Family vacation part 2 - the cities :-)

One of the reasons we wanted to go to the Costa Brava when my family visited us in June (see previous post) was that we had not yet been to see the city of Barcelona. So one day of the week we were there, we took the train down to Barcelona. The train was fun, though it took about half again as long as it would have in the car. At least we had pretty scenery to watch out the window and for part of the way we even had a little live music to entertain us :-).

Barcelona is a very nice city. We went to see the cathedral (of course :-) ). The highlight of the visit was going up on the roof of the cathedral. There were some amazing views of the city from up there!



We enjoyed a wonderful meal on an outside terrace. For sure, the must have on any Casteel or Risley vacation is good food! :-) A funny aside - at first the maitre'd refused to seat us because there were 12 of us. Fortunately, my dear hubby is a salesman and he was able to persuade him to reconsider! :-)






We took a stroll down the main pedestrian street, Las Ramblas. They had all kinds of street performers and exotic animals for sale. The street leads to the harbor, which was really beautiful!










The day ended with some yummy Italian gelato. It was fun!

We also took 1 evening to go into town. Tim & Mandy and Jason & I went to see the Gaudi cathedral of la Sagrada Familia and enjoyed a yummy dinner of tapas.

Once we got back to Madrid, we enjoyed Sunday morning at church. Then we took Tim & Mandy and family to downtown Madrid to see the bear statue and the Plaza Mayor. We even got some churros & chocolate :-)

Then on Monday, we all (minus Jason who had to go back to work!) went to our favorite little town of Segovia. The goal for the day was to get a good pic of the girls in the coordinating dresses that Mandy had brought for them. Well, perhaps easier said than done! They enjoyed posing like princesses in the castle though!


Tim has been learning about photography and I think he's getting quite good. Our favorite moment was when he was lying on his back in the middle of the Plaza Mayor in Segovia, trying to catch the kids in a good pic. It was like the paparazzi or something :-) Too fun! And it did result in one of the best pics of the day of the 3 girls! Also from the same "shoot" here is Layton trying to grab the camera lens :-)

It was such a fun, fun week to be together. That is the single thing we have missed the most since living in Spain: having longer times to hang out with our family. Even when we've gone home, the time seems so short. So what a blessing that each of our family members made the trip across the ocean this spring where we could hang out for several days in a row!

The Costa Brava!

The 6th of June we welcomed my (Becca's) whole family to Spain at the same time. Tim & Mandy came for their 1st visit with their 4 kids, Lily (7), Lacy (5), Layton (3) & Liam (9 mo). My parents also came back so we could all go on a family vacation together. We were so grateful that Tim & Mandy were willing to drag their little ones across the ocean - and none of us were sure how they would all do! But they did great! They all handled jet lag in style and didn't keep their mom & dad up too much. :-)

Pretty much as soon as they landed on Saturday, we took off in 2 cars for the Costa Brava. We rented a house for a week about an hour north of Barcelona. The coastline is absolutely gorgeous - very rocky & craggy with the amazingly blue water of the Mediterranean Sea! We rented a big 4-level house to have room for the 11 of us with a view of the Sea. I really could have stayed there sitting on the balcony looking out to the sea! Amazing! The first pic is of the pool (bottom level) looking down from the dining table (3rd level). The top level was just a terrace where the girls played for hours! I think they felt like they had a secret clubhouse up there. This is Katie, Lily (7) & Lacy (5). These pics of the Mediterranean doesn't show its blueness, but it was gorgeous!














My mom celebrated a big birthday while we were there. It was so fun that we could all be together celebrating Mom! It's nice when we can hit those special days even when we live so far apart!




We spent several days on the beach - there was a great beach in a little cove very near us. The kids loved climbing on the rocks - it was kind of like a big, scratchy jungle gym :-) There were a lot of little shallow pools of water that got trapped in the rocks, so they collected all sorts of sea creatures - crabs & anenomes & snails.The kids had great fun splashing in the water and playing in the sand. Here is Katie, Lily, Lacy & Layton (3). The grown-up kids even got in on the fun some too :-) Also here is a pic of the glamorous Aunt Mandy & baby Liam. And then baby Liam & Poppi in their matching hats :-)
































A definite highlight: we took a college student from our church with us to help out with the kids and babysit a couple of times so the adults could go out together and have adult conversation. So the 6 adults went to a nearby town called Tossa de Mar for a long lunch one afternoon. It was soooo much fun! And the town was by far the prettiest we saw. Such a fun afternoon (thanks, Hilary!!) The 1st pic on the top of this blog post is also from that fun afternoon. We had such a nice lunch with yummy food and the chance to talk about our lives this past year. The old walled city was up on the hill overlooking the beach. Fortunately, they had a tram you could take to the top of the hill :-). The coastline from the top was absolutely stunning!

