interview:
(20 questions style)
1. What is your favorite color? "I like several different colors... turquoise and lilac."
2. What is your favorite toy? My new stuffed bunny
3. What is your favorite fruit? Blueberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? "I don't have one."
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? "Turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard."
6. What is your favorite outfit? "My blue t-shirt with little white patterns of flowers on it with my purple jeans."
7. What is your favorite game? Guess Who
8. What is your favorite snack? "A green sour apple."  (Granny Smith)
9. What is your favorite animal? "I have two- polar bears, of course, and peacocks."
10. What is your favorite song? Fight Song by Rachel Platten (They are learning to sing this in school for Charlotte's friend Clarke who is currently battling cancer. I can't even think about it without losing it.)
11. What is your favorite book? Harry Potter!
12. Who is your best friend? Amy
13. What do you want to be when you grow up? "I wanna be an author and an artist."
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play tetherball.
15. What are you really good at? Drawing
16. What is a food that you hate? "Those yucky cheese roll-ups from Taco Bell."
17. What do you like to do with Mom or Dad? "Eat ice cream!"
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Nutella on toast.
19. What is your favorite dinner? Pasta Primavera
20. What makes you happy? "I like to play school with my brothers and Amelie."

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Park Güell and Sagrada Familia (finally!)


Antoni Gaudi's works can be seen throughout Barcelona. And Park Güell was the ideal place to go with kids to see some of Gaudi's work. (In fact, I bought this book as my souvenir of Barcelona.)  Gaudi was commissioned by the city in the 1920s to create a Modernisme community integrated within a natural setting.


We didn't pay the extra charge to go into the "fee" part of the park.  But enjoyed stolling around, stopping at a playground, and listening to various street performers.

After the Park, we stopped at this place for churros con chocolate. (Which I had still been wanting since Els Quatre Gats disappointed us.)

Notice the kids are sitting at the top of a LOT of stairs?  This was the way we came up.  We never would have made it, except sections of the hill have escalators.  That kept our kids moving upward on the sections that didn't have escalators, because they just had to make it to the next escalator! Maybe it doesn't look that bad to you, but you actually are not even close to seeing the bottom of the hill in this photo. And there are homes on this street.  I can't even imagine.

Our visit to Park Güell was the highlight of a day of frustration.  In the morning we had gone to Sagrada Familia to get in line for tickets and were told the next available entry as at 6 pm! We left and went online to buy tickets for the next day, but that left us with time to fill.  Several people around town, upon seeing our kids, told us we should visit Tibidabo. So, without doing any research on it, we decided to head there.  (Mistake!) We rode the metro, and then an old fashioned street car up a very steep hill.  Which dropped us in front of a funicular to an amusement park. Now, I'm not a total Grinch, but we didn't have an extra couple hundred dollars in the budget for this trip to go to Tibidabo.  (Besides we just went to Tivoli Gardens less than 2 months ago.) So we had lunch at a bizarre restaurant/lounge at the top of this hill. (Teeny tiny red velvet couches and knee height tables- the kids liked the seating, Rob not so much.  Rob liked the food, the kids, not so much.) And then we headed by foot to Park Güell.  After the Park we thought we'd try hitting the Picasso museum for an hour or so.  But when we arrived there we literally could not see the end of the line!  It went on for blocks.  There was no way we could wait that long.  So we ended the day at a German restaurant near our apartment.

The next day we headed out with renewed hope that it would be a great day in Barcelona! After all, we were FINALLY going to see Sagrada Familia!
SO, what's the big deal about this church? Antoni Gaudi designed Sagrada Familia in the early 1900s and began to build it.  At the time of his death in 1924, it was only about 20 percent completed.  He liked to quip, "My client is not in a hurry."  And it is actually still not completed, and is estimated to be about 70 percent done now.  The projected completion date is around 2030.  Visitor entrance fees are being used to finance the project, so when you visit you are actually helping to build one of the grand cathedrals of Europe, which is pretty rad.


The church was consecrated by the Pope in 2010, and services are held there in the smaller chapels.  After my standard, "this is a church, we use quiet voices and behave respectfully" lecture, we entered the sanctuary and were overwhelmed by the construction noises.  It was a different sort of experience for sure. But it is sooooo beautiful inside.

And outside of course.  The details are overwhelming, and I don't know how much time it would take to try and understand all of the elements Gaudi included.  You can try wikipedia if you want to know way more about it than I will write here.

But back inside, the columns rise like trees and branch out at the top.

The stained glass is different than any I have seen before.  And the sun was shining to give us an awesome view of it.

This is an up close look at one panel.

And a larger view of one wall.

When the light filters through the stained glass, it causes this subtle rainbow effect inside the church.  Also, check out the spiral staircase in the back corner.

