The Biggest and the Littlest

Lunch on the road.

Yesterday I got home from a fantastic mini road trip with my littlest sister, Lucy.  WHAT FUN!  You'll remember that last year when Maggie was in Belgium we were able to get quite a lot of one-on-one sister time together, but I've had fewer opportunities with little Lu.  It's great when all three of us are together, but I was really excited to get some quality time with my baby sister these past few days.

Uncle Donny with his favorite nieces. ;)

Tuesday morning we hit the road in Spirit, her little red Mustang, to visit my uncle and grandpa.  We made a pit-stop in Truckee at the Bagel Co. (Soooooo good!  I'd been craving a real bagel sandwich since my arrival!) and then ate lunch at a roadside rest area off I-80.  It was actually a beautiful little spot, much more like a picnic grounds than a typical highway rest area.  Once we had fueled up, we powered on through the remaining 3 hours of our trip, arriving around 3 in the afternoon at my uncle and grandpa's house.

It was so great to see them.  It had been four years since I last saw either of them.  We had a fabulous visit.  My grandpa is quite elderly now and doesn't always know who we are, but he's sweet and we sat and chatted and joked and watched TV with him.  My uncle took us out for dinner and then made a great dessert: coconut gelatto with whipped cream and chocolate almond cookies!  It's a good thing Lu and I decided to run the next morning! ;)

Me and Whoa Whoa.

Lucy stepping into her new apartment! 

Wednesday, we packed up the car and headed for SSU so Lucy could drop off resumes at restaurants in the area.  She's looking to earn a little extra money this school year since she's renting an apartment off campus with two friends--SO grown up!  The day we left home I remembered last minute that my Aunt Kitt lives in the area and it had been six years since we had seen each other so I gave her a call hoping to at least be able to have a coffee and catch up a bit as long as we were in the area.  When we finally got a hold of her, she not only offered to accompany us on the job search around town, but also offered her guest room for the night.  I am so glad she did because as it turns out, a coffee date wouldn't have been nearly enough time together!

Aunt Kitt met us with about eight pages of restaurant reviews at Lucy's new apartment and the three of us headed out to canvas the area.  Lucy was pretty intimidated by the whole prospect of the job search, but after we shoved her (literally) into the first place, she did fine on her own. ;)  It was really fun to watch her and go through the experience along with her.  I was so proud of her.  She was so cute about it--not quite wanting to believe that she is actually quite experienced and not only looks great on paper, but really is a wonderful, charming person.  She actually had an interview at the last restaurant we stopped by!  It was her very first job interview and she was bubbling over when she came out to the car to tell us about it--such fun!

My wonderful aunt and her husband Peter.

The rest of our visit was just as fun.  We met my Aunt's new husband, Peter, who is a dear, had a wonderful dinner; then a nice soak in the hot tub before climbing into the world's softest beds for the night.  In the morning we got up and went for a hike.  The trail meandered through tall yellow grasses, lava rocks and low coastal oak trees up a hill where we had a view of San Francisco Bay.  You could just make out the city buildings on the distant horizon.  It was the perfect day for a hike and I was so happy to just be there with my beautiful sister and my beautiful aunt enjoying a perfect sunny morning and more wonderful conversation.

After another lovely meal together (such good food on this trip!), it was time for Lucy and I to head home.  We drove out to the airport to say goodbye to Peter where he showed us his awesome planes (!).  He's quite a handyman/aircraft mechanic and so he gave us a little tour of some of the planes he's working on.  It was fascinating.  Did you know that some planes are just steel skeletons covered with the same material that ships' sails are made from?!  I was shocked.  I really thought they were all made from aluminum or some other light-weight metal.  I had no idea. :)

 Lucy and I finally got on the road around 2:30 and made it home by 6ish.  Traffic was slow around Sacramento, but those are things you almost don't notice when you've got such good company.  I for one was happy to have a few extra minutes with my sissy all to myself. ;)

Me and Lu.  Over my left shoulder you can see the San Francisco skyline.

Big Gouda

The Big Gouda with his personalized D.G. sign.

That's what Maggie and I have started calling my dad: Big Gouda.  We think we're quite clever because this year he is a big cheese (get it?) in Rotary--District Governor.  So this summer and for the rest of this year, really, he's pretty swamped with Rotary functions he "gets" to attend. ;)  Yesterday was a meeting at a club in Trukee.  He was giving his District Governor's talk and Maggie and I got to go an hear his speech.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the house by the end of it...or at least no one who wasn't struggling to fight back tears.  It was very motivational, very moving and very well delivered.  My dad's quite a hot shot...even if he did have, as Maggie pointed out, half of his lunch spilled on his nice Rotary blazer! ;)  Some things just don't change.

