Photo for Five / "The Holiday Card Shot"

Sagrada Familia

Before you decide to have three kids and become an official family of five, there are things you can't quite consider, like:

* At some point, you will have to wait for a shower; sometimes, this will feel like forever as you patiently allow each member of your house to go before you.

* Finding a table for five at a busy restaurant is tricky.

* You'll have to separate for plane rides, finding seats either beside or behind each other... or in entirely different sections...

* You can't get a taxi for five people in most cabs; you either have to split up or call ahead for a larger cab

* If you ask, "Where should we eat?" you'll get four or five different answers... and someone is always irritated by the decision

Park Guell

* When you're traveling, you will likely only get pictures with up to four of you in them because someone has to take the photo. 

We usually get around this last one by setting up a self-timed picture, which is great because it takes a few rounds to get the best photo... and the "bloopers" sometimes say more about us as a family than the posed shots (She's in my way... No, on this side, on this side... It's flashing, Mom,come on!!").

On this trip, however, we've had two great tours with guides who have accommodated my desire for shots of our complete family. Don't be surprised if you see one of these on our holiday cards.

 

La Boqueria

The Sting

We are now in France, but I'd forgotten to post my photojournalistic essay on Serena's wasp sting at Park Guell.
While I was wandering with Emme and Marlowe, enchanted, through the mosaic wonderland, following the sound of music wafting from the pavilion below, Serena decided to stay behind and sit on a bench. Raf turned to tell her to keep up and that we'd grab dinner afterward, but it was too late. She'd already sat on the bench and, inadvertently, on a wasp.

The information guides at Park Guell were very sweet and offered to help us with a doctor, a medical kit, water, anything, but we know Serena. Okay, yes, she was stung and it hurt, but she is prone to -- how you say in English? -- dramatics.

The guides (three different ones) each told us to get some dirt, mix it with water, and make a tincture to take the sting away, so we did it and Raf and Nina waited for me and Emme and Marlowe to quickly finish up our love-fest with Park Guell.

I'm happy to report that she was better by the time we made it back to Hotel Neri. Because secretly, and I know this won't win me a "Mother of the Year" title, I was worried that it would swell up and we wouldn't make it to France.

Gaudi's McMansions -- Park Guell

I have been enchanted by Park Guell in Barcelona for longer than I've known where it is or what it is. I'd imagine I've seen pictures of it for years, then Vicky Cristina Barcelona must have reignited my passion for the magnificent mosaics and curvy rooftops that adorn the view-rific grounds of this landmark park. Anyway, despite my deep-down desire to forego sightseeing in the interest of our family and the wishes of the group-think, I demanded that we all go together to see this incredible landmark.

We hailed two taxis - as I've mentioned, they'll only take up to four people at a time - and quickly made our way in the evening up to Park Guell, after the heat of the day had subsided. Because it's called Park Guell, Serena hounded me for a slide and swingset,which is not the kind of park that Park Guell is. I tried to explain this -- that Park Guell was actually a master-planned community that Gaudi cooked up with his patron, the textile magnate Eusedi Guell; that the community they had planned, with a shaded pavilion meant to be used as a marketplace and a terraced area with mosaic-ed ergonomically designed benches, was a commercial flop 100 years ago because only 2 of the 60 planned homes sold since it was built so "far" from the cultural center of Barcelona; and that the irony of the project is that the area is now home to many wealthy denizens of the city, proving again that Gaudi was ahead of his time -- but Raf stopped me from wasting my breath.

Still, I was inspired. Gaudi gaudy? I think not.