Summer Casals~!

Hola, everybody!

Long time no see, but how are you all doing?
We are still here in Spain, and though I have un montón of news and activities to share, I will start with this:
The month of July was one big wonderful month of Spanish immersion for the kiddos through their two respective summer camps (casals)! I was very pleased with the scheduling, excursions, content, and people of both their casals, and will share a little bit about them here:

(1) Espluestiu
Ella's was a local program through the city of Esplugues de Llobregat called "Espluestiu" (an amalgamation of the word "Esplugues" + estiu (catalan for summer))
It was held just up the road from the apartment, at the same elementary school that my cousins all went to and my aunt even worked at for some years, Isidre Marti. If (when??) we live here again, hopefully it'll be for a year and the kids can attend this school. :)

Here is a shot of her on her very first day, in front of the green gate at the back, that gives you a tiny look at the school:

She loved every day of it!

Some of the excursions that she went to included Tibidabo Amusement Park, and the Olympic Park. They were every Friday, and every Tuesday they went to the local pool down the road from the apartment.
The theme of the casal was the Mediterranean and she learned about sea life mostly.
I really feel that she was well-received by everyone, especially considering the fact that we registered so late in the season and they knew they were taking on a non-Spanish speaker -- they were very excited to have her!! :)

The first day and then...

...the last day! With her favorite Monitora Esther ♡

So yeah, that was Ella's experience at EspluEstiu, and I would definitely do it again!!

Now for William's experience:

(2) KINOBS
I had originally thought I'd be putting him in an international English-oriented school, only because it was so hard to find a casal that would accept someone so young. But thankfully Chita remembered KINOBS, a top-notch program that she and Lea had worked at, and who took excellent care of William :)

His first day~

He was not as enthusiastic about going to KINOBS every morning, but the monitores always reassured me that he stopped crying within 5 minutes and was a dream the entire day. By the time Dash would come to pick him up at 4:45pm, he was always in a good mood and would tell us what a great day he had. I have the feeling he was exposed to a lot more Catalá than Castellano, but that's okay, he was kept busy and learned a lot. :)

His last day!! With monitora Ania ♡

Unlike Ella's program, he got to go to a pool every single day, and his excursions were always on Wednesdays.

Somewhat related, I gotta say that the kids have a had a lot of swimming time this summer, between the pool out back and the beach, and they are more water confident than they've ever been!! :) I'll have to catch some of Ella's moves on video to show you -- so happy to finally see her enjoying herself in the water.


Anyway, now casals are officially over (as of this past Friday) and I can look forward to many a family outing this last month of August.
It was great having all that time to either get work done or go into the city with just Dash 'n' I. We say the Casa Batlló, lounged with drinks on the beach, and did some "around the apartment" projects. :D

 I'll be in touch, and in the meanwhile, hope you guys are also having a wonderful time, with summer camps or what have you.

Until next time, take care and Happy Summer Casals~!