We have arrived safely and so far,
we think we’re going to like it. The
check-in process has not been a non-stressful process for Glenn. He’s been running constantly since Wednesday
morning until Friday afternoon. After
getting very little sleep on the flight Monday night, it wasn’t easy to hop off
of the plane, figure out how to get Rajah out of cargo and then make the 6 hour
drive to Rota from Madrid. Good thing I
remembered how to drive a manual car.
The first night in the temporary
house was very uneventful. It was full
of sleep, and that’s about it. The kids
and I were able to explore the base a bit the next day. Little did we know, there was a bicycle race
that was about to start as we left the house.
Something called Fertilidad…..we are still unsure of what it means
because we never looked it up. On the
plus side, we do know not to try to find a way home during said race because
you will get told to pull over into a parking lot, and shut off your engine by
the Spanish police. We ended up waiting
for about 20-30 minutes for the actual bikes to go by.
The
second night was nicer. The kids went to
the park behind the house and Rajah went with me. She was able to enjoy her first sunset in
Spain. J The kids were able to use up some of the energy
they had been saving from the long flight and the last day being used to catch
up on sleep that was lost. They did get
that thing going pretty fast. I, on the
other hand, got it going much faster and Christopher could barely lift his head
up. Maybe there will be no need for
lifting weights if I can just get one of those things installed in a
basement….just a thought.
Rajah taking in the night time breeze.
Rajah's very first sunset in Spain.
Friday we were able to get the kids
registered for school, sit through 2 orientations and make it to the pool as
well. Christopher passed the swim test
at yet another pool so he could go to the deep end and use the slides. This pool was the most important yet. He wanted to be able to climb the rock wall
in the deep end. Both him and Madison
climbed it over and over again. Alexander
practiced his swimming in the shallow part of the pool. He will learn to swim one day soon.
The rock wall that Christopher passed the swim test for...he said it was worth it and it was awesome.
Friday night was so much fun. Glenn took us to los Carreros de Caballos
(Horse races on the beach), we tried some new snacks, some of which were
delicious and some that were just so so.
Needless to say, they all got eaten so they weren’t horrible. As we walked down the beach, there were
booths that kids had designed and built for people (children mostly) to place
bets at. The beach was beautiful, the
sunset was gorgeous and the kids all had smiles on their faces. Each of us placed our bets for the first
race, and the winner was……
Madison. She bet 1 Euro and won 3. We are still dumbfounded by how this occurred
since she picked horse number 8 and that horse was clearly in last place in the
video we took…..Then again, we could have been betting for the loser of the
race and not known it since we only understood about 15% of what was being said
during the bet placements. On to the
last race of the night. We all wanted to
try out our skills once again. While we
were waiting for the second race to start we decided to venture out into the
shallow waters of the beach. I have to
say, Glenn took a pretty nice picture. He saw a little cart rolling past and decided
to grab one of the two pastry type treats for all of us to try. I absolutely loved the cuña and Alexander
loved the carmela.
The horses on their way to the starting line.
Beautiful sunset on the beach.
My beautiful family (not the lady on the right with her back turned obviously) and my bad, Christopher's eyes were closed....aaahhhh the memories we're making.
Any guesses as to
who won this race? It sure as hell
wasn’t my horse….again. I am at horse
race betting as I am at lottery ticket winning….I suck. Madison won the damn bet again. This time it was legit, we saw her horse
win. She ended up paying me back the
euro she borrowed to place the first bet and ended up with 4 of her own. Not a bad night…..for her. Yeah, we teach our kids to bet early, since
we all suck at lottery tickets we might as well teach them how to be good at
some sort of gambling right? ;)
Her first winnings of the night.
Christopher placing his second bet of the night....hoping for at least one win.
Glenn sure took a lovely picture of us. :)
The bet pamphlet, my betting ticket and my delicioso cuña.
Another pretty sunset.
THERE THEY GO!!! Well, not my horse...
Madison going to pick up more winnings as Christopher watches from the losers sidelines with the rest of us.
Glenn decided to ask one of the locals if they could recommend a good restaurant. After trying out our tiny bit of Spanish, and him trying out his tiny bit of English, they brought their interpreter in. Their daughter translated for us and we ended up trying out a place called Paco Secundino. We, meaning all of us, not just a few, tried fried shark, marinated clams (we’re still not 100% sure if the two stalky looking things were eyes or not), grilled shark, marinated shark and noodles with seafood. The funny thing is, the one thing that seemed to be the most well known dish was our least favorite. The noodles were no bueno…no me gusta. None of us cared for them. The grilled shark came in first place because everyone loved it. Christopher loved the clams and said they were in a tie with the grilled shark. The fried shark was pretty tasty as well.
On the way to the restaurant.
The restaurant that ended up winning over the others.
The kids wanted to walk home from the pool the other night. I figured, why not? They weren't going to get Daddy's truck all wet and we would get some quiet time at least for 20 minutes. Boy do they walk fast though.
So far, it seems like a great place to be able to live and explore. As for the cost of the meals….let’s just say shark and clams will not be on the menu very frequently.
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