Happy New Years...Feliz Nuevo Año.

I know I am a little late in posting New Years wishes, but I figure better late than never.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and we wish everyone the best for 2017.

Things have been running along over here quite smoothly.  Christmas came and went, with the fat man bringing more than we needed, I guess we were all really good last year.  That, or he lost his list!  We celebrated xmas here at the house in the morning, then spent the afternoon in town having a some food and visiting with some of our new friends we've made here.  It was very enjoyable sipping Champagne, watching the ocean and dining out.  We were right on the beach, and watched the sunset from the restaurant.

Boxing day found the kids and Kristin on the move.  One of the gifts the kids got this year were plane tickets to Germany so that they could spend some time with their cousins.  They left on the 26th and returned home on the 3rd of January.  At the same time, cousin Jana and her family arrived (also on the 26th) and are staying with us until the 6th.  It's been great to have them here, and we have tried to play tour guide for them, in between running to the airport (Kris came back from Germany on the 27th, and then returned to pick the kids up on the 1st.) It's been a busy, yet strangely relaxing time.

We spent New Years Eve at home, having a few drinks, eating too much, and watching numerous firework displays in the various towns we can see from our deck.  I think there were at least 6 different displays we could see.  New years day found Kristin and I up real early, as she had to be at the airport by 7am. 

The holiday season is still going strong, as over here, the big day of giving is Jan. 6th.  The Spaniards celebrate the day of the three Kings, and give all their gifts then.  There are also big festivals and parades to mark the day.  We have been told that it's very similar to the parades back home so we are very excited to attend this year.

Even though we are having a great time, and experiencing new things, it also makes us a little homesick, and we all are missing everyone back home. Love you all, and Merry Christmas

Shane.

Stupid Internet and Old Batteries!!

To expand on the Ditto post, ( I was going to say tambien, and show off my Spanish).

I had written a long post about our weekend, and about some of the reasons  (excuses) why I am only blogging every couple weeks.  It was funny and timely, (at least I think it was), and gave a full accounting of our trip to Tarifa and surrounding area.  I was excited to tell the story of our 10 for 10 trip celebrating Brae's birthday (10th for those who didn't know).  We had packed in an incredible amount of fun in those four days.  I thought I could get it posted before anyone else, thus making them try and fill in the gaps (which is way harder and makes you think a lot more).  Unfortunately, I have an old computer, and it was having issues.  I couldn't get connected to the Internet here at Casa Yolo, so I couldn't post a couple days ago.  No problems I thought, I will just go into town and log in at one of the many hot spots around, and post from there.  I even had a couple hours waiting for the kids to finish their homework group, so I thought it would be perfect.  Again, unfortunately, the pub I stopped at was having issues with their WIFI adapter at the time, so I couldn't get it posted then. Still, I had an alternative backup plan.  I would take my computer into town today, and log in from the library and do all my internet work there.  Again, plans didn't work out, as we had to head into the big city of Almunecar to try and get a new phone plan for Kristin. Fast forward to later, and we have no time to blog before our weekly Spanish class.  Still not a big deal, as we have an hour after the class before we pick up the kids from school, and all I have to do is cut and paste from a word document all that I had written yesterday in the pub and viola, I am blogged.  I was feeling especially smug, as Kristin was also trying to write her post at the same time, but mine would have still been posted first! That was until the old battery kicked in.  Cut, Paste, Post....post....post...not responding, computer shuts down, and nothing except the sound of Kristin reading her own blog online!!!

Needless to say, I think it's time for a new battery for my 12 year old laptop.

But now that Brae's birthday is done with, we can focus on Christmas.  As some of you may know, we never mention or acknowledge xmas until after Braes birthday.  It's a little rule we have so that Brae always feels special on his B-day.  At least we try not to mention it, but each year we usually decorate gingerbread houses early, and that puts a little xmas cheer into the air.  This year was no exception.  This is also the second year we have been away from Canada for xmas.  A few years ago, we were lucky enough to spend the holiday season in Costa Rica, and it really brings a new perspective to the holiday.  This year should be the same.  We hope to focus on family time, and forgo a lot of the commercialism of the season.  Because we have very limit room for stuff to return with, we won't be buying a lot of junk just to have gifts under the tree.  In fact, we aren't having a tree this year.  I think we might have log, which in a way was a tree, but we will also burn it that morning because we will need to heat the house!! Just my little Grinch moment!!

I hope that all is well with all our friends, and maybe I will post again before the 25th.  If not have a Merry Christmas everyone.

Shane

OH yeah, this years he said she said letter will be digital, posted here and on facebook (we hope), and I will right my version first!!!!!!

CIAO

Ditto......what she said..

Shane!!!!

