Lilah Rose

You have always enjoyed looking at our pictures as soon (and sometimes even sooner) as we take them. On our recent trip into the Andalucian region of Spain, you took it a step further and actually began taking your own pictures. And amidst the close-ups of your shoes, gravel, and blurry tourists you managed to take some very nice photographs. You were insistent enough to get your turn with the camera that we will be sure to get you your own sooner rather than later. Here are a few of our favorites.

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Just wanted to put up these pictures of wayne

Before our day trip to Segovia

And after our day trip to Segovia

You had quite the extended birthday this year.
It started with a visit from your Nana, who left with LESS luggage than she arrived with, in mid-June. Next up was a visit from Mam and Poppy in early July who brought gifts from the whole family. Your Maw-Maw, Scott and Aunt Elaine were able to join in the festivities thanks to a video feed streamed live over the internet.

The week before your birthday a package arrived from your Granddaddy, and it wouldn’t do for you to wait so we had to open that right away. Needless to say by the time your birthday finally arrived on the 18th of July 2009, you were inundated with sticker books, new clothes, art supplies and plenty of cards.

Unfortunately late July is a bad time to have a birthday in Europe, as all your Spanish friends were out of town or busy over your birthday weekend. So instead of a party your Mom and I took you to the Madrid Safari which you enjoyed quite a bit (the original plan was to go to the water park but the weather proved to be a bit to cool for that).

When you wandered into our bedroom that morning you said to your Mom, “I saw the presents and I heard a voice in my heart telling me not to open them and I listened to it”. Luckily you didn’t have to wait long as we opened presents first thing and followed that up with some of Mom’s CHOCOLATE CHIP pancakes.

We arrived at the park just as the bird show was getting started. This performance featured birds of prey circling high above us before screaming down to pounce on a “rabbit”. There was also a fox and two wolves.

From there we took a walk over to the petting zoo to see and feed the goats. As usual you were less than thrilled to have the goats eat out of your hands so I had to brave the throng of goats, pigs and deer with a bag of carrots. Nothing makes you more friends in a petting zoo than a bag of carrots.


After the worlds worst hamburgers (again if you are going to any “park/zoo” in Spain it is best to bring your own lunch) you went for a much anticipated ride on a pony. From there we visited the aviary to see the tropical birds. Our last “walking” stop was the mini-zoo where we saw a really big tiger, some raccoons (funny to see raccoons in every zoo), a close up visit with the birds of prey and, of course, the monkeys.

Finally we made it to the drive through safari where the animals were free roaming (except the lions and elephants) and very happy to slobber on the window in hopes of a carrot. You were very nervous about the animals getting into the car and insisted that the windows stayed up anytime an animal approached, especially the Emu towards the end. There were two elephants, when we first drove up one had his trunk in the other one’s ear, you mommy said “he is tickling his ear”. Shortly thereafter the elephant moved his trunk to the bottom of the other elephant at which time you commented that he is “tickling his bottom”.

That evening you Mom and I went out to see Lucinda Williams at the Joy Eslava theatre for our first evening out since coming to Madrid while you slept peacefully with MariaJose watching over you.

Your birthday, however, didn’t end there. Your friend Alaia had a little party for you as well later the next week, sure looks like you girls had a good time.

Today, Lilah, we made our way out to Parque Regional Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Which is about a 30 minute drive just north east of Madrid, where you participated on your official first hike. The weather was perfect, a nice breeze and enough clouds to keep the temperature bearable.

The park was free to enter and a lovely drive up to the trail head. You probably walked a good 40% of the time all on your own, mostly the flat and downhill portions, the rest of the time you were either on my back (the way up) or your Mom’s back (the way down) talking about any and everything that popped into your little head. As is your habit of late, you were most concerned with what any and everything was saying (what’s that Rock saying daddy? What’s the ground saying mommy?) as well as hunting down your echo, luckily we eventually found her towards the end of the trail, not so sure the rest of the park was equally pleased with your discovery, and certainly not with the hunt.

You found and commandeered a hiking stick about 5 minutes after being let out of the backpack which stayed with you through the end of the day (actually it might still be in the Premacy) along with the requisite bird feather. Around the halfway point we stopped for some oranges, apples, and sesame seed treats. A wrong turn kept us from making it to the summit, but that should provide enough of an excuse for us to go back (along with the swimming hole).

