HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2007

Wow! I can't believe I'm actually writing this blog. What a day, it is Halloween and even though its not a big holiday here, actually it is not even a holiday at all, the actual holiday is tomorrow November 1st called "all saints day", a day of the dead, where you should go to the cemetery and place flowers on the tombstones of relatives that have past away...

Anyway, I decided it would be fun if I organized a Halloween party in our urbanization to show these Spaniards what Halloween is all about..My neighbors were not that sure at first but after a little persuasion they all contributed. We made Halloween food, we all dressed up and we even made a haunted house.

We had an awesome time and the kids loved it!! They had a blast.. they loved the haunted house, the little ones were petriffied... I don't know how I pulled it off, party organizing is not as easy as it sounds..but, it was a success, Bella couldn't stop crying and Marco punched a volunteer scarer in the haunted house because he was soooo scared..hahahahaa.

Overall, we had a great, great time.. I want to thank Cristina for her awesome food, Eugenia for her creative drawings, Elena and Jose for their Spider cake, Arancha and family for joining in the fun, Melissa and Alex for scaring and kids as well as decorating the haunted house, and all the kids who made the night so special.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES

Travel Websites are a pain in the ^&%$

I'm planing our trip to Miami the week of February the 4Th, so we could be at the baptism of my nephew and future Godson.

Well, let me tell you there are a million websites out there that promise to fly you to the moon if you like for a low, low cost.. yes, and as we all know it's all BS. I'm not sure if you have tried some of these websites but they are a little misleading. First of all they give you the price before the taxes.. You see "cheap flight to Miami $200" and you say WOW, let me reserve it NOW and when you hit the reserve button is when you get the big surprise!!

regular fare $200
taxes $800
sur charges $100
Internet usage charge $50
a misl charge because we can $20
electronic ticket charge $40
discount if you fly on the wing -$20
TOTAL $2,000

None of it makes sense. There are also the websites that offer you different flights some with a starting price of $200 (which we now know is really about $2,000) and some with a price of $3,000, (imagine how much it really is after all the extras) for the same flight..now who would be stupid enough to say.Hey I want pay $3000 for a flight even though there is the same flight for $200.. Give me a break, why do they even include them.!!!

As you can see I'm a little frustrated right now, but I will keep searching in the hopes of finding the perfect flight where we don't have to make 6 stops and wait about 12 hours during each one.

If you guys have any suggestions or favorite travel websites let me know, I'm in desperate need!!

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Just like Isabella

My dad sent me this video because he said it reminded him of something Isabella would do. And he is right!! Enjoy

Precious likes to play Monopoly

As you can see from the picture we as a family love playing games together, even our little dog Precious joins in the fun. Seen here she was close to a monopoly. hahhahhaa..

Studying for the drivers test

Yes, you read the tittle right! After, lets see... driving around for about 20 years with a legal drivers license in the US, I came to find out a little after I got to Spain that my lovely American drivers license was absolutely good for nothing. (but people who come here from Africa, the UK where they drive on the other side of the street and third world countries where a car is probably a horse and buggy are give a license right away, no questions asked)...

Anyway, this wouldn't be such a bad thing if getting a license was as easy as in the U.S, where you can pick up the drivers education book and read it in about 15 minutes, memorize the questions and off you go to take the test..no, not here..first of all, there is so much paperwork and bureaucracy involved it is best to sign up to "autoescuelas" driver education schools, where for about 300 bucks they will facilitate theory and practical driving classes so you can pass the test..

The drivers education book has chapters (yes chapters!!) in mechanics, first aid, road signage (ok that one I understand), laws, etc, etc.. and not only do you need to know the norms of a vehicle but of trucks, public transportation, pretty much everything you would want to know and much, much more...

I had been waiting until the law changed but since I see that is not going to happen and that since I'm driving illegally, I should start my drivers education. And so on the bus to and from work I read my little (not really) manual and in the evenings I do tests online to see if one day soon I will be ready to pass my theory test..