Brae's 10th Birthday Adrenaline Adventure

We were fortunate enough to have a 4 day weekend for Brae's tenth birthday, so we decided to go adventuring. As we tend to do...we headed out the door with a pile of ideas, and no structured plan. While the kids were at school on Wednesday, we played the amazing game of tetris packing up the car for the weekend. Unfortunately, our rental car this month happened to be a Hyundai I10...which is quite tiny (by Canadian standards). We did however manage to fit 4 people with clothes for 4 days, plus camping gear, wetsuits...oh yes, and birthday presents (hidden of course). We headed to Tarifa, the most southern (and windiest) point of Spain. There, we walked down the dividing line of the Mediteranian and Atlantic oceans and got soaked by the waves crashing over the road. The wind was so strong, we struggled to stand up straight. We also got to watch some incredible kite surfers in action. I would love to try the sport, but these were definitely not beginner winds.

We didn't attempt kite surfing, but we did go landsailing which was a blast! For those who haven't heard of it, you sit in a three wheeled gokart with a sail attached to it, and it is very much like sailing except the ground is a little harder than water when you flip it. I was thrilled and shocked when we showed up and they gave us all our own landsailers, as I figured they would put an adult and a kid together. It was really great, because we each got to control how fast we went, and how extreme we took our turns. Shane and I pushed the limits, got them up on two wheels a few times, and eventually managed to each flip them, and then reined it in to keep our wheels mostly down. Jaedyn liked her wheels firmly on the ground and was the only one to maintain total control. Brae on the other hand, spent more time upside down than right side up! He pushed the limit, flipped, got back in and pushed a little harder. I think he flipped it at least five times.

We went to Bolonia and hiked past some cool Roman ruins and to the top of a massive sand dune. We had a blast leaping off the tops of the windswept ridges and landing on the steep banks of soft sand. The wind was blowing the sand so hard, that we were wishing we had goggles to keep it out of our eyes. We were all happy to have a long hot shower that night, as there was sand everywhere!

The next day we thought it would be fun to climb the rock of Gibraltor. Since the UK has not left the EU yet, we were shocked when we got turned away at the border for not having our passports on us. Oh well, live and learn. After getting kicked out of the country however, we did find a crazy fun playground with ziplines and rope bridges and super fun obstacles...so, we played at the park with the beautiful view of the rock of Gibraltor looming over us.

Determined not to let this minor set back ruin our weekend, we went for lunch and made a new secret plan while the kids were off playing. First we headed to Cadiz and explored the old town and seawall, then we headed north to Jerez where we took the kids gokarting, and since it was getting dark with a chance of rain, we booked a hotel with a pool for the next two nights instead of camping. We told the kids that because we stopped to go gokarting we were going to have to set up camp in the dark, but we would go out for dinner first at a nice restaurant in a hotel nearby. Jaedyn started to clue in on the plan, but we kept Brae confused right up to walking through the hotel room door.

We brought camping gear with us to save money on our weekend excursions, but so far we have not been thrilled with the campsites in Spain. They charge you per site + per person + per tent (we have 2 small tents) + per vehicle. This adds up quite quickly per night. The plots tend to be close together, on skarse grass/dirt with no picnic tables or cooking areas, and in off season the pools are shut down. The hotel room we got was a 2 bedroom suite with a full kitchen and indoor pool and spa. The amount we saved by cooking a few meals in our room actually made it cheaper than camping. Hmmm.

The next day we drove to Sanlucar de Guadiana, Spain where we took a zipline across a river to Alcoutim, Portugal (no passport required). The Zipline was 720m, crossed an international border, and went back an hour in time. Definitely a bucket list activity. While walking back to the car, we came across an archery booth, so naturally we had to have a friendly family competition. I will let one of the boys brag about who won....

The best part about visiting Portugal however was finding “Chickets Canela” or cinnamon gum for Shane. This is something you cannot get in Spain, so currently our only source is people coming to visit us, and trips to Portugal.

The next day, the boys booked me a massage which was lovely, but made me miss Crystal (my very fabulous and strong massage therapist) terribly. Then we headed to Huelva to see the replica ships of Cristobal Colon AKA Christopher Columbus. Unfortunately the site where the ships are located was under construction and fenced off, so we had to view them from a distance. Perhaps we will make it back with guests at a later date.

Although we ran into a few obstacles along the way, we had an action packed, fun filled adventure weekend.

  

The catch up

Look I know that i haven't blogged in a while and i'm sorry but I keep forgetting. A lot's happened since the last time I blogged.

Firstly I had my first babysitting job for the kids of one of our friends. It was really fun and they were so nice. Last night me and Brae both went over there and watched the boys. Well actually Brae fell asleep in the guest bedroom, but I guess it counts.

There was also this cool Track and Field meet in Almuñecar. There were tons of activities there like High jump, Discus, Shot put, Track, Resistance running and more. It was so much fun but it was also very difficult and i'm still sore.

