After two long flights, we arrived in Barcelona to pick up our brand new Mercedes Van for our impending road trip. Nonnie was exhausted, so we got her to the hotel, and headed out for a few essentials to ward off our jet lag.
First stop — a European park with an ocean view.
Second stop — fresh bread with European butter (the best kind!).
Third stop — a farm stand where they cut down our fresh lettuce, the tomatoes were like candy, and I quizzed the kids on the veggie knowledge (they all knew everything!).
We then went to hit the sack out of pure exhaustion.
The next day, we hit up the streets of Barcelona…where they were having a “Tastes of Spain” festival. You bought tokens, and many restaurants had a sample dish from their restaurant for 2-4 tokens. There were a few tasty treats — and few not so tasty treats.
Pippi got in on the action as our purchasing agent.
After eating, we walked around town to see what Barcelona had to offer. Dash and Navy were loving the statues everywhere.
But the real gem of Barcelona was the shopping. Besides some cute children’s stores, Brett advised of us a purse place called Biba…and we were obsessed. Even jet-lagged and hot…we feel like we all made very wise purchasing decisions in Barcelona.
But truth be told…by the end of a few hours in downtown, we wanted back in our beds at the hotel. Jet lag is real. Although, Scout and Navy rallied, and went swimming in their pool for a few hours. They also discovered their gummy candy that was out in their restaurant (the way other places put out peanuts)…and they gathered bags of the stuff. Like usual — we made our mark.
But we called it to be an early night, because we are on the road tomorrow morning….all the way to Nice, France.
And we are off…
We are flying into Barcelona…then driving the Mediterranean until we get to Rome. After Rome, we will drive to Venice via Florence…then hist Milan before we drive to Switzerland. We end the trip by looping back to Barcelona through France — which miraculously lines up with the first day of France’s Soldes…so that is AMAZING!!!
See you in three weeks.
Based on great advice from me…Navy chose to be a banker for the Gold Rush today. She literally had to bring half the amount of stuff as a banker — and half the amount was still WAY too much! But the Gold Rush was rad!
They first hiked into the “mining town” with all of their gear.
Then all of the 49ers went mining on a nearby hill to find gold. When they found it, they turned it in to the bank for cold hard cash. (Navy’s part.) After all of the banking was completed…it was shopping time.
Because Navy was a banker, her team’s role was just at the beginning. The rest of the afternoon was her going from shop to shop to bargain and buy. Which she did. Someone asked her how she was such a good shopper, and I beamed with pride.
The fourth grade team does such a great event with this unit, and it ended Navy’s fourth grade year with a total bang!
I dropped Scout off for his last day of walking group. As I was leaving him, he and the rest of the boys surrounded the car and demanded that I take them to donuts. I tried to fend them off…but I am a total sucker! They all crowded in, and I took them, but told them they had to walk to school after donuts because I needed to be somewhere.
After the cons ordered their donuts…I drove off in a “hurry”.
Then I circled back and honked at all of them as they sped-walked to school…and yelled “Suckers! Who’s the con now!!!”
I love this little group of knuckleheads — especially when they saw what I had done, and started laughing while giving me the I Love You sign.
I snuck up on Pippi telling a story about a garden, and a beanstalk for 20 minutes this afternoon.
She went on and on to nobody in particular!
She was in her favorite place…Imaginaryland.
When I was discovered, her story came to an abrupt stop. But she saw Nonnie, and ran to grab Chika Chika Boom Boom and settle in her second favorite place…Nonnieland.
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I literally can’t believe Kindergarten is right around the corner for Pips. She is going to love it. But I might just hate not having her around me as much.
Skateboarding is their thing lately.
Specifically…long boarding.
Street rats…need I say more?
Scout has been secretly working on a really cool project for Navy. He worked all day yesterday cutting, drilling, spray painting, ets. Today, he printed, mod-podged and assembled.
The final product…
he made her a crayon holder for all of her art stuff.
I was SO impressed!!!
When he presented it, she was so happy. She thought it was so cool, and couldn’t believe that he had made it from scratch.
Here is the hilarious hug!
I love my kids being kind to one another.
Nothing is cooler.
Except, maybe a crayon holder!
Way to go big brother.
I came up with the BEST idea ever!!!
My kids are trying to earn a little bit of money for Europe, so I told them that cleaning earns money right now. They griped…UNTIL…I told them that I took a picture of a “hidden gem”. Whomever cleaned up that particular item got five euros for Europe.
Here was the hidden gem.
I have never seen my kids clean so fast, because they knew that the more stuff they got their hands on, the better odds they had of winning.
The winner was…..
Navy!
So far, Scout, Navy and Pippi have all won once. Poor Dash…but he will get his. At least I hope he will!
There is nothing quite like a beauty afternoon.
Ka was a great mentor to these two eager proteges.
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