Girl Scout Thinking Day

In March, Ella’s Girl Scout Junior troop participated in Thinking Day, a festival of the countries of the world.  Each troop selects a country and prepares a booth with research information, artifacts from the country, a swap (this is a Girl Scout thing—it’s a small craft that is on a safety pin to collect on their vests), a stamp for the scouts’ event “passports”, and a sample of food from the country.  As Ella and I had recently travelled to Spain, we led our troop in learning about the culture, the terrain, the regional differences, government, products, and food of Spain.  We made small paper flamenco fans as our swaps.  For the food at our booth we decided to represent tapas—we had Spanish olives, paprika almonds, manchego cheese, cured chorizo, pan crackers, and tortilla (Spanish omelet) which I had prepared and was a bigger hit than we’d expected.  Ella and I also displayed all of our souvenirs from Spain (hers from our trip and mine from when I lived there as a child) and photos from our trip.  And Jack was even nice enough to lend Ella his Catalan flag Barcelona Futbol Club jersey for the day.  Overall, our booth was a hit and it was fun to work with Ella and her troop…and to relive our amazing trip just a few month earlier.   

Twins

During our weekend introduction to Harper and Hudson, we also took a few pictures of these two sweeties.  Newborn photography is by no means my specialty and twins was all new to me, but it’s always so wonderful to have these kinds of images of my own nieces and nephews.  Love these two cuties.  Wish I lived a whole heck of a lot closer so they wouldn’t grow so much between our visits…

Harper & Hudson

On January 30th, Jacqui and Randy welcomed a baby girl and a baby boy into this world.  We couldn’t be more thrilled about the arrival of our new niece and nephew, Harper and Hudson.  What sweet little perfect babes.  And these two cuties literally hit the jackpot with the attentive, loving, fun, amazing parents they have in Jacqui and Randy.   

We made the trip down to Florida to meet Harper and Hudson in mid-February when our kids had a long weekend.  Look at these beautiful, beautiful babies and their very adoring (albeit a little tired at this point) parents.  Congrats to Jacqui and Randy and, well, all of us!  Meet Harper and Hudson… 

 

Instagrammin’ in February

February was a busy month, but not on Instagram, I guess.  The major highlight was our mid-month trip down to Orlando to meet the newest family additions, Harper and Hudson, Aunt Jacqui and Uncle Randy’s new twins.  We were thrilled beyond words to meet them.  In other news in February, Jonathan saw the end of one job and the start of another…and with that, a new car.  We had a few snow days off of school, but, unfortunately, no real snow. 

half birthday celebrations. | 100th day of school—jack wants “100 dollars” but does not want “100 sisters”… | back to soccer | the conquering heroes | meet harper | and hudson | snow, what snow?? | fun times car shopping | thin mints, anyone? | snow (?) day fun | a sneak peek into ella’s piano festival performance | superiors for both of them!

My Favorite Thing in Spain by Jack

by guest blogger Jack

My favorite thing in Spain was probably Park Güell in Barcelona. One reason I liked the park was there was a giant lizard made out of smashed colored glass. Another reason I liked the park was the view. You could almost see all the buildings in Barcelona.

My favorite thing in Madrid is all the restaurants along the streets. All of the food was different from what I eat in North Carolina. There was a lot of seafood instead of burgers. My favorite food from Spain is paella, rice infused with saffron and cooked with seafood and vegetables.

My favorite thing in Seville was the mushrooms, the largest wood structure in the world. It is also called the Metropol Parasol. We went to the very top and I had to hold my Dad’s hand. The view was awesome. And that was my trip to SPAIN.

Instagrammin’ in January

We kicked off the new year in Madrid, Spain,  with day trips to Toledo, Ávila, and Segovia in the days to follow.  You’ll notice that some of my favorite big camera images of our travels in Spain also happen to be some of my favorite iPhone images that I posted on Instagram when we got back to our hotel each night in Spain.  I often found myself taking a picture on my phone and then my camera—and you know what, sometimes I like the phone picture better.  Pictures of me in Spain definitely show up more in the Instagram pics, though, because it was so hard to unstrap myself from the rented D750 that I was wearing under my coat with a theft-proof strap. We even got a family pic from our guide while we were in Segovia.  Sometimes these phone pics are just invaluable.

After Spain, as you’ll see, January was a pretty quiet month for us—no tennis or soccer, no major snowfalls this year…just back to normal life.   

holy toledo! | bridge to toledo | cervantes | alcázar | hilly toledo | trying to find the cathedral | we found it! | sampling the marzipan of toledo | us and the toledo alcázar | view leaving toledo, with the sun setting. | ávila with its intact medieval walls | a closer looks at the walls | what a view of the plains of spain. | our playground for the week. | knuckleheads | a peek into plaza de santa teresa. | the fairytale castle of segovia | the rare family photo | view of segovia from the top of the castle. | love my boy. | segovia—the cathedral and snow-capped mountains. | alcázar | the roman aqueduct of segovia | my cute family—thankful they indulged me and planned our big trip to spain! | churros con chocolate—last breakfast in madrid | ¡adios, españa! | a long trip home—even the panthers vs. eagles playoff game in the philly airport couldn’t keep him awake. | not yet…just watching a middle school basketball game. | running with my girl—she’s too fast for me. | finally checked out metamorphosis in charlotte…although it currently doesn’t move.

One Of My Favorite Things In Spain by Ella

by guest blogger Ella

One of my favorite sights that I saw in Spain was the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. I had seen a few other cathedrals but right as I walked in I was put in a state of awe. Unlike the other cathedrals that were build a little bit in the state of fear, the Sagrada Família was firmly and solely built based on the state of joy and hope. As soon as I walked in I was blinded by the rainbow of colors displayed from the stained glass as the sun shone through. The way Gaudí used the stained glass everywhere and in a rainbow sort of drew your eyes to the altar or wherever the stained glass was. One of the other many beauties in this cathedral was the columns leading up to the altar. They were designed to look like tree trunks so each one was a different type of stone and different shapes and sizes. Gaudí is famous for a love of nature so of course he incorporates it into his work. The ceiling is also in a way connected to the trees because as you look up it is almost as if you are looking up through a blossoming tree that is growing up from the roots of the pillars and up in the sky.

Another cool fact about the Sagrada Família is if you look on one side of the Cathedral you will see the nativity side where Jesus Christ was born. This side kind of has a sandcastle look to it. Also this side has so much detail and not one edge is flat. The other side looks like a completely different cathedral, it even is a different type of stone! This side is called the Passion, it shows where Christ was crucified on the cross. The Passion side has more of a modern look to it and has almost all straight edges and it was a lot plainer than the Nativity side.

The construction for the Sagrada Família started on March 19^th, 1882 and is still being built to this day. It is expected to be completed by 2026, 100 years after Gaudí’s death in 1926. He was buried in a crypt under the Sagrada Família. After Gaudí passed, a man named Domenech Suaranyes took over the construction until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War when the construction was put to a halt. The Sagrada Família has a long and amazing history and I hope that if you ever go there you will appreciate it as much as I did!