Halloween

 For Halloween this year Calder changed his mind about 15 times. At first he wanted to be a garbage man (again) and then he switched to a fireman, then to a few other things. Then he heard his friend Megan was going to be Tigger and he became adamant that he wanted to be Pooh. Thankfully it stuck and we got a costume from the thrift store for $3.00. He loves his costume and really loved having his face painted (thanks Grandma Kate).

 We went to the pumpkin patch to get his pumpkin. He loved walking out to the field and actually picking his pumpkin. He did not love taking the seeds out. He only reached his hand in once. After that he requested a spoon.

 He chose a very traditional triangle eye face.

 At the ward trunk-or-treat he got some vampire teeth. He loved wearing them with his Pooh costume and "scaring" his daddy. I think we have enough candy in our house to last through Easter.

Tonight I took him around to some apartments in our building. He was so brave and said "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" at every door. He also did all the knocking. That is a big deal for our shy kid. I really appreciate the way our building handles trick or treating. They give everyone signs to hang on the door if they want trick or treaters. If you don't, you just don't hang up the sign. It is so simple. There were quite a few people who participated but not a lot of trick or treaters, so people were excited to see Calder. They gave him two or three pieces at a time. He was thrilled.

Calder turns 3

 A few weeks ago Calder turned three! Jason and I are so into this kid, it's crazy. I love the age he is at now and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful child. He is smart, creative, kind, gentle and very sweet. I can't imagine life without him.

 He was showered with gifts from friends and family and was the happiest little boy. He chose to have a Curious George themed birthday party. It was fun to decorate and plan. He had banana cake with cream cheese frosting at his birthday party and yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his family party on his actual birthday. They were both delicious but I especially enjoyed the banana cake.

 This sweet boy went to the doctor and had 3 shots. It was the first time he has cried for shots since his two month appointment. He was nervous and sweaty the whole appointment. I felt so bad for him. He has always taken doctor appointments like any other fun activity we do but not this time. Thankfully the frequency of shots slows down. He is in the 75% for height at 38 1/4 inches and 50% for weight at 33 pounds. Right on track with where he's always been.

I love the idea of doing an interview every year just asking what they like to eat and what they are into. Here is Calder's third birthday interview. He has been shortening his answers in general when I ask him questions, so that is why he says his favorite food is Macaron instead of Macaroni & Cheese. He says his favorite color is red in the movie but hasn't chosen that for any other time. He quite prefers orange over anything else.

Madrid

Oh Madrid. I really loved how beautiful Madrid is and how beautiful the architecture is. I think I slightly preferred Madrid over Barcelona because it is so pretty but we enjoyed the things we did more in Barcelona so I guess it's a toss up. Either way they were both beautiful cities and provided great entertainment. 

 Plaza Mayor. A fun plaza right by our hotel. There were many restaurants and street performers. One of them was a guy who pretended to be missing his head. Calder thought it was rather funny.

 These are just random streets that we loved.

 Retiro Park. This was a beautiful park with well groomed gardens and a fun little lake. You could rent a boat and float around the lake but it was quite small and we weren't really sure what we would do with our stroller. It was okay though. We ran around and then as we were leaving we found the playground.

 The lake at Retiro Park.

 A beautiful church by the Prado Museum.

 The Royal Palace. This is the most beautiful building inside and out. I loved our tour of the inside and all the amazing rooms. I can see why the royal family doesn't live here anymore. I mean, you can't mess with George III's bedroom or study. And it is really close to the city center. I wish we could have taken interior pictures.

 We watched the changing of the guards in front and it was quite the production. There were over 100 horses and 400 soldiers. It was also quite long. Calder got a bit bored.

 This is the Temple De Debod. It is an ancient Egyptian temple. The hieroglyphics were really cool and it's hard to believe it is they started constructing it in the early 2nd century BC.

 The garden at the Royal Palace.

 Us in front of Almudina Cathedra. We didn't tour this one because honestly, it was way too expensive and neither of us were all that interested.

 The park behind the Royal Palace.

 Our hotel. It was really a sweet place to stay and so close to everything. Jason did an awesome job with our accommodations.