Back outside again, I tried to capture at least a few of the beautiful details.  Here are the three wise men, and above them angels playing music at Christ's birth on the side called the Nativity Facade.  See the bassoon?


Here is Toby on the side called the Passion Facade. Behind him you can see Judas betraying the Savior with a kiss, and a diagram of numbers. The numbers add up to 33 across, up and down, in groups of four, and diagonally.  (The age Christ was when he died.) Our mathematician appreciated that.

This is a view of the Passion Facade from a distance.


And this on the Passion Facade is the denial of Peter. In the Bible, Christ told Peter he would deny him three times before "the cock crows." Peter couldn't believe he would do that, but then he did.  (The rooster is just to the left and got cut off by the photo.)


Sagrada Familia was totally worth coming to Barcelona for.  It was an unforgettable experience for our familia.
 
After that, we made our way back through the streets of Barcelona one last time and picked up some souvenirs.

One metro ride later, we were walking back to our apartment to pack up.  How do you celebrate the end of an exhausting trip with tons of walking?  By relaxing on the playground of course!

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Barri Gotic, Las Ramblas, and the Zoo

The rest of the time that we were in Barcelona, the weather was cooler, so we did not return to the beach, but spent time sightseeing instead. If it had been warmer, we would have been on the beach more for sure.
Our first stop was the Barcelona Cathedral.

The cathedral was mostly built in the 14th Century.  And while it is impressive, it doesn't quite make the top twenty list of cathedrals in Europe.

Outside the cathedral, we began our walk around the Barri Gotic.  The Gothic quarter of Barcelona has narrow windy streets and some impressive ruins.  This segment of the former Roman wall.

This bridge looks Gothic, but was actually designed and built in the 1920's in the Flamboyant style that is seen elsewhere throughout Barcelona.

These pillars, tucked away in the corner behind an apartment building date from around 100 BC and were part of the Temple of Augustus.

Also in the Barri Gotic, I wanted to visit Els Quatre Gats. This restaurant was a hangout of hometown boy Picasso.  We went in to try to grab some hot chocolate, but the owner seemed very uninterested in serving us with our four children. Seriously, he was pretty rude. So we left and found a sandwich shop that was much more friendly and ordered lunch and fresh squeezed orange juice.  Fresh orange juice was served everywhere in Barcelona and it was the BEST we have ever had.  And so inexpensive.  We had lots of vitamin C on this trip.

Señorita Amelie.
 
After lunch, we walked down Las Ramblas.  This pedestrian area goes down the middle of the main drag, and you pass flower shops, souvenir shops, candy shops and ice cream parlors, etc.

We stopped at La Boqueria Mercat, along with half the population of Barcelona, to do some shopping.  This place was so crowded!  This market has been in operation since the 1200s.

 

We had to buy some of these chocolates to take with us.  They were gorgeous! We ate them that evening before bed, and they were as good as they looked.  We also bought a big cup of pomegranate arils for one euro.  Our kids ate this awesome snack as we continued our walk.

Our next stop was just a slight detour off Las Ramblas to see the outside of Palau Güell.  We didn't want to take the time to go inside (there was a long line) but enjoyed looking at the details on the outside of this home designed by Antoni Gaudi.

Then we stopped at a playground.  Barcelona is a fantastic city for playgrounds and park benches.  We stopped at several different ones each day.

After all the grown-up sights, it was time for some kiddie fun.  We passed by the Christopher Columbus monument (thanks for the holiday weekend!) on our way to the Barcelona Zoo.

This wasn't my favorite zoo ever, but it did have some impressive animal exhibits.


We got there at the right time to see the penguins being fed.

And they had a nice playground area too.

These are my favorite animals.
Day two in Barcelona was busy and we ended it with a traditional meal at a nice restaurant. The kids got pizza and Rob and I had paella.  It was our 11th anniversary dinner! And I wouldn't have wanted to walk 20,000 steps with anyone else that day.

Barcelona Beach

We started our visit to Barcelona by enjoying an 80 degree day at the beach.

The Airbnb we stayed in was just a two block walk away, so as soon as we had dropped our luggage we went down to the shore to explore. It was evening, and windy, so we didn't go in the water but enjoyed a little seaside playground in the sand.

The next morning we stopped in a bakery and picked up some chicken empanadas and chocolate croissants (a little different than hoagies from Wawa or Publix, but excellent beach food) and headed to the seaside.  We had a stretch of sand mostly to ourselves and spent the day soaking up the sun and swimming.

The water was cool, but not cold.

The kids loved it.  And so did Rob and I.

Rob buried each of the kids in the sand at some point during the day.
When we were worn out and starving, we headed back to our apartment, had baths and showers, and ordered Dominos pizza and watched cartoons on the TV.  It was the most vacation-y day of a trip we have had in a long time!


Friday, October 14, 2016

Amelie turned 3!!

