Kindergarten

Off to a great start! It was an early morning for all (which will unfortunately be the case for a while since school starts at 7:45!), but Addy hopped out of bed and came into the kitchen all dressed and ready to go.  Had breakfast here at home and then off to school.  I'll update the post with a report from school when she gets home. 

Big Girl Bed!

Bye, bye crib!  Ella moved to a big girl bed last night.  It was quite the furniture putting together, taking apart day yesterday - Addy got a new double bed, Ella got Addy's bed, and everyone got new bedding.  Ella seems to really like her new bed, she went straight to sleep last night and this morning I had to wake her up early to take Addy to school and she keep telling me she wanted to go back to bed.  Michael usually wakes her up on school days, so he has maybe heard this one before, but I certainly have never heard Ella request to go back to bed!

You Know Your Baby Is Growing Up When...

1.  She can paint her own nails (the left hand at least).
2.  She showers instead of taking a bath.
3.  She can tie shoe laces into a bow and no longer wants shoes with velcro on them.

Vacation Wrap Up

Monday, the day after the wedding, we had breakfast at Amy and David's place and hung around until it was time to hop on the train back to Madrid.  It was a nice low key day and we had our last traditional Spanish dinner back in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.  Well, traditional in the sense that we sat in the plaza, but we had pizza for dinner.  We enjoyed the food in Spain, I got hooked on serrano ham and cheese, whether it was in a sandwich or just plain.  I especially liked the olive appetizer you got every time you ordered a beer (Michael wasn't so giddy about that part).  He did like the beer at nearly every meal part though, seriously in some cases it was cheaper than water or soda, so why not!

Our last adventure was a day trip to Toledo on Tuesday.  We were a bit vacationed out at this point, so maybe weren't able to enjoy it as much as if we'd been earlier in the trip, but it was a nice day.  It was a quick 30 minute train ride from Madrid and we visited our final cathedral for the trip and went on a nice tram ride around the outside of the city.  The tram went on the outside of the city center because the "roads" inside the city were more like alleyways.

Side note, with the exception of Madrid, all of the cities we visited had streets that were ridiculously small.  So in Sevilla, we learned that there were marble column type things that were put on the corners of a lot of buildings to protect the brick buildings from cars running into them.  The columns were all scratched up and were clearly needed.  In Granada, at one point our taxi had to pull in the driver's side mirror and squeezed by with maybe an inch between the car and the buildings on each side.  Amy had buses to take guests to the wedding site and the bus in front of us swiped a car parked on the side of the road.  Bus just kept on going.  I'm guessing it wasn't the 1st time he'd done something like that!  My Expedition was wider than 90% of the streets we went on.

Back to Toledo...visited an El Greco museum, that was supposed to be a recreation of his house and workshop there in Toledo.  Saw the cathedral and spent some time walking up and down the very hilly streets.   Here we are sitting at an overlook of the city with the cathedral bell tower right in the center of the pic between us and then the Alcazar on the far right.  The Alcazar being the castle or fort of the city.

We wrapped up our trip to Spain with the most amazing dinner - nachos and taquitos from the Hard Rock Cafe in Madrid.   As I mentioned, we enjoyed all of our meals in Spain, nothing too weird, but none of them had any spice.  Even the garlic shrimp were mild! Thanks for the jalapenos and salsa Hard Rock.

After a bit more plane drama in Philly, we made it home late Wed night.  Fortunately no missed flights, just delays.  Thursday morning we picked up the girls from Dad and Mary's and we were back in the real world.

Wedding Day!

The day of the main event finally came.  We had a casual day walking around Granada a bit and doing a little shopping, then a nice siesta to rest up for the wedding. 

The wedding was gorgeous.  It was at La Chumbera which is a restaurant/special events place that clearly specializes in weddings.  It is located up on the side of a mountain with a gorgeous view into Granada and of the Alhambra.  The ceremony was what I'd call an untraditional Jewish ceremony.  It was officiated by one of Amy's friends from work that happened to speak English, Spanish and French, which represented the main languages spoken by the guests.  There were probably about 70ish people there, with a lot being friends from all over and a good number of David's relatives from Spain. 

Michael got to be part of the ceremony, as one of 4 sides of the chuppah.  Amy wanted a chuppah, which is a traditional part of a Jewish wedding that represents the home that the couple will build together.  It is a canopy like thing that is usually a solid structure that is decorated for the ceremony.  Well, in untraditional style, Amy didn't order a chuppah to assemble for the ceremony, she had a "living" chuppah.

Amy looked gorgeous, she is not the white princess dress type, but the black lace dress was perfect!

After the ceremony and the sun went down a bit, there was a lot of picture taking with the great view as the backdrop.  

 Michael and me with the parents of the bride, Andee and Murray.  It was great catching up with Mom and Dad Klein.  Not only did we see them at the wedding festivities, but we got a chance to have dinner with them when we were both in Sevilla earlier in the week.  

