Parker's Birthday

Marking Parker's 43rd birthday in Zaragoza, we celebrated it first with a swank family dinner at La Scala dinner and then met friends at Monumental for a mini-surprise party.



Photos: Gemma and Nines arranged a gorgeous cake




Photos: Celebrating with friends Gemma, Nines, Joaquin, Santiago, and Nuria

Majorca - MarineLand

We spent our last full day in Majorca at MarineLand where we had an enjoyable afternoon watching dolphin, sea lion and parrot shows along with viewing wildlife habitats. The park was small but the dolphin and sea lion shows were impressive and made for a fun family day.

Majorca -- Dragonera Island

After 6 days together, we were sad to say goodbye to the Kilburg family, and Avi and Pops. The week had gone so quickly, we couldn't believe it was time to part ways..




Alas, our family continued the fun for a few more days by relaxing on the beach and hiking Dragonera Island, a natura preserve just off the tip of Majorca. We found differing viewpoints as to whether Dragonera Island received it's namesake because of the plethora of lizards on it, or due to the shape of the island itself which looks like a dragon.
























Earlier that Sunday, the Easter Bunny visited us in Majorca and left the kids cute baskets along with coins hidden around Son Viguet which Colin and Kelsey had to find.

Birthday Celebrations

April is a month full of birthdays in the Chase household with Colin, Parker, and Avril all celebrating their moment within 8 days from one another...and then Kelsey follows toward the end of May. We forced ourselves to commemorate with fabulous food, festivities, and fun. It's a tough life but we accepted the challenge.





Photos: After a day at the Caves of Drach, we toddled to Port Cristo on the southeastern part of the island for Colin's birthday dinner


Photo: Pacharán...fruity after dinner drink in Spain that packs a punch. It's not uncommon for a restaurant to bring you complementary Pacharán or another type of digestive when you've had a nice dinner (read, spent a lot of money).

Photo: Typical paella dish...this one was fantastic!





The next day, we celebrated Avi's birthday in Port Andratx at a lovely restaurant on the water.












Photo: Kelsey showing off her birthday dress from Avi and Pops; Parker in the background admiring Kelsey's scarf, Avi's handiwork

Majorca...Beautiful Beaches, Beutiful Sights

Majorca was a real vacation without museums and churches but rather beach time, quaint towns, scenic drives, and hiking....perfect for the kids and family.

Photos: The boys playing paddle




Photo: Carter playing in the sand at Paguera beach on the southwest side of the island








Photo: Scenic drive up the coastal and mountainous towns on the northwest side of the island. The terrain reminded us of Northern California and mimicked Highway 1 and the famous 17 mile drive.






Curiously, Majorca is full of German tourists so much so that all the signage is in Spanish, Catalán, and German, and many of the shop or restaurant staff speak German rather than English. At times, we forgot that we were on a Spanish island and instead thought we were in little Germany.

Photos: Stopping for lunch and time to explore Port Soller and other coastal towns

Majorca...our French Chef

Son Viguet came with its own French chef, Pascal...well, sort of. Recommended by the owner, we hired Pascal to cook dinner for us one night. It was lovely to relax in our own space while someone else shopped, cooked, and cleaned up...and, no need to worry about driving from a restaurant back up the substantial hill to Son Viguet.

Photo: Avril and Hal; Ashley and Jeff; Parker and Celia; and all of us around the dinner table

Majorca Baby! ... Son Viguet, the House

Over Easter break aka Semana Santa, we traveled to the heavenly Majorca or Mallorca in español which is part Spanish Balearic Islands off the Eastern Coast of Spain.










Parker found us an amazing house in the hills called Son Viguet which included majestic views, a pool, and plenty of space for all. Originally built in 1625, Son Viguet has been renovated "from a historic olive press mill to an updated farmhouse maintaining all of its original character."


Nestled in the hills, Son Viguet is located on the southwestern side of the island, not far from Port Andratx.






Avril, Hal, Ashley, Jeff, Jackson and Carter all joined us for most of our time there and the cousins all had a blast together.

Parque del Agua con Joaquin

On a weekend on April, we spent the afternoon at Parque del Agua in Zaragoza with Colin's classmate and friend, Joaquin, his sister, Marta, and his Dad who is also Joaquin.


The kids played laser tag, played soccer and games in the park, and then we toured the Parque del Aqua which was built for 2008 Zaragoza Expo. Water, the theme of the Expo is a notable resource in the dry, desert land of Aragón.

Photo: Colin and Joaquin















Photo: Created for the Expo, the Fluvi building in the background was built in the shape of a water drop, and the "Fluvi raindrop" was the mascot of the whole Expo