This is My Forties

This past Sunday (Palm Sunday) marked the beginning of a very important Spanish tradition - Semana Santa (Holy Week). All throughout Spain churches prepare their icons, some of which have been around since the 1500's. Then after Sunday Mass they take these icons out into the streets, laden with gold, silver, candles, and deep red or purple cloth. Some cities have larger festivals, usually the ones with the oldest and most grandiose Catholic churches... El Puerto de Santa Maria is one of those cities. We found a great hotel called Hotel Bodega Real. It was right on the river and within walking distance to all the historical sites. We planned to visit a church, a castle, and a bullfighting ring. Construction of the Iglesia Mayor Prioral began in 1486... even before Christopher Colombus happened upon the Americas, and it was finished in 1504. Mass is still held on Sundays in this important historical and religious icon of the city. We stopped inside the Saturda...

The weather is still crazy here. Yesterday it was sunny and hot up until around 4pm and then WHAM it was windy, cold, and started pouring rain. Now it's cold and windy outside, but according to the weather report we're going to have a hotttt weekend. The flowers are blooming, birds are going crazy, grass is green, kids are happy, Bosley's getting his long morning walks again. We're planning a little trip this weekend out to the coast. I'm sure I'll take tons of pics ;) Nothing much going on with us. Brennan is steadily becoming more and more toddler-like. He's taken to pushing chairs around as if they were walkers. He gets so beyond excited about it too... so so proud and happy with his accomplishments. This of course also gives way to a lot of falling unfortunately and we've had a few times where the chairs will tip on him. Doesn't seem to stop him for long though! I tried giving him the real walker, but he's much happier with the bi...

This past week we had our niece Alex and her friend Beth staying with us during their spring break from college. We managed to get out quite a bit despite the kids. Thank you, Adriana!!! We went out a few times with everyone and had to take both vehicles. Wednesday we hung out at home a bit and had some lunch in downtown Boadilla followed by a bit of souvenir shopping and a late dinner in downtown Madrid at Plaza Mayor. Thursday we had a lazy morning at home and I took the girls to see a Spanish mall and grocery store (fun fun fun haha). They took a lot of pictures there so I'm guessing they enjoyed it. Friday we went all around downtown to see some of the sights. We stayed out all day and everyone did great! Later that night we went to Corral de la Moreria for some excellent midnight flamenco. Saturday we headed out to see Oropesa Castle. It was not the biggest castle, but it was a medieval castle nonetheless and still pretty cool. The boys especially loved the live chick...