Weekend Recap

This weekend recap is short and sweet because we hardly left the house, which was a great respite after Christmas and our trip to Europe.    This was our first weekend in a long time when we had no plans.

On Friday night we made some popcorn and started watching Ralph Breaks the Internet, and then watched some of last season's Great British Baker.  E loves the show too.  After he went to bed dave and I watched some Friends from College on Netflix.

In the morning, Dave and E went to skiing and then Q and I went to his swimming lessons.  It was so cold outside but the pool was pretty warm.  Q had a great time!

After swimming we went to No Frills, the library, the LCBO, and Hot Oven Bakery.  Q had a good time doing the errands and enjoyed the library.  

Then we went home, turned on the fire place, watched some Paw Patrol and then had lunch.  Peanut butter on toast and some apple sauce for Q.  He was pretty tired so he was happy to go down for his nap.

Dave and E came home early from skiing since E wasn't feeling well.   I went to Costco by myself to renew our membership and get some gas.  Since it was snowing, it was slightly less busy than usual so it was a good time to be out.  I made French onion soup when I got home for our supper, it was so delicious.   We repeated our Friday night with the rest of Ralph Breaks the Internet (with the kids) and Friends from College (for Dave and me).

We sort of slept in on Sunday (like post-7:00) and when I went into to get Q he wasn't really ready to get out of bed so E climbed in with him and they read some books while I read my own book in the chair. 

I made this delicious and simple breakfast - scrambled eggs, radishes, and bagel. 

We bundled up to go out and shovel the snow.  Q did not last too long out there, he was frustrated by many things so Dave put him up to bed and he fell right to sleep even though it was only 9:45.   I snapped this quickly before he went back inside.

I did some reading with E before lunch, and then cleaned and did some laundry.  Dave took E sledding for a little bit and when Q got up I took him to the grocery store with me.  He snuggled up to this cantaloup. 

I had to take another photo of E just to try and even things out!  He was playing on a new math app that his teacher had set up, he loved it!  

I finished off the cold weekend with some cozy yoga and a glass of wine when I got home (along with the Fyre Festival doc on Netflix).

10 Year Challenge

I always think it's a good idea to pause a look back every once in awhile to see where you've come from; this 10 year challenge that everyone is doing now is a perfect opportunity for that.  2008-2009 were big years for me - I was called to the bar in New Brunswick (and then Ontario), moved to Toronto, got hired at the law firm where I still work today, bought a house, and got married.

A few things have stayed the same over those 10 years but many things have changed - some obvious ones like we have two children and we have lost loved ones, but also some small things - we eat much differently than we did 10 years ago, we exercise in different ways, we don't watch the same things on TV, we spend way more time on our phones (I had a flip phone in 2008 and could barely text, but then upgraded to a pink Blackberry), and we have travelled a lot more.  Some of the people we spend the most time with now are people we did not know 10 year ago.

It's not really about how much your looks have changed, of course we are going to look different, we have experienced a lot of things over this time.  We have stayed up nights with our children, we have lost and gained weight, we have had days of bright sun on our faces, we have climbed mountains, we have laughed and cried.

June 2008 - Call to the New Brunswick Bar

February 2009 - Trip to Los Angeles

May 2009 - Our Wedding

And for reference here are we now!

Here's to the last 10 years and to whatever the future brings!  Cheers.

Barcelona - Day 7 and 8

Okay this is the last post on this holiday - thanks for sticking with me.  On Thursday we went down to the pool area to catch the sunrise.  The pool and the surrounding lounge areas looked so nice it would have been great to enjoy it in warmer weather. 

We had breakfast and then hopped in a cab to Sagrada Familia.  Of all things in Barcelona, I knew I wanted to do this one again.  When we went before, we had E with us in a stroller and it was late in the day and very crowded.  We weren't able to spend as much time as I would have liked.  Plus I was curious about the progress they have made on the construction.  

I had ordered tickets online beforehand for a 9:15 entry with access to the Nativity Tower at 9:30.  We were right on time.

The Nativity entrance - the carvings depict Jesus' birth and his early life.  The colours on the stained glass on this side are cool blues, like morning light. 

The other side is the Passion side and the carvings over the door depict Jesus' death.  The colours in the windows are reds and oranges like the light at dusk. 

We took the elevator to the top of the tower and got some great views of the city. 

Grapes and Loaves to represent communion - these are on the roof.

