Saturday, February 18, 2017
Killer Caterpillars!
My morning runs to school with Brae have come to an abrupt halt due to the attack of the processional caterpillars. Luckily, we heard of the dangers of these caterpillars when we first moved here, so when noticed that our house was surrounded by pine trees full of nests in January, we knew it didn't look good. In early February, we began to notice them on the ground. The route that Brae and I take to school is along a path overhanging with pine trees...and nests
. After a few trips of jumping over long processions and ducking under hanging nests, we decided to give them the right of way and stick to the roads until they have finished their business. Living in the middle of a nature reserve is beautiful, but I am wishing right now that there were a few more olive trees, and a few less pine trees. These cute and cuddly looking critters are extremely dangerous, as they release their harpoon like hairs into the air which latch onto your skin, eyes, or lungs if inhaled and can cause severe reactions. We have currently stopped drying our laundry outside, and we are making daily rounds of the outside of the house with a blow torch to burn any that are making their way into our living space. We have a supply of antihistamines and anti itch cream, and we are hoping that the season is short lived so that we can continue with our outdoor adventures...itch free.
Valentino, and other Spanish times
So, I'm not even going to apologize any more. We have decided that if we are too busy to blog, then it's a good thing. Life here has been incredibly busy the last month. I have a valid excuse for not blogging.
We have also found a couple Via Ferrata routes around here, and have had a blast trying out a new way to play on the mountains. For those who don't know what a Via Ferrata is, it's a set route up a mountain, with ladders, and chains, and cables fixed to the rock. Climbers wear harnesses, and clip carabiners to the rungs, or cables to secure them whilst they ascend. We took a trip to Almeria, a province east of us, and spent a day with the kids making our way up the Via. It's was extremely difficult for the first 50 meters, with the route overhanging, and side cut, so we were climbing negative angles and sideways angles. I wasn't sure any of us would make it, let alone the kids trying it out for the first time. Slow and steady, we made are way up until it became a little easier, and then the smiles on the kids faces were worth the first hour of fear. It took us about 3 hours, and the kids did absolutely amazing. They even did their first solo rappel on a couple pitches coming down. I think we all instantly fell in love with this sport, and Kristin and I have since done a second one on a mountain/cliff a short drive from the house.
Besides climbing and flying, the kids have made a commitment to improving in school, so almost every night we spend at least 2, and usually 3 hours helping them with their homework. It's amazing how much work they are assigned each day to bring home. We have had a meeting with the teachers and the Director of the school, and they told us that the kids should only be dong an hour a night, but each day they give an hour per subject. It's hard, but the kids are really focusing and doing their best. It also helps that they were promised hover boards if they get first class honors on their next report card. A little bribery goes an awful long way!!
Today the kids took part in their first official track meet. In January, they joined the Nerja track Club. Each week they have 2 hours of practice and then this weekend was their first meet. It was a good learning experience for them, and I think they both were a little surprised at the level of competition they faced. I think they both had their eyes opened as to how much practice and work is needed to excel in track and field. I believe there is one more meet while we are here, so they have an opportunity to try again. That being said, they both did very well for only being involved for 6 weeks.
I'm sitting here, and I notice that Kristin is now blogging as well, so I will let her continue the story and she can fill in the details I missed.
Cheers
Shane
Friday, February 3, 2017
Time flies when you are having fun!
I am sitting in front of a wood burning fire watching the sunset over the ocean. My husband is cooking dinner and the kids are happily painting together at the table. I was sitting here reflecting on how fortunate I am in life, and decided perhaps this was a good time to blog.
We planned to not overschedule the kids with activities this year, but somehow we are still running them around continually. They have track and field twice per week, multisport twice per week, homework club twice per week, and flamenco guitar lessons once per week. The only good thing is that they are both signed up for the same activities at the same time. They also seem to have a lot of homework which occupies most of our evenings. Weekends, however we reserve for exploring!
In January we went to Gibraltar and hiked to the top of the rock to visit the monkeys. It was strange to hear and read English everywhere we went. I kept saying gracias, because it just seemed strange and foreign to say thank you. We went to Ronda and saw the oldest bullring in Spain, and hiked to the bottom of the canyon which runs through the town spanned by a very impressive and old stone bridge. We went quadding through the hills and small towns to the north of us, finding the lost city with a population of 5 where we stopped for coffee and cakes. We went paragliding above our town and had the most spectacular view of where we live. We went gokarting with friends, Shane went fishing and brought home dinner for us. We also ventured out climbing, biking, geocaching, hiking, paddling and just plain exploring.
