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.