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.

A SPLISHIN´ AND A SPLASHIN´

We signed Charlie up for swimming lessons for the month of July. At first Charlie was a little hesitant but in the end he looked forward to going every day. There were even some days we didn´t want to take him, but he would have nothing to do with that. WE HAD TO GO. There were only two other kids in his class and one of them was his best friend from school. These pictures are from his last day of class. On a side note: ever since swimming lessons, bath time is much more enjoyable now that Charlie doesn´t mind getting his head wet.

MORE "THRILLING" SUMMER MOMENTS

It is a tradition in our ward that during the months of July and August, the ward gets together every Friday night to eat together at the church. Every family brings their own dinner and we also try to have some kind of activity. In July of this year, the activities committe decided to organize a talent show in which the participants were to chose a decade and represent it in a dance. Even before the "great white gloved one" passed away, Leo and I had decided to represent the 80´s by dancing Thriller by Michael Jackson. We looked for a video on You Tube explaining the steps to the dance and then we spent hours practicing for several nights after the kids had gone to bed. Of course we weren´t as good as my sister Ashlee and her cohorts dancing the Thriller but everyone at the activity was impressed. They didn´t recognize Leo at first and were totally amazed that the once reserved young man they met 10 years ago was now cuttin´ it loose to Michael Jackson. I was pretty impressed myself. Of course I am used to doing crazy things in front of people but now I am glad I have company.

Two dead zombies workin´ it on the dance floor!

Charlie had seen us practise many times, but even he had a hard time recognizing Leo. He asked the person next to him if that person (pointing to Leo) was his dad.


The kiss of death.

What a pair!

SUMMER FUN

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Playing Catch Up

So it has been a while since I have posted so I thought I better do a quick recap. Life in general is good. Leo is doing great working at a bank as a manager despite the current financial crisis. He also keeping very busy as Bishop and of course as a dad and husband. I am still working in the morning at a lawyer´s office at a nearby Golf Resort. I also keep busy with my calling as the first counselor in the Relief Society.

Charlie finished his first year of school at the end of June and I can truly say that I am amazed at how much he has learned. He can write out his name all by himself and he can recongnize almost every letter and many numbers. He understands both Spanish and English perfectly but he is struggling a bit to speak in complete sentences in English. He has a large English vocabulary but conjugating verbs is hard. We have recently started to have some English classes in the afternoon so I hope that will help. Charlie is now signed up for swimming lessons which he enjoys a lot.

Clark is now seven months old. Unfortunately I cannot post a picture to mark his seventh month because about 3 weeks ago we lost the cord to charge the digital camara. So the picture of my two cowboys above will have to do even though the picture was taken on the 20th of June. I truly think there must be a troll that comes in to my house and hids things from me so that I go crazy. Clark is such a good baby although ever since he got sick a couple months ago, he doesn´t sleep as well at night. We are still waiting for the fist tooth to appear. He has started to eat vegetables and chicken this month. At first he wasn´t toO sure about the new flavors but now he eats the food right up. In fact, now he refuses to eat just plain baby cereal. Clark is oficially Spanish and American. On the 24th of June we applied for his Spanish passport and on the 30th of June we took the train at 5:30 in the morning to Madrid to apply for his US passport. We got to Madrid at 10:30am and our appointment at the Embassy was at 11:30am. After 2 hours and presenting many documents and filling out even more, we left the embassy. We didn´t get the passport right away but we have it now. To take advantage of the trip to Madrid, we walked to the Plaza de Colon to have lunch and then we rested from the heat in Parque Retiro. Then we had to rush to the Atocha train station to catch the 7:00pm train home. We didn´t get home until after midnight; exhausted but happy to have another American join the family.

Although it is summer, Leo and I are still not on vacation, but we will be soon. In fact, after debating whether to go to the States or not this year we have finally decided to go. We will be in Utah and hopefully Oregon in August. We are so excited. Charlie doesn´t stop talking about going to the States. When we told him that we were going he went to his bedroom to pack his suitcase right away.

As you can imagine things are hot here. Thank goodness that after living in this house for almost two years we finally got our ceiling fan installed in our bedroom this past month. It is very rare to find a home with central air here so we only have air conditiong in the living room. Now that it is summer most people go to the beach on the weekend. You would think that since we live only a few minutes from the Mediterranean Sea we would go to the beach more often, but in our family, it is actually a rare event. We are almost half way through July and we have only gone to the beach 3 times since Summer began. The person to blame is me. When people ask me why I don´t go to the beach more often I tell them two reasons: 1) too much sun and 2) too much sand.

My family and I are so fair skin that we don´t tan, we only burn, so I prefer to stay out of the sun as much as possible. In fact I wear a 50 spf sunscreen on a daily basis. (I am always telling my husband, "I might have very pale skin now but when I am older, I will look so youg and with out a single wrinkle"). OK, back to the beach story.

Although I am not a big fan of the beach, Charlie loves it, so recently we went to the most famous tourist beach around, La Manga del Mar Menor to visit some friends who were staying in a beach apartment. We had a fun filled day. (Check out the Smilebox photo album to see more pictures.) La Manga is the long skinny strip of land below. Just picture a strip of land with tall apartment building on each side. The water is very warm in fact right now the water in the salt water lake which is formed by the strip of land is so warm you have to get out of the water to cool down.
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