Barcelona...All settled in.......

Well the adventure has begun!  We finished our 6th day in Barcelona and we are almost ready to cash out in California and make this our home.  Well I guess I need to discuss with my husband first (Andrew, I wouldn't really make those kind of decisions on my own or would I?)

We are all settled in... the trip started off to a rough start.  We landed on Friday Morning with a smooth flight from New York.  The only draw back about taking the 6:00 pm flight for a 7 hour flight is that when you land the next day you only really get 2 hours of sleep on the plane.  I learned quickly that 2 hours of sleep does not 'cut it' for my boys.  We were greeted at the door of our new home by Pere, the owner, a bottle of champain, wine and a big bar of chocolate.  Pere gave us the keys and showed us around.  After Pere left we were out the door in search of a Barcelona Soccer Ball (well Football as the rest of the world likes to refer to it as).  Our search took us to the Placa de Catalunya where we went to the official BCN store to buy a ball.  Before heading to the Placa to try out the new ball, Zach took a pit stop at McDonalds were he had to use the bathroom.  Once entering the bathroom, a young man started talking to him in Spanish.  Completely lost in the language and completely exhausted, he came out almost in tears.  "Mom, I want to go home to our real home.  I don't like it here."  At that point, I thought to myself, "what the heck am i doing here."   We then went to the Placa, played and came home.  The boys feel asleep at 5:30 pm and slept til 11:30 pm.  They woke up hungry and ready to go out.  I guess they were already adapting to the European style of late dinners and outings.  I made them some food and then we went out for a walk (with the soccer ball ).  At 1:00 am we found ourselves in an open Placa (plaza) playing a game of football (soccer).  We returned home to play some crazy 8's and at 4:00 am, they were off to bed.

Sleeping in was not really an option, as this was their first real day in Barcelona and we had lots to do.  Who would have thought that visiting the local Public Hospital would be on the top of our list.  Well Zach had such a reaction to something in New York which never went away that he was covered with itchy, itchy bumps.  The doctor gave us some Antihistamine which was filled at one of the local Pharmacy's  which we  found on every corner (in the same way you can find of a Starbucks on every corner in the US).  After that, we were off to the beach.

 Already scored the FCB (official Barcelona Football) tattoo on their chest.......

Anything to relieve the pain of Zach's itchy skin.... just bury me!

The beach was fun.  We then jumped in a taxi and showered up.  We had some American friends from home to have dinner with....  Michelle, Henry, Charlie and Grandma and Grandpa were in Barcelona for their last night before returning to San Fran.......It was so nice to see them.  The kids did pretty well  considering their lack of sleep and itchy body.  I kinda wish that Michelle and the boys could have been joining us for an extended stay here.  But they had to return home to see their Dad.