More Spain....OKAY!

So we are having such a great time here in Sitges. Playing at the beach and pools and making memories with our family. We are just so blessed that we were able to come and spend time with everyone here in Spain.

Emma, without a doubt, makes us laugh every day. She is talking SO much now, and she is even making sense!! She is also a VERY independant little girl. She really knows what she wants and she makes sure she gets it. This is her in the hotel, mommy and daddy were getting ready for the day, so what should she do you ask? Why not watch a movie...in a drawer!! Where does she get these ideas??

This is the day after I completely burnt myself. I decided it was smart to just stay at the hotel pool and lay under the umbrella. Emma wanted to cuddle up next to me!

That's as far she would go into the water...by herself. We don't know why but she isn't taking to the water like she used to. It's just the beginning of the Summer, so she'll get used to it sooner rather than later.

The whole gang at dinner

Emma enjoying her calamari!! I can't believe how much she LOVES her seafood. It makes me SO happy. I love that she tried it, and love even more that she liked it. She's had calamari a couple of times now. she also enjoyed shrimp pasta. I am A-OKAY with her eating seafood, as long as I don't have too...because I'm not a big fan. Daddy is though so they eat it together.

On Wednesday we took the train into Barcelona for the day. We started our day off at McDonalds...yes we went all the way to Spain to eat McD's. It was noon, and the kids were hungry and needed a bathroom break. So before heading to the sites we had a quick bite to eat. After that we headed to Sagrada Familia. This temple is SPECTACULAR. If you don't know what it is or havent heard of it before, check it out here.

I cannot do this temple justice even if I tried to explain it to you. It really is incredible. Gaudi's vision. A vision that they have been building for over 100 years!! And they estimate it won't be completed until 2026! AMAZING.

Here it is:

The stained glass windows inside

inside again, the detail is just incredible

Our family in front of the "birth of Christ" facade

That is pretty much it for the Barcelona pics...we spent the rest of our day at La Ramba...a touristy street for shopping. We had a great time, but were very exhausted. And the train ride back...honestly how many people can you pack into a train?? Just when you thought it was plenty full, some guy thought "hey I think me and my bike can get on here" WRONG!! He was told otherwise, and wasn't too happy about it. I wish I had a picture of us on the train, but it was so packed I couldn't even get to my camera.

Here is Emma "driving". Everytime we walk along the Paseo, she sees this car and wants to drive it. We finally gave in and paid the 1 Euro for her to ride it. It's a good thing she is so stinking cute!

How do you get a 2 year old to get in the stroller? Give them ice cream!! Worked like a charm!

Here is the whole gang at the beach. Our last day with everyone there!! So much FUN!!

We leave Sunday and head back to Prague, so I will post again when in Prague!

Our Trip Thus Far...

So our trip to Spain began last Tuesday. Monday night we headed down to the Chalupa and stayed the night there. We woke Tuesday morning and started our trek to Spain (me, Wika, Emma and Simon) It was a 15 hour drive, so we decided to do it in 2 days. Our half way mark was in Albertville France. (hosted the 1992 winter Olympic Games) We stayed at the Hotel Le Tetras...it was...interesting. Very small, but it was just a place to rest our heads. It was WAY up the mountain, so much in fact that you wouldn't have known it was June!! Lots of fog and pretty cold, but what do you expect when you're on top of a mountain??

Wednesday morning we woke up got ready and headed out for our last 7 hours. It was 8:30 in the morning, and our trusty Garmin said it would take us exactly 7 hours to arrive in Sitges!! WOOHOO!! That meant by 4 we should FOR SURE be in Spain right??? WRONG!! We got SO lost going down that mountain. What took us 40 min the night before took us 2 hours the next morning. We thought we had to go down the same way we came up. WRONG! The GPS had another way for us to go down and continue our trek...but it took us, and by us I mean the men, a little while longer to come to that realization. That just goes to show, women ARE always right. In the men's defense, they followed her for a good while until she tooks us to a road that was closed...and that is where the fun began. But we finally figured it out and unfortunately we had a lot of time to make up for!! Oh well, what can ya do. We ended up arriving in Sitges Spain around 6:30 pm. Where we finally met up with FAMILY!!

Sitges is GORGEOUS! It's right on the Mediterranean Sea. Every morning we wake up to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, it really is rough!! Then we eat fresh croissants with chocolate milk and then it's off to the beach!! Emma LOVES the sand, the water, not as much.

This is what she did the whole time while at the beach.

Getting burried in the sand!

At the apartments (where everyone else is staying) there are pools. And sometimes it's just nice to not get so sandy and just lay out at the pool.

Emma just used her little watering can and kept filling up her bucket.

Back at the beach... Emma on the the skim board

Helping Uncle Richard build a sand castle

getting ready for daddy to bury her, again.

ALL DONE

Now that she is burried, we all now have to wait on her. If she wants her bucket, we get her her bucket. If she wants her bucket full of water, we do that too. She has everyone wrapped around her fingers...even her wonderful cousins. She is pretty spoiled, and unfortunately she knows it!

this is outside our hotel, Emma loves the lions.

We get to ride our bicycles every day, and Emma loves it!! As soon as we wake up in the morning she asks if she can ride her bicycle. So cute!

no trip to Europe would be complete without a doner kebab! (Emma's actually eating a durum, same thing but just wrapped in a tortilla instead of bread) Yumm! We told Emma it was a taco, as you can see...no problems eating it.

So I may have burnt myself...what do you think?? OUCH! I am over it already though!!

Last night the whole family went on a bike ride down along the Paseo...it was a lot
of fun. So we snatched a family photo on our bikes. (thanks Richard)
Emma LOVED the flash from the camera. She kept asking "more lights" She would say cheese and we would get a lot of cute pictures. If we have a lot of pictures at night...that would be why.

Thats it so far. We are having a blast!! We still have 6 days left here in Spain. This Thursday we are heading into Barcelona. Then we leave Sunday to head back to Prague for a week!! Europe is gorgeous. We love it and are so LUCKY to be able to come visit and be with family. We hope you all are doing well.

ADIOS!

WE'RE HERE!

After a full 24 hours...so to speak...of flying we are here in the beautiful city of Prague. It's nice to finally be off the plane. Emma was a trooper...she had a very hard time sleeping on the plane. She is a VERY wild sleeper, so sleeping on a very small chair was a bit difficult. Anytime she went to move she would wake up, and sometimes when she woke up...she stayed up. On our 9 hour flight from Vancouver to Manchester she slept a total of...2.5 hours; and the flight from Manchester to Prague she slept the whole time...at that point she was TOTALLY exhausted. By the time that flight took off, it was 6AM Vancouver time...and she had only had 2.5 hours...so it didn't matter what the circumstances where-she was just TIRED!

We managed to keep ourselves awake until 9:30 (prague time) and then we all crashed. Emma thought it would be a good idea to wake up at 4 AM this morning, so I think, it will be a VERY long day!! Sure do love jetlag!!

We are heading to Spain tomorrow...keep you posted!!