On Saturday we had a guitar concert. Everyone in our class was so prepared at the last practice, but the day of the actual concert only me and Brae showed up. Brae and I still ended up rocking the stage even without the other 2 or 3 kids.

The last thing and probably the biggest thing we have done in the last 2 weeks has been our annual gingerbread house making. Anyone who doesn't know what that is, it is something our family does every year were we make a bunch of gingerbread houses and then we invite our friends over to come and decorate them, then they take them home to enjoy them over Christmas.

Well I guess that's every thing. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka and have a happy New Year!!!

Yours truly,

Jaedyn.

Amigos

Making friends was not a top priority for me on this adventure. Of course I hoped that the kids would develop friendships through school, but I moved here with my best friend in the world, and have friends visiting throughout the year, so I viewed this year as an opportunity to spend quality time with my family and didn't put much thought into it beyond that.

We made very intentional choices when deciding where to live. Not only did we choose a very small, non tourist town, we also chose a house 8 km out of town in an "urbanizacion" (community) which is extremely private and secluded. This is quite a drastic change coming from a big city and a house where we know and talk to all of our neighbours on a daily basis. We were looking for a home where all we could hear were the sounds of nature. This mission was successful! The peace, quiet and beauty of being surrounded by nature brings me so much joy.

The other reason we chose this town is because it was not on the tourist map. We wanted to immerse ourselves in a culture and be forced to speak Spanish on a daily basis in the community. What we were not expecting was to meet a large group of expat families in the town.

One of my favorite parts about travelling is making a plan and then changing it mid stream because I found out about something new or more exciting along the way. Well this is kind of what happened with the whole friend situation.

I am not one to easily meet new friends. The friends that I have are very dear to me, and most of them have been around for a long time. Knowing that this was not a permanent move, and we would only be here for a year, making friends wasn't really on the radar.

The first day of school we met this amazing group of people who welcomed us into the community with open arms. There are a surprisingly large number of expat families in our very small school and town. The group is from all over the world and so incredibly diverse in backgrounds and circumstances that have led them here. Some, like us have just arrived, and others have been here for over 15 years. Some kids were born here, and others have moved here without a word of Spanish. However, everyone shares the common bond of knowing what it is like to move to a new country, culture, and way of life.

Our days are easily filled with morning coffees, bike rides, hikes, playing on the playa (beach) after school, tapa Fridays, playdates, BBQ's and more. We are so fortunate to have met such a wonderful group of friends here. Beyond the places we go and things we do, it is the friendships that will form the lasting memories of this trip. Our Spanish may be suffering because of it, but those are the sacrifices you make for amigos.

Tis the season!!

Being away from home for an extended period has created some unique issues that we have had to deal with. We know that things are different over here, and there are many things we have had to forgoe for the year, but some traditions we are still trying to maintain. For example, during the in-laws visit, it was Thanksgiving (Canadian). We didn't have any plans to celebrate it, as that was one of the things we knew was not celebrated here. We had resigned ourselves to a year without the traditional feast. Fortunately, Ruth decided she could put on a feast for everyone here, so lo and behold, Thanksgiving dinner served in Spain.

As most of you know, every year Kristin and Ruth spend countless hours making and assembling Ginger Bread houses back home. This was another of the things we figured we would have to give up for a year. That was until mid November rolled around, and Kristin decided it might be another fun activity for everyone over here. Unfortunately, many of the ingredients are not readily available here. Kristin looked up some recipes that used ingredients that we could find here, but she decided that it just wouldn't be right to mess with tradition.   Now I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I had started shopping using Amazon here. The challenge of finding stuff on a Spanish website, and then arranging delivery to a house that isn't listed on any map, nor does it have an official street name, makes for good practical use of our limited Spanish. Now factor in trying to find ingredients aren't very well know in Spain, and then trying to get it all delivered in a timely manner makes for extra special Ginger Bread houses. We did manage to get all the stuff needed to make them, now we just need to find time in our hectic schedule to make them. We don't know if we should skip diving, hiking, biking, coffee, paddling, etc, in order to take a day and make/assemble the houses. Also, we have a 4 day weekend coming up, and we want to drive down to Gibraltar and spend a day or two in Morroco. Our time is starting to become limited. I do know however, that if anyone can do it, it's Kristin, and she will still manage to get in all the other activities as well.

With GB house, it reminds us that Xmas is also just around the corner. The kids asked the other day if we were going to decorate a tree this year. This is another of those issue that we have run across. How do you decorate a tree with no decoration, and no tree? I guess the kids will have to be creative. Also, when it's sunny, and the temp is in the high teens, is it really xmas? We have to find out if the Reindeer can even fly when it's this hot. All these first world problems we have to deal with!!

As always, cheers.

Shane