Granada

 We spent the next day (after Gibraltar) in Granada with plans to tour the Alhambra palace. Unfortunately everyone in Spain was on strike that day, so the palace was closed. :( So our only photos of the palace are from the outside (the last 2 photos in this post). But it was still a beautiful day to be in Spain.

Gibraltar

 We spent an afternoon in Gibraltar, which we felt was plenty of time in a country with only 2.6 square miles.

 The highlight of our time in Gibraltar was definitely our interactions with the Barbary monkeys who live on top of the rock. They were adorable. And very...friendly. :)

 I LOVE the pictures I got of my Mom wearing the monkey. The above is a particular fave because she looks so relaxed with her hand in her pocket. I also love the surprised monkey looking on in the background.

We also toured some of the caves in the Rock and enjoyed the views.

[Gibraltar brings Gavin's country count to 17.]

Seville

 We just spent a great week in Spain. First stop: Seville. We enjoyed getting lost in the adorable streets that wind through the city, and we loved the beautiful cathedral. You can tell (above) that the cathedral tower used to be a minaret--just one of the many remnants of Moorish architecture.

We enjoyed some great food, like the potatoes and squid, cod, and yummy desserts. 

The Metropol Parasol is apparently the world's largest wooden structure, and it's pretty cool.

16 months

We were away when Gavin turned 16 months, so here are a few of his best photos from the last month, just a couple of days late.

Play date

-*

The point of this post is simply that Gavin's friends are adorable. :)
[Featuring Hazel and Harvey.]

15 months

Gavin is (more or less) 15 months old today! (His birthday is the 30th, and since there's no 30th this month we'll consider today his 15-month mark.) He's into EVERYTHING. Below, he broke into a KitKat bar. Chocolate got everywhere, including the carpet.

He's also a total delight--when he wants to be. Below, he's clapping while swinging. He was loving that swing.

He can now climb onto the dining room table. I can't look away for a second...

The next photos are from one such incident when he climbed onto the table and got the salt shaker. He then poured the salt into a little mound on the carpet, which he tried to eat...

I can't get enough of this sweet little face!

...and huge gorgeous eyes.

Emerald Isle

 We started our Ireland trip at the Cliffs of Moher where both the scenery and the wind took our breath away. Seriously, the wind was INSANE. It knocked me off my feet a couple of times and made my hair look crazy.

 We stayed a night in Limerick (below), which is just a fun place to say we've been. Perhaps I should have written this post in limerick...How many of you would have rolled your eyes and stopped reading?

Blarney Castle was fun and beautiful. We were there primarily to kiss the Blarney Stone, of course. The legend of the Blarney Stone says that those who kiss the stone will have eloquence (all the more reason to have written this post in poetry, right?). Jacob and I both kissed it, and it wasn't an easy feat. We had to lie on our backs at the top of the tall castle and precariously dangle our heads into a crack, leaning back just far enough that I thought I might fall and die.   

 We stayed the last night in Killarney, which is the gateway to Killarney National Park and the beginning of the Ring of Kerry. I loved the way this green moss grew on everything. It was so very beautiful.

We drove the Ring of Kerry, which we don't regret but didn't love. We thought the scenery elsewhere in Ireland was prettier, and the quality of the road was awful. Plus we had a toddler in the car.

Overall we had a great time in Ireland.  Gavin's country count is now 16.