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The caption from the May 17th edition of El Periodico (p.27) just about says it all! Marina was thrilled by the ride and held on tight to her red balloon the whole way. Gràcies a Oscar per informar-me sobre les noticies!
It took over an hour to figure out how to add air to the tires (the pump end – for which I cannot find a name – just wouldn’t fit into the valve), but we took Marina out with her bicycle for the first time today. She can still barely touch the ground.
Your guess is as good as ours, but we still enjoyed Marina’s serenade on our way to the local bar for a cappuccino in Lucca. She seemed pretty darned pleased with herself as well.
Marina's newer words seem to be mostly food related. Hmm...
I don’t know who enjoyed playing with Marina’s new kitchen sand set more, Marina, Gina or Tyler.
THANKS current Mixed Co members for sending their latest CD to us ALL THE WAY in Barcelona. As you can see, Marina enjoyed it and let’s just say she’s getting in some practice time before her class of 2029(?) audition. I’m guessing she’s a top soprano.
No one would believe us, but we’ve captured it on video. It’s Marina’s version of One-Two-Three only it’s Two-Three-Two (in Spanish).
All she wanted to do was eat the cupcake, but instead MAMMA and PAPPA made her sit through 4 versions of Happy Birthday (English, Spanish, German and Serbian). In the end, Princess Marina had lots of fun and more than a healthy dose of refined sugar (carrot / orange, vanilla lemon and chocolate orange cupcakes) at her If You Give a Cat a Cupcake Party. And everybody knows what happens if you give a cat a cupcake… he might want some sprinkles to go with it.
Just when we were all ready for winter to be over, a freak snowstorm hits Barcelona. Gina made the first snowflake sighting from her office window (she works near Tibidabo at a slightly higher elevation). Flavia later confirmed the flakes in Eixample and the deal was sealed with a skype from Tyler “It’s snowing on the beach”. Thank goodness the storm hit the day AFTER the BCN Marathon.
Editor’s note: We attribute the storm to Edgar’s joining the FB Group “Mes neu a Barcelona”
Our time: 4:09:04
First half: 02:00:55
Second half: 02:08:10
Rhythm: 00:05:55
Speed: 9.79 Km/H
Tyler placed 3086 in his category (7527 over all)
Gina placed 266 in her category (7526 over all)
A sunny windy Saturday at the Barceloneta. We nabbed an inside sea-side table for our regular Buenas Migas Saturday desayuno which led to some creative “rocking out” to the 80’s music inside.
… is that when your colleagues plan a “workshop” in Switzerland in the middle of winter, they do it right. Tyler and Marina tagged along on a business trip to Champéry – a rustic Swiss village situated in the Alps complete with awesome mountain views, authentic chalets, rösti, raclette and minus 13 degree winds on the lifts. Despite the fact that I was working, we managed to get in 2 half-days of skiing. I, of course, made the same mistake I usually make in letting Tyler convince me that the red slopes wouldn’t be too difficult despite the more than 10-year gap since my last skiing adventure. Marina finally got the hang of her snow “choo choo” (sled) by the ... Read More
Marina and mommy tried out their own Rodin poses on Rambla Catalunya.
The word of the week is allá – the place where mamá and papá need to high-tail, so that Marina can do her thing SOLA. In the video she says ciao, her other fav word!
It never fails to impress me that the entire city of Barcelona gets into the holiday spirit for one magical night when the Kings arrive at the port at exactly 17:30. The mayor was on hand to provide them with the key to the city so that they could make their rounds to distribute toys. The Cabalgata or parade was the biggest and most colorful of the year, but the purpose was the same – to afford the kids a chance to personally hand in their King’s Day letters. Can you imagine the children of San Francisco, Boston or New York heading to the port or their neighborhood square on Christmas Eve so that they could personally hand their ... Read More
yeah (yes)
Tyler and I managed to get in a spectacular run along the SF Coastal Trail that began with a jog through a green Golden Gate Park to the breakers, up to the Cliff House, over to the Golden Gate Bridge and down to the Marina to Brunch at Rose’s Café. Oh, how we miss BRUNCH. Rose’s special French Toast, Spinach Scramble and Beet Fennel salad…
They were all there – at least in spirit. Cathy from Seattle, Sara from Portland, Gina / Ken / Elias / Liana from DC, the locals Lila, Alder, Dav and Keli and then there was Ruth who made everything come together. Aaron, Lara and Audrey, we missed you! Thanks to Ruth for finding this awesome house and to Alder for stocking it with an endless supply of wine! What an awesome weekend - hot tub, wine, running, wine, eating, wine, playgrounds, the name game, oh and did I mention wine? I'm really impressed with our ability to all get together on such relatively short notice -- must repeat in 2011...
This year’s party included more kiddies and some expert decorators. Christina and Oscar showed the most artistic flair while Nika was the most prolific powdered sugar-painter. When she wasn’t stuffing cookies into her mouth, Marina was in charge of sprinkles.
In the next day or two I will be updating our blog with posts covering the last five months or so and postdating them to correspond to the approximate date of the events that transpired. I will also be posting more photos of Jan and Santo's visit, Marisa's visit and random Marina photos from before, in between, and after these visits. The reason for the lag is that my work has been a bit all-consuming since the spring and into November due to a project I'm participating called RGASP.
