APRIL 2010- A REAL BANG

So I sit here at the computer while my three boys are crashed out on the couch and floor. We just got back from a long day at the beach and we are all exhausted but I just had to take advantage of this opportunity to work on my new goal. I am tired of always being behind in this blog so my new goal is to do at least a monthly review so that we have some kind of record of all the things that happen to us during the month. Considering the fact that it is already June and I am just doing the post for April, I am still a bit behind but I am confident that I can finish this post and and do the post for May before July even gets here.

Well, here it goes! April was a good month: of course because it is my birthday but also because it started off and ended with a real bang, literally. Since Holy Week was the beginning of April this year and here in Spain Thursday and Friday of Holy Week are bank holidays, we got to spend some quality family time together. On the 1st of April Leo decided we needed to go on an adventure. Since the city where we live, Cartagena, is located in a very strategic location, throughtout history it has been important location for the the armed forces of every civilization that has occupied this part of the country. Even during the Spanish Civil War it was considered a an important location. For this reason there are several forts, ancient and not so ancient, built on top of the mountains that surround Cartagena that were used to locate the enemies and protect the area. Leo had heard that one of these forts built during the Civil War was built like a medieval castle, so we decided to go visit it with Leo´s mom, sister, nephew and cousin. We didn´t know exactly where it was. the directions on the internet were not very good and the person we called just could tell us the general area were it was so in the end it took a lot longer to get there than it should have, but we had fun along the way. In our adventure we first stoped to have lunch on the beach, then we started to look for the turn off to the fort again. We missed it the first time as well as the second time going by, but after turning the wrong way and literally almost running into a shephard and his sheep, we were finally able to get some good instructions and we found the turn off with out any more problems. It was a very steep road and a bit scary at times considering how narrow the path was, but it was well worth it as the pictures below can testify.

lunch at the beach

At this fort there are still 3 huge cannons. I am sure during their day they caused a few big bangs but luckily today they are just decoration.


The whole family on top of the cannon.

Sometimes it was a bit scary how steep the drop-off was near the cannon.

The three cousins together.

The medieval fort.

Enjoying the beautiful views.

The entrance of the fort.

After we got back to Cartagena we dropped off Leo´s cousin and stopped to visit his aunt and uncle. When we left to go home Leo and his mom took the three boys in one elevator to go to the car but unfortunately the elevator got stuck. Although later we were told we should have never taken the boys out in case the elevator had started again, luckily nothing happened and we were able to get the crying boys out and then Leo and his mom only had to wait 30 minutes for the technician to come and let them out.

On one Saturday in early April we took the boys to a park where they had set up some attractions including a small car rollercoaster. We put all three boys in one car but in the end the operators had to stop the ride because Clark was crying so much.

Charlie was swallowed by a giant Bart Simpson.

All three once again entered a fun house with lots of balls but the operator had to enter and save Clark as he was drowning in the pool of balls.

Charlie had lots of fun using the trampoline and got some good air.

As I mentioned before April is very special because it is my birthday and this year was even more special because I received some very nice birthday wishes from people here as well as family and friends from the other side of the ocean. (You got to love Facebook) It was also special because we celebrated my birthday three times. First we had a intimate celebration with the immediate family. Then with Leo´s mom and sister we went to an American restuarant to celebrate and then on another day by Charlie´s request we went to Burger King to eat with our extended family plus Leo´s aunt, uncle and two cousins and then we went to bowl and play a few arcade games. It was a very good night. I don´t know if it was because everybody was being nice to me because it was my birthday, but I beat everybody and even scored over a hundred, which for me is a good bowling night. In the last frame I got a strike and a spare. Yeah me!

The whole family bowling.

Clark was in heaven with the arcade games.

Actually I think all three of my boys were in heaven.

In late April, Charlie went on a field trip with his class once again this year to the learning farm. They took 300 kids from the ages of 3-6 to this farm and I guess it was a success because at least all the kids returned home safely. Charlie is good friends with the boy next to him, Jose, but his best friends, Dani, is the tall boy behind him.

