These boots are made for walkin'

Meema Jill sent Jay some awesome cowboy boots for Valentines Day. As usual, she was thinking about tradition. Mike had some cowboy boots of his own that he loved when he was a little boy and Jill wanted Jay to have some too. Mike's boots now sit on our dresser along with some beloved red shoes of Anna's. We decided that even though the boots are still a little too big for Jay to wear, he needed to test them out. Trying the boots on resulted in yet another photo shoot... in the words of the Valentine card accompanying the boots Jay has "up 'n' made off with my heart!"

Baby Jay's First "Word"

Mike must be whispering in his ear at night...

Thanks for everything mom

Thank you for coming to visit mom. It was wonderful to have you here! We loved... eating all the yummy food, spending time alone, seeing your quiet example, sleeping in, having a best friend to chat with, resting while loads and loads of laundry were magically done, having a grandma for baby to play with and a thousand more things that only you could provide. Come back soon, you will be missed!

The first day you held me you loved me more than life itself. I know that now.

The first time I gripped your finger with my little hand, you knew life would never be the same. It’s different for me now too.

The first smile I offered you nearly burst your heart with joy. I feel that joy now too.

The first gurgle of delight that came out of my mouth made your whole body laugh inside and out. I know that feeling too.

You have been there for me every step of the way: for every joy, for every pain, for every up, for every down, for every smile, for every tear. Now I know how to be there too.

And you’re still here for me. You mend while I’m mending, smile while I’m smiling, care while I’m caring and teach while I’m teaching.

How could I ever do this job right without you? You have been my example and you are leading me still. I’ll always be your little girl, and you’ll always be my mommy.

Thank you.

Hello again Sevilla...

We went to Sevilla again last Thursday. This time only Jay, Anna and Mama J went. Our good friend Maria, who is from Sevilla, kindly agreed to show us around her town. We took the train in - Jay's first time on a train - and then bused into the downtown area. We first hit the shopping district (can't resist!) and then we ate lunch while overlooking la Giralda. Anna learned how to correctly ask for more to drink (Maria is helping her learn Spanish). Me puedes traer otra bebida? instead of Puedo comprar una bebida mas? Anna vows to learn Spanish correctly eventually! Maria then walked us by the cathedral, filling us in on more history, then on to the Plaza de Toros (the bull ring). Now that's "toro" not to be confused with "torre" (tower) or "torero" (bull-fighter). Whew! We then walked through El Parque de Maria Luisa. She was apparently a famous princess who loved Sevilla and so donated 400 000 square meters of her family's park to the city of Sevilla during her reign. It is a beautiful place to see. We then walked on to La Plaza de Espana, by far one of the most beautiful parts of the city. It was built in 1929 for the Iberean-American Expo. It is very impressive. For all those Star Wars buffs out there, part of Star Wars Episode II was filmed at La Plaza de Espana - it was used as Princess Amidala's palace. After the Plaza we headed back to catch the train home. Jay was such a good boy throughout the whole day and we had a blast hanging out with Maria.

Sevilla, Sevilla

We've been back to Sevilla twice in the past week. The first time everyone went (Mike, Anna, baby Jay and Mama J). We went inside the cathedral first. What an amazing piece of architecture. It is incredible to look up and see the 200 foot ceilings and the intricate carvings in the granite. It's hard to imagine how such a building could be constructed hundreds of years ago, without the help of modern building technology. Inside the cathedral we saw the mausoleum holding the remains of Christopher Columbus. It's held up by four heralds which represent four Spanish kingdoms. We also saw one of the largest Christian alters in the world. It has more than 1000 sculptures depicting the old and new testaments. It appears to be made of gold, but we're not sure about that. We also walked up to the top of la Giralda. It's the large bell tower connected to the cathedral. It was originally built around 1190 by the Moores and is one of the only remaining pieces of the mosque. You walk up 35 ramps, not steps, to get to the top. The tower was constructed this way so that the muezzin in charge of calling the people to prayer could climb to the top on his horse. When the city was surrendered to Prince Don Alfonso, the people asked that the tower be destroyed (probably so it wouldn't be desecrated). The Prince replied to this request with the words, "If only one brick were removed from the tower they would all be stabbed to death." The view from the top of the tower is breathtaking. All of Sevilla can be seen. The bells on top ring every quarter hour and Jay about had a heart attack when they went off while we were up there. It is quite startling!

After the cathedral we walked around the shopping district, stopping by Zara and H&M (I know you're jealous Brianne! :)) We also walked along the river and had lunch - unfortunately we found a Mexican restaurant after we had already eaten... oh how we miss Mexican food!

Happy Valentines Day

What a wonderful Valentines day! Jay stayed at home with his nona while we finally had a real date night. Mike made reservations for us at a beautiful little Spanish restaurant, Deli, in the small town of Montellano. It is a highly acclaimed restaurant. The food is unbelievable! We were served a total of seven courses and every one was incredibly good. We had bread, pate, a pepper and tuna dish, fried sol, jamon and cheese, steak and potatoes and dessert. And we actually drank as much fanta as we wanted because Mike negotiated the price of the whole dinner beforehand (for those who havn't been to Europe - you usually pay about 2 euroes for each 10 ounce bottle of soda served). I've come to find that in Spain the restaurants either have so-so, mediocre food or five-star, best ever tasted food. The better food is a little expensive, but it's definitely worth it. Thank you Mike for a beatutiful night! I love being your wife and I love dating you.