As we neared the end of the hike you pointed out that you had dropped your hat….about 500 yards UP the trail, I guess it could have been worse…. One guess who had the pleasure to back and retrieve it….

And of course no hike is complete without a stop by a cold mountain stream to cool off and relax, and today was no exception. You were not to keen on the whole idea at first but eventually you warmed up to the idea as you can see in the pictures below.

On our way out of the park we stopped by the village below for a bite to eat and a look at the local castle as well, needless to say your were OUT like a light by the time we got home (well after your first roadside poop).

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On Saturday we flew into Barcelona relatively early and were able to walk around on the beach and the docks next to our hotel, while at the docks we stopped by a little bar to have some tapas and had easily the most delicious calamari rings, they were hand battered, and fried to perfection, so tender that they literally melted in our mouth.

The following pictures of the beach are the only ones we were able to take with a proper camera.

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Saturday night we went out to eat at a Ikibana recommended by the concierge that was very satisfying. Lilah especially loved the interactive fish pond projected on the floor by the entrance, though at first she was a bit pensive about stepping on the “fish”. Lilah really took to the waitress, as Camille put it “She acted like a 9 year old boy with a crush on his babysitter”, she would stare and lean into her chest at any chance she got (all the tables were the high sidebar type tables which suited this quite perfectly). Lilah constantly demand her attention whenever she stopped by and on at least two occasions reached out and, to our shock, groped her. The waitress took this all in stride and thought (or at least made us believe) that it was the cutest thing. Here are some poor quality photos of that Dinner (again from this point we were limited to the camera on the phone). In true Spanish fashion Lilah got to sleep sometime just before midnight!!

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Sunday morning Camille, Lilah and I headed down to the “Rambla” a street lined with shops and cafe’s along with the Boqueria (or Market) where you can get just about any cut of meat (including Bull’s Balls and various animal heads), seafood, and some amazing looking (and pricey) fruits and veggies. While we didn’t make it to the Boqueria we did manage to stumble upon a Palm Sunday procession which was quite a sight, Lilah enjoyed the brass and drums; it took Camille two attempts to get the video as the first time around (which was a much better vantage point by the way) she failed to press the “record” button.

Lilah and Camille took a nap as I went down to register for the conference and attend the first training session. When I got done with my conference activities for the day we decided to head down to the Science Museum for a look see (see the Itsy Bitsy Spider post). For dinner we found a little out of the way restaurant and on our way to the table Lilah and Camille managed to knock over our neighbors water glass, drowning the last few bites of her steak, they were unfazed by the incident (though we did buy them dessert). Again Lilah got to bed somewhere around mid-night. Here are some additional pictures from that excursion.

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Monday morning Lilah and Camille headed out to the beach and to wander around Barcelona as I headed to the conference. That evening we had planned to go out for a nice dinner but apparently the plane ride and two late nights caught up with Lilah as she had a fever. So Camille spent the evening with Lilah in the hotel and I went out to the dinner provided by the conference hosts at Codorniu [wikipedia: Codorniu Winery, the world's largest producer of bottle-fermented sparkling wine made by the traditional champagne method (méthode traditionelle), was founded in Spain in 1551. It produces 60 million bottles annually. Spanish sparkling wine from the region Catalonia is known as "cava."]    Where we were treated to a tour of the catacombs, a lovely 4 course traditional Catalonian dinner and a couple of numbers from a Flamenco dancer.

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Lilah and Camille spent tuesday in the hotel as Lilah continued to have a fever and I spent the day at the conference, the conference evening activities were held at a night club so I opted to have dinner with the family in the room and go to bed early.

Wednesday was the last day of the conference, once the conference ended we checked out and made our way back down to the Rambla to wander by the Boqueria. We stopped by El Quim located at the center of the Market and sampled the fried egg with grilled baby squid (whole with ink sacs mind you), a house specialty, it was…interesting could have used some green chile (but then again I think everything could use green chile).

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I hope you are sufficiently bored.

I had a conference to attend in Barcelona April 5th-8th.  Lilah and Camille jumped on the chance to join me of course.  Sunday evening, after registration and the morning sessions we all went out to the Museu de la Ciència.   This is apparently one of the most heralded science museums in all of Europe and was very interesting thankfully for us most of the exhibits were hands on so there was very little “NO”.  The highlight for Lilah, and as it turns out the trip really, was when we found the Voice changer.  The first time we went it was to crowded with children fighting for the microphone so they could say “hola” and “bueno” so Lilah only was only able to be confused for a few seconds before some kid pushed his way in front of her.

