Familia de Barcelona

While Bruno is much bigger now at 9 months old, he was a tiny tiny one at one month!  Bruno was just out of the hospital a few days before we left to come back, and so I had some photographing to catch up on (since we had much more time with his brother Eric).







Can't wait to see Bruno and Eric again in a few weeks...they are just the cutest nephews one could ask for!  Here are a couple of more recent photos of the two of them (courtesy of my mother-in-law):




Just look at those smiles!

Barcelona - Gothic Details

So many great details.  How many faces are looking over you when you walk through the streets of the Gothic part of town?


Long shadows at the end of our long walk.  I love this city!

How do you know when you are behind in blogging?

You know you are behind when you haven't posted photos from a trip to Barcelona that you took 8 months ago, three weeks before your next visit there!  What happened to the time?!  Well, here are a few shots from around Barcelona - the Boqueria (this post), some gothic details of the city (posts to come) and family (posts to come).  Whoa boy do I have some catching up to do!

-Silva








We wish we could find these in NYC...








Say hello to the juiceman!

Summer Night at the UW Memorial Union

Mmm....that's some good beer - Felipe says.

We had a really enjoyable evening last night at the Memorial Union.  Probably my favorite place to sit and hang out on a nice summer evening.  My friends Jen and Laura came as well and we had a terrific fun time catching up and talking about old times.


Mom was with us too, enjoying a brat, a beer and some nice breeze off the lake.    Can't wait for the next time we can go back...

Sant Hilari Sacalm - Font Vella Hotel Balneari

On the day after Christmas Felipe and I took a couple hour drive with his parents to go to Sant Hilari Sacalm to the Font Vella Hotel Balneari for a bit of a "mini vacation".  We had talked with his parents about trying to find a place to relax for a few days...I think we all needed a bit of relaxation.  After some online conferencing with each other, and a quick visit to check the joint out on Felipe's parent's part - we decided on Font Vella.

A Balneari is basically a resort or hotel situated at a mineral water spa.  They had a full thermal water circuit (pool, jacuzzi, sauna, "turkish bath"/steam room, ice bath and so forth).  We had a beautiful room, very close to the spa entrance.  The room was huge, and very comfortable, and we spent two days swimming, and relaxing at the spa.  It was pretty quiet the first day we were there because it was a Catalan holiday...so for the first day we almost had the whole place to ourselves.

Overall it was a terrific place, and I would love to go back...maybe next time we should go back during the warm weather...we could spend some time sitting on the chaises outside!

Concordia Cemetery - El Paso, Texas

So one of the things we decided to do on our family trip in El Paso was to visit Concordia Cemetery.  You know, only the best family fun-time activities for us!  Actually, this place was awesome - seemed to be full of history, and vastly different setting than the cemeteries that I'm used to!


The grave of John Wesley Hardin, an outlaw and a gunfighter.  He was shot to death at the age of 42 at the Acme Saloon in El Paso.





It was a really interesting visit, and we learned a bit of the history of the city.  Maybe it would have been nice to have had a guide show us around and tell us about some of the people buried there - there are lifetimes of history there.  I hear they also have a really great Dia de los Muertos celebration there.  Maybe another year!

A map of Concordia Cemetery (from their website):

Merry Christmas at the Ponderosa Cabins! [Catch Up]

During my visit to El Paso with my mom and sisters, we took a small roadtrip to Ruidoso, New Mexico.  Grace reserved a cabin for us at the Ponderosa Cabins.  These cabins were nothing fancy, but we sure enjoyed it!  Kind of a mix of old worn down, and fun kitschy retro.


The expanses around the highway on the way up to Ruidoso were great.  Maybe not amazing for everyone, but for myself, who is surrounded by towering concrete/brick/glass skyscrapers every day, this was terrific!




We stayed in Cabin 10 - the outdoor front porch looks inviting - and I'm sure it's a lovely place to hang out when it's not winter!


The kitchen - kind of reminded me of my grandma's kitchen in her 1950s Orland bungalow house.


One of the two bedrooms - love the formica night stands and the cool lamps :)  (The beds were stiff, but reasonable for the one night we were there)


The fireplace!  we decorated for Christmas!


Family portrait near the roaring fire(s).  See how many "fireplaces" you can count!


Mom enjoying her cocktail in a wine glass.  We were limited to the dishes they provided in the cabin...can you believe they didn't have martini glasses?


Playing a surprisingly complicated game of "A Christmas Story" themed yahtzee.




Is that mom, asleep at the hearth?  Let's see what kind of fun we can have...

We had a fun evening - made dinner, watched Christmas movies, opened gifts and "playing yahtzee" (that's in quotation marks because I don't feel like I ever got the hang of that particular game).  It was a nice cabin, and I think wholly fitting for our little adventure. I would love to go back sometime!