Amelie is already three years old! No more baby gear around our house.  No diapers, high chair, sippy cups... and soon no more crib.  That is just amazing to me.

For her birthday, Amelie wanted to go to Ramba Zamba and have hot dogs and Cheetos for dinner.  Sound familiar?  That would be because those were the same as Jake's birthday requests about a month earlier.  Sometimes we call Amelie "Echo" or "Copycat" because she watches and listens so carefully and then mimics just what you say or do.  I even play it as a game sometimes, I will do something, like cross my legs or purse my lips, just to watch her copy it.  

Anyway, I couldn't do hot dogs again personally, so I added steak, broccoli, and sweet potatoes to the birthday menu.  She ate the sweet potato first, so clearly she approved.  And we did go to Ramba Zamba, but I didn't take more pictures there.

She also wanted us to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  I don't know where she heard or saw that, but it was an easy enough request to fill.

And in a stroke of originality, she requested a red velvet birthday cake with pink and blue icing. She loved the My Little Pony she got and we gave her a Baby Book all about her that I made. Charlotte, Toby, and Jake actually went through their toys and made Amelie some gifts of their own. Have I mentioned lately that I love these kids? 

There is no mistaking Amelie is three years old.  She is a threenager in every way.  She is extremely strong willed and stubborn. And the mood swings!  She is also very, very attached to and territorial about her Mommy, more so than any of our other kids have ever been. I often remind her that she is not an only child.  But she also wants to be big and do everything that the big kids are doing. She loves to be read to and to have conversations. And she loves going for walks... as long as she is riding in the stroller. 

We sure love our LuLu girl.

Amelie's birthday interview:
(20 questions style)
1. What is your favorite color? Pink
2. What is your favorite toy? The drawing board (Magnadoodle)
3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Sophia the First
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Charley's (kids meal with chicken, fries, and Oreos)
6. What is your favorite outfit?"The... what I have on right now." (daisy love t-shirt and blue jeans)
7. What is your favorite game? Blokus
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks!
9. What is your favorite animal? Big kitty cats (lions, tigers, etc)
10. What is your favorite song? ABCs
11. What is your favorite book? Little Miss books
12. Who is your best friend? Caroline
13. What do you want to be when you grow up? "I wanna be an artist"
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Playing on the trampoline
15. What are you really good at? "I can do jumping jacks!" (She can't actually)
16. What is a food that you hate? "I don't wanna! I want to answer a different question."  (Did I mention the mood swings?)
17. What do you like to do with Mom or Dad? Read books and do puzzles.
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes.
19. What is your favorite dinner? Hot dogs.
20. What makes you happy? "Nothing makes me happy!!"  (Noted.)

Toby turned 8!!

 What can I say about our Toby?  He is just an awesome kid.  He continues to be kind, generous, and a good friend to everyone. In addition to his talent for math, he has discovered talents in art, music, and learning German. 


For his birthday dinner, Toby asked for tacos, and for his birthday cake he just wanted a chocolate cake with blue, green, and red frosting.  He wanted to have a specific friend over, but they were on vacation.  He didn't want to invite anyone else, so I still owe him a playdate.  But he did enjoy his gift of a Wii guitar and guitar hero game and we all played that for a while and then Rob and Toby played Toby's favorite board game, Monopoly, together.

Happy. easygoing birthday boy.
(Amelie made him wear the hat.)
 
  
Being eight years old, means that Toby was now old enough to be baptized a member of our church if he chose to do so.  He said he wanted to be baptized because Jesus was baptized and he wants to try to make good choices. We were so happy to have so many of his friends from church come to support him and after the baptism we enjoyed some light refreshments. Rob and I got him his own set of scriptures with his name on them.

  
Toby told me that he felt really clean after his baptism. He even shared his experience in Primary the next day in his own words.  We are very proud of this exceptional boy of ours! 

Toby's birthday interview:
(20 questions style)
1. What is your favorite color? Green or Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? Playing cards
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples
4. What is your favorite tv show? Power Rangers
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? BBQ riblets (school lunch)
6. What is your favorite outfit? My "rock vs. paper vs. scissors" shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Monopoly and Word Thief and Minecraft
8. What is your favorite snack? cinnamon buns
9. What is your favorite animal? "I don't really have one."
10. What is your favorite song? Eye of the Tiger
11. What is your favorite book? Calvin and Hobbes
12. Who is your best friend? Noah and Jack
13. What do you want to be when you grow up? An engineer
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Archery!
15. What are you really good at? "Building, that's the number 1 thing."
16. What is a food that you hate? Brussels sprouts
17. What do you like to do with Mom or Dad? "With Dad I like to do a board game. With Mom?  Cuddle."
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal
19. What is your favorite dinner? Tacos
20. What makes you happy? Having fun with friends and family.