I think this post is on picture overload at this point :-) (I didn't think I would ever get it to format and look right! And who knows how it's going to look for those of you who follow it on a reader...), so I'll close and post separately about our city adventures while they were here.

Comfort Food

I don't know what fits your description of comfort food. For us, it's pretty much Kraft macaroni & cheese. Now, I'm NOT saying this is our favorite food (unless you ask Katie), and the longer we live in Europe the less we even like it at all (what IS that orange powder anyway??). But whenever we are super tired or sad or just home from a trip or just don't know what else to cook, we always turn to Kraft mac & cheese.

Today my family left after 11 wonderful days here with us in Spain. This spring has been a series of visits from our family so that now each member of our family has been here to visit us within the last 4 months. (though we missed you, Uncle Bryan!) It still really blows my mind that they were all willing to come and that we were able to show each of them our world. What great memories we have!

But now they're all gone, with no more visits to look forward to. So we are eating mac & cheese today. And wishing Spain were just a wee bit closer to Texas.

Semana Santa

The week before Easter is called Semana Santa in Spain. It is probably the biggest holiday week here - along with Christmas and the August vacation time (they are really really serious about their holidays here :-) ) This year, Jason's mom & stepdad, Vicky & Dave, came to see us. Yes, that's right! Vicky is doing very very well and has been given a clear bill of health! The brain tumor is gone and she doesn't even have to go back to that doctor for many years because the surgery was so successful. She has some small side effects from the surgery and tumor, but for the most part, she is totally better and pain free. Even the cancer possibility that was showing up in her blood work is completely gone. It was so wonderful to have them here and have her health be so good. Actually, it was a little hard to believe how scary & sad the last time we were together was in contrast! We are so grateful that God has protected her life & her health and that it is all a memory.

We had a wonderful week with the 2 of them. Katie enjoyed having her Nana & Papa here to play with and they played dogs and ponies for hours :-). Of course we showed them the downtown area and went to Toledo to see the cathedral & shop for a day too. They also got to go to church with us so they could see where we worship & meet some of our new friends.




One day, we took advantage of the beautiful spring weather and went down for a picnic in the Parque Retiro. This park is one of our favorite places in Madrid and it was really beautiful with the spring flowers and newly leafing trees. We got to see the Crystal Palace and enjoy an ice cream and a coffee in one of the outdoor cafes. (our favorite people watching place!) Here also is Katie being a statue on an empty statue pedestal :-).

We also took a day trip to Segovia. Last October, when I went to London with my friend Tracy, Jason & Katie had found a really neat place called La Granja that is only 15 minutes from Segovia. We had not had a chance to go back there. So on our way to Segovia, we stopped by. La Granja means the Farm, but it is actually a country palace and gardens, similar to Versailles in France. It is absolutely gorgeous! Since it is farther north than we are, the trees were just barely beginning to leaf out - I think it would be even more gorgeous in a couple of weeks. And we hope to go back sometime to see the fountains in action. Outside the palace, they have these enormous trees, that we found out are actually American redwood trees. So that makes them even cooler :-). We also found an amazing chocoleteria right next to the palace. Hot chocolate here in Spain is so thick your spoon almost stands up straight in it. :-) Super yummy.

Segovia was fabulous as always. We saw the castle and hiked all the way up to see the view of the cathedral and the town. Segovia is over the pass over the Sierra Nevada mountains, the ones we can see from our area. The snow on the mountains was really pretty to see from that side too!

BTW- we figured out that this trip made Jason & Katie's 6th time to go to Segovia. I have been there 4 times. :-) Yes, we like it that much! (not all of those times were with visitors!) This time we found a new fabulous restaurant - yet another reason to go back. So come see us, and we'll take you there too :-)

We had such a good week with Mom & Dave and were so thankful to have so much time to spend together to show them our world!

