Dani´s Music Class

Ok I thought I would post this video of Dani in his music class. I hope it works... The two girls that he is dancing with are his friends, Adrianna (in pink) and Noa (in black).

Picnic in Torrejon 21 February 2009

Picnic Time!!

The weather has been wonderful the last couple of weeks. The almond trees have flowers and the cherry trees have started opening. The next door neighbor has daffoids and I have my one lonely purple flower. It feels like spring. So, we decided to pack up our lunch and go on a picnic. We didn´t want to go very far because of Dani´s nap and the late start, so we decided on going to the new part of Torrejon, called El Soto de Henares or La mancha amarilla (the yellow stain).

JABY Carnival Workshop 18 January 2009

Instead of dressing up in costumes for Carnival, the teachers at Oscar´s school decided to do a workshop with the parents to create the costumes for the kids. The theme was prehistoric times and the kids dressed up as cavemen and women (The Flinstones, according to the kids). We cut out shapes and glued them on plastic bags. Then we cut holes in the bag for the arms and head and finished it off with a bone on their heads. It was fun, and it is always entertaining to see the parents sitting in the small chairs, at the small tables, working with the kids.
Oscar is in the back row, the last kid on the right.

AVE trip 28 January 2009

Oscar loves trains. We used to pack up a picnic and go eat our lunch watching the AVEs (fastspeed trains) arrive and depart (our fast train sandwiches are famous) We can see the new AVE railway tracks from our house and Oscar is constantly looking for the AVE. He was always asking when we were going to go in the AVE to Sevilla to see Mr. Javier, a friend of Miguel´s.

So, as an incentive to sleep all night without a nighttime diaper, we told him if he could keep his bed dry for two weeks, we would go on a trip to Sevilla on the AVE. He had a couple setbacks, but he earned his trip pretty fast!!

We caught the train early in the morning in Torrejon. Oscar was so excited. He had packed his suitcase the night before. We had decided to go only for the day. That way we wouldn´t have to pack clothes and junk for all of us. All we had was the stroller, a backpack and Oscar and Dani´s suitcases with their toys. The kids had a great time on the train. We had breakfast on the train and whenever the attendents asked if he wanted something, he said yes to everything. Juice, yes, milk, yes, muffin, yes, candy, of course!

The ride was only 2 hours and 30 minutes. Mr. Javier was there at the station waiting for us. After a drink with him, we caught the bus to the city. We ended up in El Parque Maria Luisa. We rented a bike and rode around the park for a while.

We caught the 5 pm train back and Oscar was exausted. He slept most of the train ride back and we had to put him in the stroller because he was so tired (Dani walked). It was a long day, but we all enjoyed the train ride.

Oscar eating dinner in the train station in Sevilla. He was eating and sleeping at the same time....

London (without kids)

In Jaunary, Miguel was programmed to fly to Washington DC and I was suppost to go with him. Mari and Virtu had come down to Madrid from Asturias to take care of the kids so the homefront had been covered. But, due to the delay of his flight before this one, Miguel was taken off the flight due to lack of minimum rest. So, there we were, the six of us home. So, we decided to go to London for a couple of days to take advantage of the fact that we had babysitters.

We had a wonderful time. We split up the first morning so I could do some shopping and he went to a model store that he knew. That afternoon we hit about 6 different bookstores and just browsed (something you can´t do with kids....)

Oxford Street in London . An advert in the tube.

We saw the show, Jeresy Boys which was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (very good, loved the music) and we ate lots of Indian Food. It was nice to get away just the two of us.

My Friends

I thought I would include a photo of my three good friends.

Maite, in the white, Yolanda, with baby Hernan and Eva, our social director. These women are my lifeline to JABY, Oscar´s school. Whenever I have a doubt, or don´t understand anything, I can always turn to one of them and say "Que?".

Snow 9 January 2009

On the 9 January Dani, Oscar and I woke up to snow. (I had never experenced snow in Madrid. The other two times it had snowed in the last 10 years, I had been in Seattle).

We only had an half an inch, so I took the kids to school. After a couple of hours of hard snowfall, I decided to go and get Oscar. I went walking, with the intension of catching the bus back home. We waited for the bus 20 minutes and then after being told the bus service had been cancelled, we walked home. Oscar was a trooper. We passed by Dani´s school and picked him up. Dani didn´t like the snow. He called it dirty. Oscar on the other hand, loved it.

Miguel was due home that day, so his flight was deviated to Sevilla (the airport had shut down for 4 hours). Thank goodness it was Friday and the next day we slept in and enjoyed the snow.