Barcelona: Day 2

We spent today at the beach.  This part of the Mediterranean is a little chilly still, as you can see from the look on Emory's face :)

Barcelona: Day 1

For our first vacation since arriving in France, we decided on Barcelona.  Our villa is actually a little bit outside the city in a town called Argentona.  It's perfect for our family--plenty of space, a pool (that the kids jumped in the night we arrived even though it was freezing) and an awesome view.

And the best part was that the owner, Giovanni, spent an hour or so giving us all kinds of travel tips--what to avoid, what we should definitely see, the best way to get around.  He even gave us a few business cards from his favorite restaurants and offered to call to make our reservations since we don't speak Spanish or Catalan.  He also had maps and had even pulled together some stuff from the grocery store that we could have for dinner since stores are closed on Sundays.  Such a nice welcome!  

Giovanni had mentioned that the best way to get into town would be to take the train right into Place Catalunya, which is in the heart of the city.  So that's what we did.  

We spent the first hour or so just strolling around, enjoying the city.

And, finally, we found La Rambla--probably the most famous part of Barcelona.  It starts near Place Catalunya and stretches all the way to the port.

We stopped by the Boqueria market to grab a quick lunch.  They have everything--fruit, vegetables, meat, chocolates.  It's an incredible place!  My kids really liked the juice.  Baylor had kiwi, Ken got coconut (which was awesome) and Emory had watermelon.

Then we stopped by the empanada stand.  And all three kids did the unthinkable and ordered hotdogs.  I tried to talk them out of it, but they're their own little caucus--they tend to think as a group on these sorts of things...

Once you get to the end of La Rambla, you start running into the street performers.  They are so much fun!  We had to get a picture with every single one.

Emory and the Mad Hatter...

Ken staring up at Julius Caesar...

Ken and Christopher Columbus...

The girls' favorite...

Baylor with John Lennon...

Emory with Galileo...

The girls with alien...

Can you find the three American kids in this picture--ha!

After a quick Popsicle stop, we hit the aquarium.

On the walk back over to La Rambla, we passed a man blowing huge bubbles which made my little people pretty happy.  

You can see in this picture that there's a guy in the background selling knock off purses.  It's unreal how quickly they can pack up their things as soon as they spot a cop.  They tie ropes to the corners of the blankets that the merchandise is laid out on, and as soon as they see a cop they grab the ropes, throw it on their back and take off.  Hysterical.  Today I had a guy put fake Beats headphones on my head and say, "Don't you hear the boom boom, momma?!?  35€ for the boom boom!"  Ha!

LOVED hanging out with these little adventurers today :)

Just About Settled In

We are finally settled into a good routine.  The girls are both in gymnastics and Baylor is playing tennis and baseball.  Ken had her "Joyeuse Paque" (Happy Easter) party at gymnastics on Wednesday.  They had an Easter egg hunt, which made this chocolate lovin' girl very happy!  

We also found a church that we love!  It was planted several years ago by two Baptist missionaries who have been so welcoming and kind to us.  The sermon is in French, so I'm usually sitting there with my phone, google-translating as we go.  In Sunday school, the teachers have been working hard to help our kids understand the lesson.  Such a sweet-spirited place!

Baylor's class had a field trip last week to FRAC (Fonds Regional d'art Contemporain) the Contemporary Art museum...where had no idea what was going on because the whole presentation was in French.  Luckily, he has some absolutely precious kids in his class who are happy to translate for him.

And we celebrated Easter with the tackiest bunny cake ever made.  Less is more, evidently.  Oops!  It actually tasted worse than it looks, if you can believe that...ha!

Ethan wall-papered Baylor's room this week with a gray herringbone like this:

Love that guy!  Now, if we can just get rid of the wallpaper in our bedroom.  It's orange.

Have I mentioned how much I love the school schedule here?!?!  The kids are out for two weeks, and in France when they're out they're OUT--no school, no sports.  It's awesome.  We may take a couple of day trips the first week, but the second week we're heading to Barcelona.  Hoping for nice weather!

The Puy De Dome

Today we hiked up the Puy de Dome.  It's the largest of the chain of volcanoes that surround Clermont, so once you make it to the top, you get a great view of the city and all of the smaller volcanoes below.  

Also, at the top is a museum and a Gallo-Roman temple that they're currently restoring.

Four of us hiked.

One of us rode on Ethans shoulders and ate gummy bears...

Market

This is the Sunday market near our house.  They sell everything from fruits and vegetables, bread, meat and pastries.

And Kennedy's favorite thing in the world...nail polish.

Super Besse

The French school calendar is one of my favorite parts of living here.  The kids go for 8 weeks, then get out for 2.  Love it!  It gives us plenty of time to take trips, hike, ski and just relax and have fun.  We kicked off our latest school break with a couple days of skiing at Super Besse.  

To give you an idea of how much our French is progressing, we thought we had signed the kids up for two days of ski school, but we had actually only bought their ski passes.  By the time we realized our mistake, ski school was full, which meant that Ethan got to run his own little ski school--haha!

Baylor and Emory picked it up quickly and had a ball.

This chick, on the other hand...

Gave me an ulcer.

Ethan taught all three to "make a pizza slice" with their skis if they needed to slow down.  

Baylor and Emory totally got that.

Kennedy didn't make a wedge once.

As soon as she'd get off the chairlift, she'd put those skis straight out and fly down the mountain!  Every time she fell or got tangled up in a net, she'd lose at least one ski, goggles and a mitten or two.  

Me:  Kennedy--why aren't you making your pizza slice?  Do you not understand how to do it?

Ken:  Because I like to go fast.

Me:  You can still go kinda fast but be under control too if you make the pizza slice.  Then you won't fall and have to put all of your stuff back on.

Ken:  No, thank you.  I'll just go really fast.

The beginner slopes have a teleski lift that pulls you up to the top of the mountain.  Inevitably, one of our kids or one of the ski school kids would wipeout on the teleski, let go of the bar, and the workers would go get them and put them back on.  No big deal.

Kennedy, on the other hand, would fall off of her skis, but hang on to the bar while the worker is running next to her yelling, "Arret!"  and Ethan and I are somewhere behind her yelling for her to let go. Every time she would fall off her skis somewhere between the base and the top and let it drag her all the way up.  Hysterical!  Wish I had a picture.

Super Besse was awesome.  We had lots of laughs and the kids loved learning how to ski.  Cheers to the French school calendar!!!  And God bless the skiers and snowboarders who dodged Ken for two days straight!

Thiers

A few weeks ago, we headed up to Thiers--a town 15 minutes away from Clermont that is famous for its high quality knives.  

Beautiful cathedral.

I'm pretty sure this is Saint Augustine--the great theologian from Northern Africa who helped the Christians of his time sort through important doctrinal issues.