Ogo and Greta make their reality TV debut as FAMOUS cooks (minute 18.05) and Gina, Tyler and Marina get to enjoy the outcome. Hang on until the last 5 minutes to see the Aliotos in action.

Posted by Tyler at 10:23 PM | Permalink

Once again on TV -- this time it was Gina being interviewed during the Barcelona Supercomputing Center's annual meeting at the Camp Nou. The program was about what European cities like Barcelona are doing to attract scientists and other researchers. The BSC segment starts at 2:52.

Posted by Tyler at 10:50 PM | Permalink

Go to minute 18:29 to see the story. Marina (with Blueberry) and her friend Julia were totally enthralled with the gegants!

Posted by Tyler at 11:26 PM | Permalink

Roderic hosted a very nice going away party for Paolo, Micha and me on the deck of their apartment. Marina had no idea what the party was for, but she had a good time with playing with Paolo's daughter, Cleria, and observing Roderic and Montse's turtle, Llampec.

Posted by Tyler at 11:52 PM | Permalink

Marina packs in the fun with Malena and Rafaela. Choo choos and tandem horsie rides ar some of Marina's favorite games.

Posted by Tyler at 11:00 PM | Permalink

An extended bi-partite visit from my mom and dad (interrupted by a stay in southwest France). The normal routine of walking in the Barceloneta and going to Buenas Migas and Habaluc was punctuated with a visit to the zoo, a trip to the Parc de l'Oreneta (mini-train rides and ponies), and lots of bike riding. We also were able to get out and go to the Txakolin and hang out with Cris and Oscar at Las Golfas.

Posted by Tyler at 10:29 PM | Permalink

Gina makes a business trip to Nancy with a short stop in Paris... where she meets up with Olga and her mom. What a small world!

Posted by Tyler at 10:24 PM | Permalink

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!

Posted by Tyler at 11:34 PM | Permalink

for Malena's party, Marina learned to sing "Happy Birthday", well at least "Happy to you..." AND she fell in love with Hello Kitty.

Posted by Tyler at 10:14 PM | Permalink

It was good to see Olga again this year, even if we had to squeeze her in between lunch with Ogo and Greta and my parents' visit. There's always time for Olga:)

Posted by Tyler at 09:58 PM | Permalink

Greta is clearly very proud of Ogo. After all, it's not every day you get to appear on TV.

Posted by Tyler at 09:30 PM | Permalink

We made the 1.5 hr train trip to Girona to see the annual flower exhibit (each patio puts on a a floral display). It was hard to keep Marina focused on the flowers, but finally there was a combined flower/bubbles exhibit which provided some relief.

Posted by Tyler at 09:17 PM | Permalink

Playing with Naomi and Malena.

Posted by Tyler at 08:25 PM | Permalink

One of Marina's art projects...

Posted by Tyler at 08:19 PM | Permalink

The first beach excursions of 2010. Marina adapted quickly...

Posted by Tyler at 08:15 PM | Permalink

Posted by Tyler at 08:09 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Gina at 09:59 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tyler at 07:16 PM | Permalink

Marina's newer words seem to be mostly food related. Hmm...

• Olive oil - as in mas olive oil please
• Pizza – as in mas pizza please
• Beans – as in mas beans please
• Cheese – as in mas cheese please

• Fuzzy – as in the things that stick to your toes from your black socks that come off in the bath water.
• Guau guau – pronounced “wow wow” is a Spanish doggy (Catalan dogs go BUP BUP which is just about as ridiculous a sound as I’ve ever heard)

Posted by Tyler at 10:24 PM | Permalink

I don’t know who enjoyed playing with Marina’s new kitchen sand set more, Marina, Gina or Tyler.

Posted by Gina at 10:34 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tyler at 09:34 PM | Permalink

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).

Posted by Gina at 10:45 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Gina at 10:29 PM | Permalink

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”

Posted by Gina and Tyler at 09:10 PM | Permalink

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)

Posted by Gina and Tyler at 10:46 PM | Permalink

• aquí
• este
• eyes
• nose

Posted by Gina at 08:14 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tyler at 09:31 AM | Permalink

… 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

Posted by Gina at 09:43 PM | Permalink

Marina and mommy tried out their own Rodin poses on Rambla Catalunya.

Posted by Gina at 08:19 PM | Permalink

• snow
• ave
• abeja

Posted by Gina at 08:11 PM | Permalink

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!

Posted by Gina at 09:06 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Gina at 08:30 PM | Permalink

yeah (yes)

Posted by Gina at 08:23 PM | Permalink

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…

Posted by Gina at 11:18 PM | Permalink

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...

Posted by Tyler at 11:50 AM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Gina at 11:08 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tyler at 10:04 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Gina at 11:01 PM | Permalink

We enjoyed a spur-of-the-moment visit from Tía Marisa thanks to the excellent timing of her change in employment.

Posted by Gina at 10:48 PM | Permalink

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...

Posted by Tyler at 09:00 AM | Permalink