Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias - Happy Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again - the holidays!!  I have faced the holidays with a much more positive attitude this year than I did last year.  This is my favorite time of year full of tons of traditions between our family and our friends.  And it makes me miss home even more. 

But knowing that last year we managed just fine thru the holiday season AND we even enjoyed it despite being away from home, gave me a good feeling that this year, yet again, we'd be ok.  And I was right.  Last year we had some friends and Josh's co-workers over to our place to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Our apartment is small and it was crowded but the idea of all of us being "alone" without our families on Thanksgiving and coming together as a "new" family, actually made it that much more special. 

And so it was with that mentality that we have faced the upcoming season.  And we have even looked forward to it!  This year we spent Thanksgiving with our friends the Persson's - Gina, Jorgen and Adam.  Gina and I spent the 2 weeks before the big day planning out the menu and ordering up our turkey.  I went to the same chicken lady that I did last year and she recognized me.  Though she did try to convince me that Thanksgiving wasn't til next week.  I had to explain to her that while holidays here always fall on the same day each year, in the US, many holidays are observed on either Monday or Friday or in the case of Thanksgiving, on a certain week of the month.  So now she knows that each year it changes.

On Wednesday Gina and I went to pick up our 6 kilo turkey (about 13 lbs) which was HUGE.  Keep in mind the ovens here are significantly smaller than those in the US.  So anything bigger than this and I think we would have been up a creek.  Gina offered to cook and I did much of the baking since that's more my area... you know, because I can make it from a mix :)  Everytime I'd offer her a mix for something, like say stuffing or corn bread, she'd give me a look and tell me she was making it from scratch - um, yup, this is going to be some yummy meal in that case!!

And it was!  I picked up the kids early on Thursday from school and we headed up to Vallvidrera (just on the outskirts of the city) overlooking the Med to work on prepping for our big turkey dinner.  Turkey was in the oven and it was just a matter of putting everything else together.  We had a great time just cooking (ok Gina did most of the cooking and I did a lot of observing and/or chopping of veggies) and hanging out and the kids watched some of the parade, played on the wii and the ipad.  A mellow day full of anticipation for the dinner that evening.

Playing the wii

Prepping for more food!

Self entertaining

A new hang out spot

Josh, Jorgen and Frank arrived from work and Adam came home from basketball practice. Aidan worships the ground that Adam (he's 13) walks on and followed him everywhere. He hung out in Adam's room while he did homework, followed him back and forth from kitchen to living room, etc. And Liam just self entertained himself. It was a great evening.

Jorgen, Frank and Josh

Watching football! 

The turkey and all the fixings were fabulous!  Of course, Liam has been sick this week and as we were cooking I wasn't feeling 100% myself.  So by the time the turkey and stuff came out, I was just in no mood for food :(  Isn't that always the case - total Murphy's Law!  So I didn't eat as much as I would have liked but the scale did thank me in the morning for that one in the end.  But now I'm going to have to make another apple crisp today just so I get a chance to enjoy it! 

And just some of the fabulous food we ate!

Liam fell asleep in a chair around 9:30 and shortly thereafter we called a cab to pick us up.  I have always taken the funicular up to Gina's place and it's a straight line up the mountain.  But man, when you take a cab, talk about your long windy roads... whew!  I had a puke bag ready to go for Liam but I almost thought I would need it! 

We had an absolutely fantastic time with friends on Thanksgiving and it was a great way to celebrate our American traditions in Spain.  It's a day to give thanks and so I must say, I'm thankful for so much.  First of course, for my family and their health.  And then to the amazing opportunities that we have had while living abroad these past 2 years.  We've made wonderful friends here, seen so many places and have enjoyed so many new experiences.  The kids are in a school that we love and learning so much not just academically but about life and how to enjoy it and to appreciate it.  It is something we will be thankful for for years to come.  And to be able to celebrate with such wonderful people made the day all the more special!  Hope everyone at home had a great holiday as well!

Love
Julie

The Rise and Fall of the Human Tower - Castellers

Josh got back from the US this morning and it was soooo good to see him (and our American goodies).  Liam was waiting at the front door to our building waving and blowing kisses as Josh got out of the cab.  He was just so excited to see his daddy after 10 days!  And it was so nice to be back together as a family.  Josh travels for work but usually it's 2-3 days here and there, maybe once every 6 weeks.  I know we are lucky in that aspect here as many families I know here have a spouse that travels several times per month.  But Josh doesn't do many 10 day trips, as a matter of fact this was only his second this year, so it was really nice to have him home.

