date night in old town

Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, Paul and I had a night out in Old Town.  We started here on the roof top patio of Illegal Pete's with some New Belgian drafts.  If you haven't had Sunshine Wheat with a shot of OJ, you haven't lived.  The weather was perfect, the curry made us miss England (not a bad thing), and the company was divine.  Thanks Jenny and Neville!

home

After thirty hours of travel and no time for Paul to recover from the jet lag before returning to work, we made it to the cabin the first weekend back.  Everything about it was perfect.  Everything about it felt like home.

Tim spent a large part of his day practicing his cast.

Luke has moved from a toy rod to the real thing - minus the hook.

The Attridge fishermen.

Brothers and friends.

The rain has given the whole region a rare green summer.

Tim can now paddle the boat!

obama and the attridges

When President Obama visited Stonehenge last September, a flood of criticism poured through the media about him getting to walk among the stones - special treatment.  So I did a little research and discovered that the Attridges can also walk among the stones, even touch them although we didn't.  I'd like to leave it at that, Obama and the Attridges, but anyone who pays the extra money, books on-line, and shows up before opening hours or after closing hours can have Stone Access.  We recommend it.  There were about 20 of us.  It seems like a large group, but Stonehenge isn't a small circle of stones, and I often found myself seemingly alone.  It was beautiful and a nice contrast to our visit to Carhenge in Nebraska last summer.

paris with children

This is a bridge in front of our hotel.  We couldn't see the Eiffel Tower from our room.  It took us about twenty minutes to walk to it, and the weather was perfect for walking.  The Seine is just on the other side of the trees on the left side of the photo.  The Statue of Liberty is on the bridge over the river.

The park with a carousel.

Instead of just riding around in a circle, the children were given sticks and directed to rings that they could collect as they flew past.

Ready to collect rings!

Looking cool in Paris.

The view.

We took the stairs down and down and down.

The Notre Dame

Paris has always been a special place to Paul and me.  The stylish people and the divine food were lost on them, but they loved the look of the city.  We look forward to taking them back again some day.

birthday boys

Happy Birthday boys!  You fill us crown to toe, top-full of love.

Tim wanted something Pokemon for his birthday cupcakes. The best I could do were Pokey Balls.  I don't understand any of it and hope to keep it that way.

Both Tim and Luke enjoyed the Pinewood Derby.  Tim placed in this one, as you can hear/see.

Barcelona

To help us cope with the lack of daylight and cold weather, we spent four days in the glorious Barcelona sun, soaking it and the culture right up.

Tim took to the idea of his own desk immediately upon getting into our hotel rooms.  We had matching adjoining rooms.  Two toilets.  What a luxury!  We didn't know it when the photo was taken, but Luke was fighting a stomach bug.  You can see it in his face if you zoom in.  Poor little man.  Fortunately, it went through him quickly and he was 100% in about 12 hours.

Using mass transit has become common to Tim and Luke.  Our hotel was on top of the main train station and subway stop.  

The small cafe had empanadas for Paul and cookies on a stick for Tim.  Luke wasn't interested in any of it.

We enjoyed the watching the locals play boules.

Park Guell was our first stop.  We had to buy tickets and return later but found a playground for the boys and had some lunch.  Mostly we just sat in the sun and enjoyed the day.

From the park, we walked and took the subway to Gaudi's masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia.

Conveniently, there was another playground across the street.

The boys were quite taken with the space station theme of the hotel.  This chair was in front of the elevators and very near our room.  Tim hid from me in it one morning and scared an unobservant couple.  He and I enjoyed the moment.

On day two, we walked a main boulevard to see some more Gaudi architecture and eventually get to the beach.

Next door.  Not Gaudi but just as interesting.

We even got to spend a little time in the Picasso museum.

Tim's latest passion is amethyst.  

Typical streets.

Both boys are still very fond of the beach.