Charlie was gone from 9am until 4 pm and then we picked him back up at the school. Clark was excited to see his brother although he did try to escape through the gate of the school without anybody noticing. Good thing I saw him escaping from the corner of my eye.

After we picked Charlie up we got back into the car and we were waiting at a red light when a mother who had just picked up her son, did not see us and backed right into us. Our car was already pretty dinged up from other incidences but since this time it was somebody elses fault, the insurance covered the repairs for the bank portion of the car and we paid for the rest to be fixed as well. The car now looks brand new. Who new someone running into you could be a blessing in disguise.

Well, there it is. My review of April 2010. It was a good month which started with a bang or should I say a cannon, and ended with one as well, that is a banged up car. Stay tuned for May.

WINTER/EARLY SPRING RECAP

Once again I am way behind in our blog. Although I don´t feel like we live an exceptionally exciting life worthy of a post every day, (plus even if we did, I don´t have the time) we do share many great moments together as a family that I do not want to let go by without a mention. I think the best way to do a recap is through pictures, so below are the highlights of our winter/early spring 2010.

Although we have had an usually long and wet winter and I would even say pretty cold for southern Spain, there were a few days in February we could actually enjoy the sunshine in the park. Every time Leo has a stake meeting we travel almost an hour away to Elche which has a beautiful city park, so while Leo is in the meeting the boys and I play in the park.


City park in Elche, Spain

Brotherly Love

Grass is actually hard to find here so he was a little unsure about the sensation..

Charlie is a great big brother.

In Charlie´s school they celebrated Carnival in February and this year they dressed up as princes and princesses.

A family outing in March to a local beach town called Los Alcazares.

Some more brotherly love.

Charlie was trying to help Clark look at the camara, but he forgot to do the same.

This year we all had boughts of the flu and Charlie, then me, then Clark, then our nephew and then Leo´s sister all had pink eye. See picture above. Clark couln´t open his eye but I wanted a picuture before I helped him. Poor fellow.

Mom, stop taking pictures and help me. (What I am sure Clark would have told me, could he speak.)

In Spain, Father´s day is celebrated on the 19th of March, so I decided to have the boys paint a picture for their dad.

Shopping trip to the famous department store, El Corte Ingles.

After a long day of shoping, what is better than fun in the park.

Once again, Mom stop taking pictures and play with me.

Charlie, cute as ever.

The boys favorite activity lately is to ride on daddy´s back up and down the hall playing cowboy.

The best sherriff in Southeast Spain.

Do you think he has fun?

In March, one Saturday we took a trip to the beach since it was such nice weather. We strolled along the boardwalk, ate lunch next to the sea, played on the beach and collected seashells.

My handsome boys.

What a happy family!

Clark enjoying the sand.

Charlie pretending to be a pirate on a play boat on the beach.

As you can tell this was at the end of the day and Leo was beat, which is the norm these days especially now that he is working even longer hours at work. Now that we don´t see him much during the week, it is even more reason to make the weekends special. I can´t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for our family.

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS PART TWO: THREE KINGS DAY

I am going to take this opportunity in this post to have a teaching moment for those who are not familiar with the Spanish culture. It used to be that Christmas in Spain was just a time to celebrate Christ´s birth and be together as a family. There was no Santa Claus, no present giving, etc. Recently, however, Santa Claus has become very popular and now even Santa Claus flies his sleigh to Spain to deliver gifts. I guess you could blame this change on globalization.

Instead of Santa Claus, up until recently the tradition here was that the Three Wise Men, or Three Kings as they say here, brought the gifts to the children just as they brought the gifts to Jesus. This celebration takes place on the 6th of January. The three wise men´s names are:

Melchor: A white old wise man with a white beard. His gift for Jesus was gold, representing his royal birth.

Gaspar: A brown young wise man. His gift was incense, reprenting the divine nature of Jesus.

Baltasar: A black wise man. His gift was myrrh, representing the suffering and future death of Jesus. (Until recently a Spaniard would paint his face black, but with the influx of imigrants from Africa you occasionally see a genuine black man but it is still common to see a white man painted black. It is not considered politically incorrect here.)

Just as Santa Claus brings toys and gifts to all the good little boys and girls, the Three Kings every year bring toys and gifts to all the good boys and girls reminding them how we should always carry the boy Jesus in our hearts.

Since the Three Kings is a Spanish Tradition and neither Leo or I are from Spain, and Charlie was still too little to know the difference, we did not celebrate the holiday with gifts until this year. So you could say that Charlie was very lucky this year: gifts for Christmas and more gifts a few weeks later. (Don´t worry we did not spoil him too much. We just halved the loot).

To start the celebration of Three Kings Day, on the night of the 5th, every city has a parade in which at the end of the parade the Three Kings arrive. Through out the parade the participants throw candy and toys to the people.

Another interesting tradition that has comeabout here is that since the majority of the people live in apartment buildings, as part of their holiday decor, they hang little figurines of Santa Claus and the Three Kinds climbing up a ladder or a rope from their windows. Since there are no chimneys, the people had to get creative.


Clark and Me at the parade. Clark loved looking at all the people and lights.

Charlie and Leo right up front trying to get more candy and toys.

How the gifts arrive.

The arrival of one of the Kings.

The arrival of another King.

Leo and the kids at the end of the parade with Leo´s mom Yolanda.

Early morning gift opening. Ben 10 was big hit for Charlie this year.

Every year the church throws a Three King Day celebration in which the Wise Men bring gifts for all the kids and throw out candy to the people and then we eat a traditional dessert served on this day: roscon.

Clark was a little scared this year.

A picture with all the kids.

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS 2009/2010

I know it is now February but like they say, it is better late than never. I didn´t want time to go by with out documenting our holiday happenings. Overall, the holidays were very good and low key. Charlie had his Christmas program in which he sang about animals including a shark in a blue lake with the Three Wise Men riding on Seahorses. Interesting? Once again we almost had a tradegy with his costume for the program. This year he did not have to dress up as a shephard but we were supposed to buy him a light blue shirt and sew garland around the neck and wrists. I understood the shirt part but I missed the garland part because I thought they were going to give him the garland at the performance. Good thing I have a good friend who´s son is in Charlie´s class who warned me a few days before so will were able to avoid another breakdown on my part. (I have been living in Spain now six years, but I still have some problems sometimes. But it made me feel better when Leo after reading the note said he would have made the same mistake).

Once again Leo and I were in charge of the Christmas dinner for our ward at Church. We decided to focus on service this year, so Leo organized some service projects in which members went to a soup kitchen to serve the food and clean. Even Charlie participated and really enjoyed the experience. On the day of the dinner at the church we collected clothes and toys to take to a charity and then after dinner we had a service auction for the members to exchange services. It was a big success.
Christmas Eve dinner with Leo´s family was at our house and just like other years we didn´t start eating until about 11 at night. In Ecuador the tradition is to eat at midnight so at least I got them to move it up an hour. We had a gift exchange with the whole family and laughed lots. It was very nice.
Christmas day was very nice too. Charlie stayed up so late on Christmas Eve that we actually had to wake him up at 11:30 am. (That is ok because it gave Santa some time to do some last minute wrapping.) Charlie´s list for Christmas was very long this year but in the end Santa brought him a costume of Iron Man, some Star Wars swords and Ben Ten action figurines. Santa brought Clark a lion to ride on but it is the small sword of Charlie´s that Clark likes most. When Charlie and Leo play fight, Clark gets right into the action and starts to fight as well, with noises and all. Overall it was a very good Christmas. We are so grateful we have the opportunity to celebrate Christ´s birth and spend time with family and friends.


Charlie with his costume for his school Christmas program.

Charlie crossing the street with his classmates to go to the auditorium for the performance.

Waving to the parents after the performance.

Clark, on Christmas Eve with his Christmas PJs.

Charlie and Clarks favorite toy from Christmas.

Clark´s Lion which is still sitting in the corner.

The boys in action.

Charlie showing off his new action gear.

The boys in action once again. It is non stop fun.

Charlie posing with one of the Three Kings (I think Baltasar) in order to drop off his wish list for Three Kings Day.