But there is no rest for the weary and after unpacking and taking a shower we hit the road.  It has been raining here pretty consistently for over 3 weeks now and it was supposed to rain all of today so it was an unexpected surprise to see the sun shining. I had seen a post on my facebook from the kids school that there was going to be a casteller festival today at noon. 

We've seen the Castellers before but I always find it so fascinating and this was going to be right in our neighborhood of Gracia.  The kids didn't want to go initially preferring to stay here and veg out.  Part of me didn't blame them, we were all kind of in that mindset.  But in the end, I'm so glad we went.  Not only were the Castellers amazing, but we laughed and played as a family in a way that we haven't in a while.  No one was moody and no one had tantrums.  We laughed and giggled and played tag as we ran up the streets. 

Aidan taunting Josh and Liam to catch him

Playing tag as we walk down the streets of Gracia

I love it when he smiles :)

One of our favorite squares in our neighborhood is the Placa de la Vila de Gracia, or as we call it, The Clock Tower Square. And that's where the Castellers were going to be. Off we went. We got there just in time as they had just started and the crowds weren't as overwhelming as they are when we see the Castellers during La Merce. In case you don't remember from previous entries, the Castellers are human towers. They are primarily in Catalunya which is the part of Spain that we live in. This is a tradition that has been going on for years and has actually been declared by UNESCO to be a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The castells range in size and height but they are ALWAYS topped with a small child. A child that only in recent years needs to wear a helmet for safety (because nothing else will happen/break to your kid dropping 40 feet in the air, right??). The child is the enxaneta and climbs into place at the top and raises one hand with four fingers erect, in a gesture said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag. Amazingly accidents where one is injured or killed is rare and the most recent death was in 2006 and before that in 1983. 

Josh and I each had a kid on our shoulders and my neck and shoulders hurt after just a few minutes and that was with just a 40 pound kid on them. Imagine the weight of several people climbing onto your shoulders? Reminds me a little bit of the Dr. Seuss book Yertle the Turtle where Yertle climbs on the backs of hundreds of turtles in order to rule over all that he can see.

Aidan on Josh's shoulders

The festival starts out with a colla (group/team) walking out to the center of the performance area.  These are usually at least 4 people high with a team surrounding the lowest level to push him forward and to catch the participants should balance be lost. 

Colla walking to the center (the blue building)

And another colla

And another...

Because I couldn't get that close up or a picture from above, I checked online so you can see what the base of a castell looks like:

So as you can see, these teams support each other from all different angles, literally and figuratively.  They hold each others lives in their hands. 

The start to a castell

And here is the video to see them complete the castell: 

http://youtu.be/mIu4CUWN3hQ

And this is a video of another HUGE castell - this is amazing! 

 http://youtu.be/hP8H4tydpuM

Tower going up...

The next several pictures are stage by stage as the castell goes up!

Completed!!!

After about 20 minutes of watching the castellers, the kids were getting bored and so we decided to see if we might be able to get a table at our favorite outdoor cafe, Amelie.  Surprisingly someone had just left and so we snagged the table while still being able to watch some of the castellers that weren't blocked by the clock tower.

Milk mustache

Trying to make a paper airplane with a paper thin napkin

The infamous clock tower...the castellers were on the side where the blue building is

Happy to be home

Best of friends, worst of enemies...today friends...

I love my daddy!!

While we were enjoying our lunch, we watched the castellers and then suddenly a tower started to shake and it went down.  I defnitely gasped loudly and was rather stunned to hear applause when they went down.  I'm not sure if this was for encouragement, as if, hey, great job, you got that far, now try again!!  Or if it was some kind of disturbing thing where people get off on other peoples traumas.  Who knows.  Regardless, they also clapped when all was ok with all of the participants.  I guess maybe it's because bad accidents don't happen often.  We saw one more tower go down during lunch and then while the kids were playing I went back up to where the crowds were gathered watching (we had lunch on the opposite side of the square) and decided to video tape again. 