Our spanish was not improving as quickly as we had hoped, so Shane and I registered for private lessons 3 times per week. We are still attending the free group lessons twice per week as well, so by the time we do our homework, and study on our own, we are spending many hours attempting to learn this language.
We are living 10-15 minutes out of town, so once we are home in the evenings, we are not typically motivated to leave again. This means that most evenings are spent with just the 4 of us, visiting or playing games. With our children quickly aproaching their teens, we are savouring the quality family time we get to have this year while they still like us (most days at least).
We have also adjusted to small fridges, and the need to grocery shop every day or two. We are getting to know the vendors at our local market, and have found eating healthy to be easy here with the abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood.
The weather has been off and on. Most days have been in the mid teens, however, we have had a few cold days, including one where I actually saw snow flakes. The evenings get cold, and a stone house with no insulation gets really cold, but we love the wood burning fireplace in the living room, and have lots of blankets on the beds. During the cold months, we have been missing our hot tub, and being away from home, we have been missing renovation projects...okay, not really, but it is strange to not be renovating something, so...we took on a project here and we built ourselves a temporary sauna. It took three attempts, but we finally mastered it. The first attempt, we built too big, because to Shane bigger is always better, but we couldn't get it hot enough. Attempt two was better, but the wooden umbrella frame blew apart in a major wind storm. On our third attempt, we found a dicarded, broken patio umbrella frame, cut it down to size, covered it in poly and secured it down with bricks. Then we heated flat rocks in a fire and brought them in. Splashing water on the hot rocks gave us a steam sauna so hot, some of us were begging to stop. The steam was so thick you couldn't see the person sitting next to you. It brought back memories for me of saunas we would build on the beach at Shuswap Lake in the summers as a child.
La vida es bueno!
Kristin
We planned to not overschedule the kids with activities this year, but somehow we are still running them around continually. They have track and field twice per week, multisport twice per week, homework club twice per week, and flamenco guitar lessons once per week. The only good thing is that they are both signed up for the same activities at the same time. They also seem to have a lot of homework which occupies most of our evenings. Weekends, however we reserve for exploring!
In January we went to Gibraltar and hiked to the top of the rock to visit the monkeys. It was strange to hear and read English everywhere we went. I kept saying gracias, because it just seemed strange and foreign to say thank you. We went to Ronda and saw the oldest bullring in Spain, and hiked to the bottom of the canyon which runs through the town spanned by a very impressive and old stone bridge. We went quadding through the hills and small towns to the north of us, finding the lost city with a population of 5 where we stopped for coffee and cakes. We went paragliding above our town and had the most spectacular view of where we live. We went gokarting with friends, Shane went fishing and brought home dinner for us. We also ventured out climbing, biking, geocaching, hiking, paddling and just plain exploring.
Our spanish was not improving as quickly as we had hoped, so Shane and I registered for private lessons 3 times per week. We are still attending the free group lessons twice per week as well, so by the time we do our homework, and study on our own, we are spending many hours attempting to learn this language.
We are living 10-15 minutes out of town, so once we are home in the evenings, we are not typically motivated to leave again. This means that most evenings are spent with just the 4 of us, visiting or playing games. With our children quickly aproaching their teens, we are savouring the quality family time we get to have this year while they still like us (most days at least).
We have also adjusted to small fridges, and the need to grocery shop every day or two. We are getting to know the vendors at our local market, and have found eating healthy to be easy here with the abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood.
