Casa de Campo

We found this beautiful park last weekend just outside the city that is so beautiful and so quiet it was nice to have some room for our family to run and play. Not having a car here in Spain makes it feel like we are confined to the city, but this park is just 2 train stops away and gives us some relief from the noise and busy of the city. Thank goodness for the wonderful train system.

This is often what Erich is doing. Carrying one of the two boys.

Boys exploring and enjoying some freedom. They need more open spaces at this age.

Enjoying our walk around the lake.

Train station at the park. It is an outdoor station and more what I pictured before I came here. I am sure more are like this once you get out of the city and the train stations are not all underground.
This is a wall at the Imaginarium Toy Store on Serrano. It was such a cool wall. The whole thing is covered in the chalk board paint and look at that beautiful chandelier. It was a awesome toy store and amazingly had reasonable prices. It is located on the most Posh street in Madrid for shopping and all the children in this store were dressed to the nines. I saw a child throw a fit over a miniature motorcycle that he wanted. (The biggest fit I have ever seen. )One that the children can ride on and the dad just took out his wallet and bought it on the spot. He didn't even go to the register. The child even screamed at the employee when she was trying to take the tags off. I told Erich if our boys ever did something like that we would be instantly out of the store. My first thought was "that child will always throw a fit when he wants something." As parents we wonder why children act the way they do maybe it is partly our fault. Enough of my soapbox, I was just shocked to see the father give in to the boys tantrum in that way. Other then that we had a great time playing with all the fun toys in the store.

Plaza de Cibeles with the beautiful Palacio de Comunicaciones. This is the headquarters for the Spanish postal service.

Teleferico and Other Random Things

Cable Car that takes you over the Madrid River, over the El Parque del Campo (this park is 5 times the size of Central Park in New York) It is massive with biking trails throughout, a zoo, an amusement park it is pretty spectacular.

Beautiful Mountains on the outskirts of Madrid. We have not made it out to them yet but look forward to hiking and some recreation activities.

Madrid from the Sky.

Famous Edificio Metropolis on Gran Via. It is built in the French inspiration and was built in 1911.

We Spent last Saturday at the temple while our Church Primary watched the boys and did activities with them. It was nice to go to the temple with Erich. It is such a beautiful place to spend a Saturday.

Boys at the Urban Beach. That is what they call it. I call it 3 big fountains for the children to run and play in. They loved it. They do have sand beaches around the fountains where people lay out and absorb the sun.

First Day of School!

Kaleb and Tyson were both excited to start school last week. They are attending the same school and luckily are dropped off at the same door. Kaleb's teacher is Miss Eva and Tyson's teacher is Miss Prado. They go by their first names here, which is good since they are much easier to pronounce and remember. The boys are adjusting well considering their whole school day is in Spanish. I was impressed by all the things the boys do in their classes at such a young age. It is a bilingual school so in Kaleb's class there is a little time spent doing English. Tyson's age is only in Spanish. They do split days here I take the boys to school from 9am-12:30 then pick them up and they are home for lunch and some rest time and then go back to school from 2:30-4pm. It is good for the boys to have some quiet time in the middle of the day and that is when Erich is home from studying so we eat our main meal for lunch and spend time as a family. Erich leaves for school at 4pm so when I get home with the boys he is already gone. If the boys didn't have that break in the day they wouldn't see Erich at all. It has worked out well and we are all enjoying some structure in our day. Since I have some time with the boys at school I have tried to increase my study time for Spanish. I am able to do my lectures for an hour then exercise for an hour while I listen to the audio tapes, but I think what I am thankful for is the time I can go to the grocery store by myself. The boys have become a handful at the grocery store and it is nice to just get it quickly done while they are at school. Here are some pics. from our Apartment before we left to get on the train to take the boys to school. No school buses here. I spend a lot of time going back and forth on the train and walking. Traveling time for me going back and forth to get the boys since they go twice in one day is about 1 1/2 hours. Crazy to think, but so worth them be immersed in the language and with other children. We are all enjoying our time to learn Spanish.

Happy Birthday Tyson!

Tyson at 2 months so sweet and beautiful!

3 Years Old and still sweet and beautiful?

Cake was pretty basic this year but was delicious and there

were candles to be blown out so Tyson was happy. Tyson

was so excited to play with some new toys especially since

we were only able to bring one little suitcase of toys with us.

My Beautiful Birthday Boy!

Plaza de la Villa and Spider Man

There are so many plazas here it would be hard to see them all, but out of the many we have seen already I think this is my favorite.

Plaza de la Villa

Iglesia de San Gines

Erich and Tyson enjoying the city and all the wonderful Music

that was being played in the city tonight.

Jamon(Ham) it is everywhere you can buy it in so many different forms. It is really wonderful and this restaurant and market is all around the city. We bought wonderful Bocodillos (sandwhiches) and sat in Plaza Mayor to enjoy some Jamon y Queso As we were eating the boys spotted Spider Man. They were so excited and of course wanted to go see him. All these characters and street vendors of course expect money, but we had 1 Euro so we thought we would let the boys. My first thought when Erich and I noticed him was "Well he is

no Tobey McQuire." The boys only interested in Spider Man didn't care and we got some pretty funny pictures that will always make me laugh.

Spider Man Getting the Bad Guys!

As you can see even Erich got in on the fun and took on

Spider Man

We enjoyed listening to the Mariachi band play in Plaza Mayor

here is a video of the boys dancing to the music.

Mercado de San Miquel

This market was built in 1915 and is surrounded by glass walls so that you can see inside to all the food and treats there are to eat and enjoy! I was able to have a Petit Four which I have only read about as being a very decadent and wonderful treat, but never knew what it was. It is a rich cake and definitely decadent. We all loved it and you will see Tyson enjoying his bite in a picture below. Spain is also known for many different olives and there is a huge supply of olive oil here. You can buy 5 gallon jars and we see people doing so. It is crazy to me the amount of Olive Oil you see in the aisles at the store it looks like an aisle of wine, but no it is Olive Oil in all its varities. We have already started to cook a lot more with Olive Oil and are enjoying the wonderful flavors of the different Olives. One of the tapas we tried tonight was skewers of different Olives/meat/onions. I wasn't brave enough to try the Sardines yet, but maybe with time. Erich tried them and said they are good. They eat a lot of fish here and many different kinds that I have never heard of. The down side to that is that most of the grocery stores stink because of all the fresh fish on ice in the Markets. I like fish and seafood, but the funny thing is that before they are cooked I do not like the smell. Anyway, I am rambling. It was so fun to see the many different foods in the market and the ones that are universal (Ice Cream, Potatoes Chips, cakes, and Chocolates) Potato Chips are huge here and you see them every where and in so many different flavors.

Boys on the Slide!