MY SPECIAL THANKSGIVING

I am ashamed to admit it, but since living in Spain I have never officially celebrated Thanksgiving. My kids have never sat down to a special turkey feast with all the fixings. They have never made Thanksgiving decorations. They have never watched the Macy´s Thanksgiving parade or American Football. Since we live in a country that does not celebrate this holiday and it is work and school as usual, it makes celebrating a bit more difficult. And I think I didn´t pay close enough attention to my mom to know how to cook a turkey or maybe I am just a bit lazy, but nonetheless this year I wanted to share some thoughts I have been having lately and share what I am most thankful for this year.

Besides the usual, which of course I am very thankful for, for example: family, friends, home, gospel of Jesus Christ, body, work and health etc, this year I am especially thankful for my children waking me up at night. Let me explain: Something I really enjoying doing is reading blogs of other inspirational women. Reading their experiences and feelings, makes me more exicited about being a women, a wife and a mother. One of the blogs that I read is written by a women who has a daughter who is three years old, but her daughter was born with a rare genetic disorder which dictates that she needs constant medical attention and that she must always be hooked up to a ventilator. As a result the little girl lives at a specialized hospital. This mother has never had the experience of having her daugther at home. She has never used her nursery, her crib, etc. She has never taken her daughter to the park to play or take her shopping. In one of her most recent posts, this women talked about the things that she misses most of not having her child with her at home. One of the things she mentioned is that she misses being able to wake up during the middle of the night to comfort her daughter when she is sick or cries etc. When I read this, it hit me very hard because this is exaclty what I have been complaining most about lately. Between Clark who has been sick with a cold and cough for a month, the baby in my belly that doesn´t stop moving and is always on top of my bladder and Charlie who just has bad dreams once in awhile, I haven´t had a good nights rest for about a month and so I had been complaining. Although I still miss a good nights rest, I have made the decision not to complain anymore and to actually give thanks because getting up in the middle of the night, means that I have my kids with me at home. It means that although once in a while they get a little sick, my kids are healthy and alive and are at home with me, and for that reason I should be thankful that they sometimes keep me up at night because at least I get to have this experience unlike other mothers who only wish they could.

To all the mothers out there, I invite you to give thanks this year for sleepless nights.

AUGUST 2010: NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Although we didn´t make it to Oregon or Utah this year we did make it about half way and touch American soil. The first week of August, Leo and I made a trip to New York City; my second and Leo´s first. Ashlee decided to come out to meet us and we had an enjoyable 6 day visit packed with sightseeing and some good eats. It was hard to leave the kids behind in Spain but honestley I have to admit that it was nice to travel so light and not have to worry so much about potty breaks, nap time, and things to do bags etc. However, the kids were always present in our minds and we even found some candy bars named in their honer and an intersection in Brooklyn of Henry and Clark.

When we arrived at JFK airport we had arranged for a shuttle service to take us to our hotel. It was the longest and scariest shuttle ride ever. We were not too sure how our trip would turn out with such a rough start, but in the end we had a wonderful time. Leo has always said that he would like to live and work in NYC but I, on the otherhand, think it is a great city to visit, but not my cup of tea to live. I had my fingers crossed that Leo would enjoy the trip but not like the city too much. Well, I guess my fingers weren´t crossed enough becuase he LOVES the city and still wants to work there.

During our trip we visited all the main sightseeing places including: Time Square, Central Park(Watched the Rollerskater Dance Club), Grand Central Station (They were filming a movie with Justin Timberlake although he was not there), several street markets, Broadway St (we watched the musical Wicked and absolutely loved it), American Museum of Natural History, China Town, Little Italy(good food), Financial District, Wall Street, Statton Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, FAO Schwartz (played the big piano), Lincoln Center, the Manhattan Temple, Brooklyn Bridge, and some famous Pizza place near the bridge. (I can´t remember the name but I do remember how good the pizza was.) It was a jam-packed fun adventure that I would definitely do again.

JULY 2010: EXPLORE SPAIN PART II

Like I mentioned in the last post, instead of going to northern Spain, we decided to go back to Madrid and take the kids to the Warner Brothers Amusement Park. Although there were not very many people which made getting on rides easy, it was very hot so it was a good thing that there were so many rides that involved water. Even Grandma and Grandpa got wet to keep cool. We should have brought our swimming suits but we had tons of fun nonetheless. By the time we went back to the hotel we were exhausted.

