Farewell Party - Festa de Comiat

Party time...!
Waking Malachy up for the festivities!
Lorcan was not that easy to arouse! 

Our Clown! Espagueti!! If he looks familiar, that's because he performed at Liam's birthday party last year too! He held a very captive audience...
... beautiful Uma, cutie Aleix and smiling Max!

Jorge 'trying' to gather up the kids for the clown's performance. Too chilled, I think though..! 

Molly, Pep and Mia
Clara and Lorcan (still kidnapped!)
Cristina (mother to lovely Mae and Lua) with her trendy new haircut! 

Mariona and Joel
Eneko and Gonzalo
Mari Carmen and Marta
Llum and Jorge 

Lovely Lautáro!
Muna!! Not a very 'party face' in this shot, but she had just arrived!
Darling Clara came along to the party without her two lovely boys: Leo and Ray, who were on holiday with their grandparents! Used to running around watching out for her kids at parties, she felt at a loose end and so she immediately kidnapped Lorcan, claiming I had one boy to spare!! ;-)
Molly, one of our favourite actresses, striking a 'ship ahoy!' type pose here whilst chatting to Albert! When's the movie coming out, Molly? Seriously,... she played an Irish journalist in a Catalan movie that was filmed early this summer so it must be coming out some time soon! My only claim to fame is that I gave her some "coaching" in the Irish accent! 

Nora came to our farewell party too!
...with her folks: Rosa, John and Emma.
The parents seemed to enjoy the clown too!
Laia and her girls, Violeta and Martina... with Max, who we weren't expecting to to turn up, so that was a nice surprise! 

...this was the empty scene before the party began... (complete with the hand-painted "adeu amics" sign me and the kids made for the occasion!)...
...and these were some of the goodies we made to eat!
... and this was our favourite clown performing to the crowd on that warm July afternoon! We all thoroughly enjoyed it!
... especially the little ones! :o)

After this my camera battery went flat,... aw! Such a bummer because there were lots of other people at the party who I would've liked to have captured with my lens just one more time (Elena, Hadi, Rita, Lola, Rut, etc., etc.).

But, never fear, we'll be back to jamrob you all again some time!

BARCELONA...

I moved to Barcelona on 30 December 2000. Jaime came down from Bilbao a few months later when he had finished at the UPV. First we lived with our friend Unai in a rooftop flat on Calle Aragó, one of the main arteries running through the busy city. We had an amazing year in Barcelona in 2001. It was so much fun and so refreshing to be somewhere big and new.

Then we decided to get down to business and we got pregnant in early December 2001. We had bought, renovated and moved into Rec Comtal, 9, Principal 4, Barcelona, by March 2002.

We got married in the Barcelona Civil Registry Office on 18 April 2002.

We had Liam right there in Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar on 28 August 2002. We quickly got into the swing of family life in Barcelona and took Liam to his first 'school' there in Portal Nou in September of 2003.

Malachy was born in Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar on 27 July 2004. In October 2004 we all moved into Rec Comtal, 9, Principal 3 (just next door) after buying it from our neighbour and renovating it from top to bottom. Malachy started 'school' in Portal Nou in September of 2005.

We all made many good friends in Barcelona and felt very much at home in our Casc Antic neighbourhood. We spent our days strolling around the park, the zoo, the old town streets and terraces.

We conceived again in Platja d’Aro, Girona, in the summer of 2005 and, as we knew we would be leaving town soon, we had a nice quiet Christmas there, welcoming in 2006 as a family in Barcelona and visiting all the city’s cultural venues while we had the chance!

Our last little baby boy Lorcan was born on 25 April 2006 in the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona and when he was just 3 months old we moved away.

We moved to Dublin the day before Malachy’s 2nd birthday, on 26 July 2006. We are happy here but can't help letting our minds wander back to the place that used to be home...

So many things happened to us in Barcelona. We miss it and the people there who are dear to us. As long as we live, we will never forget our time there.

We are sure to return to visit often but know that it will never be the same again...

Goodbye Barcelona,... adeu.

goodbye nappies

Malachy has been potty trained,... hurrah! No more yucky toddler nappies! (just Lorcan's way nicer baby ones instead ;)). Malachy was very easy to train, but then we had Liam to help us show him how to do it like a 'big boy'! Here he is giving Malachy a "how to sit on your potty and grin" lesson!

He still gets a nappy for naptimes and bed. Pictured here is the 'Malachy sprawl'! 

splash

The temperatures were so high and it was so unbearably hot and humid during our last couple of weeks in Barcelona that we spent pretty much every day on the beach either inside the water or just by the water's edge!
Malachy loved chilling out on the beach..
... often getting so chilled that sleep would ensue. Get a load of that chubby cheek!
... and that cute beach body! 

lovely ladies...

Once a month, a group of us Ciutat Vella 'mamas' used to meet up for a ladies night out. Such lovely evenings we had too. I'll miss you girls... and, of course, not just the nights out but the afternoons at the playground, the chats at the creche, the mornings back in the babygroup at the Casc Antic CAP, where most of us met...

Laia and Circe!
This photo hides Circe's gorgeous pregnant belly! She's due to have a little boy called Leo any day now -a brother to her adorable little Ada... in fact, if my memory serves me rightly, she's currently overdue! Uf! Suerte, Circe...

Silvia and her friend Carmen, las valencianas!

Helena and Clara having a giggle!

To these ladies, and to the other Casc Antic mothers:
... Ariadna, Assumpta, Bea, María, Rut, Ana, Julienne, Diana, Molly, Cristina, Llum, Rosa, Charrie, Gemma: Us trobaré a faltar
:-)

 

toby's girls

This is Elixane! She's coming up to her first birthday soon. This shot was taken at the Barcelona zoo this summer when she and her dad, Toby, and her granny and Liam, Lorcan and I met up for a stroll. She's just been star witness and her mum's and dad's wedding and must be about to start attending her new creche any day now! Good luck with that, Elixane!

And this is Elixane's dad, Toby, making Liam feel extra tall! Congratulations on tying the knot with Izaskun, Tobe! My new office is more airy and comfy than the one we used to share in Barcelona ;-) but I'll miss your company all the same! 

Mariona's sister, Georgina

This pic was taken over 2 months ago now, so I can't help but wonder how big chubby-cheeks Georgina must be now!! This very laid back little lady is Mariona's little sister and daughter to Ana and Albert.
Liam hasn't asked about Georgina at all since we left Barcelona (which is fair enough, as tiny baby's -other than their own siblings- can tend to go unnoticed by four-year-old boys) but, Mariona... oh, Mariona!.. she's Liam's definition of "friend". When we had his birthday party and I asked who he would like to invite, the first name he said was inevitably hers... I tried to explain that Dublin was too far for her to come from Barcelona just for an afternoon tea party but he said: "Mammy, she can just get a taxi, and then a plane and then another taxi and then she'll be here"... I told him planes were very expensive but he said "I'll get the money" and when I asked how, he said "I'll get it at the shop"... !!!?! So, you see, Mariona, it's very simple... just pop into your local shop in El Born, pick up a few euros, jump in a cab to the airport and fly over here NOW... you would really make Liam's day! 

Goodbye Portal Nou...

Mireia. Malachy's kind and loving teacher. Like all the Portal Nou gang, she was great and will be missed!
This is Nuria. After Cristina (our first ever kid carer), Nuria was Liam's second creche teacher. She was off for most of last year having her own little boy but came back just in time to be assistant teacher to Malachy's class for the last term. Besitos!
Every year the 'big' kids who are 'graduating' and moving up to preschool (!) get a special personalised badge as a souvenir. Guess who was volunteered to distribute the goodies?!