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.

El Museo de los Bomberos en Madrid

The Firefighter Musuem in Madrid

I have wanted to go to this museum with the kids for a long time now. The only problem is that it is only open, Tuesday through Friday, 10.00 to 13.30. So, today (Friday) I packed up the kids, jackets, snacks, water, diaperbag, iphone (with my Google map and instructions) and purse and away we went! Of course we got lost and of course, I had to pull over and look at a normal map to find my way (and listen to the kids, are we there yet? Why have we stopped? Where are we going? BUS!!) but we made it without a hitch.

The kids had a great time, looking at all the old fire engines. The fire men who were there gave them cards that told them what to do in case of a fire, and a cool poster of what to do if you are in an apartment building during a fire (Oscar really liked that one).

I was also very proud of Oscar. The fireman asked him if he knew what to do if there was a fire . Oscar told him that he should touch the door to see if it was hot. Then Oscar also told him that he was to get out of the house (somehow) and to go to a certain spot, a tree across the street, and wait for us there. (A Paranoid mother -me-taught him that....)

After the museum, we headed for a park to burn off all that nervous energy before we got back in the car to go home.

I thought I would also throw in this photo of the boys playing "Connect 4" or in their case, "Fill up the rows with any color" Believe it not, they were entertained for quite a while....
I will try to post our Christmas photos sometime this weekend. Wish me luck!!

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....)

Dani and the shape sorter

Enjoy!