This is where I lost Dave.  He does not like heights to was eager to get back down to the ground while I wanted to look around a little more.  An Australian man and I took photos of each other while are families left us. 

The staircase on the way down - the seashell design is not an accident.

The photos simply do not do this place justice - it is just so beautiful.  I am so moved by the beauty, the biblical imagery, and the devotion of Gaudí and others to complete this project.

That 2026 completion date still seems ambitious to me but what do I know.   To see it completed someday would be amazing. 

From there we walked down to the Arco de Triunfo and sat in the sun for a bit. 

Then went to our favourite little pizza place in El Born

Check out this cutie from our 2015 trip in the same place.

All of the jamon

Classic El Born

We tried getting some gelato at our favourite place but it was closed :(  We then walked home along the beach.

We rested and read for a little bit and then went for a run - we ended up on the pier by the W Hotel on the opposite end of the beach from our hotel.  About a 5K run.

We had massage appointments at the hotel spa after that.  Dave got these shots from his locker room at the spa - the highest building in Barcelona. 

We went out for dinner with Dave's colleague and his wife.  They had picked out the restaurant, La Dama, a French place that looked like we had gone back in time to the 1920s, I was waiting for Gaudí or Picasso to walk in.

This door had to be unlocked to let us in - so swanky.

Then we went for drinks at Dry Martini, another great find.

Onto our last day.  I love a breakfast buffet so I had to take a picture of the one we enjoyed at the hotel.

We had signed up for the electric bike tour on this day.  Again, we weren't really sure what the tour consisted of, but we had such a great time.  The tour company was Barcelona e-bikes and I would highly recommend them.  The bikes were all parked on the boardwalk by our hotel waiting for us.

We set off down the beach and stopped a couple of times along the way as our guide told us about various sights.

Our guide, his name was Salvo and he was excellent!

Then we started the ride up Montjuic, this is where the electric feature of the bike came in handy and made for an enjoyable ride.  We stopped here to check out the cactus garden. 

View from halfway up. 

Then we parked our bikes and got on the cable car up to the top of the mountain.  

A beautiful day to see the city.

We walked around the front of the Castell to see the waterfront.

From there we took the cable car back down and rode over to the front of the archaeological museum (MAC).  As part of the tour we got a ticket to buy a coffee, pop or juice. The cafe con leche I got was just perfect to warm me up.

Group shot.  We were divided into three or four separate groups so we only had to make sure 7 of us (plus guide) stuck together while biking, and just met up with the whole group a couple of times.

From there, we rode down through the Montjuic park and through the streets of Barcelona.  The park, by the way, is full of beautiful gardens, we did not appreciate the full offerings of this park when we visited last time.  It would be a lovely oasis to visit when the weather is hot. 

Riding through the streets was great, we weaved in and out of people and got a good sense of the city, especially when we went through Barri Gottic.

The last stop on the tour was the fountain in the Ciutadella Park in El Born. 

Then we rode back to our hotel for the end of the tour.  I just thought we were going to be bussed to the bottom of Montjuic, go for a token bike ride, and then bus back; it was a real treat to bike through the city.

It was about 2:00 in the afternoon so we were faced with the dilemma of where to eat.  We knew we wanted to go to Mosquito, an Asian inspired tapas place with craft beer, where we went twice on our previous trip, but it was a 25 minute walk, which would take too much time.  So we just took a cab there, got a place at the bar, and ordered some favourites. 

We walked back to the hotel, along the beach, checking out the surfers on the way.

That night we went to Bestial for the team dinner (which is Manufacturing and Canada, by the way).  We had the entire restaurant and it was so lovely inside.  Again, this would be even better in the summer where you could sit in the patio by the beach but was very cozy for us.  We had a variety of Spanish tapas to start and that would have been plenty to eat, but then we had steak, and finished up with an apple tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  And lots of wine of course.

We had a drink at the hotel bar with the Quebec people and went to bed.  We were up early the next morning to start the journey home.

 German pretzel on the stopover in Frankfurt.  

We flew Lufthansa on the way back and it was fabulous.  We had two delicious meals and they have a very nice entertainment system.  I watched a movie and two documentaries, read, and slept.  I could have watched more things but my earphones were hurting my ears (#firstworldproblems).

You can read about our accommodations in Lisbon here

Lisbon Days 1 and 2 here

Lisbon Day 3 here

Lisbon/Barcelona Days 4, 5, and 6 here.

I love talking about travelling so if you have any questions, ask away!