Barcelona - Day 1

We arrived in Barcelona late Friday night.  We settled in at our apartment and the next morning headed to the Cosmo Caixa which is a children's museum.  It might have helped if we could have read the information with the exhibits!!  But w

e all enjoyed it so much--especially AJ and Grace.                                            

The was a special exhibition on microbiology.  In this picture we were looking at the skin on our hands and fingers under high powered microscopes.

 Here Grace and Jackson colored in their micro organism just like they wanted and then....

 click...and it was on the floor swimming around with the others.  They had fun chasing their and trying to step on it.

Jason and Jackson had a contest to see who could keep their hand on the huge block of ice the longest.

Just an interesting guy and his reflection.

A rainforest was re-created here.  There were some huge fish, an alligator and a little duck who I think lived in fear he would be eaten by the alligator.

 This pendulum swung from the top floor down 5 stories to the bottom floor.  As it would swing it would knock down the metal bars in the circle around it.  It took just over 24 hours to knock all the metal bars down.

When we walked in the museum these two guys were sitting behind the information desk.  I thought--wow, he needs some time outdoors in the sun!  Then I discovered they are Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.  They looked SO real (down to the whiskers, pores, capillaries in the eyes, wrinkles, etc.)  that it was kind of scary!

 This is the famous market on La Rambla.  It was very crowded on Saturday.  There you can find all kinds of fruits and veggies, candies, freshly squeezed juices,  nuts, spices, cheese, and breads.  We enjoyed a stroll down the La Rambla which is over a mile long and busy with beautiful architecture, vendors of all kinds, artists sketching portraits,  We were warned of pickpockets, but had no problems.  We were prepared!

 Don buying his favorite nuts--macadamia!

 The statue of Christopher Columbus.  This is the site where the King and Queen of Spain greeted him after arriving back to Spain from the New World.

 We enjoyed dinner in the Placa Reial in the heart of the Gothic Quarter.  What a great place for people watching.  There were jugglers and musicians to entertain us.  In the center was the Three Graces Fountain...Grace made it 4!

Waiting for the next Metro.  They have a great system there and that was our method of transportation along with a lot of walking!!!!

German Festival

This weekend was a big festival for the Scherden's village of Fockenberg-Limbach.  I don't understand it fully....but it was something about the teenagers "coming of age."  For 3 days and well into the nights the people of the village lived it up with music and drinking!  There was a parade of the tractors on Sunday afternoon that was fun.

 Love this picture of Jason and Emily!

 Festive German music from the two-man band!

 This is the pole that will be placed on a building (below)

 Jackson and Grace got a ride in the parade!

 After the decorated pole was placed, the young man climbed the ladder and told funny stories for a long time about people in the village.  We couldn't understand anything, but there was a lot of laughter and the people enjoyed what he had to say.

A few days later the teenagers (ones in the turquoise shirts) came by with a wagon collecting "anything" from the homes in the village.  He kept saying "anything" and that is what he meant.  I went out and looked in the wagon and there was a watermelon, wine, paint, olives, to name a few!!!

Monkey Hardware - Tree Climbing!!

The Scherden's neighbor, Franz, has developed and patented equipment for climbing trees!  Last Saturday he asked the guys to go and try it out!  It is a short drive from their home.  Emily, Grace and I dropped the guys off and picked them up a couple of hours later.  When we went back, Grace and Emily joined in the fun.  Franz has sold the equipment to many countries here in Europe.  Just this month he went to Washington, D.C. to work on a climbing park there.  

 Jackson....with a big smile and ready to climb.

 Grace  had fun, but didn't climb up too far.  She like swinging around on the rope more.

 Jackson did great...climbed all the way up and rang the bell.

 I think Jackson enjoyed rappelling down as much as climbing up.

 Even Don gave it a try.

 Emily turns out to be quite a climber!  She said she just didn't look down.

 Emily made it all the way to the top and rang the bell.

 What a cute tree-climber.

 Franz giving Grace an upside-down ride on the ropes.

 Jason tried climbing using an ice pick to grab hold.

 The setting....a beautiful German forest.

 This is Franz...He was so nice to take us tree climbing!

Dinosaur Park, Germany-August 2013

Don, Emily, Jackson, Luke (a friend of Jackson's), Grace and I spent a day at Dinosaur Park.  It was so much fun!  What a great place for kids to play and parents to enjoy watching them.   We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the whole day.  There was a little stream that ran through the park the kids could play in and a pond with minnows they could catch--and then release.

 Daddy Don relaxing...

 The park had some fun things to play on...different from American parks.

 A BIG basket!  Kids can crawl up inside or hang on the outside.

 The park was getting ready for the Fall Festival!  There were gourds and pumpkins everywhere.  I loved the western theme--pumpkin saguaro cactus, gourd covered bison and horses.  Teepees with pumpkins.

 These dinosaurs are actual size!

 The kids loved the skate park.