We worked hard on Sunday afternoon to get Danny's bedroom ready, and having had a 30 km bike ride in the morning I can tell you I was well knackered by the time we'd finished. He was very pleased with the results, and not at all sentimental for his old furniture, thankfully. We decided to see how it went without the side protection fence (to stop him falling out) and were half expecting to be woken up by a crying Daniel, either because of the newness or because he'd fallen out. What a pleasant surprise therefore to wake up of our own accord at 7.20, Danny having slept through the night!
Jamie was in her inflatable mattress and didn't have a great night, she was awake when Carmen popped her head around the door at 3 am. But that wasn't the fault of the bed, oh no! (Just like the blister on her ankle has nothing to do with the tight shoes she insisted on wearing yesterday, against all our advice).
This afternoon, however, Dan made a big fuss at nap time and has skipped his nap, so I hope that's not related to the new bed...
Monday, March 21, 2005
Father's weekend. part 1
It was Father's Day here on Saturday, so when I woke up - pleasantly late - I didn't have to jump out of bed and get the kids sorted (milk, toilet, telly, etc.) as I usually do, which was very nice. I was pampered and given beautiful handmade presents by my pride and joys - a finger-painted tie-shaped painting from Danny and a lovely box filled with bonbons from Jamie, and a card.
My Father's Day was a meal in the pizzeria, and we headed out early to let the kids have a play in the park and to do a bit of shopping in the market. In the park we bumped into our friends Magdalena and Rodolfo and their kids, Daniel and Monica, and asked them if they would like to join us. We're in, they said, and off we trundled for an aperitif.
The kids all enjoyed their pizzas, and I shared a fondue bourgignonne (meat) with Rodolfo, which turned out to be a little disappointing, but I snaffled leftovers of everyone else's pizzas, as you do, which made up for it. At one point Jamie was drinking from a glass and it was banged against her teeth, which made her cry briefly. But the upshot was that a tooth which had been loose now only needed a slight tug by Magdalena to come out, so Jamie lost her 5th tooth. Ratoncito Perez, the famous Spanish tooth mouse, brought her a kaleidoscope and a 2 euro coin in the night.
The kids went outside to play after they'd finished eating, and for the first time we were comfortable letting Danny out on his own, fairly confident that he wouldn't suddenly dash out over the road (after luridly informing him about the serious consequences of doing so!). Which meant we could relax and enjoy the rest of our meals and coffees in relative peace.
By this time we were settling nicely into the Spanish timetable for lunch on a lazy Saturday, i.e. take your time. We moved to the Manantial café for digestifs, and the kids carried on running around (God knows where they get the energy from). Jamie and Daniel played nicely together, and our Danny and Monica, and ne'er a cross word was exchanged, amazingly. See the pictures below in the mouse car, Danny and Monica look like boyfriend and girlfriend…
My Father's Day was a meal in the pizzeria, and we headed out early to let the kids have a play in the park and to do a bit of shopping in the market. In the park we bumped into our friends Magdalena and Rodolfo and their kids, Daniel and Monica, and asked them if they would like to join us. We're in, they said, and off we trundled for an aperitif.
The kids all enjoyed their pizzas, and I shared a fondue bourgignonne (meat) with Rodolfo, which turned out to be a little disappointing, but I snaffled leftovers of everyone else's pizzas, as you do, which made up for it. At one point Jamie was drinking from a glass and it was banged against her teeth, which made her cry briefly. But the upshot was that a tooth which had been loose now only needed a slight tug by Magdalena to come out, so Jamie lost her 5th tooth. Ratoncito Perez, the famous Spanish tooth mouse, brought her a kaleidoscope and a 2 euro coin in the night.
The kids went outside to play after they'd finished eating, and for the first time we were comfortable letting Danny out on his own, fairly confident that he wouldn't suddenly dash out over the road (after luridly informing him about the serious consequences of doing so!). Which meant we could relax and enjoy the rest of our meals and coffees in relative peace.
