Anyone out there??

Not really sure if anyone is still reading our blog, especially since we haven't posted since the end of October!!! Geesh!! I guess since a couple of family members have made comments about no updates, there must be a reader or two out there still checking. Funny because I used to make fun of my friends for "never" posting.......

So, what have we been up to since October? Lots of the same old same old and lots of other fun stuff. Of course, my brother and I walked in the 3-Day (but that's a post in and of itself), we celebrated Turkey Day, we geared up for Christmas and a visit from Lela (Jaime's mom), the boys started gymnastics, we did a few touristy things (Sealife Aquarium, The DMA, Dallas Zoo, Texas Discovery Gardens, The Dallas Symphony, ICE! @ The Gaylord Texan, Medieval Times), celebrated Christmas, rang in the New Year, and had lots of fun around the house - and that's just November and December! So, here's the shortest November/December catch up I could manage...........

The State Fair of Texas!!

We lucked out and got to attend the State Fair of Texas with some of our family this year. The Fair is a totally different experience when visiting with young people, but it's still one of my favorites.

This year was the 125th anniversary the Texas State Fair, and it seems to get better and more expensive every time we attend. Despite having to take out a second mortgage to pay for everything, we still managed to have loads of fun, stay up too late, see KC & the Sunshine Band, and eat plenty State Fair food. The boys LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it.

September

A look back at our September........

What Happened to June??

Well, it's been a month since we closed on the house....we've moved in and actually started getting some furniture. We are still waiting for the roof and gutters to be finished after over 5 weeks or so, (it was part of the "deal" when we bought the house and the seller picked a really terrible roofing company), but we are settling in and trying to wrap or heads around being actual homeowners.

Of course we've been up to a bunch of other things as well. Playing, swimming, skating, local events, spending time with friends, and hanging out. The weather here is crazy hot, so if it doesn't involve water it better be somewhere inside!!! Here is a recap of what our June looked like:

NYE Weekend 2010

We had a great NYE weekend over at my brother Trav's house. We had tons of food, fireworks, games, grapes, and fun. On Saturday, we went to the park, sat on a horse, and celebrated Trav's 35th birthday with my other brother Trevor and his family.  On Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast and then packed up the kids for the final day of Holiday in the Park at Six Flags over Texas....I don't think we could have squeezed anything else into our last weekend of 2010 and our first weekend of 2011. Happy New Year Everyone!!!

For the second week of Christmas...

For the first week of Christmas...

December, December....it's already here!!

This year we decided to create an activity advent calendar for the boys with various activities or treats counting down the days until Christmas. Anything from a Christmas Light Parade, to making ornaments, to eating candy canes...And, since we aren't going to torture anyone by posting on each and every activity, we've decided to do a "week in review" each Sunday/Monday instead. Here's what we were up to this past week:

Back in the U.S. of A

Hard to believe we've almost been back in Dallas an entire month! Our flight was great and we're as settled in as we can be while intruding on family space.

We spent our first week getting all the "necessities" like a car and a phone and whatnot, and then Jaime got down to the business of looking for work. Lots of resumes sent out across the US, but nothing promising just yet.

Then it was Thanksgiving week...and now it's December!

Otherwise we've been hanging out and enjoying the TX weather fluctuations from 84 one day to 37 the very next day. We've been enjoying the local amenities from neighborhood parks to library story time, and we've been attending some of the many Christmas time activities throughout the metroplex. Here's a little video of our Dallas November:

H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N

This past Sunday we decided to throw a Halloween bash as a sort of "Adios" party. It took some looking around and a few trips to different stores, but we found lots of goodies for our fiesta. Alex was Dracula and Connor a Rumba Guy. We had food, games, music, and fun. While it started off a little slow, it turned out pretty great in the end. Happy Halloween everyone!

End of Summer Fun

We've been trying to keep busy and cool since my cousin left a couple weeks ago. We haven't been up to anything specific, just a bunch of this and that. I wanted to post a quick video before we celebrate the boys 3rd birthday tomorrow!! Crazy!! Then, next week, Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of yet another summer...sometimes the days are slow, but time sure does fly!! Enjoy our fun!!

Santa Cruz Carnival Coso 2010 (Video)

Okay, so much for keeping up with the blog while my cousin was in town! Even though we had a few days of not so great weather, we did manage to keep ourselves pretty busy during her 9 day stay. She heads back to England and her studies tomorrow...so maybe I can get caught up on everything now.

We'll start with finishing up our view of this year's Carnaval. Alise arrived in Tenerife last Tuesday...just hours before the Carnaval daytime Coso (Parade), and we got there just before the action began and with enough time to still score some decent seats.

The boys had a great time watching, playing, dancing, and catching (eating) tons of candy...We all "sat" through most of the parade before wandering up the street a bit to take in more sights and grab a bite to eat.

The last of the 4+ hour parade was passing by just as we called it a night and headed back to the car. We did our very best to condense all that entertainment into this under 10 minute video. Hope you enjoy!