After the meeting we made our way over to South Shore Tahoe for dinner at my Great Aunt Lucille's house (Lucy's namesake for those of you who don't know).  We had a really great visit; it's been four years since I last saw them.  My Uncle Frank's niece came over for dinner too.  It was lovely to see her.  And my Aunt Joanne was also in town visiting.  I think it's been at least six or eight years since I've seen her!  Far too long.

Aunt Jo, Dad, Me, Uncle Frank, Maggie, Aunt Lucille

We made it over there around 4 in the afternoon and spent a nice long time visiting and hearing family stories before dinner.  Aunt Lucille is my Grammie's sister; that's my dad's mom's sister.  We always love hearing stories from her childhood; adventures with my Grandma or stories about sister spats between them. :)  So we sat around munching on brie cheese catching up on my life in Spain and remembering our favorite family stories.  Very wonderful, relaxing evening.

Dinner was pot roast, baked potatoes, grilled asparagus and green salad with fruit for dessert.  Delicious!  I ate far too much and felt a little sick on the way home, but it was worth it.  What great food and even better company.

Me and Auntie Lucy

Sierra Buttes

Stairs up to the look-out

My cousin Shawna is in town for a few days and we are taking full advantage of her visit: making fools of ourselves in public, watching YouTube videos, making chocolate semifreddo and hiking.  This afternoon we had a picnic hike up the Sierra Buttes--beautiful.  I hadn't hiked up the Buttes since summer after my study abroad in Granada. It was steeper than I remember: 2000 ft. elevation gain in 4 miles!  But the view made it worth all the huffing and puffing...and stopping on the way up. ;)  

Sierra Buttes is a fire look-out and so once we made it to the "top" we had a nice flight of stairs to walk up.  Just a little scary.  I remember being especially freaked out by the mesh floor around the look-out; it just feels so flimsy...especially if you make the mistake of looking down!  It was a great hike.  Lots of fun, joking, good conversation and quite a work out.  We earned our big turkey sandwiches and chocolate bar at the top. ;)

I certainly live in a beautiful place, but you don't have to take MY word for it.  Here's some picture proof:

The view from 8587 ft.

Basking on the Buttes

A Warm Welcome...

This is how my horse welcomed me home: a snot-rocket perfectly aimed for my leg!  SICK!!  Boy is it good to be back on the ranch. ;)

Surprise!

 

My mom had her sixtieth birthday in late June, just shortly before I came home so I wasn't here to celebrate.  Last night my sisters and I decided to make her a cake and surprise her.  Maggie follows a cooking blog and had been wanting to try out one of the more recent recipes: Lemon Chiffon Cake with Lemon Curd and Whipped Cream Frosting.  So yesterday we baked up a storm while my mom and dad were off at Rotary functions.  We opted for cream cheese frosting instead of the whipped cream and it was gooooood!  What a yummy cake!  And my mom was VERY surprised.  I think you can tell in the picture just how pleased she was.

Family dynamics

Yesterday was "Sister Day."  Lucy and I accompanied Maggie to Reno, ran a few errands, got ice cream at Cold Stone and then raced home to grab jackets, let the dogs and horses out and head to Cuccia's for our dinner reservation.  We spent the entire ride home rocking out to our favorite Disney songs (Mulan, Little Mermaid, Pocahontas) and the Spirit soundtrack.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is an animated film for horse-lovers.  It's the story of a wild mustang stallion who's captured by cowboys and his adventures as he makes his way back home again.  Unlike other animated films, the horses don't talk in this one, something I especially appreciate.  Instead, Spirit's thoughts and feelings are narrated through the songs, which makes for an amazing soundtrack.  So we were remembering the good ol' days as we sang, danced and laughed along with the tunes.

Dinner was fabulous, but by far the best part was reminiscing with my sisters.  There's such an age difference between us that our childhoods were very different and theirs was obviously impacted by Emily's and my older presence.  The way they talk about it, we were close to god-like--Maggie revered me--and for us they were like our baby dolls: fun distractions, we could dress up and usually boss around.  For so many years our relationship was more like that of a mother with her children.  Now the little rug rats are all grown up, they're real people.  Last night I was just hanging out with my sisters and it was so much fun.

We came home from dinner and decided to continue our stroll down memory lane with some old home videos. :)  We laughed pretty hard.  One of my personal favorites was a skit that Maggie and Lucy put together when they were about 11 and 12.  Lucy is the nerdy, studious older sister named Violet who has just graduated from Atlantic College (sister to Pacific University) with "mega cum laude" honors.  She is incapable of having a relationship with anything other than her books, which all have names, by the way.  The biggest, thickest of these is a dictionary named Viola!  ...Anyone else noting the similarities?


