No More T&A

This little dude's got quite a set of tonsils on him. Turns out, we didn't need that albuterol last winter. His lungs & airways are fine - it's his adenoids & tonsils that are inflamed. He's having trouble breathing & they need to come out. Today. We're shuffling a few things around & readjusting our expectations for the weekend. This has been a rather sudden development. Because of sleep apnea, he'll spend the night in the hospital. So far, Charlie's pretty excited. On the way home tonight, I explained that we were going to the hospital & the doctor was going to fix his throat & ears so that he can breathe & sleep more easily. He didn't respond, but Greta did. She had A LOT of questions about this. I didn't think Charlie understood what was going on, but when Nick came home, Charlie recited what I told him - almost verbatim. He's still so proud that the audiologist gave him a high five after his hearing test. It breaks my heart to think he's been struggling with breathing & hearing for so long. I hope the surgery delivers the almost immediate results everyone has told me about.

Pioneer Woman Cookbook Signing

After a very hectic day, the stars aligned & through the generosity of a good friend, we sneaked down to the Pioneer Woman Cookbook signing. I knew it was a long shot, but as we approached the bookstore, the line didn't look that long. We started to get excited!


As we walked toward the bookstore, we started making our list of all of our friends who would be getting autographed books for Christmas. Then, we started chatting with the other people & realized that this was the line for people who were going to wait for hours just for the chance to maybe get to see her. Those in the know arrived 3 hours earlier, snagged a ticket & were listening to her speak somewhere in here:


No cookbooks for us. No pictures with the Pioneer Woman. But, a fun adventure nonetheless.

Merry Belated

Two of my favorites celebrated birthdays recently. We celebrated Nick's birthday with BLT's with heirloom tomatoes and avocado.


The dinner was topped off with a fabulous chocolate cake.
There are so many things wrong with this photo, but I love all their expressions.


Then, Charlie cooperated for a photo with the birthday boy.


A few days later, we took Nick out for BBQ at at new (to us) place. Greta was pretty excited about that. Nick gave it a two thumbs up.


After celebrating in Seattle, Jessi & Kevin came by for an off the roof party. You can see her dinner here.


The mini-cupcakes were a huge hit.

Here's to an extra exciting Tuesday!

Day 7 - Nerja & Frigiliana

On our last day, we hit the beach again. Having 2 beach days was really nice. We were tired of driving long distances & needed a little down time before the long trip home. I was surprised that Ross, who is the least beach enthusiastic of us, even said that if we were staying another week, he would need a second beach day before hitting the tourist trail again.



I've never felt strongly about any European beaches. They are nice, but we have so many beautiful beaches in the United States, I've never day-dreamed about sitting on a beach in Europe. But, as we walked around Nerja, I found myself wondering how the stars would need to align so that we could spend more time in this town.


Part of the allure may have been our surprise - Nerja was more like what I expected Marbella to be. When I was researching our itinerary, I picked Nerja because it was close to Granada. We were considering spending the night in Granada & thought we could stop in Nerja on the way back to our condo in Mijas. The Balcon de Europa is where most of the action is.



Once again, Cecilia made the very wise food choice - fresh potato chips



So, so tasty. Nerja used to be one long beach, but now is a series of beach coves. With only one day, we decided to go to Burriana Beach.


It was about a 30 minute walk from Balcon de Europa. We ate paella at the famous Ayo's Restaurant.



It was a little overrated, but we enjoyed it immensely (Ross & C elected to have spaghetti another locale). The beach was so relaxing - the water was COLD!


Nerja is where I found Ella's favorite souvenir (they stayed in her classroom for nearly a month)


Cecilia also bought fresh mango & a pomegranate (less bitter than what we were used to). I think we all could have spent more time soaking in this city. As the afternoon clouds rolled in, we packed up & headed back to the car. We didn't have enough time to visit the caves, so we stopped by nearby Frigiliana.



This is a cute little white town about 2 miles from the beach. We bought sweet wine, ceramics & olives here to round out our souvenir purchases. This last photo gives you an idea of what Nick was facing all week. This is a two-way street with loads of pedestrians & people eating in the streets at a restaurant.



