New Additions

Mommy moved my bookshelf into the living room for more accessibility. I like it! I also get to put my toys on it, too!





Our neighbors form downstairs are moving back to the States to retire and she brought over her flower boxes and some other great stuff! They are so fun and add so much life! Now we have an excuse to keep our curtains open. We praise God for His provision! What a gift.

Language Fun

We met this girl at the park. She is from Morocco. When Mommy asked her, in Arabic, what city in Morocco, the girl said, "What?" with a very perplexed look on her face.
My mommy repeated it two more times and the girl still didn't understand. So, finally Mommy asked her in Spanish and she answered. But, Mommy had to ask her three times to repeat it because had never heard of it nor could she understand it. Mommy just had to laugh. The little girl just wasn't used to hearing a gringo speak her language.

Number 6

Here is mommy and daddy on the day or their 6th Anniversary. It was a fun time for them to remember their wedding and many other wonderful and hard times that they have shared (because everyone has hard times at one point or another- it is good to reflect on how you got through them,right?).

The Rug

Here I am in one of my favorite spots after my bath. This is a lama rug made out of real lama hair with a fun picture of a lama and a sun with brown rays! It was passed down to us by some other friends here. It is sooooooooo soft.

Little Boys

I have these two people that I call Little Boy and Little Boy. Some how I have managed not to lose them. Well, today I discovered that they fit in my toy car and I was so thrilled about it I had to call Mom in to see. Don't they look so happy to be driving?

Craft

We used our growing insect capsules yesterday as part of our craft activity for the day. It was quite fun and interesting.

First you get some hot water in a cup...
Then you watch as the capsule grows....
and out pops a sponge insect! How cool!
The, you squeeze out the water...
and set it aside to let it dry.
Then, tomorrow you get paint and do some sponge painting. We did it but Mommy didn't take any pictures. Sorry.
If you want some wall decor for your home or office they are yours for a small price of $100.

Thanks again, Aunt Miriam and Talley, for my capsules!

Choices

Something my Mom wanted to post.

Warning! If you are a fan of Survivor and have not watched this season you might want to think about NOT reading this entry.


I have to say that I have really been thinking about what happened on Survivor Fiji. I saw the battle of lust and honor fleshed out with Dreamz. This is a man who gave his word to another player that he would give him immunity if he won it during the final 4. Yau-man won the Ford 350 truck and asked Dreamz if he gave the truck to Dreamz (who had never owed a car in his life) would give his immunity to Yau-man if Dreamz won it. Dreamz said "yes". Then, they showed a shot of Dreamz talking to the camera saying I want to show my son that I keep my word. He also said that he couldn't wait to pass the immunity over to Yau when he got it. Then when it came down to the wire and it was time for Dreamz to live up to his word he couldn't do it. He couldn't be content with having a 60,000 car and living up to his word. His greed for the hope of a possibility at 1,000,000 was more important to him than his example and reputation. He even cried about it-to me showing his shame and lack of will-power to do what was right. Turns out not one person voted for him to receive a million. In fact, it was a unanimous vote for Earl to get it-the first time in Survivor history.

Then, the awesome part was Boo who got up and said, as a believer,"I believe you are an immature Christian and I hope that one day you will be a strong Christian man and be able to tell the devil, 'you can dangle all the money you want in front of me but this Christian is not for sale'". Go Boo! That is it right there. You get a chance to make a choice everyday, some more critical than others, and you can't go back on it. I learned so much from this episode. I saw what another man's mistake cost him. I hope that me and my family, too, would be able to tell the devil-"NO" to the temptations. Proverbs 22:1 says it, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."

I hate it for Dreamz that greed over took him.
I know the big debate is "it's part of the game" but I don't agree. Proverbs doesn't separate the game from reality. It is always straight up reality regardless.

