Author Archives: Reb

EVERYTHING in Spain closes early on New Year’s (well except the bars…)

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On New Year’s Eve I had wanted to go out to dinner in Jerez de la Frontera, a bigger city about 15 minutes away.  There is a restaurant there (near Ikea!) called Wok that does a kind of Mongolian buffet. We have a smaller version in Rota but I had heard good things about this one, bigger, nicer decor, better buffet selection.

Well we get out there at around 7:30pm which is early but we figured if we could kill time if we needed to wait until 8. Wok is closed. Dark, no one inside. Okay maaaaaybe we are a little early. So we hit up the grocery store Alcampo next door to look for sparkling apple/grape juice.  No sparkling non-alcoholic beverages were found (although I did see Lambrusco for sale, I’ll have to go back and pick some up!) we did get some delicious donuts for dessert/breakfast/who knows they just looked yummy.

After killing time in the grocery store back to peek at Wok, nope still dark and not a soul in sight.  Let’s just hop over to the mall that is right next door and find something in the food court. Park in the strangely half empty parking lot to walk up into the mall and see only people walking out. What the heck? Its almost 8pm on a Saturday night, usually the mall is packed with people! Mall doors locked. Oh no. This isn’t a good sign. Back over to the Ikea/Wok shopping center, McDonald’s maybe? Closed in the five minutes it took to run to the mall and back.

Now at this point we could have just given up and gone home except for the fact that I have been slacking on grocery shopping and there was nothing to eat at home (okay maybe pb & j but that was our last resort). So back to the base we go, we’ll hit up Pizza Villa even though we had pizza the night before. I figure a chicken, bacon, ranch sandwich will save the night. Pizza Villa closed.  While I am ready to cry and give up because I am cranky, hungry and frustrated that we are all dressed up with literally no where to eat, my husband perseveres.

Out into Rota, where surprise, surprise: Wok Rota is open! And of course we were only the second table in there (after other Americans). I really think everyone in Spain was already making their way toward a plaza to party.

So food! We finally got to eat!

Ended up eating 4 shrimp, 2 hot wings, french fries and 1 bite of rice.

 

I'm not embarrassed to admit that all THREE of those plates are mine. I was starving when I filled them.

 

Not shown, his plate of squid and frog legs.

 

 

 

 

Getting 2012 started

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Well the first day of 2012 turned out to be a beautiful day, the temperature hit the 60s and the sun was shining.  We took Bowser for a walk along with the RC car to a nearby playground with a field attached.  Bowser LOVES chasing anything with wheels; bikes, power wheels, RC cars, the vacuum.  I am actually worried that he is going to try chasing a real car one day and end up getting run over!

Bowser chasing the car across a field

He can *almost* catch the car

Our base has playgrounds all over the place, there are probably 3 within a mile or two not counting the elementary school (which has three).  Ever since Bowser was a puppy we have been taking him to playgrounds and getting him used to walking on the different surfaces and playing on the slides. Now he LOVES going down the slide and will go down repeatedly by himself.

Racing down the slides

Finally when he’s exhausted I can take some pictures of him sitting still!

And of course just some general goofing around on the playground:

Our little corner of the Bay of Cadiz… The Spanish Navy has their ships docked here and any American ships that pull in will pull into a nearby pier.

This is what happens when your family gets bored on a Friday night:

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First the light sabers come out (along with assorted helmets, masks and shields from my son’s extensive collection, Thanks Aunt S!)

Then we start being crazy with the light sabers:

What else can we find?

Oh I know, lets get creative!

 

And the Grand Finale!

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Eve in Spain!

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Every country has its own traditions and Spain has some pretty fun ones.

New Year’s Eve is no exception and this is one of the Spanish traditions that you can do in your own home!

If you are in Spain on New Year’s Eve you will find pretty much everyone in a square or plaza hanging out with friends and eating and drinking.  When the clock strikes 12 everyone eats 12 grapes (ideally one for every strike!) and you will have luck all year long.  The grapes here are crazy big and generally have seeds, but you’ll see cans of grapes (conveniently 12 grapes!) for sale that are smaller and easier to eat.

This started one year (many many years ago) with a bigger than normal grape harvest.  The farmers couldn’t get rid of their grapes so they  basically started the tradition! A great way to get rid of the grapes and the start of a fun tradition.

We are generally boring and stay home with the kids because its a bit insane to be out with the kids (although it’s pretty normal to see kids running around that late anyways) but we like to have our grapes at home anyway.  Thankfully I can get some smaller grapes from the commissary so we can actually eat them!

 

Is it summer yet?

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I know we JUST celebrate Christmas but I am done with winter.  It was 39 degrees this morning when I came to work. I know some of my friends (especially one friend in North Dakota!) would laugh at me, and I did live in North Idaho for 5 years but I am out of winter shape!  It’s cold! We are supposed to be in southern Spain!

Of course I am here complaining about the cold and my kids are begging to go to Germany again this year so they can play in the snow!  While I don’t know if we’ll get to Germany we might take a day trip to the mountains, Spain has its own Sierra Nevada mountain range near Granada.

I think I would have preferred moving to Hawaii RIGHT NOW instead of in the middle of summer! It seems a lot of people stationed in Hawaii complain about having a warm Christmas but it sounds REALLY good right about now!

Christmas. Christmas. Christmas.

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Yes that is all I can think about this moment.

School is over and the presents are all shopped for (and wrapped!) so I can finally start to get into the Christmas spirit. I just haven’t had time before!

So here is my happiness in a cup:

Perfection. Mocha peppermint creamer in my FAVORITE holiday mug with the lights on the tree.

Also I should have posted this earlier in the month to inspire somone else… I saw this online SOMEWHERE last year and just loved it so I had to start this tradition this year.

Christmas Book Advent

The kids get to unwrap a book every night in December and read it.  I ran short of Christmas books and had to hit up the library.  I did order a BUNCH more for them for Christmas so we should be good for next year!  It’s a fun thing to look forward to and they love that they get to open SOMETHING before Christmas. Along with the chocolate advent calendar anyways!

Rum cake ready to be glazed so I’m off, this is just the start to our holiday binge eating!