Tyler offered to babysit so that Tía Marisa and I could enjoy the quintessential Catalan festival – the Correfoc del Mercè. We kept our distance from the showers of sparks but neither of us could resist moving in for a closer look when former teen idol Rick Schroeder and family crossed our path. Later we learned that this was an historic Correfoc as someone had finally realized that running a bunch of “fire-breathing” dragon floats through a crowd of people in the center of town just might be a tad bit dangerous.
We enjoyed a spur-of-the-moment visit from Tía Marisa thanks to the excellent timing of her change in employment.
Marina had the best time with her Nonni and Nonno when they came to visit in August/September. They took her to the zoo, where she saw hippos and monkeys and tortugas... and also to the aquarium, where she saw fishies and sharks! They got to see her go swimming at the community beach/swimming pool, the "Platja d'Eixample." Gus also got special treatment, getting his own stroller so he could be taken out for strolls by Marina. For all of us the time went by so fast -- if only they could have stayed for longer...
Paris in August. I know what you’re thinking: the heat, the tourists, the shops all closed for their annual summer holiday. In our humble opinion, you are WRONG WRONG WRONG. The city of lights and poor service loses the latter in summer when everyone’s in a good mood with the longer days, fewer Parisiens and warmer weather. Paris is full of parks and carousels and terraces for a much need verre du vin and assiette du fromage. Not to mention the ice cream, the chocolate, the wide open spaces and PARIS PLAGE where the whole of Paris pretends that they live on the Riviera and it actually works. My friends who have lived in Paris swear that it is simply ... Read More
After an extended stay with Flavia and Pablo over the summer, Flavia's oldest sister Eri (the tannest of them) said goodbye.
It’s called Eixample Beach and it is our newfound friend for those calorós caps de setmana that just won’t tolerate 30-minute train ride and the packed in beach crowds. We discovered it a little late, but we’ll be the first to arrive next June when it opens as Marina should be unstoppable in the water by then.
We currently have a backpack loaded up with all of the necessities for going to the beach sitting in our storage room at the ready. On these hot Barcelona days, we find it all too appealing to pop over to Sitges for a morning of sand sifting and running after the waves. Marina loves the sea and is intrigued by the fish that come within touching distance on a calm clear day. We love the post-sea ritual as much as the sea itself which usually includes enjoying a beer on a terrace with a sea view with our sacked-out kid napping in the stroller.
My mom and dad, A.K.A. Gram and Gramps, came to spend a week and a half with Marina and a week in Tuscany. Marina thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them -- playing with the things in Gram's purse, going to the zoo, playing at the beach, etc. etc. I think the photos (sorry there's so many) are pretty self-explanatory and sum up the visit quite nicely.
Barça decisively wins La Liga (the Spanish leauge), the Copa del Rey (the Spanish Cup) and the Champions League (the select European club competition) all in one season, making them "tri-campions." With the best players on the planet (Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and co) and some refereeing luck in the semi-final they coudn't go wrong.
We enjoyed a brief visit from Dan, whom we haven't seen in several years at least. He was here for a conference and on his last day he came by for a beer and dinner. It happened to be the night of the Champions League final (Barça v. Man U.) so I quietly had the game on in the background while we ate dinner (a definite "no-no" in our house, but these were exceptional circumstances).
Climbing Montjuïc with a jogging stroller and 11kg toddler was no easy task. Gina and I traded off the driving duty. They always have these races when Marina is napping -- it'll be nice when the day comes that she stays awake and enjoys the ride.
Flavia and Daniel held a party for Uli's second birthday in Parc Güell. After spending some time at the playground in the lower section of the park, while Flavia and Dani went searching for a picnic table, we made our way up to the picnic area. In true Spanish style, we ignored the chain-link fence closing off the path to the picnic grounds, and entered. The party was complete with balloon sculptures and cake and snacks. Unfortunately, we had to leave early since it was already past Marina's bed-time.
Rowan and Nuria now live in New York City, so getting to see them when they visit Barcelona is a special treat. We went to the Cerveseria Catalana for a beer and tapas. We got to meet their friend Maria (whom they met long ago when Nuria was living in NY the first time) and her daughter Lily who joined us at the Catalana. R and N seem to be really enjoying NY and we're happy for them, but we miss them and wish they were closer...
In a blast from the past, Leila Durr, an old friend of mine from college (we met at Pro Fro week at Stanford in 1992), stopped by Barcelona on her way to Firenze, where she taught a six-week course to some American exchange students studying there. (pls. correct me if I'm wrong, Leila.) We enjoyed getting to catch up with her over a drink at Habaluc.
Ping pong, foosball, billiards, dancing and enlightening discourse on all things computational and genomic.
When I got back from the ACGT retreat, Marina and Flavia greeted me on the street outside the apartment. Marina was wearing her sunglasses and looking cool. Gina then came home and we met up with Emilia, Eduard and Martina at the nearby pet store so the kids could look at all the dogs. I never new pet stores could be so much fun!
OK, this is really just for true fans of Marina, 'cus to anyone else this might be a totally boring video. It's significant, though, because as soon as she gets this down, it's one less thing we have to do for her and one more thing she can do on her own.
I took this video with our new camera just after Marina finished her breakfast. There's just something about her this morning that strikes my funny bone. Make sure to play it in HD and in full-screen mode!
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