Random Stuff

We took Connor to the Clinic today because he has what might be Thrush. We went to the Pharmacy last week and got (without a prescription) some Mycostatin for a (non-insurance) total of about $4 usd. While it reduced the infection, it did not completely disappear. We called the pediatrician that Jaime's brother uses, but the office hours are 4pm to 7pm M,T, W & F... not all that great for our schedule...

So, after their first nap, off to the Clinic we went... what a long day it turned out to be. They have socialized medicine here in Spain, and one of the "requirements" is that you to go to the clinic for your area. We drove into town, found parking, got the boys in the stroller and walked to the clinic that Jaime's sister told us to go. They told us we were at the wrong clinic for our address and sent us to another one. We walked back to the car, packed up the boys, and drove to the other clinic... only to find out, they weren't the right one either... it turns out, we were at the right one the first time. So... back to the car, drive, park, stroller, walk, walk, walk...

Of course all this time they are asking for our social security number which we don't have here yet. Back at the original clinic, they tell us we can go next door to the social security office to get the boys a number.... so we went, and they were closed... back to the clinic. It's getting late, the boys haven't eaten... or napped, everyone is getting cranky, we think Alex also has the infection... we decide to pay as a private customer (47€ or about $75usd) and wait....and wait....and wait... After about 1.5 hours, we get in to see the doctor... I won't comment on all that stuff until we have to go again and I can have a fresh less cranky perspective, but in the end we got a prescription for another medication and some suggestions for preventative treatments. So, hopefully this will clear things up for both the boys, and hopefully Jaime will have all our papers completed so next time we can avoid another day like today.

Otherwise, we've pretty much been hanging out around the house, doing chores, swimming, taking care of the boys and such. We did take the boys to the main park in Santa Cruz for a walk on Saturday night and we let the boys check out the playground. Connor tried to eat some sand immediately, and, while he didn't seem to like it very much, he insisted on tasting it again and again. Alex was less impressed with the sand and only tried it once. There were a lot of children so the boys only "played" for a little while.












Yesterday we went for our Sunday Churros and Chocolate and then back home for lunch. In the evening, Jaime took us all for a nice drive up into the Esperanza mountains. It was 21ºC (70ºF) here in Tabaiba (the town we live in) and 10ºC (50ºF) up in the pines. It was a beautiful and peaceful (aside from Connors yelling) drive, with beautiful scenery. We are planning (hoping) to take a trip up to the Teide, an active though dormant volcano, and the highest mountain in Spain. We didn't get any good pictures, so those will have to wait for another time.

As in the States, we make sure there is always a pizza in the house for those times we just don't want to make dinner... We have been trying all the brands to figure out which one we prefer and the one we had last night was called "Big Americans." Never mind it's made in the UK and it wasn't actually big (it was smaller than a Tombstone) nor was it really "American." We had the supreme which had a bunch of different toppings including corn... good thing it was pretty tasty.


One final thought, something we have been meaning to share, is the sound that we are serenaded by every night. It is the call of the "Pardela" (or Cory's Shearwater in English). It's an ocean bird that generally only "calls" when flying over land (during breeding season) and not when flying over water. We leave you with the call of the Pardela...