Over the weekend we went to the Volvo Ocean Race that this years sets off from Alicante. The entire marina was full of all the sailboats and there was a mini amusement park all through the port. The kids had a blast, there a a “real life” pirate boat which we got to go in and visit.. Marco and Bella looked for pirates and lo and he hold they saw one down in the deck (It was really a worker, fixing something, but he looked pretty scarry ) and Bella took off running and screaming, Marco was not that thrilled to see him either.

We had a great time, we plan on going back again this weekend to finish seeing all the things we didn’t get to see…

Yes, it is finally here the dreaded 40! Do you remember thinking how old that was when you were little? I do, I don’t know, I guess as young children we don’t think we will ever be that old, I mean we hope we will grow old, but in the meaning of being alive not with the all things it brings.. and by that I mean, the wrinkles, the aches and pains, the forgetfullness, the weight gain… but there is also the things is does bring, like the fact that we are better the wiser, we usually don’t repeat too many mistakes, we know who we are and are comfortable in our own skin, we are more knowledgeable and less gullible..

So, Happy Happy Birthday to me! through my 40 years I have met and stayed in touch with some wonderful friends, thank you all for the great memories.. Much love to my father and mother whom without them I wouldn’t be here to write this post, my brother who put up with my temper tantrums… I could go on and on, but this post is not a recollection of my life until now, it is simply a birthday wish I place upon myself.

Am I where I thought I would be at this age? Well, not exactly but I’m sure not many people are.. I’m though exactly where I need to be and where I want to be.

After writing a kind of sarcastic post a couple of weeks ago, some of you emailed me (now why you just don’t leave a comment is beyond me!!) and let me know that you do read this and that you enjoy it and to please not stop writing. Everyone had their reason for reading, some said they liked to see what we were up to here, others wanted to see how big the kids are getting, while others just thought our adventures were pretty funny…but the best reason I thought was that of my old co worker German, who commented on the last post.

Hello Nuria!!

Como que nadie lee tu blog? entonces como iba yo a seguir aprendiendo inglés?

Y no te preocupes por los 40, lo que tienes que hacer es celebrarlos bien

P.D. iba a escribir en inglés pero…

He basically let me know he reads my blog to stay on top on his English.. so I guess I have finally found my purpose in life through my blog…Anyway, thank you to all for all the kind words and I promise to keep you updated on the adventure, write funny stories, update the pictures of the kids and well, just keep writing in English so all my Spanish friends could practice…

 
No, I wasn’t away anywhere, just took some time off from writing in this blog because I figured no one reads it anyway, but then I thought, it doesn’t reallly matter no one reads it, in the end I write it for me and for Marco and Isabella so they could one day look back and read all their funny adventures, and who knows maybe even continue to write here…

So, I will keep writing weekly….but don’t worry you haven’t missed anything.. School started, yipeee… kids are almost back to a routine and I’m still taking the web design course and that is about it for now…oh yes.. My birthday is coming up and I’m still not sure what I want to do, in a way its the big 40 and I should celebrate big time, but in another way I just want it to be another day so maybe no one notices and I wont get any older… who knows..

 
I’m seriously thinking of ending this blog due to lack of activity. I first started this blog so that all my friends and family could stay up to date with all our adventures here in Spain, but I could see by the stats that only a handful of poeple get here and by the looks of it, get here by accident and  most are not here long enough to possibly read anything. It takes a lot of effort to write everyday (well, I don’t do that anymore), and so I will see what happens in the rest of the year and make a decision.

Anyway, to the matter of this post..the winner of the “Guess Matt’s age” contest is... You guess it, my only loyal reader, the only one who ever dares leave comments… the only one who did leave a comment…..the very own Mary Tery!! Although she did not guess right, by default, since she was the only one to leave a comment she wins.. (Matt’s age is..does it really matter now?)

I will be setting up M.T with her very own blog which I hope has more success than mine.

Today its Matt’s birthday and many people ask, how old is Matt?? Well, since this blog has so many loyal followers, I’m proposing a contest, who ever guesses his age correctly.. (you will need to place a comment with the answer, I know it will be hard) will win….your own blog..I will take care of everything.