And wouldn't you know, the tower collapsed again!  This time I had it on tape.  Thankfully no one seemed to be seriously injured but seeing a small child along with the rest of the tower just collapse down to the ground was unbelievable.  These people have an amazing amount of courage and skill to do what they do.  And to brave the risk of falling knowing that it could happen at any time shows why this is a tradition that UNESCO believes should be carried on. To watch the tower collapsing check out this link:  http://youtu.be/ipIo6lIZ0l0

You can't see it on the video but I kind of saw this collapse coming. One of the men on the bottom level looked like he was really struggling.  His face was so red and I thought he was going to collapse of a heart attack.  I was willing that kid to get to the top and get over as soon as possible because I knew he wasn't going to make it.  And you could tell he was doing all he could to hold it together but unfortunately the tower didn't make it all the way to the end :(

After watching our final castellers it was time to head home and relax - a nice Sunday all in all!!

Aidan saw the tower collapse from here here he was standing up higher than most of the crowds... of course, he thought it was cool...

Liam less than a block from our apartment

Julie

Just Grow Up - Living a Freer Life

Every generation is different, we all know that.  Technology has been a big player in the way we live our lives and how we gather information.  When I was a kid, we got our news from the newspaper and from the morning/evening news on TV.  There was no internet, no cell phones (at least not ones that could multitask like those of today), no laptops.  You passed information by word of mouth, you used pay phones when you needed to make a call if you were going to be late or if there was a problem.

With the advent of technology we've been able to spread news much faster.  And because of this, there is also a lot of fluff news, filler you could call it.  Not enough "real" news on a day to day business and you've got all these avenues to gather your information.  The news has made us people who live in a sense of fear.

What do I mean by that?  Ok, my generation, the one that grew up in the 70s and 80s, we were what I would consider the last generation to live freely.  We would roam the neighborhood til our parents would call us for dinner - and I'm not talking about doing this at age 10 or 15, but at age 5.  We were responsible for our own actions.  I've no doubt we did some really stupid shit too... actually I can't even say I have no doubt that we did, because we did do stupid shit.  And it's stuff that if my kids did it, I would probably freak out. 

But my kids won't have that opportunity to live so freely.  To run thru fields and suck the honey out of clovers (because if my kid did that I would freak).  To play flashlight tag at night in the neighborhood.  Because I'll be damned if he's going out after dark to play!!  To go ice skating down in the cranberry bogs without an adult - what if he fell in??? 

So what happened to change things?  What happened that has made our generation scared to let our children live?  I believe, it's the advent of faster technology.  Hey, I use it every day so don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming it for destroying lives here.  I'm just saying that because we can spread news faster it's also caused us to become more cautious.  A bit too cautious.

Why?  Well for example, let's talk child predators.  They are out there.  There is no doubt.  But do we really think there has been an increase in child predators over the last 20 years where our children cannot be out of our sights for more than 5 seconds?  My guess is probably not.  But it's the spread of information thru the news channels/internet that has made us more aware.  A bit too aware.  I'm not saying you should just let your kids run wild, but what I'm saying is, what are the odds?  Can they have some more freedom?

What is the reason for this entry you are probably wondering??  Well, it's one I've been wanting to write for a while but hadn't gotten around to.  It's about coddling our kids, a bit too much.  Don't get me wrong.  A little coddling is good.  But this generation doesn't function as independently as our past generations have.  Parents are constantly doing for their kids.  They don't want them to have to experience failure or fear.  In a way it's a good thing - who doesn't want their children to be safe or to have to suffer from disappointment?  We all want the best for them.

But by coddling them too much, are we doing them a diservice?  Have they become so insulated to the real world that they won't know how to function or will they fear everything around them?  That everything they touch may have germs and that every stranger is a bad person waiting to kidnap you?

Speaking of kidnapping, I think that's a mindset that I've changed since being here.  Not everyone is out to steal my kid.  I'm not saying it couldn't happen, god forbid.  But it's not forefront on my mind like it would have been at home.  I lost Aidan in the grocery store a time or two at home and the fear that I felt was unreal.  Here, the people are touchy feely - they constantly touch your child - they walk by you and they give your child a pat on the head.  It's done in kindness, not intrusively. 

