Alex and Beth's Visit to Spain

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 chickens that were pecking around the courtyard. Alex and Beth climbed every tower to the very top. Their legs were killing them later! We fell victim to the bizarre Spanish meal times and missed lunch hours, which are from 2-4. If you don't eat between 2 and 4 you're stuck with no place to eat until 8pm or later. Once we got home we ate a late dinner, put the kids down, and partook in a rousing game of late-night scattergories. WHOOOOOO!!!! ;D We laughed a LOT.











Sunday we packed some sandwiches (having learned our lesson on Saturday) and drove to El Escorial to see the Royal Monastery and The Valley of the Fallen. We made it into a restaurant for lunchtime, but it took a good 2 hours to eat so we didn't make it to either place in time to see inside unfortunately. The food was really good though! We walked around El Escorial awhile, had some delicious churros con chocolate, and headed home. We ended up eating the sandwiches for dinner :)



















The girls left on Monday morning. We had a pretty packed 4 days! Thanks again for coming out guys. We had a lot of fun showing you around! :)
1 comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Writing a Book

Image
I've been writing a book for over 5 years now.  When I first started writing I would only go in spurts of manic typing followed by months of nothing.  Looking back on what I had written was always interesting because I don't remember what I wrote, and I am generally surprised at the insight and elegance of what I typed out.  I find old writings of mine all the time, and some of them I still get so anxious about sharing, but I noticed that comes with a theme of prior personal judgment of self.  One self in particular.  I have no faith in my inner teacher.  I am not the most confident person when it comes to sharing new ideas or my perceptions of situations.  Oh I'm definitely a bold and thoughtful person, but I don't want to discuss my reasons for my choices.  When I do, afterwards I get anxious about how others felt about what I said or how I said it.  I will tell myself I don't have valuable insight, everyone already knows what I know, no one wants to learn what I…
Read more

New Beginnings

Image
After tons of research and conversations, we've decided to try something completely new.  The kids are going to be home with me next year instead of attending school.  I'm writing all about it on another blog for anyone interested in following this little adventure :)  We probably will also have a few trips to Germany and elsewhere mixed in... SO EXCITED!  I get really nervous about telling people about my choices for some reason, but I'm working on it.  It was time to finally let everyone know.
Read more

The Bullied Become Bullies

I believe the main reason bullying has become such a problem is our continued mistreatment of children.  We are bullies to them.  We are sarcastic and cynical and disrespectful.  We lord our power over them.  We hit them.  We say everything we want, however we want, as loud as we want, and tell them they cannot respond similarly.  We tell them how they feel and how they should feel.  We tell them what their intentions are.  We don't ask them or help them think through these complicated issues.  We don't practice patience.  We publicly shame them.  We don't trust them or have faith in their abilities.  We tell them what they can wear and say and when they can eat, sleep, even go to the bathroom.  It's insane.  We say "you can be anything", but our actions are fear-filled and insecure and opposite our words.  We give them no autonomy or control over their own lives.

This is especially true during middle school years, when kids are earnestly trying to become in…
Read more