Spring Break in Spain....

We just returned from spending a week in Spain for Spring Break. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect! We stayed at THIS house in Sitges which I would highly recommend if you are traveling with a larger group and want to stay outside of Barcelona. It can accommodate up to 16 people...we had 15.

We had an early morning flight so the kids were able to play by the pool.
We had a cookout and just relaxed for sightseeing the next day.

Our stylish rental.....

Eggs, eggs, and more eggs!

The eggs at the Oster Markt last weekend were amazing! There were 79 crafters from all over Europe who showcased many techniques for decorating eggs. I was on a mission to collect more eggs to decorate my dining room tree....mission complete!

Here are the eggs that I purchased! The egg prices ranged from 3 Euro - HUNDRENDS of Euro....gasp! I stuck with the under 15 Euro price range except for one......

All of vendors had special boxes or bags to put the eggs in. Some were fancier and some were recyclable like this one....

pretty on the inside though!

Naturally speckled egg....

With a tree on one side.....

Remember this lady from my original post?? (check it out HERE)
Well she has an incredibly steady hand!
I chose 5 eggs that had not been colored yet, but did have a design on them.
She wrote each of my kids' name on an egg and then colored them.
Each has a poem written on it as well...
Do you see how steady her hand is??
The packaging for each egg for the kids....

I just loved the colors on these...

These eggs were decorated with paper.....
This one had such a cute matching box....

I can't wait to decorate my tree next Spring with my new eggs and the ones I already have!

Dinner with a purpose....

Last night I enjoyed a "grown up" dinner with 2 friends at Il Capprecio. It is absolutely delicious!!! The 3 of us (and all of our kids....11 to be exact) are going to Spain for a week in a couple of weeks and we decided to plan our daily itinerary over dinner.
My friends convinced me that I should try one of the appetizers that they ordered....uhmm "no thanks" was my reply.

I eventually caved in to the peer pressure and tried escargo for the first time.....

....and it was good once I got past thinking about the slimy snails before they were cooked:)

We accomplished a lot at our dinner planning date.
We have a LOT of places to visit and I am REALLY looking forward to this trip!
We even worked in an evening dinner and Flamenco show just for the adults...
More to come after our trip!

Mission complete for the egg hunt!

Today was the first day of Spring so it only seemed fitting to go to an Ostereier-markte! What is this??.....an Easter Egg market. Kloster Eberbach am Rhein near Eltville hosts its annual International Rheingau Easter market. The halls of the former Cistercian monastery near Eltville am Rhein, famous as the site of the movie “The Name of the Rose,” will hold more than 75 exhibitors from 10 countries showing off their imagination and techniques for decorating eggs.

I have a tree that I keep up all year in my dining room that I like to decorate each season. I've collected a few eggs for the tree since we've been in Germany but really wanted to purchase enough to finish the tree off since this will be our last market in Germany....at least for a while!

We did have a little trouble finding the market!! It helps to be on the correct side of the river which we were NOT. I did get to try out my German skills when asking for help! Luckily we met a woman who spoke very good English and she explained that we had to take the ferry across to the other side.

...ferry schedule

Driving onto the ferry....

Our ride across the river which felt like we were spinning in circles!

As it turned out, it wasn't quite as easy to find the market once we were on the other side!
It was beautiful once we found our way.
The gate as we were entering the monastery grounds.....

Had a great time...so much in fact that I barely got any pictures on the inside...gasp!!
The artists here have AMAZING talent....
We ate at a DELICIOUS German restaurant that was just up the hill from the market.
I want to go back and take my husband!!!

12 Days of Christmas on the Splendida

This year we spent our Christmas holiday aboard the MSC Splendida for the 12 Days of Christmas cruise. We left for Genoa, Italy in the EARLY (2:30 am to be exact) morning hours on December 16th. The drive wasn't too bad until we ran into snow in Switzerland....we were worried this would happen since we have been getting a TON of snow!! Most importantly, we made it to the port in time for our first cruise as a family and we LOVED it!!

Our room (9055) shared with Jacque and Ian....

Colton, Lauren, and Sarah stayed in this room (9045) across the hall.
A bunk bed was pulled down from the ceiling each night so there were enough beds.

One of the pool decks....

Music played everywhere on the ship....

The kids loved the jeweled steps....

Stay tuned for our first port of call!

Pumpkins & more....

We went to a pumpkin patch today so the kids could pick out their pumpkins.

We arrived just in time to take a ride up to the family farm.....

There were all kinds of animals to pet.....

...and hold, catch, chase
Ian was so excited when another tractor drove by....
Here are the kids before I set them free in the pumpkin patch....
And they are off...
Does this pumpkin patch look a little strange??

Notice that slope??

Well, It was pretty steep!

I put a pumpkin down to take a picture of Ian
and it began to roll VERY quickly!
Yes, I took my almost 2 year old out with an out of control pumpkin.
No picture of him laying on the ground, but here he is soon after!

Ian found a hole as we were lugging the pumpkins up to the scale
and thought it was a great place to sit!
...and our final stop before heading home