Spring Break with the Camps!

We have had lots of fun visitors recently here in Madrid. It is such a treat for us to have visitors, and we are so thankful that they are willing to make the long hard trip over here to experience our world with us!

For spring break, Jason's sister Jennifer, and her 2 kids, Candace & Collin, came to see us. (Uncle Bryan had to stay home for work :-( ) Technically it wasn't our spring break, but Katie did have 2 days off that week already (the spring is FULL of holidays here!) and she just stayed home all week to be able to play with her cousins. We had such a good time spending time with them, and Katie loved playing with her cousins! One of the things we miss the most here is extended time with family, so it was so nice to have a whole week to spend together.

We enjoyed showing Madrid to them while they were here. They had never been to a European city before, and Madrid has the typical architecture and feel of the European capitol that it is. It was fun to remember our 1st impressions of Europe and Spain as we watched them experience all the new sights for the 1st time. 2 things that we are really used to that they really noticed are the ever present smoking and graffiti. It was kind of funny to realize that we don't even think twice about either of them now! We went downtown to the Puerta del Sol to see the Bear (left - Katie's 1st up close & personal experience w/ the Bear b/c it's quite high up), to the Plaza Mayor to see that beautiful square (above), and to the Royal Palace.

Jason & Collin got to experience a Spanish "football" game (i.e. soccer) - a first for both of them! Fortunately the good guys won. :-) We also spent a day touring the local grocery store and mall. Not your typical site seeing sites :-), but it was really fun to show them our world! And they enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences in such familiar locations.

We also spent days in both Toledo & Segovia. Somehow I don't have any good pics of Toledo, and I stayed home with a sick tummy while they went to Segovia (i.e. no pics from there either). One of the highlights of the day in Toledo was finding an inexpensive yummy new restaurant near our normal haunts. Jenn, Candace & Collin were all great sports at trying the new Spanish foods :-). (like paella with a whole crab & shrimp in it: shells, eyes and all :-) Should have taken a picture of that, huh?) Another highlight of our time in Toledo came when we were visiting the cathedral. Every cathedral in Europe has a big beautiful pipe organ, but we never get to hear any of them actually playing. We had just commented on how great it would be to hear it when they actually started playing it! There was a field trip of a group of kids there and they were demonstrating the organ for the kids. It was amazing! It really almost brought me to tears to hear the grandeur of that beautiful sound in that grand building!

Jenn said that Segovia was her favorite city. (we agree!) It was also fun because they took the Ave, the high speed train, to Segovia for the first time. Jason said it was a really great experience that cut the normal driving time of an hour in half! They did have an interesting experience on the bus once they got to Segovia. The bus driver kept trying to fit more people on the bus and there was just no room. The people on the bus were even arguing with him that there wasn't any room left, but he was sure they were wrong! Apparently he had not reached the weight limit for the bus, so physical space left or not, there was sure to be more room for more people! I'm not sure how fun that was for them, but at least it's a good story :-)

The last fun thing we did was go up into the mountains. As I've mentioned, the mountains are clearly visible from here, especially in the winter when they have snow on them. They are only about an hour's drive from here. Well, given that Candace & Collin have been born & raised in Texas, they are like us and have not seen snow that often. So we mostly went to find some snow to sled on :-). The temperatures had been in the 70s so I was just not sure if we would find any snow - but you can still see it up on the mountain tops! So we drove up the pass to a nearby ski resort... and just at the summit, we found snow! There were actually patches big enough to sled in! The first picture is Candace sledding on a patch by the road, but then we hiked up a little ways and found a pretty decent hill, demonstrated by Collin in the 2nd pic. It was great! We all ended up pretty wet by the end of it - you would be walking on the snow and then all of a sudden your foot would fall into the snow up to your knee :-) - but it wasn't too bad since it was so warm. It was really funny b/c there were flowers blooming just next to the snow drifts. Maybe this is typical spring, but this Texas girl found it very unusual!! :-) Katie was definitely more interested in picking flowers than in sledding :-)




After a yummy lunch in a restaurant by the ski slope (and yes, the slope was still open!), we found a beautiful path to hike in the woods. It was so beautiful hiking in the mountain meadows & woods, surrounded by the beauty of spring and snow-fed creeks. It was really hard to believe that we were really that close to Madrid!