After we went and visited the rain forest exhibit, which is indeed a small rain forest habitat complete with flesh eating fish  and humidity, as closing time neared we went back and Lilah was able to produce this gem of a performance, singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” with the voice of an “Old Man”.  The crowd that gathered got a kick out if as well as I did, seems some of the spanish kids even recognized the song.  My favorite part, however, is how Lilah snaps her head around at the end expecting, nay demanding, applause from the on-lookers.  (unfortunately Camille had went to the bathroom for the original performance).

Please enjoy:

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After 6 months of anticipation and preparation we were finally on our way.  The van arrived to take the family and I to JFK for our move to Madrid Spain.  We traveled light carrying only 1 large roller suitcase, 3 large roller duffel bags, 3 carry-on rollers, 2 overstuffed laptop bags, stroller, car seat, 1 insulated bag of food stuffs, 1 oversized cloth bag, and a medium sized plastic tote covered in duct tape.

We made it to the airport and through security without much hassle and plenty of time to spare.  The flight was uneventful, Lilah, as always, was a great traveller and did very little crying and/or complaining, Camille was able to nurse her to sleep shortly after the dinner service.  I believe Camille was able to get a little sleep at least she seemed to drift in and out.  I, on the other hand, tried lying still for about 45 minutes then gave up  and watched the the first few episodes of “Flight of the Conchords” and the first season of  “Curb” .

As we finished our breakfast the plane finally descended beneath the cloud cover and we could finally see the city of Madrid……covered in SNOW?!?!

As we prepared for the landing Camille entertained schemes of ensuring that Lilah stayed asleep as we deboarded the plane…the welcome to Madrid announcement from the Captian took care of that plan…so after sleeping only ~4 hours since waking up from her nap on Friday afternoon at 2pm Lilah was up and rarin’ to go for her arrival in Madrid.

As we came off the end of the jetway Lilah, the ham that she is, threw her hands up over her head and shouted “ESPANA!” (now as we left NY we asked Lilah where she was going and provided the answer as “ESPANA” but this was completely unprovoked).    It took over an hour to collect all of our bags, thank goodness for Blue’s Clues.

Being that we had arranged for a car service to take us to our apartment from the airport we figured immigration was basically the last bump in the road, we couldn’t have been more wrong.    Upon finding the car service counter we were told that the city of Madrid was “closed” due to the snow (less than 6 inches mind you) and that all of their cars were stuck in the city and our best bet would be to take the subway into the city….out 2.5 year old and two luggage carts piled with 13 bags disagreed.

We went out to the taxi stand at which there were about 15 people and no taxis.  After about 20 minutes of sitting outside 3 taxi’s finally show up…now I don’t speak spanish but they were clearly telling the folks in front of us that they could/would not take them where they needed to go b/c the roads were to bad.   We knew our apartment was only 12 miles from the airport so Camille walked up to one of the cabbies and gave him our address and he was more than happy to take us.  Somehow he managed to pack all of us and our 13 bags into this tiny european hatchback, we were not very comfortable as we were 3 abreast in the back seat, luggage and stroller in the floorboards, bags stacked in the passenger seat and the back completely full, but hey we only had to travel 12 miles…..

As we got out of the airport and onto the motorway we quickly realized that our day was no where near bein over traffic was at a standstill in all directions on all visible roads.  That 12 miles took almost 3 hours and 280 euros.   About 45 minutes into the trip after not moving for what seemed to be an eternity Lilah, completely unprovoked, started yelling “Rapido, Rapido” (translates to “faster”)  which gave us all, the cabbie included, a nice laugh, probably the last one of the day.

(we learned that the airport was closed down at noon for over 5 hours…so in the end I guess we are lucky that we even made it Madrid).

As we learned over the next few days it had been 5 years since the city of Madrid had seen snow, and it hadn’t seen this much snow in over 30 years.   The general population of Spain were very pleased with their snow as Snowmen could be seen on almost every median in the city center and adults were hurling snowballs at each other everywhere you looked.  The kicker, of course, is that by the next morning you could barely tell that it had snowed at all…..