After dinner, the party moved into the cave.  Literally.  As the restaurant was built on the side of the mountain, the inner parts of the facility were dug into the side of the mountain.  It was pretty neat, not something you can experience here in Houston.  They had a DJ and his lights were causing the purple color.  We left around 3:30 in the morning, but I think that a number of folks stayed even later than that. Congrats Amy and David and thanks for a great excuse to splurge on our summer vacation!

Granada

Granada is hot. Think it may be in the 100's. Fortunately we are here for a few days, so there isn't a huge rush to be out all day and see it all. That also means time for siesta!

We went to the Alhambra today. Due to computer issues and general inefficiencies with their processes, took us a while to actually get in the place but once we got in it was nice.

Couple of pics of the views from yet another bell tower, with a much shorter walk up than the last bell tower, which was nice. The third pic is of me in the middle of Charles V palace courtyard.

Wedding Festivities Begin

After more time laying around on the beach, picture 1 below, we got on a bus to head to Granada. The bus service from Nerja is not direct and made a lot of stops in tiny towns but we eventually made it to Granada.

We met the wedding guests and Amy and David for wine and cheese. Met lots of people that I've heard Amy talk about but never met in person. The apartment where Amy and David are staying has a great view of the Alhambra, pic three. Was also great to hang out with Amy.

The Beach

Not Crystal Beach this time! After some quality time on a train and then a transfer to a bus, we arrived in Nerja, Spain. Not tons to report, mission for this city is to relax and sit on the beach and not much more. Turns out that the Mediterranean is a bit chilly, my unofficial guess is that the water was in the 60's, but we can officially say we've been. Had a paella lunch on the beach, then napped on a lounge chair under an umbrella for the rest of the day - fabulous!

Here are a few pics and since I'm having trouble with captions, here is a recap of each
1) Michael in the Mediterranean, he was clearly much braver than me and actually got wet!
2) Me in the Mediterranean
3) The sand is quite different here, more like little rocks that are not so comfy to walk on. Bringing some home for Addy's shell collection.
4) Was a bit of a walk to get there but the beach at the bottom is where we enjoyed our day. Gorgeous views!

Spain Day 3

We are in Sevilla. Sevilla is hot. Probably Houston hot, but we don't go outside in Houston and we've been outside for 9 or so hours. But it has been a fun day. We did a walking tour guided by a local, so learned fun facts about parts of the city that we wouldn't have otherwise learned. Visited a really big cathedral and a couple of little ones, a royal palace, bull fighting ring and a few other little stops along the way.

Thanks to the weather we are a bit red and shiny in the pics, but here are a few. I can't seem to edit them all and add captions, but the second pic is Michael at the bull ring, third is me in a patio at the Alcazar, and last is Michael standing in front of the bell tower. 

Bit of trouble getting the pics in order, but here is Michael next to one of the bells in the bell tower at the cathedral. Check out the pic below of the tower itself...yeah, we walked to the bell part of the tower, the big dark sections.  Fortunately it was ramps, not stairs, but it was a long walk!

Spain Day 2

Thank you hotel curtains for keeping the light out and letting us sleep! For many reasons it was nice to sleep in and have breakfast at our normal lunchtime. I could seriously get used to the late nights in Spain, late mornings, and mid day siesta! Kind of like I'm back in college.

More sights of the town on the bus tour, got to visit the Royal Palace and Prado museum. Palace is really nice, very ornate. Prado is very different from the Reina Sofia. Fortunately neither Michael or I are big art people, so we are able to cruise through the museums pretty fast - maybe even faster in the Prado. There is only so much I can take of portraits of random people. Did some walking around and lunch at the Plaza Mayor.

A drink and some blogging at an outside cafe before heading to our train to Sevilla. Speaking of trains, we have been public transportation riding experts. A bus from the airport into town, then the subway to the hotel in Madrid...then back on the subway to the train station today. May do more public transportation these 10 days than I have in my life!

Here we are in front of the royal palace

Spain Day 1

Really the only positive of the day is that we made it to Spain on the day we had planned. In a nutshell, delayed leaving Houston thanks to weather and air traffic control (sorry Dad!), sitting on plane in Philly waiting for late plane to get a gate (weather was terrible in Philly) and watching our direct flight to Madrid pull away from the gate, a little detour to Frankfurt, Germany and then about 8 hours later than planned we land in Madrid. But we made it!

Got a good amount of sight seeing in, thanks to the hop on hop off tour bus that drove us around the city. Even visited the Reina Sofia art museum. Lots of Picasso art, and if anyone wasn't sure, that guy was a weirdo. Very tasty authentic Spanish dinner at what I'd call a local dive (recommended by Rick Steves). Shower and bed. Bed was between 10 and 11 PM and considering how uncomfortable U.S. Airway seats are for sleeping and the lack of sleep we got, I am considering us super travelers!

No pics from today...not feeling real pretty after so much time on a plane and the goal is to not take tons of pics of buildings and landscape without one of us in the pic!

