Gypsy Caravaning through Spain

We just got back from a trip through Spain with my sister, Tracey, and her boys, Alex and Nate. Here are some of our award winners:

Most Romantic Experience: The Arab baths, sans children (Granada)

Best Train Station: Madrid Atocha--complete with a turtle farm

Biggest milestone moment: Jonas taking his first steps in Retiro Park (Madrid)

Worst Place to Pass Gas Discreetly: The bull ring in Seville—one of the kids (who will remain nameless) found out that it really echoes

Best Hotel: Segovia; the huge balcony was perfect for a campout and offered a spectacular view

Worst Hotel: Buen Dormir in Granada; to get around disclosing to us the broken A/C in my sisters room they told her to borrow our controller… That didn’t work, but they did have turtles!

Best Make-shift bed: Made out of antique chairs (Segovia)

Best Street Performer: Alex, or maybe the guy standing on his hands on a suitcase drinking water from a straw in Granada

Fastest Street Performer: Man running alongside the horse-drawn carriage to serenade us, his effort was certainly worth more than the 50 cents we gave him (Sevilla)

Worst Street Performer: freaky naked guy in Barcelona (I’ll spare you the picture)

Best place to cool off in Seville: Fountain at the governor’s palace

Best Street Name: Dos Hermanas (Granada)

Best Way to Nearly Get Kicked Out of the Alhambra: Knock the barrier post into the sultan’s lap pool while impulsively chasing after a fish (thank you, Jaxon)

Before:

After:

(The security guy was NOT happy)

Best Alhambra Friends: Snails

Best Place to Cool Off after a Day at the Alhambra

Best Breakfast: Chocolate con churros

Best Eats: Fried seafood and garlic tomatoes in Sevilla

Cassoulet in Carcassone

Paella in Barcelona

Hairiest eats: the ear of the roast suckling pig in Segovia

Holiest Treats: Nun-made goodies from El Torno (Seville)

Best Market: La Boqueria (Barcelona)

Most Fun at the Segovia Folk festival: Jaxon and Nate dancing with the Spanish Pee-Wee Herman

Best Place for Riding Rides, Pirate Shows, Flamenco Dancing and Dancing Andalusian horses: Theme park Isla Magica

Best Water and Lights Show: Barcelona (so what if there was only one?)

Best Outdoor Dressing Room: Place de Catalanya in Barcelona

Most surprising En Route Success: Sharing four tiny overnight train beds among the seven of us and sleeping reasonable well. Alex didn’t even notice when he fell out of his bed.

Best Park: Park Guell designed by Gaudi (Barcelona)

Biggest End with a Bang: Celebrating Bastille Day in Carcassonne

We weren't winning any points on style, but we had a blast

The Big 01

This post is a little late in coming, but we celebrated Jonas' first birthday on June 30! It was something of a makeshift celabration; my sister, Tracey, and her boys Alex and Nate flew in for their summer visit that evening, so it felt kind of thown together in between cleaning and trip planning. But at least it happenned! Jonas opening presents. Luckily he is still to young to care that the bigger guys took over (especially Jaxon, who likes to claim all birthdays as his own...)

"Arm of Venus" cake...

Daniel loved cleaning this up. We sure love this little boy!