Another good one was on our trip to Hawaii when Maggie and Lucy were about 5 and 6.  I think the video speaks for itself so I won't elaborate more.  Just know that this is a pretty typical example of family dynamics in the Wilbanks household:

Home on the Range

Flew into Reno at 1pm Monday--what a difference compared to the green, green Northwest!  Maggie and my mom met me at the airport.  Take a look at the awesome sign my sis made for me:

Note the EuroCup 2012 logo and "Viva España!".  Those of you out of tune with the "football" world might not know that Spain's national team made football history when it won its third consecutive title--Euro Champions 2008; World Champions 2010; Euro Champions 2012!  Pretty exciting.  As they say in Spain: no hay dos sin tres. ;)

pretty amazing, huh?

And so I'm back on the ranch, walking the dogs, catching my horses and enjoying the sun that I didn't see a whole lot of up in Portland.  Things at home are about the same as always.  The most impressive improvement to the home are the two GIGANTIC solar panels my parents had installed.  All of our electricity is generated by these panels and then the leftover (and there is leftover) is sold back to the grid so my parents are even making a little money on this investment along with saving quite a lot.  I wish I could do this in Spain!  We certainly have enough sun.  Although solar water heaters are extremely common, I think the electric companies have a vested interest in keeping this kind of technology out of the people's hands.  Unfortunately, the bills are quite high and rising.

Last night I went on a lovely evening walk with my best friend's parents and then ate dinner over at their house.  Today I'm taking a trip with my sisters into Reno for some shopping and a few errands and this evening Maggie is treating us to dinner. :)  She is taking us out to the restaurant where she works because I've never been.  It's a birthday dinner for sisters only--no parents allowed!  It's just as well that mom and dad  are busy with Rotary functions tonight.

On my way out to Ross Meadow for my walk last night I saw a heard of deer along the roadside; and on my way home I couldn't help noticing how many stars dotted the night sky.  Just a few of the things I used to take for granted, but after being in Spain for nearly six years, I notice with a new appreciation.

It's good to be home.

A Bowl Full of Cherries

This was last night's dinner.  Sara and I spent the evening prepping her patio for summer--no small task!  I came home from a lunch date with a professor friend of mine and found her in the back hosing down the patio furniture.  I unwittingly started scraping the weeds from the cracks in the patio concrete to keep her company...  About four hours later we were finished!  Thankfully in the midst of our work Sara's boyfriend brought us strawberry milkshakes from Burgerville to replenish our energy reserves. :)

Her back yard does look better than ever.  We successfully weeded the whole thing and scraped up a lot of the moss that had begun growing there as well.  And when we finally got all the patio furniture arranged, it looked like a whole new place!  Of course, we had to have dinner out there after all our hard work.  And so we sat around our garbanzo salad snacking on cheese and salami, sipping Martinelli's, and enjoying our handiwork.  Dessert was a bowl full of cherries--perfect.

Friends and Family

I have already mentioned that a majority of the people I love are in Portland which makes visiting so easy.  I can see so many of my friends and family without ever needing to drive more than 30 minutes!  This trip I feel especially happy because I was able to meet up with a dear college friend who is now living in Minnesota.  She's back in town visiting her parents and we just so happened to coincide.  So I spent Monday wandering around downtown and Powell's books with Leah and her lovely husband whom I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting before.  

I've also been able to meet up with my cousin and her son, the ones who visited me last May.  They will be moving back to Europe soon so I hope to see more of them in the future, but I am so happy they were around for a play-date this week.  I spent the afternoon chatting with my cousin while Danny played and played and played with one of his neighborhood buddies.  They were so cute!  What creative, fun kids!  Perhaps it's because I don't have much opportunity to be with small kids in their homes in Spain, but I have the sense they just don't play the same way as we American rug-rats do.  Danny and his friend were wrapped up in their make-believe for hours and then moved on to digging and later filling with water, a hole in the yard.  I get the sense that Spanish kids are unfortunately much more attached to their television sets... but once again, I can't really say.

  

4th of July!

"Anniversary cup-cakes" 

Well... I didn't end up seeing the fireworks this year.  Sara and I were both just too tired to do much of anything come 9 o'clock.  I guess I've very quickly slipped back into an American schedule because in Spain of course, the party doesn't get going until well after 10pm in summer! ;)  We ended up staying in and toasting my anniversary with glasses of milk and chocolate, fourth of July cupcakes from QFC--delicious!

