Bringing in the New Year

Wow! It is hard to believe that it is already the middle of March! Marcus and I have been having a ton of fun here in Spain, and I need to catch y’all up on what we’ve been up to. Here is  a flashback to how we spent our New Year’s Eve.

Marcus and I had a lot to celebrate and New Year’s Eve was the perfect opportunity to get out and do just that! We decided to take a little trip to explore a new town and Sevilla was our destination. With the dogs in tow we headed out for a fun weekend. If ‘Sevilla’ does not sound familiar it is probably because it is spelled Seville in American English. I prefer the Spanish spelling and pronunciation though. Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia, the area of Southern Spain that we live in. We kicked off our weekend with a night out. IMG_3497We started the night around 11PM. We walked around, grabbed some food, and at midnight we ate 12 grapes. The 12 grapes at midnight is a tradition in Spain and it is believed that each grape signifies a lucky month in the coming year. The nightlife here differs a bit from what we are used to back home. The club we went to, New Theatre, didn’t even open until 1 o’clock in the morning! Well that was what time they were supposed to open at least. We arrived at about 1:30 and we were the first people in the club! People don’t start coming out until at least 2:00am, and the club is really going around 3am and lasts until 6am. We made sure to take a nap before we went out.

 

On New Year’s Day, when we finally woke up, we had a great time walking around Sevilla and taking in some of the sights. Every town here in Spain has an ‘old town’ area with the cobblestone streets I’ve come to love so much. We did have Joey & Lola with us, so we were a bit limited on what we could do. We were able to find a horse&carriage that let us on board with the pups!

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The girls seemed to enjoy the carriage ride, and we definitely got some funny looks from people passing by.

square in SevillaThis is a pretty common scene in the afternoons in Spain. Many people go out to have lunch, or tapas and a drink. One of the many things I love about Spain is that people take their children everywhere. You’ll notice many children in the photo on the right playing together. I have fallen in love with the culture here, it is very family oriented!

 

It is so much fun just walking around exploring. Along with the cobblestone streets, I absolutely adore the beautiful doors and entry ways here in Spain.

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IMG_3664The very best part of this trip is that I got to share is with this handsome guy! Every day I am thankful that we are on this adventure together. It is a blessing to have the opportunity to begin our marriage this way and I know it is helping us to build a strong foundation for the rest of our lives. Until next time, adios!

The wonderful Carnival! (¡El maravilloso Carnaval !)

I know it has been quite some time since I have posted. Marcus and I have had a lot going on! We have settled into our new home and we have been busy immersing ourselves in our new Spanish lifestyle. We have been blessed to meet some wonderful friends; friends we know we will have for life. The Blonski family (Steve and Keri and their 3 kiddos Aydin, Morgan and Liam and their dog Echo) has been so kind to introduce us to some awesome local friends of theirs and we have been enjoying spending time getting to know them.

The past weekend was definitely one I won’t ever forget…our first Carnival celebration! Carnival actually goes on for a couple weeks and last weekend was the finale. It is quite the sight to see here in Chipiona! The weekend kicked off on Thursday with all of the local schools dressing up and parading through town. Each school had a different theme and each class dressed up differently. The school that Aydin, Morgan and Liam attend had a theme of ‘Under the Sea’ (‘Bajo el Mar’). It was so much fun to see all of the kids dressed up. There is some serious work that goes into these costumes, they are all hand made by the parents!

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After parading through town we ended up at a square where all the kids hung out and squirted each other with silly string and foam! They had a blast and it was fun to be a part of it. The walk home was fun and I of course took the opportunity to take some photos of some of my favorite kids.

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Friday night was the night that we went out into town to celebrate with our friends. Going out to party in Spain is much different than in the US! The party gets started much later and usually goes until the sun comes up, or even later! We stayed out pretty late and we were amazed that there were still people going full speed when we called it a night around 7am. After laying low on Saturday and enjoying the beach, we geared up for the parade on Sunday. We met for a BBQ first at a friends’ house that lives near the parade route. After we had some delicious food we walked to one of our favorite restaurants to watch the parade. It was the most amazing parade I have ever seen! The costumes had so much detail, and the performances were so impressive. The thing I love most about Carnival is the DRUMS!!! We have been hearing them for weeks with people around town practicing, but Friday night and on Sunday at the parade there was a constant beat of drums. I hope you enjoy some of my favorite photos from the parade and get a feel for what it was like!

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And I also (of course) snapped some photos of our friends and their adorable kids. How could I not? Seriously, look at these faces!

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Few things put a smile on my face quicker than seeing a father with his daughter. There is just something so sweet about the relationship with a girls’ first love, her dad, and I admire it. Some of that admiration, I’m sure, comes from not having my father as a part of my life during my childhood. Here are a couple shots that I think speak volumes for the relationships between these awesome dads and their adoring daughters.

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Once the parade was over, everyone was ready to call it a night! It was definitely a weekend to remember. Thank you to everyone who was apart of it!

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Here is a video of Carnaval so you can see it in action. I can not take credit for this awesome video.

Christmas in Spain

 

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Merry Christmas from Marcus and I! It was very strange being here, away from all of our family and friends, for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we were caught a little off guard with restaurants being closed. We were not prepared to make ourselves a meal as we are in temporary housing right now. We don’t have any of our cooking supplies and we have a very small kitchen area. We ended up eating hot pockets and lounging around with Joey & Lola watching TV. It was actually nice and relaxing. I love moments like that, where you don’t need anything other than each other. On Christmas morning we went for a walk on the beach with the girls like we have been doing every morning here. It was a gorgeous day; sunshine, blue skies and sand…it doesn’t get much better than that! We walked around town for awhile and had some drinks and a bite to eat at Ruta 66 (route 66) one of our go-to spots. After that we got to enjoy dinner with a family we have known for years before going to spend the night celebrating the holiday with friends. We are hoping to spend next Christmas back home with our family and friends. It definitely wasn’t the same this year but we made the most of it!