Run, Tara, Run!

Collin was sitting on a bench today in a plaza reading a book. An Asian man was playing flamenco music on his guitar and an Asian woman was dancing flamenco. A few minutes later a window in an apartment building facing the plaza opened and a man started clapping flamenco rhythm. Only in Spain.

I still have no idea how this #$%^ oven works. I just burned two more pizzas, even though I was checking on them every 5 minutes or so. I couldn't be more frustrated with my stove and oven right now. AND Collin just told me that we are supposed to start having the students over for dinner soon! How in the world am I going to make food for guests without burning it? I feel like a newly wed again, burning everything and apologizing profusely while my husband insists that he LIKES his food on the dark side. What the WHAT am I going to do?

I went with Collin and the students on a tour of the Alhambra. The architecture is amazing, especially the areas that were built by the Moors. They had a lot of symbols within the decorations. The acorn, pine cone and seashell were repeated over and over in the decorations within the Alhambra. The wooden parts that look carved are actually very intricately carved individual pieces that fit together like a puzzle.

The tour guide, Marie Carmen, was very informed and lively. I really enjoyed listening to her. She was also good at keeping the group together. I asked Elena to babysit from 4:30-7:30 pm, thinking that the tour would only last a couple hours. At 7 pm, Marie Carmen was still going strong and we were in the middle of the Palacio de Leones. I knew that I had to leave to get home to Elena and the kids. I tried to go back out the way we came in. The docents wouldn't let me out. So I went back through the Palacio de Leones and looked around for exits signs. There were tons of people in the Alhambra and it was hard to pass large tour groups. I was trapped in a group of smoking Italians for a very long time and started to feel claustrophobic. When I finally reached the end of the Alhambra grounds, I had walked all the way to the Generalife gardens, where Collin and I saw the flamenco show. I saw a sign with an arrow pointing right that said Centro, so I decided to follow the road down. I was more of a highway than a road. There was only a sidewalk at some places. I could see where I had to be in the city, but there was no way to go straight home without rolling down a steep hill with tons of cactus and rocks. I race walked down that road, which went around the city. I had no watch and no phone, so I couldn't call Elena and tell her I would be late and as I scurried home, I didn't know if it was taking me an hour or longer to walk. As soon as I got to flat ground I ran as fast as I could towards home. I was wearing jeans and dress shoes and I had my camera, wallet and keys in the pockets of my purple raincoat. I unzipped the armpits of the raincoat and held my stuff within the pockets and ran towards home. I was running by a fence and a dog jumped up six inches from my face, barking madly as it raced along the fence with me. When I got home I was panting and covered in sweat. I apologized to Elena for being half an hour late and she was really nice about it and luckily she didn't have anywhere she had to be right away.

I didn't run this morning because I was feeling lazy, but I ended up getting plenty of exercise anyway (see picture of red exhausted face).

The kids had a great time with Elena. They had their lesson, got whistle pops from Elena, played hide and seek, hide the monkey and Legos.

Aidan is learning how to sing I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus in Spanish. He has a solo in the Primary Program. He sounds great! I know I'm biased, but I really do think my kids have the best voices in the Primary.

April sent us a great package with new clothes for Collin (pictured) and a beautiful new stretchy belt for me. The kids were delighted with the marshmallows, Pop Tarts and other fun stuff.

Collin and I are reading Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series, actually I should say we are fighting over it since we both finished the first book and are now in the second. Collin started the second book first, but I am further into the book. I also read The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie and Literary Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I had listened to it on CD a few months ago, but I think I prefer reading the actual words when I can. I would love a Kindle or Sony Reader or whatever, but do you still have to pay full price for the books?