Graduation& Adios Barcelona

We can hardly believe that the time has come to leave Barcelona. Mark has finished his MBA and now a new adventure awaits us in Texas (the culture might be just as new to us as Spain was).
Graduation was so much fun and the last few days of our time in Barcelona we spent taking in as much of the sights and the beauty as we could. We woke up early on the Sunday we left to go to Montjuic one last time. It was so peaceful and quite at 8am on a Sunday morning.
Here are some of our pictures of Graduation.

This was the graduation brunch at ESADE campus the day of graduation. It was so beautiful outside...thank goodness, it had been raining for a week and a half.
Mark was the poster boy for ESADE and so here is a shot of him and his friends enjoying the larger than life photo of Mark...It is hard to tell but Mark is actually wearing the exact same outfit, good thing he had a sweater that day.


Since Mark will be working long hours, maybe we can get one of these posters for our home so the kids will know him when they see him.


Our good friends and some of their family at the graduation brunch


Mark giving his speech for graduation. He was asked to speak on behalf of the english section of the MBA program...he did an amazing job.


Mark receiving his degree. YIPEE!!! We are so proud of you.


Mark and Tricia at Graduation


Guillermo & Nicole and us at the after-party


Spouses and friends at graduation


The building that graduation was held in. One of the first stock exchanges in the world.


Mark and some of his classmates



Mark&Rob


Mark&Novak


Christian, Adriana, & Us


Our good friends the Deweys, they came as guests from the American Consulate.


Sylvia and her lovely daughters (they were so sweet to babysit Eve for us while we went to graduation).

Valencia

We took a day this last week, our last week in Spain, and headed for Valencia. Even though it was very chilly, we had a great time. I can only imagine how beautiful and fabulous the beaches are in the summer. It made me a bit sad that we didn't take this opportunity when we were on our road trip this past September.

This is us at the beach in Valencia



This would be the main attraction of Valencia, the Futuristic City of Arts and Sciences. I would imagine in the summer when it is nice and warm and all the flowers are out, it is a great place to visit. However, when all you go to is the Science Museum (not Science Center), you find that it is a bit of a 'let down'. We did our best to have fun; and now know how tall we all are, how much we all weigh, what our blood pressure is, and that Mark & I have Egyptian feet while Eve has Greek.


Ahhhhh, the beach. It is so huge. We really should have come in the summer... (did I mention that already?) Eve loved it though. She spent her time running to the water and running from it as the waves came in.


We love getting photos of the castles here, so many are precariously perched on hill tops and mountain sides. We finally pulled over to take this photo. I would say that we have seen at least a dozen such castles.


Valencia is where Spain has most of its orange orchards. Some are picked regularly, some not. We spent so much of our drive back trying to pull over and get a great shot of one of them. I only wish we could have snuck over the fence and picked a few...I bet they were De-licious!


No these last two pictures are not of Valencia, they are of our dinner out with our friends Jay, Kjerstina, and Emmie from NYC (via Calgary). This would be one of our favorite (Mark's FAVORITE) restaurants in Barcelona, 'Cervezeria Catalana'. The tapas here is unbelievable. YUM YUM YUM!



Our two favorite dishes would be below: Solomillo de Ternera & Gambas a la Brocheta. Their Patatas Bravas and Asparagus are pretty darn good too!

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...

Family Picture

We had these taken about 2 months ago, thanks to Jan for taking such great photos. I thought I should post some, since we weren't able to send out a lot and even the ones we did send out didn't seem to all make it to their destinations. Christmas is over and we had a great time in Canada, despite the horrible weather and some unexpected traveling. We will posts pictures soon.
We are very happy to be back in the nice weather of Barcelona (it is 17C today). If it wasn't for the horrible colds Eve and Tricia have life would be lovely. Once the colds are gone, we will be enjoying the great things that Barcelona has to offer.

Eve's 2nd Birthday

This past Thursday Eve turned 2. She had a wonderful birthday party with lots of toys, friends, and sugar (the perfect combination for a fun-filled day). She very easily figured out the whole birthday routine of blowing out her candles... it took the other girls a bit more coaxing.



Eve and one of her best buddies, Ainhoa. Eve will spend the whole day calling out her name, wishing that she were with her, or crying because she isn't. They are a great pair, like a little gang, and they terrorize every other child near them with their exuberant personalities...sometimes they even scare each other.



Eve opening her first present... it took a bit for her to figure out what she was supposed to do, but once she caught on there was no stopping her.


Eve enjoying a spot of tea, she is the perfect hostess: whenever someone comes to visit she pulls out her tea set and pours them a cup.



All the ladies at the party. L-R: Scarlett, Audrey, Ainhoa, and Eve. It was a miracle they stayed still for this shot.


The party was a hit. The girls played until they were so exhausted that the only thing left for them to do was cry. Eve shed many a tears when the kids left; she still did manage to wave to them and say "good-bye". It was a pretty simple party, not much as far as themes go here... you can't really have a big cake and decorate it.... they don't sell alot of cake decorations, or decorations for birthdays in general.
We ended up blowing up a bunch of balloons and the girls spent the afternoon running after them and screaming. Audrey, the youngest by about 7 months enjoyed herself by picking up a single balloon and holding it for the rest of the night while either avoiding the screaming 2 year olds or sitting with her mom. Eve and Ainhoa ran up and down the hallway competing for the prize of loudest yeller (it was a tie). When Scarlett came they had a happy third to join them.
They had great snacks to keep the floor nice and messy: cupcakes, bananas, oranges, cheese, and veggies. It took a bit to get the cupcake off the floor (I found out it doesn't vacuum up so easily). We had a few more grown-up snacks for the adults.
That evening Eve willingly went to bed and immediately fell asleep (that always means a good day).