The next day we headed back to Cartagena which is about 4 1/2 hours away. The trip went smoothly but it felt good to be back home. Through out our roadtrip Grandma had prepared some gifts for the kids to open which they loved and we were even more excited when we got home because she had even more treats to give out, including superhero underwear as you can see below. During our time in Cartagena we visited the port, went on the turist boat that goes around the bay, walked around downtown Cartagena, and visited the beach several times. G & G also helped with several projects around the house: fixing toliets, shower heads, door handles, hanging curtains, taking down a bed, putting up bunkbeds, just to name a few. I don´t know what we would do without G & G. Thank you so much!

I also have to thank G & G for something else. Before they got here, we kept on telling Charlie that Grandma doesn´t speak Spanish so he could only speak to her in English. Something must have clicked because since then he has been a bilingual machine. No more Spanglish for him, aleast not very much. He is really doing well with both languages.

The worst part of a visit of course is the good-bye. G& G took the train to Madrid to catch their flight the next day. Luckily we live very close to the train station so we could all walk there. Once at the train station, the tears started and it was hard to stop. It was a great visit and we can´t wait until next time, but hopefully the next time will not be a short visit but more of a visit of the permanate nature.

JULY 2010: EXPLORE SPAIN PART 1

After picking Grandma and Grandpa up at the airport our first stop on the journey around Spain was Toledo which was about 2 hours from Madrid famous for its historical center city and is the capital city of the Castilla La Mancha region . Castilla La Mancha is also famous due to the legendary book, Don Quijote.

Grandpa and Charlie next to Don Quijote

In front of the Cathedral in Toledo

In order to get an overall view of the city we took a little tourist train around the city. This is a view from a stop we made outside of the city. It was an amazing view.

In front of one of the main entrances to the center city.

After a short trip but very curvy and narrow roads, our next stop was Avila, famous for the wall that surrounds the city. We stayed at a 5 star hotel outside of the city hoping to take advantage of the pool, but unfortunately it was cool and rainy while we there, but we had a great time nonetheless and enjoyed another tourist train ride to learn more about the city.

The boys on the lawn at the hotel.

A view from one of the famous look out points.

Our next stop was Salamanca. We stayed two nights in Salamanca and even went to church there. Although it is a very large city, famous for having the oldest university in Spain, there is only one church branch. We enjoyed visiting with the members and I even had the opportunity to conduct primary. The only problem was that it was very hot and they didn´t have air-conditiong in the building.

The main square.

We enjoyed walking around and taking in the ambiance of the street terraces and ancient buildings. Although it rained on us, we escaped into a restaurant and watched part of a world cup game.

The cathedral in the background.

Salamanca had a wonderful park for the kids to play in. There was also a dance for senior citizens going on in the park that we spied on.

The kids were dead from all the sight-seeing.

Our next stop was Segovia, famous for its´ castle and ancient aquaduct. In order to reach the center city you have to travel some very narrow steep streets and some tight corners. I was very proud how well Leo did in the big van.

The main square and cathedral. We ate a wonderful meal in this square.

Inside the castle.

View of the city from the castle tower. Leo and Charlie were the lucky ones to walk up all the stairs and get to see this great view.

The tower Leo and Charlie climbed. I have heard this is the castle they used in the film Camelot.

In our original itinerary, we were to travel to northwest Spain to the area called Galicia, but we decided that it was just going to be too much traveling, so instead we decided to go back to Madrid and take the kids to an amusement park and then head home to Cartagena. In part 2 I will share pictures from that half of the visit.

OUR HANDSOME GENTLEMEN

Look out GQ. Here come Charlie and Clark. It is no suprise that I found them surronded by five single ladies in the church hallway today, all who wanted to give them a kiss. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Wilcken for the cute outfits.

CHARLIE TURNS 5

After months of asking if it was his birthday yet, the day has almost arrived. Check out Charlie´s birthday invitation below for his birthday party on Thursday. Pretty much what the invitation says is that we are going to have a Superhero party where the kids will train to become Superheroes. (I am just glad most of you don´t speak Spanish well enough to know that there is an error in the invitation. ) More pictures to come after the party.

IT´S A DIRTY JOB

It´s a dirty job, but somebody has to eat toast with Nutella.

July post coming soon.

JUNE 2010: SUMMER BEGINS

Summer gets off to a slow start here in Spain because school doesn´t get out until the later part of June, but we took our first trip to the beach on June 9th, which is a holiday here in the Region of Murcia. It was a ward activity and we had lots of fun. It seemed to be a cloudy and windy day, but it was a good thing that I smathered sunscreen on the kids and myself because lots of people got fried including my sister-in-law. In the end, only my shin on my right leg got burned and to this day you can still see the tan line or should I say burn line.

One of the kids´ favorite activities throughout the year is to play superheroes and June was no exception. Clark loves dressing up in Charlie´s costumes. Normally Charlie is Batman, Clark is Spiderman and Leo plays the bad guy.