Katie loves her "big" cousins (they are 15 & 14, compared to her other cousins who are 7 & under) and we so enjoyed spending time with them. They are really nice kids :-). They were so nice to play with Katie and entertain her. And Aunt Jenn spoiled Katie with treats from home and lots of love. We had such a good time!!

A good dog

Not the post I want to write...

We were very sad to hear that our dog Rusty died yesterday in Texas. He had only gotten sick a couple of days ago, and we are thankful that he did not suffer long. He was living with our friends, Ron & Mindy, who were so gracious to take care of him while we are living here in Spain.



Rusty was such a good & loyal dog and we have many happy memories of him. (This is us with him last year on Christmas Day - and our other dog, Rosie, in the background.) We got him from the Irving pound when he was 4 months old in July 2000. He was mainly Jason's dog and loved to follow Jason around everywhere, even underfoot if necessary so as not to miss out on whatever Dad was doing. He would lay under Jason's desk for hours, "helping" him work :-). He was so eager to please you and figure out what you wanted him to do, such a nice change from the beagle we had before him :-). He was a cocker/lab mix - his mom was a lab, so that's the only part we know for sure, but the cocker part was pretty obvious. He inherited much of the cocker breed's nervous tendencies and usually found something new to be afraid of on a weekly basis :-). He used to love tearing up "do-to-do's" (the center of a paper towel roll) until one accidentally hit him on the nose and he became mortally afraid of them forevermore. :-) We named him Rusty b/c when his hair would get long, he had brown tints on the edges of his hair. Maybe a little random for a black dog, but that's why :-).

Our hearts are very heavy today b/c we won't get to see Rusty again, but they are mostly heavy for our friends, Ron & Mindy, Andrew & Sara Beth (at left with Rusty this summer). Rusty had become their dog as well, and he loved living at their house. They have squirrels to chase in their backyard, and Mindy took Rusty in the car with her when she went to pick up the kids from school nearly every day. They also took him camping with them several times in their RV. We are so thankful to them for taking care of Rusty so well and giving him such a great last year of life. When we saw Rusty this summer, at first he didn't even recognize us (maybe his eyes were going?), but when he finally smelled us, he went crazy. As the evening wore on though, we were very happy to see that Rusty really wasn't partial to us - he followed them around as much as he followed us. So he truly felt settled in his new home. I know it will be a much harder transition for them as they get used to their house w/o him again.

I think the worst part is that we are now officially dogless... We will miss you, Rusty Roo!

much love,
J/B/K

Meeting Baby Liam!

I mentioned recently that I have just realized that several things have happened that I have not blogged about. One of these big things was getting to meet my new nephew, Liam! We left TX the week before Liam was born in August, and did not have another trip scheduled to go back. I was afraid that it would be next summer when Liam was nearly a year old before we would get to meet him. This living so far from family can be a bit yucky!





When we decided to come to TX for Vicky's surgery, we only had 1 day that we knew for sure we'd be in the Dallas area. So my brother & sister-in-law drove all the way from Fayetteville to see us that one day! It was such a gift! Fortunately, Mandy's family is in the DFW area too, so they didn't have to just turn around and head home after 1 day :-). This is me holding Liam for the 1st time, trying to hold back the tears of joy for getting to meet him while he is still small! But God knew that he wouldn't be that old when we 1st got to meet him. That is a good description of how our trip was, in fact: God bringing good things out of hard things.


Liam is so adorable and such a happy baby. I know it does not make any difference to him that Aunt Becca got to hold him, but we can show him pictures :-). Tim's been great about posting video and pics on their blog, partly for our benefit, but it was so precious to see his smiles in person!




It was also good for Katie (& us) to see her Casteel cousins and spend the day with them. In the 1st picture is Layton, 2 1/2, Lily, 7, Lacy, 4 1/2, and Katie. It happened to be Halloween, so we also got to go trick-or-treating with them. (Also in the Halloween picture is Rylee, one of Lily & Lacy's cousins on Mandy's side) The time was too short, but it was very sweet.