Lake House Weekend

This may go down in the history books as 3 of the funnest days in Addy's life.  While not giddy about the 6ish hour drive to get there, we had the best time at Carl and Kelley's lake house.  We'd been planning it for months and it all came off perfectly.  The common thread was Bellaire Class of '94 boys - Michael, Carl, Zach and Collin.  Plus their wives/girlfriend and kids.  The Loredo lake house is amazing, the girls were in the water nearly the entire weekend.  We swam in the pool, swam in the lake, went on the boat, hung off various devices off the back of the boat, Addy jumped from the 2nd floor of the boat dock (it was high!), Addy and Ella played with their new friends, we got to catch up with our old friends.  Not nearly enough film in the camera to capture it all, but here are some highlights...

 All of the big kids! Ellen and I kind of look like we are posing for a prom pic :)

 Kelley and I spent the entire weekend trying to figure out which clothes belonged to which girl.  Ainsley and Addy have very similar wardrobes -princesses and pink are common themes. 

 Ms. Ella in a life jacket.  I thought that she would revolt when we put it on her, but she did really good, all things considered.  She did try and get it off a couple of times, but a little snack distraction and she was fine.  Big thanks to Ainsley for sharing her Dora mermaid doll - that thing was Ella's best friend over the weekend. 

 Some of the kiddos jumping on the big tube.  Addy is the second from the left.  

 Michael is such a good Dad!  Ella was in and out of the water the entire weekend and he was helping her along the whole time.   She had very mixed emotions about the step ladder for some reason, she'd want to get out but would sometimes scream when it came to climbing up the ladder.  Other time she'd do it like a champ.  And she did fall off a time or two!

 Addy on a jet ski.  

 Kids riding the tube behind the boat.

 Ella's first boat ride.  She doesn't look super happy in this picture, but I think that she actually enjoyed the boat.  

 Me, Addy and Zach riding the tube.  

 Addy "surfing" behind the boat.  I'm not sure if that is the technical term, but basically she is laying on a surf board type contraption being pulled along.  She loved it.  Michael and I are still in shock that she did it.  She'd even let go of the rope at times and she'd fall off.  No biggie, she'd swim to the board and Collin helped her get all set to go again.  

Not completely sure what this is called either.  Again, a surf board type contraption that Michael is standing on and paddling. I thought about trying it, but kind of looked like a lot of work - instead I continued to just sit on the boat dock and relax!

It was seriously the Disney World of lake houses - so many fun things to do and good friends to hang out with.  All the older kids were great with Ella, so while she didn't get to ride the surfboard and do things like that, she had pretty constant attention all weekend, so that was all she needed to be happy.   The drive was totally worth it - we are ready to go back next summer!

On the way home we stopped in College Station for dinner and drove around and showed Addy part of the campus.  Not sure she was completely excited about it all, but I'm pretty sure when the 1st Aggie home game is broadcast this fall, she is going to be talking about how she saw Kyle Field.  While not giddy about the campus tour, she is super excited about the mini key chain sock monkey with an A&M shirt that we got at the bookstore.  It is already on her kindergarten backpack, ready for the 1st day of school!  And she is all set so when people ask where she wants to go to college, her response is "Texas A&M".      

Not a Fluke

I figured after the hoopla of the last beach weekend with Ella FINALLY getting in the ocean, that it wouldn't happen again for the rest of the summer.  I was wrong, she still had a blast.  

Dad and Mary joined us again, so that was a fun treat.  Before we actually got to the beach, Ella was telling us that she would only go into the ocean with Granddad.  I think she actually let Michael walk with her out into the water, but she wanted to play with Grandad.  She was jumping waves, splashing around, having a ball.  

 Just a couple of other cute pics of Ella.  For some reason she was actually somewhat posing for me when I asked if I could take her picture, as opposed to saying no and running away like she normally does. Maybe it is a new phase and I'll have a cooperative model for a while. 

I've been trying to get a picture of the girls together at the beach and normally I have the Ella running away issue.  She was kind of doing that this time, but Addy could grab her and get her to come back with no drama.  I had about 7 shots and this was the best I could get!  

Bye, Bye Baby Teeth

2 wiggly teeth, 2 adult teeth poised and ready to go...

Then down at the beach house, a couple of bites of apple and the the 1st tooth is ready to come out.  A couple of tugs by Dad and the job is done.  July 20th.

Jump head a little more than a week later on July 30th and the 2nd tooth is gone.  No apple this time, just some serious wiggling and help from Dad again and it is out.  

Circus Time!

Addy has some internal circus alarm or something.  We've been the past 2 or 3 years, so I was planning on skipping this year, until earlier this summer she started asking about the circus.  Then she noticed the circus elephant sign on the south loop on the way to the beach one weekend.  So, off to the circus we went.  Michael had been the past couple of years and Ella is too much of a wiggle worm to sit through it, so Addy and I had a fun time together.  I splurged and got some seats closer to the floor and it was much more fun to be so close to the action.  Not too much more to report, except Chick-Fil-A was one of the sponsors and they had these funny cows around, so had to snap a pick of Addy with the cow.