Halloween 2013

We had a great halloween--the kids had MULTIPLE opportunities to wear their costumes--so I felt like we got good use out of them.  We had a day at school where they dressed up in their costumes.  I got to go in and help in Kailey's class with a little party--we decorated cookies, played games and made mummies (they were learning about Egypt).  A real mummy also came to their school--that is a story for a different blog post--let me just say that I LOVE SPANISH SCHOOL--they do such awesome things.  We also went to a trunk or treat at the drive in on base and also trick or treating--it was fantastic!!

Here are the pumpkins we carved--notice how awesome the ghost was--that is they one Cade and I made and I think it is the best!!

Our annual spooky dinner, we had mummy pizza, apple teeth, spiderweb dip, a snake eyeballs and for dessert ate a spooky graveyard.  It was delicious!!

Kids with their pumpkins

At the trunk or treat--I had the hulk, snow white and a monkey!

Here is the costume that Cade's teacher made for him--he is a spider and she made it out of a trashbag--she is a miracle worker when it comes to trash bags.  I think I must have at least 4 or 5 costumes that the kids teachers have made out of trashbags!

For Halloween, Kailey was monster high--someone gave us this costume--not thrilled about my sweet little girl looking like this!!

We had a potluck before trick or treating and here are all the kids.

We went trick or treating with one of Ethan's spanish friends--it was his first time.  We had a lot of fun with him and his parents.

Madrid and Segovia

Back in October, when Eric's mom was visiting, we went up to Madrid for a couple of days with her.    We had so much fun walking through the plazas, seeing such interesting buildings, we went and saw the royal palace, went to the Prado museum (which is a famous art museum), ate fantastic food, and more.  Here are a couple of pictures from our time.

The symbol of the city is this bear eating a tree-we saw it EVERYWHERE!

The oldest restaurant in the world (Eric went on a tour and ate here on a previous work trip to Madrid)

We love our street performers--this guy was playing the accordion and was really good!

In front of the Royal Palace (it was modeled after Versailles and after being to Versailles last year, I could really tell the similarities)

Annette was so righteous and went to the temple.

While Annette was at the temple, we went and got churros and chocolate!!

 One of our day trips from Madrid was spent in Segovia.  We went and saw a really cool castle and also they have a roman aqueduct running through part of the city.  It was so cool.

We saw tons of knights and armor this trip--the kids loved it!

Tons of really cool stain glass throughout the castle

This was one of my favorite rooms.  They had all these people around the top of the room that were all famous leaders .

Outside of the castle

Pretend my eyes are open in this picture--if they had been, this would have been a pretty good family picture!

This aqueduct is right in the middle of town--it was so cool!

Climbing up to the top

At the top almost!!

Ethan always wants to take our picture, so this was one of his--Eric and I look pretty good!

Can you spy Annette all the way down at the bottom??

We also love our cutouts--can't pass them without sticking our faces in!!

It isn't just the kids, Eric and I love sticking our faces in also!!

Córdoba, Spain

Eric's mom came to visit for almost three weeks in October.  The weather was fantastic and we had a wonderful time.  Spent several days at the beach, she and I had fun dropping the kids off at school and shopping, relaxing--it was fabulous.  We also made time to do a little sightseeing.  One of the places we went was Córdoba.  Córdoba is interesting because was ruled by Romans, then Islams, and now Spain and has had people there forever--the Romans conquered it in 200 B.C.--it is unbelievable to be living in a place where there is so much history.  Anyways,. The most spectacular attraction is the Mezquita--a Islamic mosque converted to a Catholic Cathedral.  The Mezquita was started in the 700s and completed about 200 years later and then in the 1200's was converted to a Catholic cathedral after the city was conquered.  For being so old, the architecture is amazing.  It is unbelievable to see how detailed and intricate the work is, and just boggles my mind how they do it without all the fancy tools we have now days.  Anways, we had a great time.

Outside the city walls

Side of the cathedral

Inside the cathedral--covered with these arches, which were made from pieces of a roman temple that had previously occupied the site.

Looking at the original foundation from the visigoths.

Grandma and the kids

Love all these keystone doorways

This is all carved and this picture does no justice--it was so intricate.

The cathedral

There was this creepy guy that was one of the heads and he would yell at people and scare them--the kids and I thought it was hilarious.

Getting our picture with the creepy guy, but while we were getting our picture taken, he kept feeling up my leg--so he is a creepy, dirty man!

All over Spain they have these cutouts of a bull--just thought this was a pretty picture with the sunset.

They also have cutouts of Tio Pepe all over