letters from barcelona (#4)

hello our precious hijos (that's children in spanish)

right now, daddy and mommy are laying in bed. there is a man in the next room snoring so loud it sounds like thunder! it is raining cats and dogs outside and the wind is howling! this morning daddy walked outside and it snowed on him a little bit. and we are right by the beach! can you believe it? it snows on the beach?

today daddy had to get up really early and go to work ALL DAY LONG... mommy missed him. mommy woke up and went downstairs to the gym and ran on the treadmill. it didn't work very well, and she was the only person in there, but it was fun and it reminded her of our treadmill back home!

after mommy got ready she met a lady whose husband works with daddy. we went to lunch mommy let her order (that was a mistake). it was DISGUSTING! we had salad with raw fish and long slimy anchovies on it and black rice with octopus (the rice is black because of the ink from squids... ask nanni to explain that to you!) ew, ew, ew!!! and do you want to know the worst part? they don't have diet coke here! mommy has to drink a LOT of water instead. they have something called "coke light" but, it is too sweet. daddy didn't have any lunch, instead he had a couple of kit-kat bars... silly daddy!

then, mommy and claudia (the lady's name) went shopping. if you think mommy likes to shop, you should meet claudia, she wanted to go to every store and buy everything in them!! mommy was glad to have someone to hang out with.

daddy worked in a booth all day showing his computer and phone to people. he said it was booooring!

then tonight mommy went to daddy's work to see him. we gave each other a BIG hug! we were glad to see each other! after work was over 10:30 at night we wanted some real American food so we went to Hard Rock Cafe. mommy ordered chicken fingers and fries and a chocolate shake! Daddy had a ham burger because he is a BIG HAM. WE WERE SOOO HAPPY! no weird food tonight! we were so tired after dinner, and it was after midnight, so we took a taxi back to the hotel to go to BED!

today we missed you the most. mommy was lonely and everytime she saw a baby or child she wished it was grace, faith and hank. she showed pictures of you to claudia and told her that you were the 3 best, most beautiful and special children in the whole wide world!

your long weekend is over now and you get to be with nanni, papa larry & katie & sophes! yeah!! you are going to have so much fun. i hope you all know how much you are loved and missed.

we love you up to the moon, the stars & the sun.... and back. YOU ARE MY SUNSHINES!!!!

xxxoooo
mama and daddy
p.s. good night my angels
p.s.s. dont forget to say your prayers.

letters from barcelona (#3)

Our dear babies,

We just finished day three here in Barcelona. It was a bit different than our previous two days in the city, because daddy had to work. He went to bed really late, at around 4:30am and got up and left the hotel for work at 7am to make sure that all of the little jobs that Daddy has are handled before all of the big important people arrive. While waiting to get in to the convention center, which is called "the fira" (Fear-ah) it started to snow for a few minutes. Daddy thought that his fingers just might fall off. He was hoping to only be at the convention center for a few hours, but he ended up being there for most of the day, which bummed mommy out. But we got together for lunch at this yummy Indian restaurant, which was really really yummy. After lunch Mommy wasn't bummed any more, because tasty food makes all those grumpy feelings go away.

We were going to go to a concert tonight to watch a famous Flamenco dancer perform, but daddy misread the tickets, and discovered his error right as they were walking out the door. Although we missed the dance performance, we weren't about to let this stop our night, especially with it being Valentine's Day and all. So we hopped in a taxi and went out to eat. The food was good, but the desserts were amazing. We ordered second helpings...yes it was THAT good. :) We enjoyed ourselves so much, that we forgot to take pictures!

It was really fun to be out together. To talk about all sorts of things including how much we love you little rascals. We were really really excited to talk with you on the phone. You each make us smile really big, and bring more happiness to our lives than you may ever know. We love you very much, and want to make sure that you know that, especially on this day of days, when we take a moment to express our love for. You really are our sunshine and our very special valentines. We also love each other very much, and are thrilled to have found each other and to be a real family.

After dinner we caught a cab home, and we were horrified to find that our cab driver was smoking. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Your mommy doesn't do well with smoke, and it makes her very sick. So sick, in fact, that we had to have the driver pull over several blocks from the hotel, because mommy was afraid she would "lose her lunch", after we got out she immediately started feeling better...sometimes you just need to take a walk.

We are glad that you are having such a great time, and we think of you often.

We love you. Love you more. Love you most. Love you more than anything.

Mom and Dad.

letters from barcelona (#2)

Dear Grace, Faith & Hank,

Today was our first full day in Barcelona, and it was such a blast. We turned off our alarm and did our best to sleep in late, and if you can believe it, Daddy slept in until 11am, whereas your Mommy had to shake him to get him up so we could enjoy some of cool things that the city has to offer.

First, let's step back...did we tell you about dinner last night? I am pretty sure we had, but there was one point that daddy left out that we thought you would want to know...the first thing we ordered were grilled shrimp. That's not a big deal, right? Well, that's what we thought...that is, until they brought them out and they still had their heads with BIG. GIANT. BLACK. EYEBALLS! Yup they stared at us the whole time. Mommy made sure that they were looking at Daddy because it grossed her out. It was funny, and we laughed hard about that one for hours.

It rained and was very cold, and Mommy said, "I think I am going to die" about a million times. But, she had good reason. She didn't bring a warm jacket. Burrrrrr! After getting he a jacket we took a bus tour up to this big Church, it's actually called a Monastery WAYYYY up in the mountains called Montserrat. It was one of the coolest things that we have ever experienced. We spoke about each of you several times and said how much we thought that each of you would like it....you could see for miles! We lit candles, took pictures and hugged each other close as we walked because it was even colder up there! While we were there, we had the yummiest hot chocolate ever! Very rich, very hot and very yummy....it's the type of thing that you little rascals could drink all day. On top of that that we bought a giant sugar doughnut that was as tall as Hanky! We tore off pieces as dipped it in our hot chocolate. We ate every bit of it...well...your dad did...and mommy helped....a lot! :)

By the time we came back down the mountain from Montserrat, it was dark and rainy....so we found a nice restaurant close to wear the bus let us out, and then headed back to the hotel to rest until our adventure continues tomorrow!

We love each of you very much. You are our sunshine, and we love you. We love you more. We love you most. We love you more than anything.

Sleep tight!

Love, Mommy and Daddy