The weather has been off and on. Most days have been in the mid teens, however, we have had a few cold days, including one where I actually saw snow flakes. The evenings get cold, and a stone house with no insulation gets really cold, but we love the wood burning fireplace in the living room, and have lots of blankets on the beds. During the cold months, we have been missing our hot tub, and being away from home, we have been missing renovation projects...okay, not really, but it is strange to not be renovating something, so...we took on a project here and we built ourselves a temporary sauna. It took three attempts, but we finally mastered it. The first attempt, we built too big, because to Shane bigger is always better, but we couldn't get it hot enough. Attempt two was better, but the wooden umbrella frame blew apart in a major wind storm. On our third attempt, we found a dicarded, broken patio umbrella frame, cut it down to size, covered it in poly and secured it down with bricks. Then we heated flat rocks in a fire and brought them in. Splashing water on the hot rocks gave us a steam sauna so hot, some of us were begging to stop. The steam was so thick you couldn't see the person sitting next to you. It brought back memories for me of saunas we would build on the beach at Shuswap Lake in the summers as a child.
La vida es bueno!
Kristin
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Birthday Wishes....and dreams coming true.
Hello all.
As many of you know, I celebrated a birthday a little while ago. Thanks to all those that sent birthday wishes, I appreciated all the warm wishes.
To celebrate the day, Kristin booked us in to a family quad adventure. We took a 3 hour tour checking out some of the more remote areas close to us. It was a great day and we visited a little town way back in the hills known as the lost town. Apparently the story goes; during the civil war, the army decided that the town would make a great base of operations for the region. They kicked all the residents out, and set up camp. After the war, the army left the town, but no one wanted to return because of the bad memories that the time left in the hearts and minds of the locals. Thus the town sat abandoned for many years. 40 some years later, a family bought the whole town and started rebuilding it. Currently there are only 5 permanent residents of the town, but the family that owns it had built about 50 houses that are for rent, and restaurant, and a small gift shop. All of it run by the same family that bought the place so many years ago. It was really cool, and we have been told the food alone is worth the trip. We will keep it in mind for a fun outing when guests are looking for something to do.
The night of my birthday, Kristin and I got to go out on a date, just the two of us. Every year the town we live in hosts an international guitar competition in memory of Andres Segovia, a world renowned classical guitarists who hailed from La Herradura. For our date, we got to go listen to the finals of the week long competition. There were 6 finalists, and each had to play the same song, with a full orchestra backing them up. It was a great night of live music.
Kristin also had/has another gift for me. She booked a trial flight paragliding for the whole family. We were supposed to do it on Sunday, but the winds were not right, so it has been postponed. In fact, we have met with the pilot 2 times, and both days he canceled the flights. He wants to make sure we get a great trip, instead of just a 60 drop. Today we were with him again waiting for the winds to pick up, and he was telling us about some of the necessary conditions. He even pointed out a para glider who didn't wait for the winds. His flight lasted 56 seconds, where as a usual flight last half an hour or more. He seems very knowledgeable, and both of us like the fact that he is willing to wait until the conditions are ideal before he takes us up!
Beyond that, life is rolling along real smooth. Kristin and I start couples Spanish class this week. We have been taking some free lesson here in town twice a week, but we both decided it was time to get more serious about trying to master/learn the language. Both of us seem to have hit a roadblock, and we are hoping that individual lessons will allow us to clear this hurdle. Keeping our fingers crossed.
The kids are super busy these days, as we have extra curricular activities 5 out of 7 days. the kids are doing track and field twice a week, homework club twice a week, guitar once a week, and tonight we signed them up for another after school activities club that runs twice a week. Needless to say, they are super busy, and so are we running them around to all the different activities. We love it though, and it gives us something to do after school.
Signing off, I just want to say thanks again for all the well wishes.
Shane
As many of you know, I celebrated a birthday a little while ago. Thanks to all those that sent birthday wishes, I appreciated all the warm wishes.
To celebrate the day, Kristin booked us in to a family quad adventure. We took a 3 hour tour checking out some of the more remote areas close to us. It was a great day and we visited a little town way back in the hills known as the lost town. Apparently the story goes; during the civil war, the army decided that the town would make a great base of operations for the region. They kicked all the residents out, and set up camp. After the war, the army left the town, but no one wanted to return because of the bad memories that the time left in the hearts and minds of the locals. Thus the town sat abandoned for many years. 40 some years later, a family bought the whole town and started rebuilding it. Currently there are only 5 permanent residents of the town, but the family that owns it had built about 50 houses that are for rent, and restaurant, and a small gift shop. All of it run by the same family that bought the place so many years ago. It was really cool, and we have been told the food alone is worth the trip. We will keep it in mind for a fun outing when guests are looking for something to do.