 We saw two protests while we were there. One was about public schools and the other was this one. I think it was about labor laws. They were nothing but efficient though. There were tons and tons of people but they were very well controlled by the police and there were street sweepers following along behind to clean up the mess. It was really great. You can tell how long the line of protesters were because in the first picture it was light and it was getting rather dark by the time they finished walking by. We were eating dinner at a restaurant at this point, so we just popped out to take a picture or two and then went back to our meal.

This is the cutest candy shop I've ever seen. The decor is all gold and the little boxes you fill with candy are also gold. It was very fancy. Calder and I had a taste of a raspberry candy and it was amazing.

Barcelona

The next few posts will be about our trip to Spain and have tons of pictures. First, let me explain why we went to Spain. Jason has worked very hard for the last few years and finally had some time off. We wanted to take a family trip to see more of our beautiful world and expose Calder to some new ideas, cultures and places. When looking at all the places we wanted to go, Spain was the cheapest at that given time and fairly high on our list of places to go, so we chose Spain. 

We flew from Baltimore to New York and then to Barcelona. We had a delay in Baltimore which left us with 30 minutes to make our connecting flight. We made it after running through the airport me pushing the stroller, Jason carrying the backpack and Calder yelling "faster, faster". Thankfully they don't let you fly internationally without your bags on the plane, so they made it too.

 This is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia. It is a very dark, but impressive cathedral.

 Almost every day we were in Spain we found a fun local bark. This is Citadel Park. It was an awesome shaded park with a zoo, a lake you can rent boats in and a greenhouse.

 Aaaahhh, the beach. We LOVED the beach. The weather was 80 degrees and sunny every day we were there. Perfect beach weather for sure.

 Barcelona has this really cool waves bridge that turns when a boat comes through. It leads over to a floating shopping mall.

 This is the Port of Barcelona building. Honestly, we didn't go inside, Jason just loved the exterior. It is a rather pretty building.

 We took Calder to a fun European toy store and told him he could choose anything that would fit in our suitcase. He chose this adorable wooden helicopter with a little driver. It was a great companion throughout our trip.

 All right, this is probably our favorite stop. La Sagrada Familia or the Holy Family Church. This is the most impressive building I've every been in. The exterior looks like a gray cake in the rain. It is droopy and rather sad looking but the interior is light, bright and colorful. The church has been under construction for ever because it is totally funded by admission fees.

 I'm sure we looked like this a lot while on our trip. Calder, chummy in the stroller and one of us pouring over the guide book.

 Okay, back to Sagrada Familia. This is the interior. The symbolism in this building is amazing.

 See, gray cake in the rain.

 Calder and Cami at Park Guell. A great hike but it didn't have a playground.

 It also had a great view of Barcelona.

 This is really funny. At Park Guell they had little spaces carved out of the rock wall that people were posing for pictures. Calder loved being in the hole. I wish I would have taken pictures of the large group of Asian tourists also taking his pictures.

 Calder was a true tourist. He loved looking at all the signs and figuring out what we were looking at.

 This is a fancy light and music show by the Olympic village. It happens every night in the summer and is incredibly beautiful.

La Boqueria. The most beautiful outdoor farmers market. There were so many people that it was hard to stop for pictures inside but we got an amazing fruit smoothie here.

Calder at the maritime museum. 

Calder made a friend at the park. They rode the rocking duck together. It was sweet to see their non-verbal communication. Then they played with the gate for a while. It was sweet. 

 The Museum of Contemporary Art. Oh my goodness, we didn't understand any of this art. I guess we're just not into contemporary art.

 Zoom in here, that little spot at the top of the stairs is Calder. I can't believe how small he looks.

 This was the crazy line to get into the Picasso Museum on Free Sunday. Nope, we didn't go.

Every Sunday locals get together to dance the Sardana Dances. It was fun to see them doing a very traditional dance with strangers.

 We wandered back to the beach and happen to catch the Barcelona air show. It was very impressive.

 Calder and I did go stand in the water for a while but we didn't go swimming. It was just fun to play on the beach and the waves.

 A real big fish.

 While we were in Barcelona we went to General Conference. Every six months our church hears from the prophet and our leaders. It was fun to find a church and be with people who are so different than we are but believe the same things.

Barcelona is a beautiful and amazing city. We loved every minute of our visit and would love to go back some day.