Cadiz ...

 We headed over to the oldest city in Europe on Saturday and enjoyed a laid back, touristy day.  We hit one of the main squares in Cadiz, saw the cathedral, ate some churros, climbed up the highest tower to see the camera obscura (a full view birds eye view of Cadiz, using a mirror, kind of like a submarine uses), walked through the open market (which was awesome!) and ended the day by playing at the beach.  Who could ask for a better Saturday?

 All throughout Italy when we would visit a Roman ruin we would constantly see what they would classify as the market.  I can now more fully appreciate what that would have looked like in modern day.  This was very similar to what they would have had I'm sure.  The kids asked for a snack, so Jake bought Jenna a carrot, Lydia and Owen a banana and Anthony and I some grapes.  We thoroughly enjoyed our produce as we strolled through the fish part of the market and the rest of the city. 

 We ate our picnic in the park Geneva and enjoyed the squawk of parakeets and enjoyed some playground time.

Sunset on the beach ...

 After we ate dinner one night, Anthony and I went and took the garbage out and saw some beautiful pink clouds.  We went back in and told everyone we were going for a walk to the beach.  By the time we got shoes on and got down there we were kind of late for the pink/orange but we were still lucky to witness a beautiful scene!  The bright light in the picture below is the blink of the lighthouse on the island of Cadiz.  Now almost every night when it gets dark Owen says, The lighthouse is blinking now.  Fun memories!

Spanish Food ...

 So far, we've eaten really well here.  Lots and I mean lots of seafood.  Some has been better than others, but for the most part we've liked all the things we've tried.  The above plate has squid, shrimp frittatas and shark.  The bottom plate is John Dory Filets and they are yummy like fish and chips! 

 Above is a traditional Spanish dish of paella.  Rice, veggies and chicken, YuM!  and of course, we had to try a churro!  They laughed at us when we wanted to get churros for a dessert because here they eat them with the coffee at breakfast time.  But we all enjoyed them dipped in the Hot Chocolate sauce after a yummy dinner of paella!

El Puerto "Home Away" ...

I cannot believe how quickly time passes once we get to our destination.  It seems unbelievable that we left Idaho Falls two weeks ago.  We have settled into a nice routine here in Spain.  Our house is beautiful and a good fit for our needs.  I haven't taken any pictures of the inside except the one of us eating dinner, but I'll try to do that in the next little while.  So far home school is going well at least from our perspective here in Spain.  Hopefully come January the kids will adjust back to school well.  Time will tell, but most days I am enjoying teaching the children and it really doesn't take all that long so we get to enjoy our recess of swimming in the pool after lunch.  I could get used to this weather that is for sure!

 



Laguna de Medina ...

Earlier last week we went out for an adventure to see a Laguna.  We weren't exactly sure what we were getting into, but it turned out to be beautiful, although, not too many birds there right now.  They are more in abundance in the spring and later in the fall so we may head back there a little later during our trip. 

 

 

We did get to see a few turtles, lots of dragon flies, a few lizards and even a few ducks.  It was a nice little walk in the beautiful Spain countryside.  This is typically a refuge for migrating birds and the birds can number into the 15,000 at one time.  That would be a site to see!

 



Beach time! ....

 We are within walking distance of the beach (around 20 minutes walking Owen's pace) and it is probably the most beautiful beach I have ever been on.  The sand is amazing, the views are incredible and the water is pretty warm.  We've had unreasonably warm weather here in Spain since we've gotten here and got the first week of RAIN to go away, so we've taken advantage of that three different times and hit the beach.  We know the weather will get cooler soon, so we will go see sites then when we cannot enjoy the amazing beach.

 

It has been fun to watch the kids get used to the ocean.  The first day they would barely get their feet wet and run away from the loud crash of the waves.  Yesterday, all 4 of them got taken out by a wave and got right back up and tried again.  I was playing with Jenna once and she got swept under and she said she twirled while she was under there, which I totally believe because I turned around to help her stand up and couldn't see her for a few seconds while the waves met.  She was okay, but glad the waves went away quickly so she could stand back up.

 

Anthony has really enjoyed learning how to jump/dive through the waves and thinks it is funny that I won't join him on his adventure.  I'd rather have it crash through me or me be on the other side enjoying the swells than try to dive through them.  He does a good job though!  He has also completely enjoyed the boogie board with Jake.  He has gotten to ride quite a few good waves and ate it big time too a few times.  Yesterday when he jumped through a wave, there was one right behind it too that literally picked him up and then pounded him down to the ground.  He had goggles on and when he stood up he only had one strap on still, he was lucky they didn't fall off.  He coughed a little and went right back out!  Silly kids.

 

Jake has caught quite a few nice waves on the boogie board too.  Me?  I'd rather play in the sand or jump the little waves with Owen. Either way, we all have lots of fun on the beach and have great tan lines to show just how long we've spent there!

 The waves yesterday were so different than we've had the other times we have gone down to the beach. They broke ALL at the same time instead of gradually and were quite a bit larger than the other ones we've seen.  The above picture shows just how big they were when they hit.  This one knocked Jenna (who is right behind me, in my shadow) right down.  Owen thought it was great that he jumped the big one with Mom.

 

The picture below is the way we walk to the beach and count how many lizards we can see!  There are seriously SO many.  It truly is a beautiful world.

Vejer de la Frontera ...

 We crossed off one of the places we wanted to go to on Monday.  Vejer de la Frontera is a beautiful little city set up on the hill. It used to be a strong hold against pirate attacks, but now the beautiful pueblo blanco is just built right up and around the old city walls.  We just took our time strolling around the city, taking in the beautiful streets and views from so high up!  We enjoyed a picnic lunch by this beautiful water fountain.  There were a whole bunch of Harley Davidson bikers there enjoying their lunch as well, couldn't help but think that would be a pretty fun road trip to be on! We were happy we didn't get rained on either as just about every day we've been here we have had rain so far.  Hopefully that trend stops soon! 

Driving across Spain ...

 One of our favorite things that we've experience in both Italy and Spain was the drive across country.  When you drive across a country for more than 6 hours, you get to see a varying amount of landscapes, crops, ecosystems and people!  We have been able to do that both in Spain and Italy and have enjoyed it quite a bit.  The kids have done remarkably well on both long trips too.  We had watched Rick Steves videos on Spain and had seen that they had these huge bull 'billboards' and were anxious to see if we'd see any...our long drive did not disappoint.  We got to see several!  We were also surprised to see fields and fields of cotton in one region of Spain.  I had never seen a cotton field and when we drove by even the cotton combine was out there harvesting.  It was certainly interesting  to see in the few seconds we got to see as we drove past. 

 It is really hard to see, but in the above picture there are wild flamingos out enjoying some dinner in the salt flats near our home.  We drove by this massive mound of salt and then got to see all the flats with lots of different wild birds in them.  Once again, not something you get to see every day!