The night of my birthday, Kristin and I got to go out on a date, just the two of us. Every year the town we live in hosts an international guitar competition in memory of Andres Segovia, a world renowned classical guitarists who hailed from La Herradura. For our date, we got to go listen to the finals of the week long competition. There were 6 finalists, and each had to play the same song, with a full orchestra backing them up. It was a great night of live music.
Kristin also had/has another gift for me. She booked a trial flight paragliding for the whole family. We were supposed to do it on Sunday, but the winds were not right, so it has been postponed. In fact, we have met with the pilot 2 times, and both days he canceled the flights. He wants to make sure we get a great trip, instead of just a 60 drop. Today we were with him again waiting for the winds to pick up, and he was telling us about some of the necessary conditions. He even pointed out a para glider who didn't wait for the winds. His flight lasted 56 seconds, where as a usual flight last half an hour or more. He seems very knowledgeable, and both of us like the fact that he is willing to wait until the conditions are ideal before he takes us up!
Beyond that, life is rolling along real smooth. Kristin and I start couples Spanish class this week. We have been taking some free lesson here in town twice a week, but we both decided it was time to get more serious about trying to master/learn the language. Both of us seem to have hit a roadblock, and we are hoping that individual lessons will allow us to clear this hurdle. Keeping our fingers crossed.
The kids are super busy these days, as we have extra curricular activities 5 out of 7 days. the kids are doing track and field twice a week, homework club twice a week, guitar once a week, and tonight we signed them up for another after school activities club that runs twice a week. Needless to say, they are super busy, and so are we running them around to all the different activities. We love it though, and it gives us something to do after school.
Signing off, I just want to say thanks again for all the well wishes.
Shane
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The Rock, and other worthwhile mentionings!
Again, I post with an apology. We really have no excuse for not posting more often, other than we are just having too much fun!!!
Since our last posting, we have continued on with the never ending adventure that is our life these days. Beach parties, day trips and weekend excursions abound! We have explored a couple more of the small towns throughout the area, and again we were amazed at how much each little village has to offer. From culture, to storied history, each place has it's own unique and special charm. We have yet to find some place were we have felt disappointed in.
Which leads nicely into our weekend trip. As you may remember from a previous post, last month we tried and failed to go visit Gibraltar. During Brae's epic birthday weekend, we had tried to go for a hike there, but because we had no passports, we were not allowed in. We tried again last weekend, and armed with our passports, some snacks, and desire to see the African coastline, we heading in. No problems crossing the line, although we did have a longer than desired wait in the que at the border. Once across, we found a nice picnic/family rest area to stage from, and headed up the hill. By hill, I mean really high and steep mountain. The rock rises roughly 600 meters straight up out of the ocean, and is pretty cool to look at. The he hike took us from the west side, across the southern slope to the eastern face, past old WW2 bunkers and gun placements. The views were stunning, as well as the history that each bunkers represented. It again reminded us that the wars are not ancient history, or even history, they are just the past, still relevant and daunting for what occurred. Every time I see something like this, the terms "Lest we Forget" takes on more significance.
The top of the hike offered views in all directions, and we descended down the road towards the cable car. You would not believe the monkey business that was going on. There are a troop of monkeys that inhabit the upper reaches of the rock. As we were walking, we must have come across 4 dozen or more monkeys just lying on the road, sitting in the trees, or waiting on the rocks for someone to turn their backs to them. They are very adept at taking what they want, from hands, packs, and even pockets if they see you put something away. Although they are used to humans, it was still just a little intimidating being surrounded by wild animals. We had no real issues, and the kids were like Paparazzi taking photos of the monkeys, getting closer to them than I was comfortable with. It was so cool, and we are going to add it to the list of must sees for all our visitors.
After spending the day in Gibraltar, we jumped in the car and headed to Ronda. It's a medium sized town a couple hours inland, and is home to Spain's oldest Bull Fighting ring and Museum. We did a cool tour of the building and grounds, and with the help of the audio device, learned a ton about the sport and the history of it. We even spent a little while playing Bull and Matador, but in our version, the Bull won every time!!!
