Disney, Disney, Disney...

Day 1- Day at Sea...

We had a character breakfast and saw...

Minnie Mouse


Dale (and Chip too- just no photo with him)


Jake (Peter Pan or Robin Hood?) and Kailey (Maid Marian perhaps?)


Claire (Minnie), Pirate Pete (Danny) and Madi who wants to head for the hills


Madi thought Goofy was fun


and Mickey made all the kids smile.

Later in the day, a few of the girls saw...

Alice in Wonderland with Madi and Emery


Alice and Kailey- Alice commented that Kailey was rather tall- but since she was a year older than Alice's 12 years- it was okay...


The girls with Princess Tiana


I love that even Cinderella sometimes blinks at the wrong moment.


Snow White is teeny!


Luckily we found Sleeping Beauty awake.

In the evening, Danny thought a little family karaoke would be fun. Grandma, Kailey, Shelby, Em, and Madi sang a Hannah Montana song.

Kailey was mortified, Grandma didn't know the words- but Shelby, Em and Madi enjoyed themselves.


In fact, Madi felt very at home on the stage and knew all the words.

The Cliffs of Moher

Actual post date April 18, 2010.

Danny's parents were supposed to get to Ireland on April 15th and we planned to go to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher for an overnight getaway. (Since we have seen loads of Europe but little of Ireland...) Sadly, their flight from Philadelphia only made it halfway across the Atlantic before they turned around and went back. So- we decided to go without them.

We picked the kids up at lunchtime and headed west.

If you are a geologist- you will be thrilled with this picture.

It's a bit hazy but that hill is made of limestone that was formed thousand of years ago. It doesn't look that amazing (here) but it is part of a national park so that it can't be destroyed. Kailey had all of her geography notes so we read up on it and this is an important part of Ireland.


The Cliffs of Moher- you might remember them as the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride.


O'Brien's Tower was built in 1835 and overlooks the cliffs (the original owner felt like tourism was important to Ireland- even then. I also read something that said the he also used this tower to impress women...)


Kailey the gymnast.


Shelby by the tower.


Cute Claire


Emery climbing the gate!


Madi on the fence (I promise I was just outside the camera- ready to grab her!)


The boys who love to live on the edge.


What can I say?


6 cute kids hiding in the grass.





I love these people.

Quotes from our trip...

The roads were windy and our shocks are bad... "Dad, can Mom please drive? You're driving gives me a headache." (K)

"I can't hear anything. The computer's not working." (They didn't have the headphones in the right hole.)

"Do we have anything to eat?" Jake (I showed him what we had...) "I don't want the squished up crackers." (10 minutes later...) "Can you pass the crackers please?" J

"NO WAY!!!" "Hold me NOW!" Madi- (She was bold the whole trip. I guess this is what you get with a two year old.)

"Can you please turn up the air?" "Is the air conditioner on?" "I'm feeling sick." Shelby- "Are any vents pointing your way?" Us... "No." Shelby (Well point them your direction!)

"DAD! Please!!!!"

"How much longer does the sat-nav(GPS) say?"

Our kids are great little travelers- just not in a car.

Gaudi was a Genius- Barcelona Day 2

One reason why Barcelona never really appealed to me was that I am not overly impressed with Spanish painters, etc. (Sorry, but Picasso has never been a favorite...) I had seen pictures of some of the buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi, but was really not impressed. Then I saw them in person...


This is the Casa Batllo and it is really cool looking. (We saw it from the bus.)


Here is another one- called "La Pedrera" - also very interesting.

Saturday morning we decided to go to the Sagrada Familia Church. If you go to Barcelona- you have to see this. Gaudi started building this church in 1882 and it is still not finished. They are hoping to have it completely finished by 2026. Maybe because I had no expectations, I was completely amazed by how fascinating this place is. We walked out of the subway, saw a huge line and looked up- this is what we saw...


This is the Passion facade of the Church (there are four different facades- I didn't know this and we completely missed the Nativity side.) {Look up between the towers- you can see the resurrected Christ ascending to heaven.}


This is a close up of the Passion Facade. I can just tell you that pictures do not even capture a portion of how amazing this building is. I stood there with my mouth open- looking up and shaking my head.



All of us in front of the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family Church).

After seeing the church we headed to the Parc Guell. A man by the last name of Guell became Gaudi's patron and had him do a lot of work for him. Gaudi designed a park for Mr. Guell.


By the entrance of the park


This walkway is really cool looking.

So we had to take a picture on it. (We're on the top and it's a bit of a way down. We were holding on to the kids!)


Another view of the walkway.


Claire and Madi


Shelby and Grandma.
This is the gate that leads out of the park. If it is pushed back- it becomes part of the wall.


A classic pick up your poop sign! (It only says "Gracias")


Danny and Madison (in classic form) as we left the park. You can see the entrance to the park as well.

Thank you Antonio Gaudi for making such amazing structures for us to see!

BRILLIANT BARCELONA

I don't know why, but we really didn't have a huge desire to visit Barcelona. However, since we had a day to play- we did! AND... Barcelona is great!

We had a lovely hotel/ apartment that was big and very modern. We saw all of these people out selling roses and we saw a lot of these red and yellow striped banners as well. We found out that it was Sant Jordi's Day- St. George's Day. Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalonia. Traditionally a man would give his sweetheart a rose and the woman would reciprocate by giving her boyfriend/husband a book. Now there are booksellers and rose sellers everywhere! (The red and yellow striped banners are the flag of Catalonia. The region of Spain that includes Barcelona.)

A street in Barcelona- you can see a rose seller with the Catalonia flag.

We spent a good portion of the day on the hop on/hop off bus tour. It was a great way to see the city and learn about what we were seeing!

Kailey and Shelby on the bus.

We saw Montjuic (a hill that overlooks the city) and the Palace that is now a museum. We also saw the 1992 Olympic Stadium and took a tram to the top of the hill. (There were a couple who were scaredy cats- but we all enjoyed it.)

Danny and Jake on the way up in the tram.


Claire and Emery were NOT afraid!

We also saw the Castel de Montjuic and enjoyed views of the city and the port.

Kailey and the former moat that is now a lovely garden area.



Shelby in front of the Castle.


Emery with the first view of the Disney Magic!


This boat will be our home for 11 days!


Claire, Emery and Shelby playing Leap Frog


Jake and Madi leave the castle behind.

We also saw the Gothic Quarter and went into the cathedral there.


Claire and I on the bus.

We had a wonderful day exploring Barcelona. We also met up with Grandpa and Grandma Carrell and were thankful that they made it safe. So we all celebrated and had Chinese food for dinner. (We ate lunch at a typical Spanish restaurant- so we did taste food from Spain. I totally enjoyed my paella.)