KyotoAlioto

We just got back from visiting Maaike (6 months pregnant) and Alessandro in Oirschot, Nederland. At minus 7 degrees Celsius, we spent our days in lots of layers. We spent Christmas eve with Joost (Maaike's brother) and the rest of Maaike's family. We ate very well. On Christmas Day, we explored the village, tried some jenever, and then Gina, Marina and I had a nice quiet Christmas dinner on our own with lots of skypes from family. The day after Christmas (the 2nd day of Christmas in the Netherlands), I woke up feeling a bit ill, so we decided to stay close to "home". Later in the day, I went ice skating with Gina. In the evening Maaike's mom came over for dinner -- Ale made us fantastic homemade spinach gnocchi! On Saturday, we had pancakes at a pannenkoken house in the countryside and then spent the afternoon in a little town called Oisterwijk.Sunday we took the train to Utrecht, where Maaike used to go to school. Monday, Gina, Marina and I spent in Oirschot again, running in the countryside and enjoying the small shops and bars.Our last day we went with Ale and Maaike to enjoy a rare and sparkling sunny day in Amsterdam. We'll never forget the 4 straight days of rain on our last visit! Amsterdam was just beautiful! We bought some reypenaer cheese, tulip bulbs and some wooden clogs for Marina. A wonderful winter vacation! Most importantly, we were able to catch up with Maaike and Ale whom we MISS TERRIBLY.

We're now glad to be back in balmy(relatively speaking) Barcelona.

Posted by Tyler at 07:51 PM | Permalink

Marina continues to open Christmas presents. She seems to enjoy the wrapping paper and tags more than anything. Her favorite presents include the plastic case that the soft blocks came in, her pink ball as well as Biscuit's Pat and Play Christmas book.

Posted by Tyler at 07:47 PM | Permalink

Gina's department had a small group dinner at the Quatre Gats.

Posted by Tyler at 11:02 PM | Permalink

The Caga Tió pooped us shirts decorated with the human genome. Photo taken right outside our office on the 4th floor balcony of the PRBB.

Posted by Tyler at 03:57 PM | Permalink

Christmas started early this year, with presents from Marina's grandparents delivered especially by Papa Noel two weeks before Christmas. Papa Noel, otherwise known as Santa Claus, visited the children at the Sagrada Familia. Marina was sure not to miss out, with her letter in hand. We also gave her an early present this year, a "correpasillo" which she immediately fell in love with, whizzing up and down the hall!

Posted by Tyler at 10:28 PM | Permalink

Marina wore her new outfit from Marisa to the Christmas fair. A fleecy one-peice outfit with a hood. She's doesn't like to wear the hood inside but outside it was perfect.

Posted by Tyler at 10:23 PM | Permalink

Our annual Christmas cookie decorating party was a success! Eduard, Emilia and Martina were the first to show. Then our upstairs neighbors, Laurent and his daughters, Emma and Solen, came down. In the end Ogo and Greta were also able to stop by. We had American hot chocolate (with cinnamon, orange peel and allspice) while decorating the sugar cookies.

Posted by Tyler at 10:10 PM | Permalink

We dressed Marina up in a Christmas-y outfit my mom sent and took the bus over to Ogo and Greta's, where we were treated to homemade Börek, a Turkish specialty made with yufka (phyllo), spinach and cheese.

Posted by Tyler at 04:02 PM | Permalink

So cute in her new monkey pajamas! By the way, the common use of "mona" in Spanish is to mean cute, but mono also means monkey. I couldn't think of a more fitting description for this photo :0

Posted by Tyler at 11:46 AM | Permalink