Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Noa's birthday over a span of a couple of days.  First we celebrated with an adults-only dinner with some friends at a local Thai restaurant, followed by a quiet family celebration at home the next day.  There were presents, carrot cake cupcakes, and lots of singing and playing with the girls.  

We are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful, giving person in our lives.  Because of Noa's hard work and sacrifices, we can have some pretty amazing adventures....like living in Spain!  He's a dedicated father and thoughtful husband who deserves much celebrating.  I hope we were able to express that to him this year.  Happy birthday, Noa!  You are loved!

Labor Day Weekend in Portugal

We took advantage of the holiday weekend last weekend by taking a short trip to Portugal (specifically, the Algarve, or southern coast) for the holiday weekend.  Our trip started at the Four Seasons in Vilamoura.  This was a wonderful choice for our family because it was a complete getaway with all the amenities our kiddos (and us) enjoy.  Specifically, we had a large apartment so that the girls could have their own room and lots of space to run around, several pools to choose from, and a spa and restaurant on the grounds.  Plus, the town had a little train that stopped by the hotel to take visitors into the downtown marina.

We spent a lot of time by the pools!

Our favorite pool was the 2-foot toddler pool that allowed Ruby to swim without her floaties on.

The train to downtown: Ruby loved it!

A view of the Marina in Villamoura, Portugal.

After a couple of days in Villamoura, we met up with some friends to explore some of the Algarve.  Our first stop was Fiesa, the International Sand Festival in Pera, Portugal.  We had visited a similar display back in Washington several years ago, so it was interesting to compare the two.  The one in Washington was held in a parking lot, this one was in the middle of some rolling hills.  One thing that made this one different is that it was one whole unit of sand.  Each display worked into the next one, whereas the sand sculptures in Washington were each separate (I think that festival may have been a competition; this one is just for fun).  Like the Washington display, this had signs that described the scenes and also named the artists.  The theme of this year's Fiesa was "music" so all the sculptures had that in common.

This is a Portuguese singer.  Of course, I forget her name, but I do remember that she became famous for her ad lib singing when she forgot the words to her songs.

Mozart

Ballet

Broadway

Bono (apparently, I only took photos of things that started with "B")

Ruby with her favorite display: Frozen

Next we headed to Sagres, the southwestern most point in Europe.  We ate lunch at a cozy little restaurant and then headed to the Cabo de São Vicente.  This stop was breathtaking, since it's atop enormous cliffs and there are no buildings around, except the lighthouse.  In the old days, this would be the last stop sailors would see before heading out to the great unknown - or the edge of the world.

It was a little windy.  Ha ha!

After all this touring, it was time to settle "home" for the next couple of days.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the cute little country house we .  It was such a cute find!  Set amongst farms in the rolling hills of Aljizur, Portugal, the home had lots of space for all the kids to run around.  The simple home had white wall, exposed beams, and extra toys, which is always a win for us now.  There was an outdoor area to sit, eat, enjoy the scenery and watch the kiddos play.  It was the perfect spot to get away from it all.

Making "stone soup" out front.

Our first full day started with a lazy breakfast and then we loaded the kids into the cars to go exploring.  We were told there was a nearby beach.  It was only about 15 minutes away, but this was not an easy drive.  It involved unpaved roads with lots of dips, rocks, and steep inclines.  We had to take it super slow.  However, the sight at the end of that "road" was well worth it.  The beach was more rocky, but still had a beautiful view of Portugal;s coast.  We only stayed for a half hour or so, but there were other families who were camping close by.

Our second beach was also secluded but in a different way.  We parked at the top of the cliff and then walked down a steep, windy road to get to the actual beach.  This beach was gorgeous and not too crowded.  We loved it!

Ruby flew a kite (with dad's help)!

We ended up eating lunch close by at a fabulous restaurant (name to come in a later post).  It was a perfect beach day with lots of sun and sand.  At the end of the day, we headed back to the country house for a smorgasbord of food for dinner and to kick back after another lovely day in Portugal.

Spainiversary

Yesterday marked our one year anniversary of moving to Spain.  It's our "Spainiversary" weekend!

taken about 1 year ago in Arcos de la Frontera, Spain

I took a break from the blog due to the rigors of the past year, but lately I've been really missing it.  I find myself "writing" blog posts in my head or taking a photo "for the blog," even though I haven't written for months.  Now that we are a little more settled and have a routine, I'd like to start back up with the blog - mostly for myself - in order to chronicle our lives in Spain and record life moments of the girls as they grow.