Ronda was built as a fortress, and it is situated on top of these amazing sandstone cliffs. The cliffs must rise 200 meters or more straight up, and the town is built right to the edge. There is a wall that surrounds the town away from the cliffs, and one the most amazing stone archway bridges I have ever seen spans a gorge in the middle of the town. While walking around, we found a couple Viaferada route climbing the cliffs, and we all decided it is another must return place. Next time we are bringing harnesses and helmets and scaling the cliffs.
Beyond this, we are still just enjoying life. We are taking each day and trying to enjoy all that it has to offer. Life is Great.
Cheers
Shane
Since our last posting, we have continued on with the never ending adventure that is our life these days. Beach parties, day trips and weekend excursions abound! We have explored a couple more of the small towns throughout the area, and again we were amazed at how much each little village has to offer. From culture, to storied history, each place has it's own unique and special charm. We have yet to find some place were we have felt disappointed in.
Which leads nicely into our weekend trip. As you may remember from a previous post, last month we tried and failed to go visit Gibraltar. During Brae's epic birthday weekend, we had tried to go for a hike there, but because we had no passports, we were not allowed in. We tried again last weekend, and armed with our passports, some snacks, and desire to see the African coastline, we heading in. No problems crossing the line, although we did have a longer than desired wait in the que at the border. Once across, we found a nice picnic/family rest area to stage from, and headed up the hill. By hill, I mean really high and steep mountain. The rock rises roughly 600 meters straight up out of the ocean, and is pretty cool to look at. The he hike took us from the west side, across the southern slope to the eastern face, past old WW2 bunkers and gun placements. The views were stunning, as well as the history that each bunkers represented. It again reminded us that the wars are not ancient history, or even history, they are just the past, still relevant and daunting for what occurred. Every time I see something like this, the terms "Lest we Forget" takes on more significance.
The top of the hike offered views in all directions, and we descended down the road towards the cable car. You would not believe the monkey business that was going on. There are a troop of monkeys that inhabit the upper reaches of the rock. As we were walking, we must have come across 4 dozen or more monkeys just lying on the road, sitting in the trees, or waiting on the rocks for someone to turn their backs to them. They are very adept at taking what they want, from hands, packs, and even pockets if they see you put something away. Although they are used to humans, it was still just a little intimidating being surrounded by wild animals. We had no real issues, and the kids were like Paparazzi taking photos of the monkeys, getting closer to them than I was comfortable with. It was so cool, and we are going to add it to the list of must sees for all our visitors.
After spending the day in Gibraltar, we jumped in the car and headed to Ronda. It's a medium sized town a couple hours inland, and is home to Spain's oldest Bull Fighting ring and Museum. We did a cool tour of the building and grounds, and with the help of the audio device, learned a ton about the sport and the history of it. We even spent a little while playing Bull and Matador, but in our version, the Bull won every time!!!
Ronda was built as a fortress, and it is situated on top of these amazing sandstone cliffs. The cliffs must rise 200 meters or more straight up, and the town is built right to the edge. There is a wall that surrounds the town away from the cliffs, and one the most amazing stone archway bridges I have ever seen spans a gorge in the middle of the town. While walking around, we found a couple Viaferada route climbing the cliffs, and we all decided it is another must return place. Next time we are bringing harnesses and helmets and scaling the cliffs.
Beyond this, we are still just enjoying life. We are taking each day and trying to enjoy all that it has to offer. Life is Great.
Cheers
Shane
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Christmas break
On the first day of christmas mom, Jaedyn and I went paddling in Nerja. We found caves and water falls, mom soaked me and that Jaedyn but then we got her back. That day Dad went out fishing with some friends. For dinner that night we ate the fish he caught but Daddy does not know how to cook fish. THEY TASTED BAD💀.😈.
The next day I went out dirtbiking with a friend, his name was Lucca. We went to a track with jumps and all that good stuff🎌.
That night we went to their house for dinner we brought the three kids presents, then we watched Jurrasic world.
