Days Off

...No, the title of this long awaited blog does not refer to my cyber absence. ;)  A lot has been happening and has happened since last I wrote (Feb. 17th?!), but my mental posts haven't manifested themselves on the worldwide web.  I'm sure that in the not too distant future, we'll be able to think our facebook posts, blogs, etc... creepy thought, eh?  Although, I must admit that it would be nice to be able to share with you all so easily.  I really do begin composing posts in my head...and then life gets in the way of ever sitting down to type them out.

View of Seville from Triana: La Torre del Oro in foreground
and La Giralda to the right.

I want to share the most recent stuff first, but I promise to get it together enough to share some pictures and stories from my parents' visit (nearly all of March), and Semana Santa, too. :)

The Thursday before Semana Santa (Easter week, for those of you who may not remember) I ended up having to work the afternoon shift along with my morning shift because the other teacher got sick.  Rather than paying me for the hours, she prefered to swap days with me and so this Tuesday after our week-long vacation, I didn't have to work.  This was great because Wednesday is my normal day off and so I've virtually had a weekend mid-week! :)  And the best part is that the whole family could be together since Angelines only works Thurs.-Sun.

We have taken full advantage of these two days, let me assure you.  Yesterday, we headed to Seville as it has become tradition to visit the Virgen de Esperanza de Triana in the days after Semana Santa.  She's still on her paso and so we can see her up close along with the paso which accompanies her: Las tres caídas.  They are both impressive in person and some year I would love to see them in the street... On television, my hair stands on end to see they way they bailan; I can only imagine seeing it in person.

El paso de "Las tres caídas".  This one's got four figures AND a horse on it!  Huge!

La Esperanza de Triana

Typical tourist shot on the banks of the Guadalquivir river.

After visiting the casa hermandad we spent the rest of the morning wandering the streets of Seville and "exploring", as Emily called it.  As we passed the Torre del Oro, a well-known monument in Seville that stands on the shores of the Guadalquivir, Emily exclaimed, "Let's go in there!".  I love that she is so enthusiastic and adventurous.  I love how much she appreciates seeing new things and enjoys museums, so of course she and I headed in to climb the tower and explore the naval museum. 

The ducklings were a highlight for Emily.

It was a perfect day only made better for Emily by the ice cream we got before heading back to the car on the metro.  After nearly a full month of rain (mind you I'm not complaining!) these sunny spring days are very welcome.  It was a bit chilly in the morning, but as the morning wore on, we had to begin taking off layers to stay cool under that hot sevillian sun. ;)

Today we were off again, but this time headed east to Granada.  We finally made it to the snow!  When my parents were here the weather was so bad that we decided it wouldn't even be fun to go to the mountains, but today was another perfect day-- despite temperatures in the high 30's, not a breath of wind and sunny. 

Frosty is a Betis fan...Norte is curious.

We went sledding and built our annual snowman, made some snow castles and got pretty wet.  After a picnic lunch in the snow, we headed down to the ski resort to take a walk around and have a cervecita and hot chocolate.  Emily wanted to go on the chair lift and reaptedly said she wanted to go skiing. :)  I guess one of these years we'll have to get ourselves to Tahoe for Christmas so her Ga can teach her!

The snow was a first for little Norte, who came with us on today's excursion, and he LOVED it!  He is currently snoring on his bed, so I think we successfully wore him out. ;)  He was running all around eating snow and chasing snowballs.  Norte blended right in with the nieve and he's quite a clumsy puppy...no very athletic shots of him in the snow.  We missed our Bela.  Emily commented on our way to the Sierra Nevada, "I wish Bela could play with us and Norte in the snow..." She is still very present with us.

It's been a lovely two days.  Tomorrow I'll be back at work again, but just two days away from the weekend, so I'm easing my way back to work after my "holidays".

I'll leave you with a few more pictures:

From the top of the tower with my explorer. ;)

Please note the homemade snow pants confectioned by yours truly from a garbage bag! ;)  Emily thought that was pretty cool.  ...They kept her dry!

One of the better shots of our little klutz.