The funniest part of all this is that it is in Spanish and Matt has to do the same thing.. hahahahahahha.. ok, that will totally be another post..

here is the link for the Spanish online tests see if you can pass (in Spanish, sorry all you non Spanish speakers can just guess A, B, or C, you will probably pass before me!!)

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Fiesta in Alicante

Yes, its fiesta time again in Alicante and the Valencian commnunity which means no school, no work, pretty much the entire region stops and there is nothing we can do. Half the time we don't even know what the holiday is for but as long as we have a day off from work we are happy. I asked Marco what they had told him at school the holiday was for, so I could at least pretend to know what is going on.. but I knew not to trust the response of a 5 year old who a few minutes before had shown me a picture he had drawn of the countries of the world and explained to me that Russia was next to Mallorca!! Anyway, I figured it was still worth a try to ask him about the holiday. He said it was something to do with the moors and Christians, then he said no, no I think its something about "valencea" pronounced that way in valenciano the official language here which not many people bother to learn.

So after realizing that Marco was not going to be much help I figured I would educate myself and find out why the hell the kids where off from school and why I got a mini vacation during the week. It seems some King called Jaime I, entered the province of Valencia in 1238 and made up some new laws which ruled until about 1707.. I have a link at the bottom if you are interested in reading more about it.. All I know is we are now home relaxing and having a very nice time with the entire family..

more information valenciatrader
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Comments of the blog

Some of you email me or call me and tell me that you love my blog and that you read it all the time which I think is great because it is a way for me to stay in touch with all of you, but i do want to encourage you to leave comments that way I know what you are thinking and you can take advantage and tell me a little about what is going on with you..

I want to hear from all of you, and know what is going on with you..OK, enough said..

Mom's Overture by Anita Renfroe

Thank you Diane for forwarding me this video, it is just great! this is for all you moms out there.. a great song.. enjoy!!!!

Marco and his Liga Cromo" collection

Marco as you all know is a soccer fanatic. He just loves to play, watch, talk, and now collect soccer cards..He is very passionate and plays soccer everyday in the urba.. but now he has found another sport he loves and that is collecting little stickers that go in a book.. They cost about 40 cents for about 5 in a packet. The deal is you collect as many as you can then you exchange the ones you have doubled for others you need with your friends. Only problem with this is that Marco is very innocent and nice and when he takes cromos to school to exchange he usually comes back with nothing new...Finally, today he came home with one new one.. He was sooo excited.. He said "I exchanged two of my cromos for one", well its a start....hopefully soon he will get the hang of it and be able to collect the entire collection. The day he got the Ronaldinho card he was jumping up and down like he had just found gold..

It's fun watching him guard his collection and this way he practices his reading and memory skills..not a bad investment.

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Isabella's version of the victoria Beckham haircut

Isabella got a little excited with the scissors the other day and gave some of her Barbie's brand new haircuts..Matthew woke up early the other day and found traces of hair everywhere, then he saw Isabella with a pair of scissors and his first reaction was to scream "Marco, where is Marco" worried Isabella had cut off all his hair he ran to make sure he was ok, he soon found out the hair he saw all over the floor was not from Marco but from several Barbie dolls that as Bella put it "needed a new look".

My favorite cut is the one pictured above which she stated was "Beckham new haircut", not sure how she knew about Victoria and her new look, but there you have it, her master piece. Aside from the bold spots, it looks pretty good..some of the other Barbie's did not fare as well and will not be shown.. as they are in the shop for repair, Isabella wants to know if we can now add extensions to them...ummmm, I will have to think about that.

So, if you or your dolls need a touch up, don't hesitate to call and Isabella will come and help you...

It's My Birthday, a closer goodbye to my 30's

Yes, yes, I have been receiving phone calls all day long reminding me that the inevitable will soon come. This will be my last year as a woman in her 30's and will soon pass to be a woman in her 40's. The other day I was talking with someone ( a much younger person) and they said yes the woman that takes care of my grandmother is an older woman in her 40's.. Older woman.. what are they kidding.???. I fell better much better now than ever, both physically and mentally.

So, to all you women out there approaching middle age..don't worry, they say life starts here and the best part of it is yet to come I'm sure..

Happy Birthday to ME!!!