mazes, beaches, and slides

This is the park with the maze in it, the park is called Parc de les Heures,



Getting ready to enter the maze. Eve loved leading us around and eventually she did find her way out.

THe view from the top



The entire park was so beautiful, they had different levels, with paths and stairs to connect, my favourite were the rocky trails called "lovers walk". I am not sure why they called it that, perhaps because you had to hang onto each other while you hiked.



Eve showing us which way to go... she is blessed with a great innate sense of direction;)



Beaches... So for Valentines day we headed to the beach (again) to take a few shots. THe beach was too cold and windy so we ended up on the board walk and the port, still lots of fun.

THe first is of Port Vell. Port Vell is always so busy and on a Saturday it is crazy. There was an old lady feeding the sea gulls so the shot turned out pretty nice.


We took a break to enjoy the sun on the board walk at the beach, where Eve proceeded to dance with her mouse and try and run away from us. She would turn and look at us, say "Adios!", wave and then slowly walk away, hoping we wouldn't chase her.



Thank goodness! She decided to return to us after all... I knew we weren't that bad of parents.


Art by Port Vell. I should know what it is called, but I don't


THe Columbus monument, I really like this view but can never do it justice.


Slides!!! Now we come to the slides. About 6 months ago we discovered the two biggest park slides we have ever seen. Finally this weekend we took our camera and made the trek up the huge hill (small mountain) to try them out and show everyone just how enormous they are...Eve loved them... with Daddy's supervision and help.

Eve heading up to the park with the slides... She always has to have her purse and her mouse with her. Luckily this time I convinced her she didn't need to wear a dress.


Behold, the slides!!! They are GI-NORMOUS!!!!


Evie and Mark testing them out!


Eve loved them so much that she was in charge of who went down them and when. She would even count for us to get us ready.


Tricia and the little baby had to try them out too. Don't worry she was careful and made sure that the baby was protected at all times. It was a successful trip down.

Say hello to Larry the Lobster and his brother Harold!

Now get ready to say "goodbye" to Harold and Larry ("Laywee" as Eve liked to call our new "pets" live from the market)... We realize that there is a global crisis going on right now but wanted to take advantage of some of the great fresh cuisine that Barcelona is endowed with. Due to the crisis, of course, we decided that rather than go out to eat an expensive lobster we would bring the lobster home with us (we have never cooked lobster at home before, well at least not live lobster).

The day started out with a trip down to La Boqueria market where you can get just about any meat, poultry,or seafood that you have ever heard of before (and some that you've never heard of before). Tricia picked out a couple of good looking guys, large and frisky amidst the buffett of shelled creatures.

We brought them home to Club Struk where Eve played with them in the pool (sink) and then we indulged them with a few nice hot minutes in the spa! Boy, did they sure look relaxed when they were done!



We had fun disecting our new friends... Even Tricia, who did not want to play with them much while at the market, got in on the fun!

Eve too got in on the action...



Eve was especially impressed at how lobsters only need one pinky and one thumb.


Eve's reaction when we told her that dinner was her good old pal "Larry"...

When in Barcelona, do as the Barcelonians do... I think that we enjoy the clean-up at a restaurant better, though.

Chasing all the birds away...

It was another lazy day mostly spent just chasing the birds away... Mark has a much lighter load this term (final term, yay!) and so we headed down to Plaza Catalunya with some bread and just let Eve feed the birds and do some chasing...




Eve has also been busy preparing for her tryouts at the National Ballet. We are still a little unsure as to which nation she'll try out for, she hasn't quite decided yet.


Economic crisis? Come on, mom, I've heard of the paper bag princess but never the Ikea storage box one...