With more time, we would relax on the beach, eat more mangoes & pomegranates & visit the caves.

You can see all the Nerja photos here.

Kate Plus 8, 9, 10

We had a fabulous Halloween. I don't watch the weather & had assumed winter was here to stay. Saturday was beautiful.



We went to a party at Ross & Cecilia's. Kate Gosselin showed up - probably in town to work a Sundance deal.


Her kids came along. They were pretty cute.


Aunt Jessica whipped up this cute little costume much to Greta's delight.


Cecilia had all the kids back to her house for marshmallows & cocoa after trick or treating, but Ella has a tradition of trick or treating with our neighbor. The twins walked our street & then tuckered out.


It was so cute to see them counting their loot.


The big girls went back out with the Dads to hit a few more houses. One or more of these guys may have been invited.


Please excuse the grainy photos. I'm experimenting with not using a flash. Some pics work better than others. My pumpkin shots aren't too bad - only slightly blurry.
Charlie's:

Ella, Mom, Dad:


Greta's (drawn by her):


Happy Daylight Savings!

Boo!

Happy Halloween!


A parent at our school makes these incredible eye balls!

Day 6- Granada

Ok, let me finish up our last two days in Spain before I forget everything we saw.

We woke up early & drove to Granada. As we climbed up the mountains, the country became more green. We went directly to Alhambra & followed the signs for parking. You have to pre-purchase your tickets to see the Palacios Nazaries portion of Alhambra. In hindsight, we should have purchased tickets earlier in the day. Though, it's always hard to know how much buffer time to build into the travel.


We arrived around 10 am & explored the Generalife Gardens. They were gorgeous.


We also enjoyed beautiful views from the gardens.


We then started walking trying to find lunch for Cecilia. It wasn't easy. We should have packed sandwiches. We ended up at the beautiful Paradores hotel, but it was much too early for lunch in Spain & it took forever to get expensive ham & cheese sandwiches.



We slowly made our way toward the palace for our 1:30 ticket time. It took about an hour to walk through the palace. It was an interesting experience.


Rick Steeves' book was a great resource for historical references & palace details. For example, Columbus pitched the King & Queen in these rooms.


Granada means "pomegranate", but we didn't get a chance to pluck & eat any.


After Alhambra, we drove into town & parked. We wandered around by the Cathedral - an area with a lot of Moorish influence.


After an unfortunate miscalculation of time & erratic walking every which way, we decided to have a light snack.



All this food for only 10 euros! The meal was topped off with a glass of Moscatel - which was fruity & sweet.


Cecilia & I made the very wise decision to visit the Arab Baths. We originally made reservations for 4, but the boys chickened out. We HIGHLY recommend this - especially if you've been walking like crazy all week.



After the massage & soak in 9 different pools of varying temperature, we took a taxi up to Mirador de San Nicolas - one of the most romantic views in Spain.


In the summer, I think the sun sets over the palace. We chose to have dinner at Estrellas de San Nicolas after seeing this blog post.

It was too cold to eat outside, but we still enjoyed a lovely meal by a French chef (though surprisingly, the creme brulee wasn't that impressive).


What we bought in Granada = saffron.
What we would do with more time - the rest of my group didn't want more time here. They thought the homeless youth at Plaza Neuva & ubiquitous graffiti spoiled the town. I would have spent the night & walked the town early in the morning. I am convinced there are other beautiful parts of the town I missed. There is only so much one can see in a day. Plus, all the American exchange students we met at the Arab Baths talked up quite a few hot night spots (Poe & The Futbol Cafe).

You can see all the Granada photos HERE.

Indian Summer

We're in the midst of our first real snow storm so I thought it appropriate to reflect on our last water day this fall. We took another trip out to Antelope Island & I couldn't believe how beautifully different the land looked.


We didn't see as many animals on this trip.


I had some minimal cooperation from models.



But really, they were just doing the minimum to get to the water.




We stayed until the twins were ready to crash for naptime.


The kids were great & walked both ways without much complaining. It's quite the trek from shore to parking lot.


I see the snow falling outside my window, but I feel a little warmer just remembering this day.


You can see all the Antelope Island photos here.