Day 5 - Berlin

First backpacking 'on a budget' day....came as a harsh reality to the  kids but they pulled  through! Once they got into the spirit of it we had a fantastic day visiting several war and Berlin Wall related museums, navigating trains and subways, and   finding affordable ways to eat (the local supermarket became a quick favorite)--the whole day cost us less than 70 Euros...pretty impressive!!!!  The kids seemed to have a good time, but the three together for the first time in a month was not without it's challenges...Michael kept us continuously amused and irritated, Melina and Michael engaged in their normal bickering relationship within hours and Sophia suffered through by laughing at everything around her.....Mommy needs some wine tonight (which is in Mommys 'special' budget).

Day. 5 - From Michael

First impressions of Berlin:

-Sleepy town

-Odd people

-Great food (especially the sausage fest)

-Slightly depressing museums (knowing the history I understand why)

-Incredible culture

-Classy graffiti

-Unattractive women (at least the ones I've seen)

-Poor jean wearing decisions (butt cracks not appreciated)

I am tired and going to sleep so this is all I have right now.  It's the first time I am going to sleep in a decent bed in the past month...can't wait.  

Chow Bella,

Michael

Day 4 - Last night in Barcelona

Fantastic night out to celebrate our last day with 'just the girls'! Had such a great time just listening to Sophia and Melina talk about everything from their friends to what they envision for their future.  Sometimes I forget how fast they grow up and tonight was a reminder of what great kids they are and what amazing adults they will become.  They also loved talking about our time here in Barcelona--especially about me getting stuck on the paddleboat slide today (what can I say...I have HUGE hips) and the semi-nude sunbathers.  Tomorrow, Michael joins us and we are off to Berlin.  I am sure things will get even more interesting; he has a tendency to liven things up.

Day 4 - From Sophia & Melina

While at the beach today we had several funny moments. There was a film crew trying to make a commercial and Melina kept trying to get in the shoot when she was clearly not invited.  It went from her walking casually behind to jumping up and down and doing karate behind the actress.  The camera man and crew were clearly not amused and had to keep redoing it.  She was funny!

We also rented a sliding paddleboat that we drove out into the ocean and slid down. It was really fun!

Tomorrow we go to Berlin!

Day 4 - Sitges

Today we ventured out of Barcelona to the seaside town of Sitges where we spent the day at the beach.  We are clearly missing Angelo because over the past 2 days we have noticed several 'daddy look a likes' that we have been photographing to create a collage as a homage to Angelo.  They were in abundance in Sitges, but considering most were in speedos and thongs, we felt it was best to refrain from photographing any! We ate Paella at one of the local seaside restaurants--delicious!!!!

Day 4 - Sitges

Today we ventured out of Barcelona to the seaside town of Sitges where we spent the day at the beach.  We are clearly missing Angelo because over the past 2 days we have noticed several 'daddy look a likes' that we have been photographing to create a collage as a homage to Angelo.  They were in abundance in Sitges, but considering most were in speedos and thongs, we felt it was best to refrain from photographing any! We ate Paella at one of the local seaside restaurants--delicious!!!!

Day 3 - Dinner out with Michael

Just finished dinner at an amazing Argentine beef restaurant with Michael and his roommate Seth. We had such a great time catching up with Michael and getting to know Seth (what a great kid!).  They are complete opposites of each other, which probably made their roommate experience even better. We laughed for hours over their camp incidents--such a great night!!!

Day 3 - Giovanis Girls

Today we spent the afternoon (because we didn't wake up until then!) walking, shopping and eating.  We wandered through the Gothic district and marveled at the unique architecture style.

While we were shopping we found some interesting graffiti bags that are all hand stitched and use materials such as refurbished car parts and seat belts; it was pretty cool!  Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at a tapas restaurant and a bit of time at the beach--which was GREAT people watching!!  We have some pictures....but they may be a little too inappropriate for this blog....

Day 2 - From Kristen

Today was our 'tourist' day, so we crammed every site we could into a 10 hour period, including several Gaudi buildings, Guell Parc,  Sagrada Familia, the Barcelona Football Stadium, and to the kids delight, Tibidabo Mountain and Amusement Park where the rides were lacking but the view was breathtaking (figuratively and literally--we walked FOREVER!). We ended the day at a fantastic small local restaurant where we dined Barcelona style--starting at  10:00 and ending well after midnight.   My favorite pictures of the day follow--at the amusement park and soccer stadium:

Day 2 - From Melina

Today was really fun!  My favorite part was going to the amusement park, we got to ride in this cool shuttle thing.

I also got to pretend I was friends with this complete stranger who didn't even notice I was sitting next to him!

When we got to the park it was so much fun. We went on a bunch of rides and got ice cream. Also, we saw this mom that looked 50 trying to look yonger then she is; she was wearing a skirt that was 3 inches long and a tiny tank top that was propped up. Sophia wanted to take a picture but I thought it was mean and rude so there is no picture. 

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Thanks, Melina

Day 2 - From Sophia

Today was a really fun day but the most interesting thing happend while we were on the bus. Melina, like normal, was busy chatting away and as she was doing so I saw an old guy craping on the side of a major road in the city. Literally sitting down and craping, and have in mind he did not have any pants on. :(!  It was the grossest thing in the world and of course Melina was too busy talking that she did not see a thing, neither did my mom. Thanks for reading and sorry for getting that picture in your head, but now you know how I felt when I saw that.

-Sophia

Day 1: Visiting Michael in Barcelona

After our arrival today, we were able to quickly freshen up and go meet Michael at his school.  However, Michael was an hour delayed due to a train issue, a tram break down and various other incidents.  Sophia was the vision of patience as she snipped at me and her sister at a continuous pace.  Melina was over talkative and driving Sophia absolutely nuts with her rambling and inability to just 'sit and wait'.  When we finally saw Michael it was WONDERFUL!  It was the first time in years where he appeared happy to be in our presence!!  We took a walk, had a bit of  lunch at one of his favorite lunch places, and planned to connect on Sunday for a dinner out with his roommate. We left amazed at the wonderful reunion and discussed at length how much he has matured.  A few hours later, Michael called to inform me had set off a fart 'bomb' in a neighboring room this afternoon resulting in a 2 hour detention. 

From Melina

The delay my mom was talking about was a little incident after getting off the plane.  A woman that was on our flight started hyperventilating  and was about to pass out.  Apparently she had just gotten out of the hospital in Minnesota and was on her way home.  My mom stopped to help her, which made my sister further irritated and she tried to get my mom to leave to make the plane.  People came to help her so we were able to leave, but in a panic.  We sprinted to the train which took us to the last terminal and we ran to the gate. My mom thought this was a perfect time to stop and shop for headphones!  We barely made it but we are safe in our seats now about to take off.

On Our Way!!

 Today we finally left for our long anticipated trip.  As usual, things did not go as planned.....our flight out of Minneapolis was seriously delayed forcing us to literally run through the Atlanta airport to make our connecting flights. It was only made worse by Sophia berating her sister and accusing her of causing us a (potential) missed flight due to Melina's need to use the restroom to wash her hands. We were further delayed due to a whole other issue that Melina will blog about.  Finally, we  are  on our flight from Atlanta to Barcelona waiting for take off!!

Welcome to our blog!

The adventure starts soon....48 hours and counting! I think this picture accurately portrays my travel companions; a giggly tween, a pouty 10 year old and an annoyed teen....this trip should be full of interesting moments!