Prades

Amidst a lot of the recent chaos (see the Year End Catch-Up post below), we've also managed to have a lot of fun.  At the beginning of the month we spent a four-day-weekend in a nearby village called Prades.  We went to a "camping," as they call it here.  It was cold and wonderful and it's highly likely that we'll return in the springtime someday.

 All of these little villages always have AMAZING squares.

Antics outside of the restaurant where we had a fantastic, Catalan countryside style meal.  And by fantastic I mean unrivaled goodness.  We might have to come back soon just for lunch.  As the saying goes and as James put it, "te pones las botas aqui."

 It's cold but we know how to have fun, plus we need to walk off some of the extra calories consumed.

Again, the same great square but now it's night time and everything is all lit up.  Christmas time here is so lovely.

All of these little rural places always seem to be equipped with fab parks, our "camping" had two plus a miniature petting zoo.

4-year-old tested and approved!

After playing at the park for a while we headed off for a hike.  The girls are pretty tough these days.  This hike was about 7k and we had no complaints!

We kept checking out the rocks that made up the whole valley.  They are all like little, polished circles because the whole valley used to be under water.  It's a pretty neat geological history the region has.  Later on in this same trip we toured one of the largest caves in the world but we weren't aloud to take any pictures.  I'd highly recommend it if you ever make it our our way.

 Anyway, back to our hike (again, notice the cool geologic features in the distance -- some of the best rock climbing in the world)...

 ...like I said, the rock was just fascinating.  In this pic you can see all the holes where each little, circular rock has fallen out.

 Quick break...

 ...in a cool mini-cave.

 Big-Sis helping Little-Sis just a bit.

 I told you it was cold!  Ice dancing and slip-sliding is always fun.

More Catalan style dinner and play in our mini-cabin.  Prades is in a great wine region so Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a little wine tourism, too.  Yummy!

 This was the view from our little front porch.

 Our "camping." It just seems so funny to me to call it that but, hey, "When in Rome..."

Last little bit of ballet practice on the front porch before heading back to BCN.  Aoife has been taking dance at a fantastic little school here that she loves and Aine will start at the same school, but a different class, in January.  Music and movement are coming very naturally to both of them and you can just see how happy their little hearts are when they dance and sing!  Also, if you look very closely at this shot you will notice that Aoife has lost her first little tooth!  Oh, my!

Stay tuned.  There'll be some Christmas travels and a visit with Grandma and Grandpa Stuhan coming soon!

Happy Holidays to one and all!  We love you!

J & M & A & A

2013 - Year End Catch-Up

"Busy" is the word of the year!  As you can see, full-time teaching and mommy-ing don't make for good blogging practices.  So, here's just a snapshot of the last couple of months:

Teaching at ASB is SO different than what I've done before in a variety of ways but it's great to be back in the regular education classroom and there are lots of cool professional development and service opportunities on the horizon.  I'll keep you posted as they get closer.

The girls are still absolutely flourishing at their little school.  Someday they'll come to school with me everyday but not in the foreseeable future.  Their language skills are developing amazingly along with all the other academic and artistic odds and ends and they are just really, really happy!

James has more teaching hours this year.  He is also formally studying Catlan and is looking at Master's programs for next year.

Health wise, we've had our ups and downs.  The girls have had A LOT fewer viruses this year but in exchange we have had lice a couple of times and Aine got pin worms!  Yeee-uck!  I've been struggling with a severe kidney infection.  I was in the hospital on IV antibiotics, missed a week of work and will be following up with a urologist.  I'll keep you posted in that regard, too.

In the midst of all of that we've kept up with some pretty cool stuff and, like I always say, have continued to get more and more settled.  The pictures I'm including below, I think, reflect a lot of the peace and happiness we're finding here these days.

XOXO

And there you have it.  XOXO