A little bit of Whitewater in my life...

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Hello all! I'm sure you're all excited to hear the update on my family's visit last week.

Well, I can sum it up by saying we had a GREAT time & it was really nice to have them here.

I went down to Madrid on Wed to pick up my MOM & SISTER. Ruso came with me. Well, the unexpected surprise was that out of nowhere, my father pops into the picture!!! He was at the airport waiting for me too!

To be honest, I still can't believe my dad was brave enough to step foot out of the US. For years I have been trying to convince my dad to come to Spain & he always responds the same, 'I have no interest in Spain. If I'm going to Europe, I want to visit Germany.'

As you can imagine, right up until the week before I picked up my fam I was still begging my dad to get a 'last minute ticket,' not knowing the whole time it was unnecesarry because he already had everything ready to go! It was a great surprise & something that I'll never be able to relive again!

We came directly to Valladolid, where we spent the next 3 days or so, partying with several groups of my friends (coworkers, friends, etc.) It was nice to be able to share so much of my 'new life' with my family.

Then on Friday we jetted over to Barcelona to spend the weekend. It's not a bad trip to Barcelona...now with the AVE you can get there relatively quickly. It only takes about 3 hrs from Madrid! Pretty amazing & comfortable. I think I would even prefer that to a plane.

We went to the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday & the aquarium, where we watched sharks & sting rays swim over our heads!

Then we strolled along Las Ramblas, checking out what the street vendors had to sell & picking up breakfast for the next morning at the fresh food market.

The afternoon was spent at Gaudí's Park Güell, which is a dream in & of itself.

Sunday was uncharacteristically rainy, but we were able to go into Casa Batlló, which is an architechtural wonder, again, by Gaudí. We were lucky as well because some shops were open (which DOES NOT happen in Spain) so we popped into H&M & mom & dad bought me some shoes! Quite possibly the most exciting part of my vaca...

The rain & wind got to us by the time we reached the Sagrada Familia, so we went back to the hotel where I spent a couple of hrs listening to my mom & sis snore & watching a really bad Chuck Norris movie dubbed into Spanish with my dad (good thing he's seen the movie 300 times already, so he understood everything!)

Oh, & we went to Hard Rock Café Barcelona...always a treat.

Unfortunately I had to work at the High School all week, so the fam came to class with me one day, which they really enjoyed! This is a typically rambuctious class, but they behaved really well & enjoyed hearing my dad talk about his trip to Las Vegas & the 'girls' in las vegas...I guess all 16 year olds are pervs, regardless of the culture!

I droppped the family off on Wed in madrid & my whirlwind week was over.

I have been recuperating ever since!"

I really had a nice time. To me the most important thing was to see my family, so I took advantage of every second I had with them. It's less than 2 mos & I'll be back in the US, probably complaining about how mom & dad are nagging me...but I guess that's normal...

Well, I don't have any pics yet to add the my blog from my time with the 'rents, but I'll add some new pics so you can see how things are going with my life.

All my love. Miss you all.

Highlights from Vaca with the family:

--My mom tripping in the Plaza Mayor & bruising her nose...
--My dad's snoring keeping us up in Barcelona
--My dad's obsession with the Best Spanish (drunk) food available...NO, not Tortilla de Patata, but KEBAB'S (um, aren't those Turkish?)
--Erica & me doing African Dances in the Negra Flor
--Seeing the 'giant vibrator' in Barcelona

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Photos

Fiesta
Javi, Me & Ruso at La Funda de Tío Antonio