In Bilbao

Harassing the artwork

Taipei and HK

We had a lot of fun (and relaxation) back in Hong Kong and Taipei. We attended Mab's fabulous wedding, got check-ups for both Mamu and Chamu and caught up with many friends we hadn't seen for a while.  Mamu especially enjoyed the food (can't believe it's been almost six months since she left)!

Joaquin had fun hanging out with great grandma, grandparents, aunties and uncles (and Costanza/Inés/Axel/Zack/Tristan/Isabella/Tarin)...Of course he also checked into the hospital for one night due to bronchiolitis...but he braved it through and made it to Barcelona alright.

Joaquinus Chumus Maximus

At the Roman Forum in Tarragona

El Caga Tío de Barcelona

One of the strangest Christmas traditions, I would think, ever: according to our friends Angel and Alia, kids in Catalunya believe that if they feed El Tio de Nadal ("The Christmas Uncle"), this happy faced wood log wearing a red cap, over the period leading up to Xmas, it will grow (which it does via parental ingenuity and deception). Then come Xmas, they can beat it with a stick, singing a song ("Caga, Tio, caga turró..."), until it will (we kid you not) "shit" Xmas presents. Naturally we couldn't resist having Joaquin participate in this:

Out the rear end of the Tío came a present ideal for Joaquin: a paper truck! (with the sponsoring Ham company's logo, of course).

Prague

Más Vienna

Sorry running behind...

Delayed Departure

It feels like a Deja vu. Chamu was sick for one week just when we were leaving for our RTW trip in June and we had to cancel our trip to Beijing and reshuffle our schedule. Today, just a day before our flight to Barcelona to resume our RTW trip, he was hospitalized.

He has been having coughs on and off for about one week. It was almost gone when we came to HK but in the last two days, he started to cough really badly. Last night he couldn't sleep at all and was up screaming from midnight to 8am. Later we noticed that he had shortness of breadth and decided to take to hospital for a check.

After examination, the doctor told us that Chamu may have bronchitis or asthma but the best thing to do is to get him checked into hospital and put him on nebulizer. Of course that means putting our trip off for one more day. We took the last bed in the hospital (I guess this is season when a lot of kids get sick) and Chamu had to take a chest x-ray. He also got his blood drawn and was scheduled to be on nebulizer every three hours. He is a good trooper though, very strong and brave, making it a lot easier for his parents. Tonight Jaime will sleep with him in the hospital and hopefully tomorrow we can bring him home...