CARNIVAL, CARNIVAL !!

So, it's official! Carnival, Carnival!

Here we are with the El Masnou Airlines Team, Captain Sean Gannon, and his Chief Air Stewardess, Fiona Gannon. You can see that Sean takes his job very seriously, and Fiona will probably bite your hand off if you ask for more pretzels.

And here they are before the flight, with passengers Froggy and Pinky and Susie and Bobby.

And here's a mysterious ZORRO who appeared, and posed for a photograph with Maxie and Ted. I wonder who this mysterious person could be?

Out on the streets for the parade!!

Having fun during the parade.

Hundreds of amazing people went past in the parade, and Susie and Bobby had never seen anything like this before. They had a terrific time.

And when it was all over, Fiona and Sean were tired, but very happy about all the fun they had.

SUSIE & BOBBY'S EXTENDED VISIT

Well, what about the amazing welcome for Susie and Bobby! While Uncle Bill and Frank talked with the adults, Susie and Bobby had the best dinner ever with the Spanish teddies - they even had a birthday celebration for Frank. What fun!!
Pinky and Froggy, and Ted (in his Soul-Train Rock Star gear) and Maxie the doggie, had the best things planned for their American guests, and everyone had the best time ever.
It was so good, that Susie and Bobby asked Uncle Bill if they could stay in Barcelona for Carnival with the other teddies, and Uncle Bill said it was ok. But Frank and Uncle Bill have to go back to their jobs in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Uncle Bill was talking to Cheesey about Los Angeles, and Cheesey kept saying that he wanted to visit. (Little did we know that Cheesey would jump into Frank's suitcase - naughty Cheesey!)

Cheesey goes home after Saint Patrick's Day

It was getting close to the time that Cheesey had to go home to Barcelona again.
But the day before Cheesey was going, Uncle Bill took Cheesey out to the shops to get him a good outfit for Saint Patrick's Day.
They had a great time dancing and being silly on Saint Patrick's Day, Uncle Bill and Cheesey will be best friends forever. Uncle Bill enjoyed a Guinness, and Cheesey had green lemonade.
Finally it was time for Cheesey to go back home to El Masnou. Uncle Bill was sorry to see him go, because they had so much fun together. If Cheesey ever comes back to Los Angeles, maybe Uncle Bill will get him a job at the bank too.
So, we packed Cheesey's box with candy for the trip so that he's not hungry, and sent him home on March 18th 2011. Cheesey is so looking forward to seeing Sean and Fiona and Patrick again, and he wants to be home in time for Marta's birthday too.

Big Surprise - a stowaway called Cheesey

When Uncle Bill and Uncle Frank got home to Los Angeles, and opened the luggage - WHAT A BIG SURPRISE!!!
Cheesey, one of the teddies who was playing with Uncle Bill, was a stowaway in our luggage. He had secretly jumped into the luggage and come to America.
So, we phoned Barcelona and told them that Cheesey had come for a vacation, just in case they were worried about him. It was lovely to have Cheesey come to stay with us, the only problem was that he doesn't speak English, and we don't speak Catalan.
But we could all go the beach together and get a suntan - nobody had to speak.
Uncle Bill took some Catalan lessons online, and learned to speak with Cheesey a little - they could talk about little things and what they wanted for dinner.
One day, Uncle Bill took Cheesey to work at the bank, and they counted money together. It went very well

One afternoon, before Cheesey was ready to go back home to Spain, Uncle Bill invited Cheesey and Uncle Frank out for lunch in Santa Barbara.
It was delicious and Uncle Bill paid for the meal, which was very nice of him. He gets well paid at the bank, which is nice.

Trip to Barcelona in February

It was a quick trip, and Susie and Bobby and Uncle Bill were so tired, they didn't come out until the next morning. But Marta had a BEAUTIFUL cake ready for Uncle Frank (it was his birthday next week) and Patrick, Fiona and Sean helped Uncle Frank blow the candle out. The cake was DEEEEEEE-LICIOUS.

Sean and Fiona went to bed, and woke up the next morning with Susie and Bobby sleeping beside them. It was so exciting and Uncle Bill said they could stay for Carnival.
That morning, Uncle Bill and Uncle Frank left early to go back to Los Angeles, because they both had work the next day.

Uncle Bill visits Baby Daniel.

Uncle Bill was so excited when he heard that Donal and Mags had their baby boy, Daniel, on January 1st, 2011. Susie and Bobby had gone to visit their Auntie Minnie in Palm Springs, and so Frank and Uncle Bill decided to rush over to Ireland and meet the new baby, Daniel.

Uncle Bill was delighted to be back in Ireland again, and to meet up with his good friend Rover. They hadn't played together for a long time and it was lots of fun. He likes Rover very much, and Rover definitely loves Uncle Bill too.
Uncle Bill took the time to talk with Grandma Connie about Susie and Bobby. Grandma Connie was wondering how the kids are - are they doing well at school? Uncle Bill told Connie that Susie is very good at reading - her favorite authors are Doctor Seuss, and Jackie Collins. Bobby is very good at arithmetic and Uncle Bill hopes that when Bobby grows up, he can get Bobby a job at the bank counting money with him in his department.
Soon it was time for a party with Uncle Bill. He played some songs on the piano and everyone sang along. Even baby Daniel seemed to enjoy it.
Uncle Bill played silly games and he wanted to jump up onto the deer's head. At Christmas Uncle Bill wore toy antlers and a fake beard. And now he was beside real antlers and he was excited. Uncle Bill is absolutely the life and soul of the party, and everybody was glad that he came to visit.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Uncle Bill loves a party. And he decided to invite his friends the Nutcracker Soldiers around for a Christmas Party at our house. They brought lots of presents, all of which were different types of nuts, and some jars of peanut butter, and Nutella too. It was great fun, and we all dressed up for Christmas.

Uncle Bill wanted to be Santa, but he was too fat for the costume - so Bobby wore it instead. But Uncle Bill put on a beard and some antlers, and did some very impressive dancing with the Nutcracker Soldiers. He also invited some girls around, but they never arrived. So, there was more food for everyone - hooray!