It's Carnaval time in Tenerife!!

Yep, it's that time of year again....it is Carnaval time in Spain. As you might remember from my post last year, the celebrations here in Santa Cruz are second only to the world famous Carnaval in Rio de Janerio. Even Wikipedia has a lot to say about the fiesta here in Tenerife. This year's original theme was "La Historia de la Hunanidad," or the ‘The History of Humanity,' but was changed to "Tenerife, story of a carnival." They almost changed the poster too, but decided to keep it in the end. (I could speculate as to why, but I'm not entirely sure...so I won't.)

There are lots of contests, fiestas, concerts, pageants, etc. that take place during Carnaval, but we pretty much just check out the things we can reasonably bring the boys to...I know, maybe not as exciting and glamorous, but we are "old" boring parents now...so take what you can get. I will try and do better about posting this year, especially about the daytime parade which is next Tuesday.

Tomorrow we have a chance to see the elected queen and her consort, and, so far, we are planning on doing that as well. We might also check out the antique car procession next Sunday...other than that, I'm not sure what else we will attend, but I'll let you know.

Oh, and my cousin, Alise, will be here visiting us starting Tuesday so we will (no doubt) have lots of excursions and whatnot to post about...maybe not in the most timely fashion, but I'll get around to everything as soon as possible.

Anyhow, today the boy's school had their own official kickoff party for Carnaval. The kids were just too cute and Alex and Connor did an excellent job of parading, singing, and dancing. It was hard to get good photos without them seeing us, and most of my videos turned out really shaky, but, take a look, and see what you think of our sweet little bugs:

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

...and elephants, horses, acrobats, and clowns too!!! Oh my!!!

We went to the Grand Circo Mundial (The World Circus) this past weekend. It was a sort of "old fashion" three ring (okay one ring) circus that is touring Europe and is currently in Tenerife.

It was a homey, cozy, cute and slightly sad circus that everyone seemed to enjoy. It had almost all of the standard circus acts with animals, high wire antics, jugglers, clowns, acrobats, and the motorcycle cage.

The boys (mostly) sat through the first half, but got a little antsy and anxious during the second half. They seemed to enjoy the animal acts the best and the clowns the least. Maybe it was because they couldn't see them very well. We let them get up and "roam" the isles a bit dancing and playing with the other children, but, ultimately, we left a tiny bit early as the 2.5 hour show ran right through their snack and nap time. Although the Circus is a bit unfashioable these days and is a topic for debate, there is still something magical about it and I'm glad we went.

"I believe that the circus is a place where people can forget the headaches and heartaches of life. And all the other countries getting along together is part of the magic that is the circus." ~ Bello Knock

SNV - Saturday Night Video's

It's Saturday which seemed like a good enough reason to share a few videos of our monkeys:

A friend of mine posted a video of her twin boys doing Ring Around the Rosie. I showed it to Alex & Connor and they LOVED it. They loved it so much they wanted to copy it over and over again. As usual, as soon as the camera was out, they weren't interested in performing anymore because they wanted to look at and play with the camera instead. We finally caught this little clip of Connor doing "Ro-ee." He is particularly fond of this activity as you can see...

Like most kids I know, our two like to dance. Alex tends to dance a little more often than Connor, and they both have their own individual style. We recently noticed that Jazz music "moves" Alex the most possibly followed by Spanish music. For Connor, it's not the type of music, he just has to be in the mood.

"Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music." ~William Stafford

An evening in an exotic land...

While we were out being tourists on Friday, Jaime's sister sent us a message that she would be dancing later in the evening and that we were invited to the party. Luckily, we found someone to sit at our apartment while the boys slept and we went out.

Jaime and I grabbed a quick caña (draft beer) and a lomo bocadillo (pork loin sandwich) at a funky little "diner" before heading to the Teteria Tuareg, a cozy little bar/teahouse in Santa Cruz where they also have belly dancing lessons and shows.

The Tuareg's were a legendary nomadic tribe of warriors, the blue men of the desert. Belly dancing is the Western term for a traditional Middle Eastern dance form. There are several different styles of these dances now and each performer customizes her own routine.

Nuria is also part of a dance group that competed in Tienes Talento, Spain's version of America's Got Talent. They passed several rounds and even got to travel to Madrid to compete. They were great and had a lot of fun doing it, but didn't win the competition. (Click here to see a video of the competition)

Anyhow, we had to park further away from the bar than we wanted to and ended up missing Nuria's first dance. So, we ordered a tea (one of 100's they offer), hung out with Jaime's sister, and watched the other dancers until it was Nuria's time to dance again.

Us with Nuria:


And a couple little video clips of her dancing, a little dark, but, what can ya do?



It was a fun evening, but we paid for it in the morning. We went to bed at around 2am... and the boys still woke up at 7am!! How inconsiderate of them!

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul." ~Martha Graham