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.