Rub a dub dub baby Jay in the tub.

Giving Jay a bath is always a blast. He loves getting his diaper changed and a bath is even better (it's good to be free of those restrictive clothes and diaper). He is a very ticklish boy. As soon as he feels his onsey come up over his head he giggles with delight. It is especially fun to see this happen when he's in an extra good mood (meaning he's just woken up from a nap and been fed - things that put us all in the best of spirits). On these occasions even the smallest stroke of Jay's chubby little tummy, knees, and cheeks elisits a belly laugh. His feet and back are also key targets to hit. Once in the bath, Jay likes to start out by "marking his bath territory." He's then washed from head to toe while his mommy sings him the Tiny Turtle Tim song.

I had a little turtle
His name was tiny Tim
I put him in the bathtub
To see if he could swim
He drank up all the water
He ate up all the soap
And now he's sick in bed with a bubble in his throat
Bubble bubble bubble,
bubble bubble bubble,
bubble bubble bubble bubble bubble
bubble... POP!

Jay and his yummy bink bink

House of Doves

This past weekend we drove to Rota for Jay's next set of immunizations. After a frustrating bout with Spanish officials we finally got mom on base and even had the chance to eat Taco Bell! Mmmm, Taco Bell. It's amazing what you miss when you can't get it as easily. Anna definitely misses some of her favorite restaurants: Cafe Rio, Mac Grill, Chevys, Olive Garden and Round Table Pizza. Don't take those places for granted! Mike misses being able to see major sports events live and at a normal hour. Alas, we missed the live showing of the Super Bowl last night because it didn't start until 11:30 pm here and Mike has to go to Madrid for meetings today. So you better not go blabbing about who won to us until we see it rebroadcast! :) Baby Jay was pretty sad after getting his shots on Friday. He cried and cried and was only peaceful when sleeping. He's better now and it's good to know he's a healthy, growing boy! He now weighs 15 pounds 2 ounces and is 26 inches long. That makes him in the 45th percentile for weight and the 85th percentile for height! He's already his daddy's boy. Everyone who sees him seems to think he looks older than four months. He's pretty average in size but he is definitely very aware of his world. He's always looking around trying to figure out what it all means. Sometimes it's hard to keep him entertained because he's constantly trying to see more. He's definitely his happiest on a walk in his baby Bjorn. What a great invention!

After getting Jay's shots we drove in circles around Rota trying to find our way out of town and on to a small town called Barbate - near Cadiz. It's pretty typical to drive twice as long as you need to in Spain since it's so difficult to figure out your way around. We asked several people for directions and every time we told them where we were going to they said, "Oh, that's so far away!" After we finally figured out our way out of town we found that the only reason it's so far away is because it's impossible to know how to get there. Once we were on our way it only took us about 40 minutes to drive to the town. Once we finally got there, we were absolutely awed by the beauty of the small, rural town. We drove through a national park to the small hotel called El Palomar de La Brena (the doves of Brena). The hotel itself was used as a dovecot in the 1800s. Thousands of doves were raised there for food and ammunition (the ammunition was made more explosive when dove poop was added - who knew? And how did they figure that one out?). The dovecot still stands in one section of the hotel and you can walk through it, seeing numerous holes the doves used to nest in. The hotel is actually in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest dovecot in the world.

The land surrounding the hotel is spectacular! We felt like we had left southern Spain and entered into Ireland. The area was very green with umbrella pines and grassy fields spanning the countryside. Saturday morning we took a long walk through the area. It was wonderful to just be in nature and breath the fresh air (no cigarette smoke out there!). We stumbled upon a field of bulls, one cow and a few baby calves. They just sort of looked at us but they were pretty intimidating and only a short wooden fence separated us so we moved on quickly. As we were leaving a few large dogs came running up to us wondering who we were and what we were doing there. They too were cautious of the bulls though and left us alone, if only to not draw attention to themselves in front of the bulls. All was pretty serene and quiet until a few Spanish teenagers with skunk Mohawk mullets came zipping up the road on their moto bike. They almost ran over the dogs and were very apologetic to us, thinking we were the owners. Gotta love the teens here! Overall it was a wonderful morning and Jay enjoyed seeing the country just as much as we did.

Lastly, we have to mention the food. We had a wonderful dinner at the hotel - it was more like a late night snack actually since the restaurants in Spain don't even open for dinner until 9:00 pm. We had fresh fish and a tropical chicken salad. It was incredible! One of the best dinners we've had here so far. The food just keeps getting better and better. The presentation was beautiful too. In Spanish they say, "Tiene buena pinta." We had the opportunity to sit next to a nice British couple at dinner and we talked about everything from world politics to education in America. It was interesting to hear their opinions on life. We definitely recommend staying at El Palomar de La Brena. Thanks Gitnz for the suggestion to look on the casa rural website! Check out the view from our room: