I once had a farm in Africa.......

South Africa. Wow. I don´t even know where to start.

Miguel had a flight to Mexico and wanted to change it for a flight to Argentina. When one of his collegues offered him this flight to Johannesburg, he accepted it because he thought it would be easier to trade for a Buenas Aires flight (Mexico City isn´t a favorite destination) . When we learned that the South Africa flight had a three day layover, we called up Mari to see if she could come stay with the kids. She came with her sister and we were free to go.

We left Monday night and arrived Tuesday morning. There is only 1 hour difference between Johannesburg and Madrid, so no jetleg to speak of. We spent the first day exploring the area and getting ready for our mini safari. One of the flight attendents had arranged to stay at a Wildlife resort one night so we decided to join them. We left the next morning, not before checking out the election results (YEA OBAMA). We drove two hours north of Johannesburg to a resort/game reserve called Detholo (http://www.ditholologdge.co.za/). We had lunch, sat around the pool and waited until it cooled off to go out and see the animals.

We also visited the De Wildt Cheetah Center

http://www.southafrica-travel.net/north/a_dewildt.htm

http://www.dewildt.org.za/ We took a tour and we even got up the nerve to pet one of the cheetahs.

We had a wonderful time. I would love to go back . I feel that I have only seen the tip of the iceberg and I would love to see more.....

Halloween 2008

Halloween was a big event in our house this year. We went to two different parties, hosted one here at home on the 31st and then Dani celebrated at school. I love halloween, but I was very happy to put away all the halloween decorations on the 1 November. The pumpkin bread I made from the jack o laterns was very tasty too.

First Party....Trick or treating

Here are the photos from the first round of trick or treating. We went to Humera, which is a city northwest of Madrid. It was just like trick or treating in the states. The police even blocked off the streets for us. We had to give 60 pieces of candy per kid beforehand and the organizes gave the candy to the people who wanted to give out candy. Then we went trick or treating to the houses that had balloons (or were decorated), Notice the cool wonderwomen outfit the first photo.

We went with Annie the devil, Eva the Angel, the twins in their poodle skirts, Oscar the firefighter and Dani, winnie the pooh. We had a great time!!

Dani at his school.

31 October

At our house with Pirate Oscar, princess Olivia, scary Carlos and cowboy william. Dani refused to get in the photo with Carlos. Our nieghbors get into the spirit and we have trick or treaters come around our neighborhood. For a second year in a row, our friends who live in Madrid (she is from Bellevue and he is Spanish) brough their kids out to go trick or treating. I think the kids had the more fun giving out the candy than going trick or treating.....

Last Party

The last party was on the 1 November. We went to our Northern Star´s playgroup´s Halloween Party. It was great because I could unload all the candy that the kids had collected the night before and all the candy I had left over. Dani loved the guacamole and the playdoh was a hit.

Dani at school

Here are some photos of Dani at his school. The school has a website and you can log in and see photos of the different activities. The webpage ishttp://www.eiacuarela.com/

If you are interested in seeing more photos of his class, drop me an email and I will give you the code to get into the webpage.

(He doesn´t like to get his hands dirty....)