On Christmas we woke up and opened our stockings. ZingleyOur elf on the shelf set up a big scavenger hunt for us, it all started with the notes Zingley wrote on the puzzles that were with our stockings. there were four puzzles, they were the small ones with little out- lines on them. On each gift there were some puzzle pieces. Once we finished with the puzzles we had to flip them over and read the messages on the back. Mine was in German and it said that Jaedyn and I were going to Germany. And hers said to listen and try to find her gift; it was a phone. Another puzzle was for me and it had a riddle that led me to the cupboard were a drone was hiding. Then we walked down to the beach for dinner with some friends. The next day we got on a plane to Germany. We stayed up late playing with our cousins. The next day my mom left but Grandma Ruth came. On our second day we just played, and played the day away. The next day we went to Phantasia land. We had so much fun all day. The next day we went shoe shopping and I got a new pair of FILA runners. In Germany they set off so many fire works on New years, I stayed up until 2:30 AM partying and fire working. The next day was our last day and it snowed so we went to the park to go tobboganing. We also made giant snow stuff like forts, and snow men, then we went swimming. At the pool there was a big slide we did that a bunch; then every one aside from Elisa and I went to the sauna. We played in the pools and hot tubs for while longer, then we went to Asia Star, a Asian restaurant. Sadly we had to go back to Spain at 5:00 in the morning.
BRAE
The next day I went out dirtbiking with a friend, his name was Lucca. We went to a track with jumps and all that good stuff🎌.
That night we went to their house for dinner we brought the three kids presents, then we watched Jurrasic world.
On Christmas we woke up and opened our stockings. ZingleyOur elf on the shelf set up a big scavenger hunt for us, it all started with the notes Zingley wrote on the puzzles that were with our stockings. there were four puzzles, they were the small ones with little out- lines on them. On each gift there were some puzzle pieces. Once we finished with the puzzles we had to flip them over and read the messages on the back. Mine was in German and it said that Jaedyn and I were going to Germany. And hers said to listen and try to find her gift; it was a phone. Another puzzle was for me and it had a riddle that led me to the cupboard were a drone was hiding. Then we walked down to the beach for dinner with some friends. The next day we got on a plane to Germany. We stayed up late playing with our cousins. The next day my mom left but Grandma Ruth came. On our second day we just played, and played the day away. The next day we went to Phantasia land. We had so much fun all day. The next day we went shoe shopping and I got a new pair of FILA runners. In Germany they set off so many fire works on New years, I stayed up until 2:30 AM partying and fire working. The next day was our last day and it snowed so we went to the park to go tobboganing. We also made giant snow stuff like forts, and snow men, then we went swimming. At the pool there was a big slide we did that a bunch; then every one aside from Elisa and I went to the sauna. We played in the pools and hot tubs for while longer, then we went to Asia Star, a Asian restaurant. Sadly we had to go back to Spain at 5:00 in the morning.
BRAE
Friday, January 6, 2017
Christmas time comes again, this time with a twist
Christmas Time Comes Again
Ok so I haven't blogged for a while and I'm very sorry but it seems like I'm constantly busy with tons of other things and I'm kind of pushing blogging down to the bottom of my priority list.
Tons of stuff has happened and I'm not going to explain it all because I gotta leave something for everyone else. I've decided that this blog is going to be about our winter break.
We started the adventure on the 25th (A.K.A Christmas as you already know) were we had a big scavenger hunt for puzzle pieces and presents. Once we put all the pieces together there were clues on the back of them that led to the biggest presents of all for me a PHONE, and for Brae a DRONE and for us to share a surprise trip to Germany. So to say the least, BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We left the next day for Germany and the day after, Mom left us there for a week of R&R with the cousins.
The first 2 days we laid low and hung out around the house but on the third day we went to this really awesome Roller coaster park called Fantasia land. We had SO MUCH FUN and when the day was done none of us wanted to leave; but all fun must come to an end am I right.
The day after Fantasia land we were supposed to go climbing but all the adults were too lazy to drive so we ended up having another chill day.
On the last day we went to this really cool swimming pool/spa were we swam, soaked and relaxed in the saunas.
When we finally got back we went straight from the airport to this really cool children's festival in Málaga were we got to bungee jump, ice skate, play soccer and try cool stuff like VR goggles.
While we were in Germany we had some guests in our house and they were still here when we got back home. For their last few days here we did some hiking with them and also had a beach day. Shayla and I were the only 2 who were in the water though Brae did attempt to come swimming with us.
I guess that about sums it up thanks for reading bye
Queen of Awesomness
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)