When friends ask me about moving so often to new places, I usually comment that it takes a full year to really feel like a place is home.  I can say that's definitely true for this move.  Rota has become our home and I find myself feeling more relaxed and settled with each passing day.  With time, Spain has become more and more familiar and making friends has helped tremendously.  There are some absolutely wonderful things about living in Spain.  Some of my favorites so far:

- Family is number 1 here.  Kids are included in everything, late dinners out (including the bars, which really aren't like bars in the US), holiday trips away, performances, you name it.  Children are praised, cherished, and included in all aspects of life.  Grandparents are often seen toting around their grandkids to and from school.  Businesses may decide not to open because the owner's brother happens to have a birthday that day.  It is clearly a family-oriented society here.

- Living so close to the beach and most other things.  During the off season, we take walks to the beach quite a bit.  It's only a 7 minute walk, at most, and we are able to see the most colorful sunsets in the evenings.  There is a fabulous boardwalk that winds through the trees along the coast and then leads you into downtown. Sadly, we haven't been to the beach as much over the summer since the summer tourists and blazing heat envelope our little town.  I'm looking forward to the summer season ending so that we can go back to our less-crowded beach days and walks to see the sunset.  In the meantime, we love not having to drive to many places in town since we can walk.  If we need something from the grocery store, it's a 5 minute walk from our house.  Ruby's school is across the street.  Yesterday, I took a 15 minutes walk to the vet with Gunnar.  Yes, we still have to drive to some places (to base, other towns, etc) but having the option to walk is awesome.

- Wine, sherry, and jamón are new staples for us.  Actually we've always been wine enthusiasts, but most of our wine now comes from Spain or Portugal.  And, it's very affordable (I'll admit that we typically buy pretty cheap wine).  Sherry is similar to port and made exclusively in this region.  It definitely takes some getting used to, but now that we know our favorite varieties, we'll sip on some sherry every now and then.  Then there's the jamon...wow.  Jamón is probably as loved here in Spain as the wine and sherry. Although the word "jamón" translates to "ham," it's just not ham like in the U.S.  Jamón is a cured meat and sliced ultra thin.  There are even stores that are dedicated to selling only jamón (you know it's a jamón store from the legs of pigs hanging about).  In the States, I don't eat ham, but here I love to indulge in some jamón Serrano on a tostada (toast) with some tomato and olive oil.  Yum!  

- Fashion and body image is in the eye of the beholder.  Fashion here is crazy.  It is colorful and all over the place.  Before moving here, I was told that Europe is dressy.  It is true that people take more care in what they wear.  It's very uncommon to see someone walking around in sleepwear (unlike a trip to my neighborhood Wal-Mart, where I could always find folks sporting their favorite pj pants).  However, the clothes are different.  I often relate the fashion to styles seen in the 80s, but really it's just a mix of styles: very short shorts, but they rise up past the belly button, super skinny pants (on men), lots of floral patterns, track suits, etc.  It's actually really fun to people watch here because you never know what you are going to see clothes-wise.  The other interesting thing is that even though most of the clothes fit tighter over here, the size of the person doesn't seem to matter...to anyone.  There doesn't ever seem to be any judgement about a person's size or what he/she will wear.  A classic example is the beach.  Yes, it is common for women to go topless here, although I actually saw much more of this in northern Spain.  What is even more intriguing is that almost all women wear 2-piece bathing suits.  The young 16-year-old teenager to the 70-year-old grandma.  The men usually wear shorter swim trunks that are more fitted than you'd see in the US or they wear Speedos, regardless of how large the person may be.  The Spanish just don't seem to care if they look perfect or not and instead focus on enjoying themselves, whether at the beach or the bar or out for a stroll.

There are still some things about Spanish life that are challenging.  Although I find myself and our family getting used to living here, we are learning to adapt to the things that are still difficult for us, like:

- The language barrier is very real.  We have found that speaking Spanish is almost a necessity here.  Sure, you can get by without it, but it definitely closes off your world and opportunities.  Noa has been doing self-study for the past year and can carry on a pretty good conversation.  I am taking group lessons and struggle more with the language acquisition.  Unfortunately, I seem to find other priorities when it comes time to sit down and study Spanish.  The girls are picking it up through our nanny, who is Spanish, and from other things like books and songs.  Ruby will be starting Spanish school in a couple of weeks, so she will most likely become the strongest Spanish speaker in our family.  It helps to have a Spanish-speaking friend, but sometimes you find yourself solo and cannot overcome the language barrier, even with the help of Google translate.  It probably doesn't help that the dialect in Spain is a little different than Latin America.  In Spain, they speak using a lisp with certain sounds (they pronounce kitchen as "co-thee-na" instead of "co-see-na").  And in Southern Spain, they also often cut off the ends of words.  It makes comprehension quite difficult.

- The driving and parking take some getting used to.  We have two cars here: our CR-V that we drove in Washington and a smaller (although not tiny) Euro spec Mazda 4-door.  Although it's not a large car in the states, the CR-V is pretty big here and we have to avoid some streets and parking garages with it because of the size.  Sadly, it has already earned some scratches on the front and rear bumpers.  Even Noa's smaller car can be tricky to park and maneuver around town.  It took awhile to get used to all the round-a-bouts, which are standard here.  I usually like them except, as in most places, many people don't know or choose not to drive in them the correct way.  Pedestrians are king here and always have the right of way.  The problem is that the Spanish people often step out into the street without looking, causing the driver (me) a sudden heart attack and needing to suddenly brake. 

