Practice Retirement (jubilacion practica): A Midwestern Family in Barcelona: Friends in Barcelona

Great meals, great times and lots of laughing!!

We all experienced different levels of "missing home" on this trip. At first, Ashler was definitely feeling left out being away from his friends. Then as he was "kik"ing with his friends, he quickly realized that they were not doing anything back in Albert Lea and he embraced the trip with gusto. It was awesome to watch him growing up right before our eyes.

The kids enjoying ice cream -- what a great pair!

Avery understandably missed her friends terribly. Her solution, meet people at the beach. She quickly became our social butterfly -- listening for any kids that spoke English and then just start talking to them. We met a lot of very nice people through Avery and we were very proud of how she worked through her "sadness."

One of many friends Avery met on the beach

Living in the same place for five weeks, we also started to make friends in the neighborhood. "Our bar" as we called it was at the entrance to our building -- conveniently they showed every game of world cup soccer and made the best mojito's and rum and coke's in town! We also had our grocery store -- where Avery became friends with the Pakistani workers when she would get water and ice cream every few days. Matt had "Matt's street" -- duly named because in the first few days he found a gluten friendly grocery store, place for a haircut and one of our favorite restaurants.

Another great view from our flat:)

In all, we became locals quickly. We also encouraged the kids to become independent allowing them to take trips to the store or to a familiar restaurant of their choosing. It gave us all more freedom and certainly allowed them to spread their wings. We watched as Avery went from being afraid to ask where the bathroom was, to her taking the lead on many of our adventures.

Matt and Heather were fortunate to have our great friends Andy and Cherie come visit -- it was awesome to have such fun laughing time with friends from home. They arrived on July 5th. As luck would have it, Cherie's daughter, Morgan and her friend Britta were also travelling in Europe and spend a few nights with us as well. Cue Avery's smile as she quickly became "besties" with the girls. After they left Barcelona, they went to the running of the bulls. We are happy to report that they survived that adventure and are back in the State's safely.