Marco, Bella wish their PAPA a very Happy Birthday, today they made their own brithday cards and blew the candles of his cake. I wish my Matt a very very happy day and tell him I love him and can’t wait to celebrate many more with him.

I will announce the winner in my next post. (If everyone guesses correcly I will choose the winner that made the best comment!!)

Good luck to all!!!

photo flickr eye flashes 

The other day I got a really funny email that I have to share with all of you.. Here goes…

Prepare now for the Beijing Olympics.
Learn Chinese in 5 minutes (You MUST read them aloud) in English and  Chinese

That’s not right!                                              Sum Ting Wong

Are you harbouring a fugitive?                       Hu Yu Hai Ding

See me ASAP                                                   Kum Hia Nao

Stupid Man                                                      Dum Fuk

Small Horse                                                    Tai Ni Po Ni

Did you go to the beach?                                 Wai Yu So Tan

I bumped into a coffee table!                           Ai Bang Mai Fu Kin Ni

I think you need a face lift!                              Chin Tu Fat
 
It’s very dark in here!                                      Wai So Dim

I thought you were on a diet!                           Wai Yu Mun Ching

This is a tow away zone!                                        No Pah King

Our meeting is scheduled for next week!          Wai Yu Kum Nao

Staying out of sight                                         Lei Ying Lo

He’s cleaning his automobile                            Wa Shing Ka

Your body odour is offensive                           Yu Stin Ki Pu

Great                                                                      Fa Kin Su Pa phot flckr by behind dark eyes 

The other morning Bella woke up early and started to “pretend give me a tatto” while I was on the computer writing an email before heading off to my class (I will tell you about the class in another post). Anyway, she loves tattos and can’t wait to have a “real one”, she loves Miami ink and can’t understand why the tattos we let her wear don’t last long and wants the one with the “needle” (Ok, so she’s a bit weird, but those of you who know her know that she is 4 going on 20).

Ok, where was I going with all this, oh yes, ok, so she loves to pretend draw on my arm or anywhere and pretend to give me a tattoo..This particular morning, I was running late and not paying much attention to her and she proceded to give me her pretend tatto..I let her so she wold leave me alone and as soon as I finished typing the email, I headed off to class.

Half way through the morning in my class the guy sitting next to me says to me “Nice Tatoo”, and I say “Excuse me” (well, in Spanish) and he said, “It’s very original”, and I say again “Excuse me???”, He then grabs my arm turns it so I could see and to my surprise, little miss Bella, had decided that this morning she would use a real marker!! not even a pen a MARKER!! The next thing I know is that the entire class is getting up to admire my tatoo and yes, laugh at me..

When I got home I had to take a picture of it and thank Bella for the lovely artwork…Well, at least we know she will have an artistic profession.

When can I go swimming? when can I go swimming????? That is the only thing we have heard for 4 days now!! Poor Marco can’t take it anymore, so finally tomorrow he will be able to go back in the pool after his swiming pool cut incident. The poor thing has been a good sport about it, eventhough I think it has been the hottest days of the summer and all his friends were yelling for him to just jump in….

It has been more of a punishment for us than for him, let me tell you.. Anyway, the picture above was done with a new cool photo website called slide.com where you can convert your pictures into really neat slide shows.. I made a quick one to test it out and its in the header as you can see.. If the music bothers you, you can simply turn it off in the left top corner.. Tell me what you think??

Yes, it might look like a sports injury from the look of the bandaged foot but nop, it was a pool incident. We went over to my friend’s house Marisela and the kids went swimming, they were having a great time when all of a sudden, Marco started screaming and held his foot out of the pool which was drenched in blood. He somehow cut the bottom of his foot with we still don’t know what. I stopped the bleeding but the cut looked deep and seemed to have particles of something inside, so off to the emergency room…

The doctor said the cut was not very deep and put on some new type of band aid stitches and wrapped up his entire foot, as he was doing this Marco said “Are you going to wrap me up like the mommy?“..hahahaa. Poor thing, he can’t go swimming for 4 days or play any sports.. He is very depressed but is being a great sport..

Isabella helps likes helping her brother bringing him things and making sure he is ok…