So when the nice guy picks up your kid to go down the metro stairs so you can carry your stroller, don't freak out that he's stealing your kid.  He's trying to help.  Its a mindset we used to have a long time ago in the States and one that will make me sad to someday leave here without because I think this kindness is also what makes me feel like my kids are living in a city that's safe.  That they are looked out for.

Back in Feb Josh had to go home to the States for work.  It was a gorgeous week, around 65F here and sunny.  I took the kids down to the boardwalk by the beach with their scooters.  Apparently everyone and their brother had the same idea.  It was crowded, super crowded.  Aidan knows it's ok to scoot ahead a little bit but to stay relatively close.  But I lost him.  I hadn't seen him in a bit and I started to get that panic feeling.  I called him a few times with no response.  Let me just remind you of the fact that NO ONE yells here, I never hear anyone yell at their kids or even for their kids.  So when I'm yelling for Aidan, people are looking at me, but I don't care.  I just need to find him.  I get to the end of the section of walkway and he's not there and now I'm really freaked out.

But do you know what?  I wasn't freaked out that someone kidnapped him which would have been the first thing on my mind at home.  I was concerned because I knew he was lost and that he was probably pretty hysterical trying to find me as well.  And that he didn't know how to find me and the longer he was gone the harder it could be to find him.  But I was not worried about someone stealing him.  We've become a society in the US that lives in fear of the unknown and fear of those outside our "bubbles". 

I've learned a lot about how we over protect our kids since living here in Spain.  It's a different mindset - not good nor bad, but different.  And I think between the two I can hopefully come up with a happy medium.  Because I do think in a way they live a little too free (for me at least) but at the same time, it's reminiscent of my own childhood and something that I want to give to my kids.

Take for example, food.  There are no kids menus here in Barcelona.  Why shouldn't kids eat what the adults are eating?  It often tends to be healthier as well rather than the typical fried chicken nuggets that are often the cuisine du jour for kids eating out experience.  Unless you go to a touristy place like Hard Rock here, you'll be hard pressed to find something just for kids on the menu.  And your toddler, the one who is still using a sippy cup - well there are no sippy cups here, nor are there plastic covered cups.  Your child shall drink from glass like the rest of us.  And you know what?  I have yet to see a kid throw or break said glasses. 

And on that note, they also don't sell sippy cups here with the exception of the first step after you wean from a bottle kind.  After that, it's a cup.  Plates tend to be typical ceramic and not plastic as well. You'll be hard pressed to find snack packs in the grocery store too.  When you go out to dinner, it's as a whole family.  This is where I tend to draw the line.  Dinner here isn't til 8:30 and my kids are long in bed by then.  We've done it a handful of times and they've just about fallen asleep at the table.  But you'll see kids of all ages out with their families well after 11 or 12 here.  Family is family no matter the age. 

Sports are another example though from what some friends have been telling me, some of this is getting more common at home.  Sports are taken very seriously here.  Parents are considered to be an intrusion and interruption for the instructors.  You would think my boys are prepping to play at Wimbleton with how seriously they take it.  And so parents are no longer allowed to watch lessons - something I actually really enjoyed doing.  You drop and run (a term that is an old favorite of mine and Josh's). 

When it comes to sports don't expect much as far as protective gear here.  I'll admit, that's another one that I don't so much agree with.  I've seen kids rollerblading, skateboarding, scootering and biking (including sitting in the basket of their parents' bikes) without helmets.  I can't say that's a freedom that I've given to my kids.  I do think it's essential to have sport safety - why take that risk?  I know our generation didn't use them and I'd like to think we came out pretty good, but what we didn't know didn't hurt us I guess?  We also didn't know that smoking caused cancer so I guess you live and learn right? 

The ones here who use the helmets are the children castellers.  You'll see more about them in my next entry.  But these are kids that climb to the top of human towers and only in recent years have been obligated to wear a helmet.  The castellers put their trust into each other that the children will be safe and they band together at the bottom as a safety net.  That's what we are missing is our safety net at home.  Why shouldn't my kids roam the neighborhood on their own?  All of us know each others cars and would know in a moment if there was a strange car roaming the neighborhood.  Aren't they safe in their own community? 

I remember a family that used to live in our neighborhood that used to let their kids run free and I remember judging them and thinking my god, how could they??  Don't they care?  But they apparently had a more open mind than the rest of us.  Why wouldn't they be safe?  Are the odds stacked that much against us?  Or can we just let our kids be kids and enjoy the perks that go with it?  There must be a happy medium in there somewhere...

Julie

Experiencing Prejudice

I've been very fortunate in my life.  I've grown up in a time where being a woman has not had a significant impact on my career path.  I've never had concern that I lost a job to a man and have never felt that I couldn't do something just because I was a woman.  I grew up in a time where my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be - not just a nurse or a teacher or a secretary which were the occupations expected of the women of generations before us.  I was expected to go to college (and did) and while my college didn't have a significant amount of women at the time, I never felt that I was outnumbered.

I am not racist.  I do not judge on people's backgrounds and where they came from - I'm more concerned about the type of person they are - kind, caring, considerate, giving, etc.  I've never cared if someone could or could not speak English just because they were in America.  I think it's a narrow minded viewpoint and don't have a problem saying that. 

But when we moved to Europe, I did have a little concern about preconceived notions about Americans.  With controversy all over the world regarding wars and economics and feeling the need to be involved in everything, Americans aren't always the most welcome of people.  And so I was surprised at how well received we've been here.  As far as I've been concerned we haven't had any issue with people looking at us differently because we are American.  If anything, we've found some to be a bit fascinated with it.

Though that doesn't mean that at times it's not frustrating.  But I don't look at it as being prejudiced.  Sometimes I'll go into a restaurant or a coffee shop (specifically Starbucks but in their defense, what Spanish people are going to Starbucks?  They are all getting the local coffee) and before I've opened my mouth, they speak to me in English.  I don't think they are being prejudiced though, they are just trying to be kind and make me more comfortable.  And while I appreciate it, I'm never going to learn if they keep talking to me in English.  Same goes for the kids - both their tennis and jiu jitsu instructors talk to them in English.  It's been an incredible kindness that I appreciate and while it hasn't improved their Spanish, it has given them a level of comfort that they might not otherwise have had.

Ok, so you probably get the picture - we feel pretty good here.  People are kind.  People don't (appear) to judge us based on our lack of communication abilities.  So fast forward to today.  Liam had a doctor's appointment that I did not want to chance a misunderstanding during.  Our pediatrician speaks some English but limited.  And while 98% of the time I can function on my own in Spanish or certainly do my best without assistance (how else will I learn?), there are moments where I know I need to rely on others.  In the case of medical situations I recognize that I must acknowledge my shortcomings and rely on someone to help me. 

This wasn't a case of a simple annual physical.  This was a meeting with an endocrinologist.  Long story short and similar to my tale with Aidan, I tell it because it had a happy ending and therefore I'm ok about talking about mental/physical issues with the boys in that case.  Liam's teachers had mentioned to me that they noticed his arms and legs were slightly short.  Not significantly but enough for them to notice.  They had recommended an endocrinologist to take a look at him.  But before jumping the gun, I opted to take him to the pediatrician.  The pediatrician who's English is just so-so and therefore I couldn't ask her the 20,000 questions in my head because since that conference I had, of course, done some googling and found information online that was most certainly scary and concerning. 

The pediatrician checked Liam over and agreed with the teachers - he should see an endocrinologist.  She arranged for the appointment on my behalf and just a few days later (today) we went to see him.  Because this was something that could have a significant impact on Liam's well being, I brought along a friend who spoke fluent Spanish.  I did not want to take a chance that I might not understand something. 

The doctor looked at Liam and with a bit of disgust looked at us, like "why is this child here?".  My friend told him that the teachers had spoken of his extremities being slightly shorter and that the pediatrician agreed.  I gave him Liam's medical card from the States with his height/weight information and his computer system had the last 2 years.  Of course, the US stuff is in inches and pounds, not centimeters and kilos.  He looked at my friend and asked if we were British and questioned if we actually lived here full time and when she said we did and that we were American and not British (to which his response was "even worse"), he did ask if we were Barca fans at least.  You could tell just by the looks he was giving me that he absolutely wanted nothing to do with us. 

