Sunday, October 30, 2011

Here is the answer to the Riddle....

Quade is obsessed with Blue Man Group....
a few years ago there was a special on TV showing one of their performances
Quade loved it so much that we taped it and he has been watching it
at least once or twice a week since then.
So Brittnee called me up one day to let me know they were coming to Albuquerque.
She wanted to buy tickets for she and James to take Rich and Quade
so they did...
So Rich took Quade with him this weekend to take Brittnee's Horse to her
after dropping off the horse they got ready and went to the performance
Quade had no idea what was about to happen!
This was a surprise of a life time for him
he was so happy and has had a grin on his face ever since
he is carrying around the pictures and I have a feeling this is something
we will hear about for a long time to come!
good call Britt!!!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Here is another clue.....or two.....

Guess where Quade and Rich are today....on Richs birthday!?!?

Monday, October 24, 2011

Honor Roll....

YEAH for Sawyer!! he made the 5th grade honor roll and perfect attendance!!!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Barcelona, Spain

We took our first trip over the pond...
It was not a long trip but it was just enough time
to experience a pretty cool destination and some pretty awesome Jet Leg!

We arrived on Thursday the 13th and we went down town that evening
We had a little tour of the town center which includes
Roman Walls and pretty cool Architecture
at the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona built in the 12th century
We also went to Las Ramblas which is the shopping area.
I just loved all the old old tall buildings and the narrow, cobblestones streets





most everyone traveled by public transit or scooters.
There were alot of scooters everywhere we went
and there also didn't seem to be any real "rules" for scooters driving through the streets






This was in the market in the heart of Las Ramblas


These old Roman walls were in the middle of an apartment building
they built around and on top of the old Roman city
you can read more about that here








on Friday we did some more sight seeing...
First we went to Parc Guell
this was a special area that the Great Catalan Architect, Antoni Gaudi built
he intended for it to be an upscale housing development
but alot of people didn't really like his style of building
and because of that and because it was built far from the city (in those times)
it didn't really take off

here is a view from the area


This picture is of the top of the market area, each of these pillars is part of
the amazing water system that he built to water the landscaping
down by the pillars would be the market place and up on top you can see the
longest one piece bench in the world. It is all made of mosaic type tile work


the walkway from the front entrance into the market place






more of the bench






looking up at the roof of the market area






some of the tile work up close


Goudi's work is very beautiful, ornate and detailed


there were only actually 3 homes built in the park, the rest was garden area.


next we went to the Sagrada Familia
this is the church of the Holy Family that
Antoni Gaudi was commissioned to built
it was estimated to take 200 year to complete
and should be completed in 2027

 
here is a replica of what it should look like when it is complete








when Gaudi died another Architect  took over
and did so in his own style.
I personally did not care for the change in style
the front of the building that Gaudi did depicted the birth of Christ
and the other side of the building that the new architect did
depicts the death and resurrection of Christ


After leaving there we went back down town
Here is a cathedral that we happened onto


More streets...I just could not get enough of them


And Rich could not get enough of the Chocolate shops

 
More of the Roman walls which he also could not get enough of...
We also were able to visit the Picasso Museum
that dude was weird!


more Roman walls
There were some interesting people at Las Ramblas
our tour guide called them "Weirdos"
Not really sure how this guy is staying on his stand
(yes he is real, not a statue)
and this guy is some sort of Gothic creature


More pictures from the Market in Las Ramblas






At the end of the day we were able to catch a Flamenco Show






On Saturday we took a Journey to the top of the mountain to
if you click on the link be sure to read the history of the Holy visions









This is the cave where the Holy Visions took place


if you look closely you will see a track running up the side of the mountain
we went there next...


here is the car that you load into to travel up the mountain


there were two cable cars that traveled the track at the same time
one going up
and one coming back down
they would pass each other at this point in the tracks


the view from the top was unreal




These next pictures were taken inside the cathedral

Up in the middle of this picture, in that little balcony is the Black Mary
people stand in line for hours to see and touch and kiss the Virgin Mary













When we got back we made arrangements to attend a Soccer game
As I'm sure you know, Barcelona's soccer team won the world cup
last time it was played
so we were able to go and watch
the best team in the world play in the best stadium in the world
it was amazing and SOOO big
it holds 100,000 people
and it is nearly full every time they play




we had great seats and the crowd noise was deafening at times



on Sunday we did some more sight seeing
first we went down town to experience the festivities in the Gothic Square
they had dancers and parades


After that we headed up town to another Gaudi Building
this was a home that he built
here is a replica of the house
this was upstairs in the attic
you can see the columns in the roof

here is the rooftop
looking down from the rooftop

the view from the rooftop

more from the roof, looking down to the court yard

it was an amazing building....after looking a the unique rooftop
we went down into the attic which is where the service people would go
to do the families laundry
and then we were able to go down and view the inside of an apartment
that was left with the vintage feel, furniture and decor from the time period
of when the building was built


after that we were able to sign up to take a bike tour of the city
don't you love Rich's little basket on his bike?
we were also equipped with little bells.
At first we thought they were fun
but boy did they come in handy when we hit the streets of the boardwalk
it was kinda crazy but oh so fun!


here is our group


The beach on the Mediterranean



The "W" hotel
And on the last night of our trip, we had one last awesome dinner
This is Bob and Dan
the Vice President and President of our EF Boston Office

This was a fantastic trip and although short, it was just right for us!
We are so glad and feel so Lucky that we were able to go!!