San Isidro

We went exploring this past week and captured some great pictures from the festivities of San Isidro. I grabbed this article off of the internet to provide a little history for those interested.
San Isidro is the patron saint of the peasants and laborers and is also the patron saint of Madrid. Tradition has it that on May 15th the people of Madrid are to make a pilgrimage to San Isidro's meadow to celebrate his day and to drink the holy water of his fountain in his hermitage's patio. Madrid's biggest "fiesta" is celebrated yearly starting on the Friday before the 15th and running until the following Sunday, 9 days of Saintly jubilee throughout the Comunity of Madrid.
Many revelers still dress up in the traditional garb of the period called "Chulapo or Chulapa" which is Madrid's national dress. "Chulapa/o" comes from the word "Chulo" which means "a bit full of oneself" or "very dapper" and since the Madrileños consider themselves the most audacious, the name stuck. They pride themselves on being true Madrileños and the men wear a checkered cap, waistcoat and handkerchief around their necks while the women's getup is composed of fancy lace ridden dresses complete with a headress and elegant wrap around shawl. In Plaza Mayor

Snack venders with "Barquilleros", "wafer barell organs", can be found everywhere selling their "Barquillos" or "angel?s bread", some dipped in chocolate and others just plain wafery! These snacks are traditional of festivals in Madrid but you can find them all year round as well. San Isidro is also the ultimate bullfighting festival. Scoring tickets to the hot "corridas" or bullfights can be next to impossible unless you have contact.

San Isidro is without a doubt Madrid's most melodious fiesta. The main stage is always in the Plaza Mayor and during every day and night of the 9 day festival, one can enjoy various concerts and traditional dancing. Most opening acts kick off with a "Hevia", a rather popular bagpipe and wind instrument player from Asturias. The another even bigger venue in the Casa de Campo which features rock concerts.

Legend has it that San Isidro was a poor peasant farmer and he and his wife Santa María de la Cabeza (we live off of this street!)were very popular due to their generosity and always donating food to the poor. So, although the tradition and background of San Isidro is religious and rather mellow, as per usual, it did not take much arm-twisting for the Spaniards to turn it into a veritable bash. Long live the fiestas of Spain!

picture of the Virgin Mary

Many people were following behind singing and playing instuments. A lot of emphasis is put on the Virgin Mary like she did the saving or something. We are learning a lot about their religion.

San Isidro has been an official festival in Madrid since 1947 and while technically the festivities run from May 8th to the 15th, like good Spaniards they stretch the fun and always start earlier and end later. The festival actually begins with the Mayor's speach on the Friday afternoon prior to the 15th and ends with the ever popular Cocido Madrileño or public Cookout.

Friday Hanging Out

Botanical Garden

Last Saturday we went to the botanical garden. It was incredible. It was started in the late 18th century. There were a lot of big, old trees and beautiful flowers.


This was the first time we saw how artichokes grow. Mommy liked it.



This tree trunk is 140 years old.
You can't see it here but I have my arm around my daddy.
Look how tall this tree is!

Happy Mother's Day

We just want to wish all of the mothers out there a "Happy Mother's Day". Being a mom is a priveledge and a blessing! Have fun with it! We love you!

Cable Car

We ventured out for family day and decided to go to the cable cars that are on the West side of the city. They was absolutely gorgeous. We got the early and visited the rose garden just a few steps away from the entrance of the cable cars. Que Buena!Sr. Guay (Mr. Cool) with my moto and gafas de sol.
There was a couple taking wedding pictures while we were here. It reminded us of the rose gardens in Tyler.
I immediately ran for the agua and enjoyed the sounds of the water falling.
This was Mom's favorite part so we took a family shot.


We made it! I couldn't wait.

Here is the inside...
Here we go.
This wa sthe first view looking for our destination. They call this area Casa de Campo. It is a beautiful place with the most trees in the city- I think anyway.
Even Osito got to look around and see the snow covered mountains in the back. We are convinced that May is the best time to come visit!

The raging river below!
A nice shot of the skyline. The three buildings to the left are the tallest skyscrapers here.
I couldn't help but watch the cars coming in- I am always curious about how things work.
There was a great park to the left when we exited out of the building so we enjoyed the view and the enormous park. I shared the slide with this little boy. I kept calling him and her-oops. We counted together...uno...dos...tres!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Then two girls showed up wearing these little Spanish style dresses so mom snapped a picture. Que guapita!