In June we also had fun times at the park, at home and with the cousin but the best day was the very last day of June because we rented a van and traveled to Madrid to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Wilcken who came to visit for three weeks. Although we arrived late to the airport because we forgot to check which terminal they were arriving at and G & G were worried that we had had an accident and that we were at the hospital, in the end it was a wonderful reunion; the start of great family adventure traveling around Spain. More to come in the post for July.

On the beach with friends.

Everyone crashed after the long day at the beach.

Our superheroes.

Charlie with his best friend Dani on his last day of school.

The cousins looking cute as ever.

A fun day at the park.
Everyone fixing their bikes. Do we have some mechanics in the making?

MAY 2010: An unauthorized haircut, a 2/3 birthday and a special announcement.

It took me longer than I had hoped, seeing that it is the end of June, but here is my review of May.

May was a good month. Nothing really exciting but some good family time. As you may have noticed in the pictures of Clark in former posts, we have been letting his hair grow out because Leo loves the curls. I love them too ,but it was getting to the point that even in the most "macho" clothes people were calling Clark "guapa" instead of "guapo". I mentioned several times to Leo that we should cut his hair and he refused everytime. Well, I took things into my own hands and with a little help from Grandma Yolanda, we trimmed Clark´s hair: not very much but enough to make a difference. Of course Leo was mad at first, but he got over it, if not he wasn´t going to eat dinner for some time. Some people still make the mistake and call him a her, including my doctor, but now perhaps it is just because he is just too cute. However, now that it is getting hot, I think it might be time for another unauthorized hair cut perhaps a buzz cut.

One of the first Saturdays of May we helped put on a Super Saturday activity for all the young men and women of the stake. There were probably 150 young people at the activity. In the morning Leo and I organized a workshop and then at lunch time we helped herd the young people to a grassy hill in the city where we ate lunch. I didn´t realize we were going to do this so we all got sunburn including Clark. After lunch they planned a dance but nobody was dancing so they asked me "the party game girl" to organize some activities. So off the top of my head we played several games including " Do you love your neighbor" and "dance with balloon between your forheads". In the end, it was a success and several people commented how much fun the kids were having. I think perhaps it is better that they ask me to do these things at the last minute so that way I don´t have time to stress.

Just like last year, Charlie wanted to celebrate his birthday at school. When it is his real birthday school is still not in session, so we celebrate it another time of the year. Last year was March and this year was May. I couldn´t go because of work but Leo´s mom and sister, and nephew and Clark all went and by Charlie´s request they brought sandwhiches and home made cookies to share with the kids. (No rules about homemade items here). Since Charlie had his birthday now he says all the time that he is 5, (Mom, remember I had my party), plus he reminds us that he can do all the things that other 5 year olds can do.

During May. our stake also organized a activity to celebrate the family. Everyone from the stake was invited to a park in Murcia, a city nearby to participate in family games and events etc. Since the park was right next to a rest home, each family was invited to go and bring an elderly person to enjoy the activity with us. Leo went to pick up someone and he felt drawn to an elderly women in the corner. He started to speak to her and she was very cold and didn´t want to leave, but he spoke awile with her and little by little, Gregoria started to warm up and finally decided to come out. Well, in the end she had so much fun with us that while the rest of the people went back to eat, she wanted to stay with us and even ate a plate full of Ecuatorian food. When she finally went back she cried saying it was the best day of her life. For us, as well, it was a very special experience, especially considering the fact that I didn´t want to go to the activity because I was in a very bad mood. After being with Gregoria I couldn´t help but feel better.

Perhaps one of the reason why I was a bit grumpy was because I am pregnant and the first few months I always have mood swings. Yes, for those who don´t know, we are going to have another little one at the end of December. We are very excited and can´t wait for the new arrival.

Clark before hair cut (bhc).

Clark (bhc) eating lunch at the grassy hill.


What a cutey!

Balloon between forhead game. Leo acting as judge in the the red shirt.

Charlie, the birthday boy, getting ready to hand out the food.

Charlie´s classmates eating the cookies.

Clark was in heaven and even started to write on the chalkboard, as if he were the king of the classroom.

The boys in the playground area. Javi and Clark didn´t want to leave and Charlie felt very special to have his family there, but finally they were kicked out.

Charlie climbing the tree at the park in Murcia during the family activity.

The whole family with Gregoria.

At a park nearby.

Unfortunately, at the park there was no picnic table or grass so we had a picnic in the gravel. Most parks don´t have grass here becuase it does not rain enough and watering is too expensive. It is at times like theses that I really miss my Oregon.