- Life is scheduled differently.  The Spanish follow a daily schedule that took some getting used to.   A typical day begins at 8 or 9 am.   A very light breakfast (maybe a tostada or pastry) is eaten later in the morning, say at 11 am.  Lunch is around 2 or 3 o'clock, followed by siesta (rest).  Many stores and businesses close at this time and reopen sometime after 5 pm.  If we go out to eat around 6, many restaurants won't even be open.  If we wait until 7 pm, we have to ask if the kitchen is open (they'll serve drinks but not food if the kitchen is closed).  Dinner usually begins at 9 pm.  Bedtime is at midnight or later.  Ruby's school schedule varies from a typical preschool in the states.  Her school day will begin at 9 am and end at 2 pm, however, she will not have a lunch time at school, only a snack time.

So, we are still adjusting, but life feels more normal now than several months ago.  I still miss Washington; we miss all our dear friends in the U.S.  We are fortunate to live in a time where Facebook, Facetime, and e-mail allow us to keep in touch, but the distance is still hard.  We have made some great friendships here and I am excited to watch the friendships grow for my kiddos.  Ruby is at an age where she learning how to be a good friend and I enjoy helping her through that process.  She has some really wonderful little friends here. 

It's hard to go back and talk about all the things that have happened over the past few months.  I haven't decided if I'll go back and relive those moments through the blog or just write a big recap.  I guess we'll see.  For now, we're back and glad to be here.

Surveying Sevilla

Sevilla, Spain is the closest major city to us.  It only takes us about an hour and a half to drive there and we also have options to take a bus or train there as well (we hope to travel there by train soon!).  Technically, we've already been to Sevilla with our multiple Costco runs and dropping off Noa's parents at the train station, but we hadn't even tasted a sliver of Sevilla's charm and culture yet.  We decided to take an afternoon to check out the Christmas markets there.

Driving to Sevilla was pretty simple, thanks to our handy GPS and we easily found parking downtown.  Right away we noticed one of the main attractions in the downtown: the horse and carriage rides!  There were tons of them riding by us and parked in front of the Cathedral.  We decided to forgo a ride so that we could enjoy one at a later date with friends.  Instead, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and enjoyed some cafe con leche (basically the Spanish coffee we always drink out here, it's espresso with milk and sometimes sugar).

Haha (or as they type in Spain, "jajaja"), Noa's name was written as "Nowa" on his cup (yes, we found a Starbucks.  I think there are actually three in Seville, so it's not too hard to find.

The funny thing about eating at any cafe in Europe is that you find yourself sitting at a table, maybe scrolling through your phone or chatting with a friend while looking across the street at something like this:

Gorgeous old buildings abound around us and it's funny to me that they become so commonplace after awhile.  It's also a bit bizarre when I see American icons becoming just as commonplace (at least in the cities):

We decided to walk around and try to find some of the Christmas markets we've heard about.  We'd take frequent stops to look at beautiful buildings or if something caught out eyes, like this passageway:

Ruby was curious, but stayed safely behind dad when we found this street performer:

These orange trees grow throughout the streets of Seville.  They are such a refreshing pop of color in the city! 

 We soon found a Nativity market with stand after stand displaying assorted Nativity pieces:

Then we wandered around outside of the Cathedral.  We popped in for a moment (there was actually a children's choir and orchestra performing), but didn't stay since we had a restless baby and there weren't full tours happening at the time.

Mila was obviously impressed by the ornate architecture.  :)

When we came across these "towers" of pointsettia plants in the square outside of the Cathedral, I grabbed the opportunity to get a photo with Rubes.  After about twenty takes of "now make a silly face.  Okay, this time a scary face.  Now, surprised," we finally got a cute, smiling one.  Oh, toddlers....always keeping us on our toes!

Team Juloa:

Soon, it was time to eat again.  We found a place that served Ruby-friendly food (read: pizza and spaghetti) and then walked back to the car.  We weren't prepared for what the evening brought: crowds.  Lots and lots of them.  It was as if the sun went down and everyone in Seville decided to come out.  It was the end of a holiday weekend for Spain, but we didn't anticipate the magnitude of the crowds.  I tried to take a picture to capture the craziness, but unfortunately it came out blurry:

This posed a challenge with our large stroller, but we were able to push through and make it back to the car eventually.  On the way back, I marveled at the outdoor lights, since Rota (and most Spanish towns) lack in outdoor Christmas decorations.

And here's one more shot of the Cathedral at night with the Nativity market close by: