Happy 4th of July... (a little late)

I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July, full of good old American bar-b-que, sparklers, fireworks... We did our best here in Espana, but I'll tell you.. I miss s'mores. We had some old marshmellows and cookies (can you BELIEVE they have the nerve not to have graham crackers here?!). But it was a great time. Plus, it was my puppies first birthday, so I (being the total nerd that I am) baked them a cake. Only to find out later that night that my younger brother's baby was born as well! Welcome to the world Liam Michael O'Toole, and he was huge... 9lbs 15oz.

They might have been born in Spain, but they're American at heart

Roasting some marshmellows

Lots of food!

The puppies enjoying their cake

cows are so beautiful

Tineke and Charles moved home to Holland this past week, we were really sad to say goodbye, so sad that we bought plane tickets to visit them in 3 weeks! But I was able to go on one last hike with her and the kids, and it was beautiful! Cows were everywhere, close enough to touch, and they're so beautiful here, I love their caramel color. And the sun was SO bright, I've had the sunburn for a week... I can't believe I forgot to put sunscreen on my neck.

Tijn (pronounced Tine) did not want to walk... at all, this was 5 minutes into the hike.

The DeWolfs

I am so going to miss this place!

hello beautiful =)

The way Spaniards Party

This past Saturday night, Greg and I went out to a "barrio" party in Gijon. The different neighborhoods (more like miniature cities inside the city of Gijon) have fiestas during the summer. During the day they have inflatables for kids to play on and carnival games, and LOTS of food. Two of our friends live in Viesques and invited us to go out with them. So we left the puppies at home and brought towels, food, and sidra (the Asturian cider) and headed over.

(Lola hates getting left...)

At night they have big concerts and everyone stands around and dances, etc. Our Spanish teacher and a friend of hers came with us as well and was determined that we would celebrate "spanish style" so we had tortilla (a potato and egg omelette, my favorite spanish food) and chorizo a la sidra (chorizo=sausage, cooked in the cider, it was delish!) and LOTS of bread.

It was so much fun, but we knew we weren't 'in Kansas anymore'. The music began around 10pm, we left at 1am when the second band was coming on to play until 5am! As much as we're trying to fit in, I was struggling to stay awake until 11 if we're being honest...

Brian and Jodie

Cory and our Spanish teacher Cristina