This is really weird.

After our lounging days in Estepona, we made our way back to Barcelona with two main pitstops along the way. The first was the city I studied in 17 years ago, Alicante. It was really strange and wonderful and weird...and I said it over and over as we walked around. It was quite surreal and really fun to tell the boys about different places and things I did. It was super fun to take them to a few places that Jer & I actually went to together when he visited me. It feels like a lifetime ago but yesterday at the same time.

Esplanada de España 

Playa del Postiguet

Castillo de Santa Bárbara

I have this same photo of Jer from 17 years ago!

After many 'this is really weird's we made our way up the coast a bit more to Calp. This was another place I visited and distinctly remember. The only difference is that I stayed in much nicer accommodations and ate better food this time around!

The view from our room!

Our view while waiting for our dinner!

Te amo España!

Can we check and see if shuffleboard is available?

We've been playing a bit with giving the boys a bit of space and responsibility and found our time in Estepona a wonderful place to practice it. We stayed at a beautiful resort on the sea, complete with pools, many outdoor games and even a dryer (a huge treat for me!)! To say the boys enjoyed all the games is an understatement. They absolutely loved them 'to the highest point in the galaxy (which never ends) and back.'

After a few days on the resort together, when they asked if they could see if a certain game was available, we decided it would be alright for them to go see for themselves and report back to us while we cleaned up after a meal or finished folding clothes from the dryer (!). When the report was in, they would then go check out the materials needed and meet us at the game location. The absolutely loved it! I followed behind them a couple of times...without them knowing... I trust my sweet ones completely and want to trust in everyone else, but can't.

So, while we were in Estepona, we relaxed in and out of the pools, played on the beach, played lots of games, read many pages in our books, celebrated a certain mom's birthday, and enjoyed being a family. It was perfect.

We could see Africa from the beach!

One more part of our Spain trip to go...but I'll save it for another day.

Fresas y Fanta Naranja

We just returned from a much enjoyed and much needed vacation in Spain! The grey days of winter were really getting to us, so we soaked up as much sun as we possibly could and appreciated every ounce of vitamin D. I had been talking to the boys in Spanish in preparation for the trip, trying to get them to want to learn a bit along the way...but the two phrases they embraced were 'Fresas' and 'Fanta Naranja'. Basically, a gummy strawberry candy and orange soda. Nice.

Findin 'fresas' in the candy store!

We started the trip with a few days in Barcelona touring the beautiful city. Our flat was steps away from the Boqueria, which, when you ask the boys, is always in the top 3 from the trip. It is an amazing market full of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, spices, nuts and pastries. We rambled through it every morning to find our breakfasts. Yum, yum, yum.

Breakfast! 

A few other highlights from Barcelona include all the amazing architecture...those lovely Gaudi buildings, the many beautiful designer shops and strolling through many parks. In the Parc de la Ciutadella we put the boys to work, having them row us around the lake while we basked in the sun.

Walking La Rambla

La Familia Sagrada

After seeing beautiful Barcelona, our aim was to be poolside so we rented a car and headed toward Estepona on the SE coast. We broke up the drive with a night in Valencia to visit the Ciudad de Las Artes y Las Ciencias. We admired the stunning architecture once again, while taking in the aquarium and science museum. This was another highlight for the boys for sure. The aquarium was particularly amazing, while I couldn't get over how ascetically pleasing the science center was. I realized I am quite fond of modern Spanish design. Quite fond!

After a night in Valencia and a day exploring, we got on the road at 4pm for an 8 hour drive down to Estepona. I'm exhausted thinking about that one...so will save that for another day! :)

Sweeties

As Jer likes to say, in England 'they like their sweet.' Of course, I fit it quite well with this aspect of the culture (though I recently did a mini sugar cleanse lasting a good 6 weeks!). I've noticed they call candy 'sweeties' and wanted to show you a photo of what I call sweeties:

We are counting down the days to our 3 week long Easter break! We are anticipating the arrival of Jer's childhood friend, Eric Gerold, for a week, followed by a 12 day trip to Spain...which will include a day in Alicante, where I studied 17 years ago. What?! 17 years ago? Crazy, crazy. We hope you are well, are loving life & your sweeties!

Boochi Gaga & Moochi Gaga

Walter is our silly little happy dude. He's always making up songs and stories and smiling and laughing.  One of his recent made up things is Boochi Gaga & Moochi Gaga. He calls himself Boochi Gaga and me Moochi Gaga and it always draws me in and makes me laugh. He pulls it out as I'm tucking him in at night and ends up dragging on bedtime much longer than any other stunt has ever been able to. 

We went exploring East Sussex this weekend, heading to an old observatory that has now become a science museum. It was in the middle of a field, surrounded by sheep, and worth the adventure. The boys loved exploring all the hands on exhibits, followed by some Cricket practice in the car park. On the way home we stopped in a village for a traditional Sunday roast dinner. The village happened to have a castle so we walked around a bit before heading home again. It was a lovely day out...even if it was a bit damp!

Mom, do you ever think...

'What if we would have made a different choice how our life would be different'?

Owen asked me this the other day. Who knew an 8 year old could be so thoughtful, I certainly didn't, until this little man came into my life.

We've been keeping busy with school and work. Jeremy is buried at work these days...last night he was up working until 1am! I am working Monday - Thursday at The Montessori Place in the Infant Community. The children are really sweet and such a joy to be around, although they do wear me out! The hours are ideal as I start when the boys do and finish about 5 minutes before they do. The biggest perk is getting little glimpses into their days and a few extra smiles (from O) & kisses (from W) throughout the day.

Beyond that we've been busy making and doing as usual. I ended up buying a small sewing machine here instead of worrying about ruining my US machine with a transformer. Its quite nice to have a basic machine and I feel much more comfortable having the boys use it. We made our own parachutes for lego dudes and flew them out the windows the other day. We also have been inspired by our recent trip to the Science Museum and have had plenty of experiments and construction happening. A favorite was the spaghetti & marshmallow structures they made to hold a chocolate egg...which was then consumed!

Walter 'chillin out'

We also had a very special visitor last weekend. Jeremy's childhood friend, Josh, was in the country for work and managed to spend the weekend with us. They stayed up until 5am the first night laughing and reminiscing about the glory days of high school football and baseball. The second night they were in bed by 2am...and 11pm on the third night. They slowly realized they weren't quite 17 still.