Like every year since we moved to Spain we have celebrated the Night of San Juan, right here on the beach of our very own Playa San Juan in Alicante. It is a century old tradition that lives strong in this part of the world.

It consists of getting together with your friends and family, going to the beach with lots of food and drinks, you build a bonfire and burn all the old to bring in the new. At midnight you wet your feet on the Mediterranean Sea and jump backwards 3 times, making a wish..(and many other traditions).

My yoga class along with my neighbors all gathered together this year and we had one of the best “Noche de San Juan” ever. We had every type of food, drinks, candles, incense, lots of rituals and lots of fun..

You can see all the pics HERE…..

Ok, for those of you who don’t know what Hogueras or the Bonfires of Saint John are, All I can say is that it is a Fiesta here in Alicante Spain... You can read more about it in my Playa San Juan blog… Anyway, long explanation short, a lot of people, a lot of tradition, a lot of parties, a lot of food, a lot of drinks and most of all a lot of fireworks..

Yes, I think next to China, the Valencian community is a close second to the art of pyrotechnics.. So much so that during the weeks the Hogueras are celebrated there are firework display every night. Yes, every night, and when I say every night I mean around midnight or later..

So just imagine, you have just put your kids to bed, you have just sat down to finally start winding down, it is 1 am and all of a sudden….BOOM, BOOM , BOOM, Oh My God the world is coming to an end, we are at war… what the hell is going on??? Ohhhh, yes it is Hogueras, it is firework time…

Needless to say Marco and Bella were woken up from their nite nite and rushed to my side so I could comfort them…Before that though I was able to capture the moment in video, since last nights fireworks happened to be right around the corner..You can hear poor Precious in the background barking her head off..

Enjoy!!!!

I’m really late in posting all our activities, but as last week, the kids were sick and stayed home from school, so I have not been able to get anything done. I will try to recover slowly. Kids are feeling better but it all started around Carnaval which was last weekend so we did not do all the things we had planned..

Bella and Marco had a festival in school where they had to dress like something from the universe, Bella as I told you in another post wanted to be a star, and Marco ended up being a mix between and alien and who knows what. Anyway, they had a great time in school with their friends, and Bella had a Carnaval birtday pary the next day.. So then her birthday the next day..

I leave you with some pics..

Well, I now think all our Spanish friends either think we are crazy or we are the best party planners in the world (I think the latter). We had over 40 children with their parents come to our amazing Halloween bash. I was the party planning leader and had to organize everything from the decoration, food and the haunted house. I delegated what I could and I think it was a huge success.

We had a great time decorating but the most fun of all was preparing the haunted house for the kids, it was Pay Back Time!! It took Matt all day to set up but when the time came the kids couldn’t wait to go in. Traci, Matt, Elena and Paula were inside the house scaring the shit out of the kids.. They would enter 4 at a time (by age group of course) and had the scare of their life.

Overall, I think everyone had a blast. Halloween is a new tradition here in Spain, but I think the Spaniards are really catching on and is a Fiesta they will not miss year after and year..

You can see all the wonderful pics HERE… 

This weekend was a nonstop party for me.. With the announcement of my new drivers license my friends decided we needed to celebrate (any excuse for a girls night out) so on Friday night, the girls and I went out to dinner and a night of dancing around town..We got home early well.. very early for Spain just before 4 am.. We left when people were just starting to party.. Put it this way we finished having dinner at 1 am…

On Saturday night we were invited to the David Bustamante concert. Most of you probably don’t know who he is and I didn’t either but I found out he was the 4th runner up of the very first Operacion Triunfo contest, Spain’s version of American Idol. Matt’s friend is a friend of his and his guitar player Pablo Padilla . We hung out with Pablo backstage before the concert and briefly met David Bustamante, a very nice down to earth guy. The concert was in a little town called Novelda, a very small little town, but the concert was great, it started at 1 am (yes, we are in Spain, everything starts a little later than usual..) and we were home around 4 am…

Sunday, I was exahausted and just hung out in the pool making sure Isabella didn’t drown!! She just learnt how to swim and is a little too brave.. I will share that story tomorrow…..

As most of you know Spaniards are soccer fanatics!! well, since we are living here, Matt & Marco have joined in the madness.. Tonight was the final game of the Eurocup Spain vs Germany and our entire urba gathered downstairs to watch the game and have some beers.. The men mostly watched the games while the kids ran around playing and the wives just gossiped and also drank some beers. As you can see from the pictured above the men were very into the game.. Luckily we won 1-0 after a 44 year losing streak.. You could imagine the celebration here… fireworks, screaming fans, cars beeping…and everyone jumped in the pool with their red t-shirts!!

Marco and Bella prepared by painting the Spanish flag on their cheeks..

They also prepared Matt while he took a nap by painting flags and the word “podemos” (we can, the motto of the game) on his back!!

 
The Hogueras are the most popular fiestas here in Playa San Juan, it is the official begining of Summer, otherwise known as the Summer Solstice, a time when there is cause for celebration, bonfires are built and old things are burnt and there are new wishes but the rest of the year.

Every year since we have been here we have celebrated this event with our friends in the beach. It is the only time of the year the city allows bonfires to be made in the beach, everyone gathers with friends and family to burn the “Hoguera” and to eat food and drink, lots of drinking!!

This year we were about 30 friends who got together to enjoy the beautiful night. Matt was in charge of the fire and we had a ball. There are several rituals that need to be done such as getting your feet wet in the ocean at midnight while jumping backwards in the water 7 times, jumping over the “Hoguera” 3 times (that was tricky this year since it was fairly wide), burning anything old you want to get rid off, making a wish at midnight while your feet are in the water, meditating on the new to come.. We did it all plus drink and sing songs..

You can see all the pictures HERE.  

Yesterday it was Mother’s Day here in Spain and we had a lovely day.  Marco gave me a little plant made out of clay and isabella a rose made out of not sure what.. They were great (pictured above). Marco also wrote me a card, telling me he loved me very much because I helped him with his homework and helped him pick up his toys after he played.

We went to lunch at an Italian restaurant with our friends Cristal and Snap, Marco’s “favorite profesional baskeball player” as he calls him. We had a great time, Marco and Snap had a game of “pulso” Marco won 3 times hahahaa. We later had some ice cream then hung out around town.

A perfect Mother’s Day with my loved ones..

No time to write today my mon left back to Madrid yesterday and Matt is still away. Alone with the kids. They have no school. ‘m already going crazy. I’m driving them crazy!!

What else can I say..HELP!!!!!