Fall Foliage Camping in Mystic and Providence

Our fall foliage camping trip this year took us to Mystic, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island.  We camped at KOA Mystic and stayed in a warm, heated cabin.

KOA Campsites are wonderful for children, offering fun crawling opportunities in the cabins for pre-walkers and limitless jumping opportunities for school-age children on the bouncing pillow.

David and Alexi enjoyed riding the banana bikes around our campsite and Sharon and Mateo are total foodies who love dining out at restaurants.
















Mateo loved both being worn by David as he scores a hole in one in mini-golf and getting dressed up to go to Leilani's birthday party at Billy and Romina's house.

We absolutely loved seeing WaterFire in Providence Rhode Island.  We got there in time to see the procession of light down from the state capital and the boats traveling around to light the individual bonfires in the water.











The following day we drove to Newport, Rhode Island, and loved being so close to the Atlantic Ocean.

The water and waves were actually pink which was quite amazing and beautiful to see.












We traveled to Newport to do the Cliff Walk, which is a 3.5 mile public access walkway that borders the shore line of Rhode Island.  










Alexi and I ventured down the 40 Steps and got this seaside view.

It is amazing to see and walk on the properties of ginormous mansions that belong to another era.  This National Historic Landmark is The Breakers, a Vanderbilt mansion located on Ochre Point Avenue.

Due to Hurricane Sandy about half of Cliff Walk is closed off, so we had to end our seaside hike a bit early.















On the last day of our fall foliage trip we had lunch at Mystic II Pizza (we ate at the original Mystic Pizza back in September 2010).













From there we headed for an afternoon to hang with the magnificent Beluga whales at the Mystic Aquarium.















At the Mystic Aquarium we also saw the penguins, touched the sting rays and explored The Titanic special exhibit.

We love being a family of four and look forward to continued adventures both here and abroad.

Spain 2013

We vacationed again this summer in San Feliu de Guixols, Spain.  This was Mateo's first time at Cap Ducal, and he loved being there surrounded by his family (though he had to show his NYC pride of course!).

The big difference in our trip to Spain this year was we rented a car!  Our trips down the hill to the beach and to town that used to involve a 20-30 minute walk now take a mere 5 minutes.  We definitely embraced car culture in Spain.

Alexi, as always, had a fabulous time in Spain.  This year he left the baby pool behind and spent all his afternoons in the big pool playing with Mami and the big kids.  Halfway through our trip Alexi jumped into the big pool all by himself and started swimming ladder to ladder.  He also jumped into the pool 101 times in a single afternoon!  Go Alexi!

Mateo spent time poolside also.  He went into the shallow pool in his baby float and spent lots of time napping in his own personal tent.

We spent most mornings at la playa.  Both boys enjoyed playing in the sand.  Surprisingly, Mateo did not try to eat the sand as Alexi had his first summer in Spain.  Alexi enjoyed building moats with Papi.

We had so much fun taking in the sand and surf at the beach.  There were some big Atlantic ocean size waves this year!

Every year we spend an evening each week in town, walking La Rambla, having a pizza dinner at Cibu, enjoying some ice cream and hanging out with our friends Nina and Sven who have a daughter Ana who is the same age as Alexi. 

We visited the home of David's dear friend Jordi Palleres in Vic on the occasion of his birthday party.  We were warmly welcomed as family.

One of our favorite destinations in Spain this summer was Castell, a beautiful, small beach a short drive from Cap Ducal.  It was recommended to us by our friend Gloria. 

 

We went to Castell two times and spent the entire day, swimming in the Mediterranean, eating lunch at a restaurant on the beach and going for walks with Mateo.  We even got to check out some Iberian ruins.

Alexi's favorite activities in Spain as a five year old were reading (in English and Spanish!) and riding his boogie board.

Since we had the car this year we took many day trips together as a family.  We spent one day visiting Girona and La Bisbal.  In Girona we climbed the medieval wall surrounding the city and were thrilled to find that the vegan restaurant we visited back in 2010, B*12, is still around and thriving.

Our last week in Spain we took a day trip to Perpignan, France.  We were psyched to so easily cross the border without showing any passports and be in another country.















In Perpignan we had lunch at a local outdoor cafe (pizza of course!) and then toured the Palace of the Kings of Majorca.

 

Next year Alexi will be swimming laps in the big pool with Mami and Mateo will be standing on his own tossing the ball with Papi in the baby pool.  We are already looking forward to Spain 2014!!!

Portugal 2013

Our summer vacation this year first took us to Portugal, to the cities of Lisbon and Sintra.  It was Mateo's first time on an airplane and traveling internationally.  Alexi is a seasoned traveler and picked up many Portugese words on our travels.

After nearly missing our connection from London to Lisbon, and almost having to wait on line 2 hours to pick up our rental car, we made it to Portugal.  Our first stop was a place called Kidzania, a fictitious town run by children.  Alexi had a really great time there and especially enjoyed getting to do his dream job of being a firefighter and working in a grocery store as a checkout clerk.

We spent an entire day in Sintra and had a fabulous day there.  In the morning we visited Cabo da Roca, which is the westernmost point in Europe with a great view of the cliffs and Atlantic Ocean.

We toured the Moorish ruins and visited the Pena Palace in Sintra.  Alexi and Mami walked all along the walls of the Moorish ruins and climbed to the top of lookout towers for beautiful views while Mateo and Papi took things in at ground level.

We discovered a stellar vegetarian restaurant called Soul Food.  It is run by an ex-pat in the backyard of her home in Sintra.  We sat on cushions on the lawn and had an absolutely scrumptuous vegan meal.

In Lisbon we visited Calouste Gulbenkian Art Museum.  Highlights included illuminated manuscripts of the Koran and Impressionist paintings.  The concierge from our hotel joked with David that it is better to have a wife who loves to go museum hopping than who loves to go shopping!

Both children had a fabulous time in Portugal.  Mateo stayed in his very first hotel in Lisbon and Alexi got to photograph all the cool places we visited.