This is My Forties

There have been so many new things going on around these parts lately! We were actually here in Spain to see them win the World Cup for the first time in history!! Our landlord commented to us that were so lucky to have only been here a year and be able to see it. He's been waiting a lifetime for this. Puts the grandness of this event into perspective a little for us. We've got our cute new puppy Charlie and he makes Bosley young again. They play together all day long and Bos is teaching him a lot about being a "good boy". One of these days I am going to get into house training and leash training him more consistently. Right now is not the greatest time, but he'll get there most definitely :) I suspect the van will be ready any day now. They've had it for a month. It was pretty banged up, but I MISS MY VAN! They need to get their butts in gear. We have a rental, but it's a manual and I haven't a clue how to drive it. I have tried to learn t...

A friend of ours recently got a puppy, but things changed and he couldn't keep him. We gladly took him :) Meet Charlie! He's about 4 months old, they say he's a lab/German shepard mix, but I think he looks more like a golden retriever/Belgian malinois mix. Regardless he's settling in nicely here. Bosley is teaching him how to be a respectable family dog... and we're helping along the way ;) He's not house trained yet, but that will happen soon enough. We called him Charlie because it just seemed right to have a Bosley and Charlie (from Charlie's Angels). We've been talking about getting another dog for over a year. So far Bosley seems pretty happy with the company, although slightly perturbed with Charlie's "puppy-ness". Bos is lazy... well, how about we call it old and set in his ways ;) haha. I'm sure as time goes on we'll have plenty of stories and memories to share about our newest addition. Welcome to the family, Cha...

Brennan reminds me more of Noah every day. He's insane and determined, very difficult to watch... if you haven't already had one just like him ;) Brennan is the type of child who never forgets EVER. If he wants to throw something in the pool and you say no he will scream and twist and run to keep getting back to the pool. He will do this for DAYS. Not because he's bad, but because his brain is preoccupied with observing results... testing the world around him. So, what do we do? We let him. If it's not dangerous, it's not worth the fight or the stress. He is relentless!! I'm sure he'll be climbing chairs and releasing deadbolts soon enough! Yesterday all Brennan wanted to do was put the dog's food into his water, and then into a bucket, and then back into his dish. No harm can come of this so I let him. Sure, he popped a few into his mouth and then right back out. It's just dog food. Gross? yes, toxic? no. Bosley quietly looked on, wai...

Last Saturday was a world cup game for Spain so Adriana and I took the older boys with us to watch the magic happen. Unfortunately, we couldn't get as far as we wanted so we had to settle for downtown Boadilla. Boadilla is a very boring place, but it's still better than sitting at home!! We drew Spanish flags on our faces and away we went... on the bus (which has lost it's appeal. We're still thankful for the readily available travel option, but sometimes it's frustrating). The bars were packed with people, struggling to catch a glimpse of the game. We found a table in back that gave us an ok view of the game. There were enough Spaniards there hooting and hollering for us to know what was going on ;) We got some Spanish snack foods: Russian salad (potato, tuna, carrots, peas, and olives mixed with mayo) and bocadillos with jamon (baguette and cured ham). I should have brought my 18-105 instead of the 50mm, but I made do. Everyone was decked out in red and ye...

Now that the van is in the shop I've become increasingly familiar with the local public transportation system here in Madrid. It actually is pretty fun... for now... I'm sure that will die once I have to go grocery shopping. We could take Josh's car, but as luck would have it we had yet another fender bender and the radiator was cracked in the process meaning the car overheats quickly and is not the safest thing in the world to drive. At least it's still driveable-ish haha. Once we get the van back we'll be bringing the car in for repairs. Aaaaanyway... my point... we took the bus to downtown Boadilla the other day for some ice cream. As Noah put it "it's a perfect hot sunny day for some ice cream". Basically we got out of the pool, got dressed, and hit the bus downtown (which would explain my hair and face). We had a fine time inhaling our frozen treats as the sun was beginning to set (it finally goes down around 10pm here). Then we walked bac...