Well, as of today at 3 pm its Spring Break, otherwise known here as “Semana Santa” or “Holy Week” or plainly said “Easter’. Holy week is a huge event in all of Spain, there are many processions and celebrations. Very different in every part, being the most famous in the south of Spain.

But for us what this all really means is that school is out for a couple of weeks and the kids get to rest and enjoy the beginning of the great weather to come.. and with Spring Break comes the end of the second trimester and report card time….

For Isabella its still a simple is she getting it or not…and yes, she is getting all of it and then some..Her teacher commented that she was the perfect student, very obedient, very studious and outgoing….(I think there is another Isabella in that classroom and the poor lady is confused).

Marco’s grades are a little more serious because he is officially in the beginning of his school career.. the grading system here is a little different than in the states where the A,B,C,D or F method is used here it goes like this.. Sobresaliente (A), Notable (B), Muy bien (C), Suficiente (D) and Insuficiente (F).. Marco received one A ,guess in what subject??? hahaha yes in English..(Might be the only A we will see from him.. hahah) He got 3 B’s (Math, Spanish and Gym) 2 C’s (Valenciano and Science/Social Studies) and one (D) in art… (poor thing he inherited my lovely art skills!!)..

We are very proud of both of them and have taught them that its very important to study and get good grades but more importantly is to figure out what their individual gifts are and to develop those fully, consciously to be able to share them with the world…Overall, honesty, ethics, and love..

picture google

Bella loves to sing and spends her days making up songs, singing school songs, or imitating singers like Celine or Mariah.. She states she would like to either be a painter, singer or dancer when she grows up but says that in reality she knows she will be a princess.. hahaha

Click her to view her song repertoire..

We will be recording her other famous Celine version of songs coming soon…..

As you all know Marco although only in first grade already gets homework. He loves the math part and problem solving but when it comes to drawing of painting, he just can’t stand it…I don’t blame him because I can’t draw myself..as much as I try.

Today he had to turn in his homework and last night he fell asleep before he could complete the coloring part..What do we do? No problem, we give it to Bella for her to finish it.. Yes, we are bad parents, Bella finished his homework perfectly. She was very happy to do it, she said she didn’t want Marco to get in trouble.

I know, I know, we are not going to make this a habit and Marco needs to learn how to draw and color and also learn responsibility, don’t worry we are on it!

One of my very good friends Marisela, has just bought a new apartment and is starting her new life after losing her husband last year to cancer. She wanted me to go with her today to Ikea in Murcia (about an hour south of Alicante) so she could do a little shopping. Since, I have a little free time now..hahahaa.. I signed up quickly.

We dropped off the kids in school and headed on our adventure. Once there we had breakfast for one euro..and where ready to shop. If you haven’t been to an Ikea the experience is a little overwhelming. There is so much to see and everything is laid our systematically.. It was like following the yellow brick road.. We did that, and picked up little nick nacks along the way.

Two carts full and a couple of hours later we were on our way to the check out counter and then to the hardest part of the trip.. How the hell to stick all the things we purchased in to a little European car...We basically had to pull everything out of the boxes, put down some seats, squeeze all we could in to the trunk and hope we would fit in the car…

We had a great time and the trip was a success..We plan to do it again real soon.. But hey Marisela, next time lets skip the elevator part..hahaha..

Photo from flickr by rodelgo

I always google Matt to make sure that all his new projects are being reflected on his web and on the internet and that there is nothing out there that shouldn’t be. So the other day I wondered what would happen if I googled myself…and to my surprise many interesting things from my past showed up….

For instance there was interview I did back when I worked for a swim wear store for the Lauderdale Daily News, a credit for a recording a did for Matt’s friend Ken Hensley who just came out with his new album called Blood on the Highway, this blog comes up, and some other weirdo things that don’t even relate to me..hahah. I also found there is another Nuria Pendas who lives in Mallorca and owns a restaurant, she emailed me a while back to let me know about all our similarites..

So, if you haven’t googled yourself lately, go on try it see what comes up…

Photo Flickr by Retro-X

Many of you who read my blog don’t have a blog yourself or have never really ventured much into the IT world. Some of you have called me and asked for advise..hahaha.. from me..Well, my good friends who’s blog infomadas is awesome (sorry you English speakers it is in Spanish) wrote a very interesting post about the 50 most powerful blogs on the net right now.

If you only read my blog I suggest you look into others and see what else is out there..There are many cool blogs that talk about anything and everything..I know, I know no time.. I have the same problem, but now and then a quick little fun read is good for everyone.

photo flckr by robin hamman

Saturday March 8th we celebrated (well, with the kids, the colds, work etc…not really celebrated) our 11th wedding anniversary. We passed the 10 year mark now we have 9 more years to go to pass the 20 year mark.. Not sure about him as he would have to comment himself but the past 11 years have flown by.

We’ve had good times and bad times, health and sickness, children and problems, and through it all we are still here. Although marriage is something you need to work at, I’m very happy at the moment and hope that we can continue on this journey together…

We hope to be able to celebrate it later in the year with a mini vacation.. Just the two of us.. We will see..

Bella went on her first field trip to a the MARQ museum (Archaeological Museum) right here in Alicante. She was thrilled to be able to go on the BIG bus without Mama and Papa. She felt very grown up!..

I tried to ask her what she saw and to please give me a brief description of the trip and this is all I got:

“We went on the BIG bus and I sat next to Marina, we met Llumiq (I think, from what I saw on their web page that llumiq is some sort of animated animal that gives them a tour of the museum). Llumiq was very nice, they gave us a ballon, and we made put two shells with clay together”

I asked her if she saw any prehistoric things, to which she replied:

“I told you, I went on the Big bus, they gave me a balloon and I met Llumiq, that is a lot, I’m very tired!”

So there you have it Bella’s first field trip…

Today we had the weirdest weather, if we were still living in Miami we would have had a hurricane warning and everyone would have been out buying materials to last for months, we would have been boarding up the house and listening to all the TV stations for news of what else we should do…But not here in Alicante..

The winds were well, not sure the actual speed, but I had to hold on tight!! I could hardly open our front door and when the wind was hitting me, I could hardly breath.. It was also very, very cold..

In a couple of weeks Holy Week arrives in Spain and that is generally when the good weather starts appearing and even some daring tourist take a dip in the pool or brave the ocean waves..Not sure what they will do if this weather continues…

photo weather report alicante

It is only Wednesday, hump day but so far this week has been one of the hardest ever. I can’t comment too much about it yet, but as soon as I can I will make many comments on this blog..

If you want to personally email me I will be more than happy to tell you what is going on.. but lets just say that life throws you many surprises and some of them are very unfortunate and very disturbing..

I leave you with that and will continue blogging away with our Spain stories…

photo flickr