I did have an All-American dinner over at my Aunt's house, so that, in my mind, makes up for the lack of patriotism that had me in bed by 10:30pm. ;)  We had delicious hot dogs and vegetarian chili with a wonderful green salad.  For dessert she made angel food cake decorated with strawberries and blueberries (red, white and blue).  It was delicious!  She also made some vanilla-honey ice cream that was to die for.

Here's the angel food cake and the little angels who ate it! ;)

The kids had a blast.  My aunt bought cheap pillow cases and they had sack races around the yard and house.  We adults even got in on some of the fun.  My cousin Matt and I had a three legged race against his sister and her husband--we won. ;)  It was a perfect day...you'd never know that most of June has been typical cold, cloudy and rainy weather.  Yesterday was sunny and cloudless.  It was even slightly hot!  Nothing like Andalusia, of course, but that's for the better.

Gob bless America!

Notas and Noticias

Happy 4th of July to everyone and happy 3rd anniversary to me!  Spending my anniversary away from my dear wife isn't the most fun thing in the world, but there is Skype... And I am focusing on the positive: God willing, there will be many more anniversaries to come that we'll be able to celebrate together.  I'm just happy to have her in my life and to be building a life together with her.

Yesterday was a fabulous day, perhaps my favorite so far.  I spent the day out in Forest Grove (the town where my alma mater is) visiting friends.  It was lovely.  As I stepped off the bus onto the Pacific campus so many memories came flooding back.  I remember being a wide-eyed, innocent Senior in high school touring Pacific with one of my best friends, Josh.  I wore a long, navy blue, wool coat and double french braids.  I was more than a little intimidated by the whole process because it was the first college tour I'd done without my parents.  Josh and I flew up alone and stayed in a hotel together for two days visiting the school; both of us ended up going there. :)

 I remember training for cross country on the roads around the Grove and walking every last inch of the town with one of my good college buddies.  The stately trees and green, green grass blow me away now after years in the olive groves.  The campus looks like something out of a movie.  Being there was so familiar, yet the campus is very different from the one I knew as a student.


I remember pre-race oatmeal at Maggie's, and the occasional lunch out or quick coffee.  Then there was the seedy bar just off campus that was a favorite hang-out senior year... don't ask me why.  There is much laughter and many pool games tied to my memories of My Place.  I think all of us were too excited to be legal to worry about much else; and it was always a kick people watching the local regulars. 

My whole day was wonderful, meeting with friends who are ex-professors and bosses, seeing their lovely families, eating delicious homegrown berries and cooking to my heart's content.  Sara was able to meet us after work for dinner which made the day even better.  We ate tortilla de patatas, jamón and greek-style salad.  It was a fantastic dinner and the only thing that made it better was the dessert we concocted: dark chocolate brownies drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.  I could have died and gone to heaven!


All of this culinary goodness was followed by chit-chat on the couch until one in the morning at which point we decided to just stay the night.  I don't know how long it's been since I did a sleep over, but that's not something you get a lot of in Spain. ;)  It was pretty fun!  Breakfast was left over tortilla and now We're home, have run up Mt. Tabor and are getting ready to head out for our respective family functions to celebrate the fourth of July.

Brings back memories...  I do love french braiding little girls' hair.

Two of my friend's lovely children--so cute!

  

Two of my most favorite women in the world...in the same room! :)

Our delicious dinner...  there is no photo proof of the brownies because we ate them TOO fast.

Oh!  And I just checked my grades for the semester and they are as follows: two sobresaliente and two notable (that's more or less two As and two Bs).  I am pleased, though I didn't do quite as well as I expected on one of my exams.  Oh well, life goes on.

Moving Right Along

Though I am miles away, I wanted to keep you all posted on the progress of construction in the bar. :)  Angelines sent me some pictures so, here they are.  As you can see, things are moving right along.  I think there will be a definite slow-down in August, but hopefully, most things will be finished by then.  August in vacation month in Spain and pretty much everything other than emergency services stops for at least two weeks of the month.  Of course, things like light fixtures and paint colors will take some time, too; and as usual in Spain there is still MORE paperwork to be filled out and processed so...  Nevertheless, the September opening date sounds reasonable at this point and I am secretly pleased because I will be there for the estreno. :)

Enjoy!

This is a high window opposite the bar to let light in.  We wanted to do colored blocks but it turns out that the really beautiful colors are for inside use only! :(

**Those of you in the States who want to see pictures of the inside, should send me an email.  Angelines has asked me not to put up any more interior pictures so it will be a surprise for people in town. :)**