Field Trip! Caballos y Abeja (Horses and Bees)

Being a Stay-at-home-Mom has been such a blessing. One of the many perks that I enjoy as a SAHM is being able to volunteer in Reese's classroom on Fridays and being available to chaperon field trips.

Last Thursday, the 2nd grade classes went on an all day field trip to the town of Jerez to two sites; the "Yeguada de la Cartuga" a stud (horse) farm, and to "Rancho Cortesano" a bee and honey farm/museum.

Yeguada de la Cartuga is where Carthusian thoroughbred horses are raised and we learned how the horses are cared for, bred, and trained. There were 300 horses on site. We also saw the veterinary clinic where they are operated on (if need be) and we saw a breathtaking horse show.






Next we traveled across town to Rancho Cortesano, a bee and honey museum. We learned about the life of bees, dressed in fabulous beekeeper uniforms, toured the bee hives (were surrounded by bees) and got to buy the most delicious, fresh and organic honey!



I have to admit, I was totally freaked out, but the kids did great! They were more fascinated by than afraid of the bees and I was totally impressed by them! Look (below) how they are sitting so still...there are bees all over the place and landing all over the kids, mind you...see below...total peacefulness...I was standing on the side with the other parents about to take off running (and or/swat bees that kept landing then crawling across the netting on my face..this was of course "frowned upon" by the staff and I was given a "tsk, tsk" for shooing a bee away...)



What a long and busy (great) day!

The Clarks visit Spain!

My cousins Nyree and Payton flew from California for a visit during their Spring break and we had a ball. We bowled in Rota...


and hung out in Jerez...



We ate Churros y Chocolate in Cadiz...




and then, we took a road trip to Albufeira, Portugal...

By way of La Rabida on the boarder of Spain and Portugal to see the monastery where Christopher Columbus sailed to the new world...and to tour exact replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria! Very cool!



In Portugal, we stayed in this amazing villa with our friends the Smiths!




We spent the day at Zoomarine - a Seaworld/Amusement type park!


The kids had a ball riding the roller coasters and seeing the dolphin and tropical bird shows! And Portugese food...amazing! And then we stopped to play on the beach on our way home...



We had a great time visiting with our cousins!

Happy Birthday Johann

Johann had to travel to the states for a conference in the middle of February so he missed our birthdays :-(...

And since he was in deployed to Bahrain last year, he missed our birthdays...

So, this year, I wanted to celebrate, even if it was a little late. I pulled our awesome friends into my plot...and we pulled it off! He was so surprised!

Eric and Alex practically kidnapped Johann to take him golfing on the day after he got home from Virginia. He was exhausted and trying to be a good husband by declining a golf day with his friends since he'd just got home...I pretended to pout that he was leaving. :-)

My girlfriends Carrie and Lorisha spent the entire Saturday shopping with me for supplies and stashing them at their homes...

And then everyone was here Sunday, crowding up my kitchen, cutting, mixing, fixing...it was AWESOME! I LOVE THEM!!!



I'd had some friends make dishes I knew Johann loved...Joy, the girls' dance instructor is married to an Indian man who makes the most amazing food...he made some Balti chicken that about singed all our taste buds off for life (but it was delicious), our friend Kwami made some Jamaican chicken dish, I made potato salad, spinach/strawberry/almond salad, bbq chicken wings and chicken/crab/cheese dip, my friend Sasha made the most delicious cheesecake flan I'd ever had...we had sooo much food!

And then after golfing, Eric and Alex made up some story about how all of us were going out to dinner tonight and we were all leaving from our house to explain why they were following him to the door...and in he walked...

It was awesome!




And...I had the base "Cake Lady" make the most amazing cake....not only was it beautiful...it was delicious! The top was a rice crispie treat, removable hat... The top layer of cake was pound cake with raspberry current and chocolate filling, the bottom was chocolate cake with fresh strawberry in chocolate frosting....mmmmm!!!





Thanks everyone for a great night!



Happy 34th Birthday Honey!

Reese's dance clinic

So, lest you think Reese was scarred for life, the weekend of the "unfortunate turn of events" we had signed her up for an all day dance clinic on the base. We dropped her off at 9:30am and she stayed all day learning 3 different dances (a jazz, hip-hop and ballet) - they had a pizza lunch and then all of the kids performed for the parents what they'd learned at the end of the day (4:30pm).

Although this wasn't her regular dance class, but a base-wide function that the regular dance team opened up as a fund raiser to all the kids on the base, I could see how her regular Monday/Wednesday classes with Ms. Joy had been really paying off! Reese is becoming quite a graceful ballerina! And the function was a huge hit...they made about $2000 dollars! Which will be a huge help as we come up to the Spring show on May 21st!

So, here are some pictures of Reese dancing her little heart out with her friends at the end of a long day of dancing!





Way to Go, Boogie Bear! After the show, we celebrated with chinese food in Rota!