By this time we were settling nicely into the Spanish timetable for lunch on a lazy Saturday, i.e. take your time. We moved to the Manantial café for digestifs, and the kids carried on running around (God knows where they get the energy from). Jamie and Daniel played nicely together, and our Danny and Monica, and ne'er a cross word was exchanged, amazingly. See the pictures below in the mouse car, Danny and Monica look like boyfriend and girlfriend…
Father's weekend, part 2
After this we decided to walk over to the harbour, initially to go for coffee at another hotel, but we decided this would be a touch excessive, so we just walked around the harbour for a bit, while the kids continued running. As we started back, Danny's batteries suddenly ran out, and I had to carry him.
On the way home I went off to get some shopping while Carmen took the kids home for an early bath. As I was walking home I suddenly heard a loud noise, looked up and saw a plane appear over the roof of our building, looking like it had nearly knocked our aerial off, so to speak.
When I got home it turned out this plane had already been over a few times, swooping down to scoop up water from the harbour, apparently to dump on a forest fire. We scanned the horizon and sure enough there was smoke rising from the hills in the distance. I got out the camera to film it coming over again, but the time I filmed it it wasn't nearly as low as the previous times (of course). I still got some interesting shots though, see below.
On the way home I went off to get some shopping while Carmen took the kids home for an early bath. As I was walking home I suddenly heard a loud noise, looked up and saw a plane appear over the roof of our building, looking like it had nearly knocked our aerial off, so to speak.
When I got home it turned out this plane had already been over a few times, swooping down to scoop up water from the harbour, apparently to dump on a forest fire. We scanned the horizon and sure enough there was smoke rising from the hills in the distance. I got out the camera to film it coming over again, but the time I filmed it it wasn't nearly as low as the previous times (of course). I still got some interesting shots though, see below.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Father's weekend - part 3
This morning I went out for a bike ride with Rodolfo, and we decided to go and see if we could find the fire. There had been nothing in the local newspapers this morning, either printed or online, which was strange. The plane reappeared as I was getting the bike out, but by the time we were on the road there was no smoke and the plane had gone home, and we never spotted any sign of a fire big enough to merit a plane.
But we had a very pleasant 30-km ride, much further than Rodolfo was expecting, as it was his first time on his bike in about 3 years, but he coped very well with the long hill up to Labarces. We stopped at the bar at the top of the hill for refreshments, and someone there told us that the fire had been a controlled one, although this seemed a bit strange to me, I couldn't understand why they would need a plane in that case.
Rodolfo took a couple of photos, which I will post here later when he has sent them to me.
After I got home, we took the kids down the playground briefly before lunch, but after 15 minutes Danny came to sit next to us on the bench. He'd missed his nap two days running, and after all the efforts of the previous day he was exhausted. He's now napping soundly in his cot - for the very last time, as I will be taking it apart after he wakes up, ready for it to be collected later by its new owners.
We'll be moving Jamie's old bed (his new bed) into his room this afternoon as well, and Jamie will sleep on her inflatable Winnie the Pooh bed until her new furniture finally arrives (which she is really unhappy about - not!).
But we had a very pleasant 30-km ride, much further than Rodolfo was expecting, as it was his first time on his bike in about 3 years, but he coped very well with the long hill up to Labarces. We stopped at the bar at the top of the hill for refreshments, and someone there told us that the fire had been a controlled one, although this seemed a bit strange to me, I couldn't understand why they would need a plane in that case.
Rodolfo took a couple of photos, which I will post here later when he has sent them to me.
After I got home, we took the kids down the playground briefly before lunch, but after 15 minutes Danny came to sit next to us on the bench. He'd missed his nap two days running, and after all the efforts of the previous day he was exhausted. He's now napping soundly in his cot - for the very last time, as I will be taking it apart after he wakes up, ready for it to be collected later by its new owners.
We'll be moving Jamie's old bed (his new bed) into his room this afternoon as well, and Jamie will sleep on her inflatable Winnie the Pooh bed until her new furniture finally arrives (which she is really unhappy about - not!).
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Circus
The pictures below tell the story so there's not a huge amount to add, suffice to say we had a great time at Circus Alex Zavatta yesterday. It was very small-scale, like all the circuses that visit San Vicente: the audience was less than 100 for the prime-time 5 o'clock Saturday show. But this time the staff were friendly, everything looked in reasonably good working order, no seating collapsed (!) and the performers gave their all with genuine enjoyment and polished showmanship.
Danny was mesmerised during the first half, and only started getting fidgetty towards the end of the second half. Each new act pulled his attention back though, so he made it through to the end without having to go off and play somewhere, or whatever.
The show started with a performing dog act, played for slapstick laughs, which was brilliant because it grabbed the kids' attention straight away and got them laughing. The previous 2 circuses we'd been to here started with the lion and tiger tamers, which would not have worked so well for Danny as he might have been scared from the start.
The show had been advertised as having 'powerful heating', but this was a predictable exaggeration, and we all stayed wrapped up in our coats and were glad to get back into the car and switch the heating on at the end.
Danny was mesmerised during the first half, and only started getting fidgetty towards the end of the second half. Each new act pulled his attention back though, so he made it through to the end without having to go off and play somewhere, or whatever.
The show started with a performing dog act, played for slapstick laughs, which was brilliant because it grabbed the kids' attention straight away and got them laughing. The previous 2 circuses we'd been to here started with the lion and tiger tamers, which would not have worked so well for Danny as he might have been scared from the start.
The show had been advertised as having 'powerful heating', but this was a predictable exaggeration, and we all stayed wrapped up in our coats and were glad to get back into the car and switch the heating on at the end.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Log blog
At the risk of conforming to all the doting parent clichés and imparting information that the rest of the world would really rather not know, we hit another milestone at 3.45 am this morning: Danny's first no. 2 on a potty (well actually on the toilet). He'd had a bad dream and cried 30 minutes earlier and was just settling down again to go back to sleep. I guess lying quietly in bed it was much more obvious to him than when running around during the daytime. Fingers crossed that this was not a one-off !
Friday, March 11, 2005
Rooms
We are in the middle of some rearrangements at home, I'll post some photos as soon as it's suitable for viewing ;o)
In the spare room / office we've moved the bed up next to the window and the big desk which used to be in the other flat is now in the middle of the room against the far wall. This gives us both a lot more room at the computer - the old desk was 110 cm wide, the 'new' one 200 cm. It all fits in surprisingly well, and the fitted cupboards even open without hitting the foot of the bed - just. Despite the bigger desk, the room feels bigger, roomier. We'll be putting up some bookshelves to cope with our excess of books, which will reduce that sense of roominess a bit, but hopefully not too much.
Next up are the kids' bedrooms - Jamie's new furniture should be arriving next week, so the baby furniture will be going to its new owner and Jamie's old bed will be moving into Danny's room. Fingers crossed he will not be getting out of bed all the time now he's not kept in by cot bars...
In the spare room / office we've moved the bed up next to the window and the big desk which used to be in the other flat is now in the middle of the room against the far wall. This gives us both a lot more room at the computer - the old desk was 110 cm wide, the 'new' one 200 cm. It all fits in surprisingly well, and the fitted cupboards even open without hitting the foot of the bed - just. Despite the bigger desk, the room feels bigger, roomier. We'll be putting up some bookshelves to cope with our excess of books, which will reduce that sense of roominess a bit, but hopefully not too much.
Next up are the kids' bedrooms - Jamie's new furniture should be arriving next week, so the baby furniture will be going to its new owner and Jamie's old bed will be moving into Danny's room. Fingers crossed he will not be getting out of bed all the time now he's not kept in by cot bars...
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Banter
I went out on Wednesday evening to watch Chelsea v Barcelona with a Brit I recently met who lives here with his Spanish girlfriend. He knew a few of the Spanish lads in the bar so we had a bit of banter going back and forth, especially as the game swung one way and another. Good laugh, we'll be doing it again soon.
We went back to Santander yesterday to spend our big gift token - and a lot more besides :( We had our fingers crossed tightly again when we put our lottery tickets into the slot, but lightning didn't strike twice unfortunately.
Jamie had a cooking afternoon at school yesterday, this time with grandparents helping out rather than parents. They cooked 'tortos', which are local fried corn pancakes, very thick, the texture of which actually more resembles hash browns or rosti.
The flat is now let until 13 August, with provisional reservations for 13 Aug - 10 Sep, which I think is very good going considering how long we've been advertising it. I have been asked by an estate agent friend to mention properties they have on their books to people I turn away because the dates are already booked, which seems to me to be a pretty good compliment.
I'm girding my loins for a 22,000-word court judgment which I will have to start work on soon and am not looking forward to. I got offered another 2 big jobs in the past 2 days which I had to turn down because of it - total 70,000 words. I can't remember ever turning down that kind of quantity in such a short period before now. And once those two jobs have been placed with other translators, people will have trouble placing other jobs, so I'll probably be turning down even more in the coming weeks. It's a vicious circle, but it suggests there will be no shortage of work in the next few months.
Finally got software installed to connect up our new Motorola V550 phones to the computer, so we can upload photos (and download MP3 flies to use as ringtones, for example). Up to now we've had to send photos by MMS to our email, which would have been an expensive option in the long term, so I'm glad we've got that sorted. It means we can snap away with the cameras at will. They proved their worth at the swimming pool - it's nice to always have a camera handy.
We will be taking our annual trip to Holland from about 25 August to 10 September this year.
We went back to Santander yesterday to spend our big gift token - and a lot more besides :( We had our fingers crossed tightly again when we put our lottery tickets into the slot, but lightning didn't strike twice unfortunately.
Jamie had a cooking afternoon at school yesterday, this time with grandparents helping out rather than parents. They cooked 'tortos', which are local fried corn pancakes, very thick, the texture of which actually more resembles hash browns or rosti.
The flat is now let until 13 August, with provisional reservations for 13 Aug - 10 Sep, which I think is very good going considering how long we've been advertising it. I have been asked by an estate agent friend to mention properties they have on their books to people I turn away because the dates are already booked, which seems to me to be a pretty good compliment.
I'm girding my loins for a 22,000-word court judgment which I will have to start work on soon and am not looking forward to. I got offered another 2 big jobs in the past 2 days which I had to turn down because of it - total 70,000 words. I can't remember ever turning down that kind of quantity in such a short period before now. And once those two jobs have been placed with other translators, people will have trouble placing other jobs, so I'll probably be turning down even more in the coming weeks. It's a vicious circle, but it suggests there will be no shortage of work in the next few months.
Finally got software installed to connect up our new Motorola V550 phones to the computer, so we can upload photos (and download MP3 flies to use as ringtones, for example). Up to now we've had to send photos by MMS to our email, which would have been an expensive option in the long term, so I'm glad we've got that sorted. It means we can snap away with the cameras at will. They proved their worth at the swimming pool - it's nice to always have a camera handy.
We will be taking our annual trip to Holland from about 25 August to 10 September this year.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Nice one
Went shopping this morning in Carrefour Santander, and filled two trolleys with storage boxes, duvet covers, sheets, washing liquid and various bits and pieces. €231. At the till we were given 4 tickets for a store promotion lottery to win the value of your shopping. They'd built an archway with a scanner in it, and you had to insert the card into the scanner. Up the side of the arch were red lights indicating no prize, €3, €13, €30 or the value of your shopping. For the first three cards the lights stopped on 'no prize', so I was just waiting for the fourth one to do the same when suddenly lights started flashing and bells ringing (well a tape started playing) and the light had stopped at 'value of your shopping'! We had to go to the customer service desk, where they gave us a gift voucher for €231 (of course).
We briefly regretted not buying the television set and video camera we were originally planning to buy as well, but then we probably would have arrived at the till at a different moment and wouldn't have won anyway. And now we can get €231 discount on the video camera next time we go.
Which not surprisingly has made our day - while Jamie's day has also been made by the fact that we are going to the swimming pool this afternoon. Carmen's friend Irene (who lives in Hendaye just over the French border) is here with her two kids and we are all going together.
We briefly regretted not buying the television set and video camera we were originally planning to buy as well, but then we probably would have arrived at the till at a different moment and wouldn't have won anyway. And now we can get €231 discount on the video camera next time we go.
Which not surprisingly has made our day - while Jamie's day has also been made by the fact that we are going to the swimming pool this afternoon. Carmen's friend Irene (who lives in Hendaye just over the French border) is here with her two kids and we are all going together.
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