Of course my biggest concern was Liam and not his attitude though I also was worried about his quality of care (his bedside manner definitely lacked for someone who is a pediatric endocrinologist) given what definitely appeared to be a prejudice against us.  He was annoyed when I could not give him information about Liam's head measurements from the States - our little book only had records of his weight, height and shots - I know his doctor at home has all this information in their computer but it's not information that I have ever needed and I was not told in advance that I would need it or I would more than happily have called them to get it.  He kept looking at me with the look of "stupid American". 

It was an incredibly frustrating meeting.  Thankfully he said that Liam is perfectly fine and that his arms are not short, but that his upper arm is shorter than normal and that this is a hereditary thing.  Given that neither Josh nor I have abnormally short upper arms makes me question it but he was insistant upon this.  My friend kept defending what I would say and the doctor would occassionally talk to me in some broken English just so he could reinforce his words to her.  In other words, he tried to make me look bad.  The thing is, I understood most of what he said.  Yes, I brought a friend to interpret for me, but I brought her in the case that I needed to understand more or to ask questions that I might otherwise not be able to ask.  I did not bring her because I can't understand any Spanish.  I absolutely can - but I can't understand it all...yet... and I didn't want to risk my child's health for my own ego. 

I felt very badly after the appointment.  We decided this man was an absolute jerk.  I know there is prejudice all over the world, but it doesn't make one feel any better for sure.  And I know that he is being ignorant and in a way naive to the world around him.  I cared about the best care for my child and that should have been his main concern, not where we come from or the language that we speak.  He should have been happy to see that I wanted no miscommunications (ahem, like the gym) when it came to Liam's health.  But no, all he could see is that we were American and did not speak fluent Spanish.

I hope this experience abroad, not just this one experience with this doctor, will teach my kids more about tolerance of others.  That they will learn that everyone is different and that we all have things to contribute in different ways.  That we should not judge based on appearance, heredity, language, etc - that we should not judge at all.  Liam had a lesson in that after his appointment when we saw a very deformed man panhandling in the street.  I explained to him that all people are different and that is what makes us special - if we were all alike, life would be pretty boring... don't you think?

Julie

Happy Halloween - 2011

It's been raining in Barcelona for a solid 2 weeks now.  It's not normal and it's kind of wearing on all of us.  At the same time, it's a sign that fall is finally here.  During some of the rare moments of clearing, it has still been warm - a few days this week were in the early 70s, no jacket required.  The kids are still wearing just a light sweatshirt to school.  It's hard to believe we are already into November. 

And so with all the rain and the air starting to get a bit chilly, I can finally get into fall mode.  And the start of that is Halloween.  As I mentioned in my blog last year, it's not a holiday really celebrated here.  There are some stores with decorations and you will see some costumes start to appear around mid Oct (not like end of Aug at home!).  I pre-ordered the kids costumes from home and my dad shipped it all here to arrive before Oct 1 - last year we had a bit of chaos in getting them here so I planned ahead this time!

Because there is no trick-or-treating here, the boys' school puts on a huge party for the entire school, nursery thru grade 12.  Normally it is held on the elementary school campus (because they just added an upper school campus this year so before it actually was the entire school campus) outside because, well, it's still warm here in October.  It was supposed to be held last Friday but due to the deluge of rain we've been having, it was rescheduled to this past Friday.

The kids were bummed about the change but were fine with it.  They did a little Halloween in Puerto Banus while we were away over the weekend and had something to look forward to this week.  There is a parade that is held during the afternoon before the party, just for the elementary school.  Liam was super excited about it, Aidan not so much.  But in the end he had nothing to worry about because it's still been raining!!!

The PTA made a decision to move the party indoors.  Now because our climate here is very mild, most schools don't have an indoor gymnasium.  Events are held in patio areas and that is the case for BFIS, the boys' school.  So to move it indoors meant to the cafeteria (still not nearly as big as your standard American one - but keep in mind they have 500 students for the entire N-12) and to the art room of the high school which is in the basement of the building. 

Seriously mom, why are you making us take a picture???????  You would think I was telling them they'd lost tv for a week instead of going to a Halloween party!

Liam and his friend Quinn

Aidan, Santi and Lucas

Liam playing one of several games

Suffice it to say, it was crowded.  Like fire marshall would never have allowed this at home kind of crowded.  You couldn't move an inch most of the party.  But the kids were super happy and thrilled to be dressed up in their costumes.  Aidan was Jengo Fett from StarWars and Liam was Captain America, an apt costume for my all American boy!! 

Josh came to the party this year too which was a nice bonus since he missed it last year.  There was American food on the grill and candy that people brought back from the States (all at a cost of course, we managed to spend 60 euros in tickets for the 2 1/2 hours we were there).  And lots of games for the kids to play.  All in all, everyone had a great time and we've made it thru yet another holiday abroad, relatively unscathed!  Next up, Thanksgiving!!!

Julie

Marbella is Just Beachy...

The rest of our trip to Marbella and Puerto Banus was relatively uneventful which is probably why it's taken so long for me to do my next blog entry - the highlight being the trip to Gibraltar on our first day.  We stayed in Puerto Banus and really only spent time there in the evenings but the boardwalk was a beautiful area to walk, and started just outside our hotel's door.  After walking about 10 minutes along the boardwalk we would come to the center of town which went along the harbor.  You could tell we were no longer in Kansas any more and I can now understand why this is considered to be such a ritzy area.  The docks were blocked with fancy metal gates and as we would eat dinner, cars like Ferraris, Mercedes and Bentleys would go by at a frequent pace.  At one point a VW went by and Josh and I were like, hmmmm doesn't fit in!! 

A cute little cove near our hotel before it opens up to the Med

Palm trees along the beach

The boardwalk in Puerto Banus

The boys found exercise equipment along the way and had to try

An accident waiting to happen

On Halloween we ate down by the water again and the restaurant that the kids chose was similar to Hard Rock - good old American food.  And the food was good which was nice.  But what was nicer that since it was Halloween, a holiday not really celebrated here, they gave the kids little goodie boxes filled with treats.  It made their night!!!

Liam with his Halloween box walking down by the water

But really that's all we saw of Puerto Banus and so we definitely would like to make a return trip there so we can see more of it in the daylight.  We think the beaches look to be nicer than those in Marbella.  Marbella is a famous spot along the southern coast and is known for it's wealthy visitors.  I can't say I was super impressed though.  It's more of a city than a town and I didn't think anything about it really stood out to make me think, yes, this is an amazing place.  Pretty, yes, stunning, not so much.

We took the kids to Marbella on our second full day (our last full day as we only had 2 1/2 days for this trip) to schmooze around.  TripAdvisor had recommended the Old Town but disappointingly, we didn't do it.  We drove thru a bit of it and then the kids had no desire to walk back to it.  So we did the boardwalk along the water.  And while it was a nice boardwalk with a ton of restaurants and a stunning view, the beaches themselves looked a bit dirty.  I know that's a bit of a contradiction given that beaches are made of sand/dirt, but it wasn't like a soft white sand but more of, well... dirt.  I know that's not how they all are and we weren't there to swim anyways.  It was warm out but not quite that warm. 

Around the center of Marbella

When we arrived by the beach

Trying to take an artisitc shot ;)

Quick snack by the water to recharge

But getting a ride regardless

Strolling along

One of several playgrounds

There were a ton of playgrounds along the way so we would let the kids stop and play for a bit in order to break up the walks.  The playgrounds were nice and well maintained and often had benches overlooking the water so Josh and I could just hang out.  There were also a ton of restaurants that lined the boardwalk.  We chose one our hotel had recommended and while it wasn't something to write home about (although here I write), it was decent. 

Very cool sandcastle - the sign says how long it took and now I can't remember but I think it was something like 500 hours.

Panoramic feature on my new camera - yes you will be seeing a lot of these in coming entries I'm sure!

Another cool sand creation complete with bloody hand next to the alligator's mouth!

We spent a good chunk of the day in Marbella and headed back to Puerto Banus around 3:30 in the afternoon.  The kids wanted to swim and Josh and I wanted to relax for a little bit.  So swimming it was!  Liam spent about 2 minutes in the outdoor pool and then realized that the indoor pool was a wee bit warmer than the outdoor one!  Aidan insisted on some video of him "diving" so here it is:  http://youtu.be/KEoXiRTuX6Y.  It was a fun and relaxing day overall and a great weekend getaway! 

Josh and Aidan

Liam now loves the water!!

Swimming out in the middle!

Julie