2017

Happy New Year, all.

I've been on "vacation" for two weeks now...you wouldn't know it from my blogging silence, though.  As usual, my time off from work has passed by too quickly, but I feel we did a pretty good job of taking advantage of our time despite the rush and craziness that are the holidays here in the Granados Wilbanks house-hold.

It was great that the holidays all fell on the weekend, or on normal work days for Angelines.  That gave us three days each week to be together all day long.  Of course there was preparation to be done and you can't forget the cleaning... but still we were able to get out and do/see some things.

The weather has been chilly (by Spanish standards), but sunny and nice, so we were able to have a picnic lunch the day after Christmas. And got out of the house to the indoor park in Antequera on another day. 

New Year was pretty low-key this year as we were the only ones along with my mother-in-law to eat over at my brother and sister-in-law's house.  Usually the whole family is there, but with so few people it was much more laid back and I personally enjoyed myself more.  Emily was entertainment enough for all of us, plus I took over Taboo and played a little with my nephew.

This week we made two trips to Málaga.  We went to the aquarium on Tuesday and then spent the evening in the center of Málaga enjoying the Christmas lights, which were amazing.  The streets were packed, but it was fun to be out with the holiday spirit in the air.  Thankfully we decided to try out the new metro in Málaga and left our car outside the center.  The "train" was Emily's highlight of the evening by far. :) 

Wednesday we got everything taken care of around here and then headed to the pool.  It's been nearly a month since we were last able to go, and Emily has been begging to go swimming for at least two weeks.  It felt great to get in the water again and Em had a blast.  She has a little floatation belt that she wears, it's still a little big so we can't really leave her on her own completely yet, but she LOVES it and spends the whole time repeating, "Emily sola, Emily sola!"

After the pool we decided we should head to Málaga because we didn't have a Kings' day present for my mother or sister-in-law and both of them are such help with the baby and the bar.  Once again we rode the "train" into the center for some blitz holiday shopping.  It was packed!!  The 6th of January is Kings' day which is when the Spanish children get their gifts, so the mall was jammed with all the last-minute shoppers.  We could only take about 30 minutes of the madness before we turned back for the metro station.  Still, we successfully bought presents for all.

The Kings brought Emily a Mickey mouse costume that she can use for carnival...and just for fun around the house.  She especially loves the gloves.  Tonight we put the full costume on for the first time, and she loved it--dancing around the house.

Monday it's back to work for me...but I think that tomorrow Angelines has decided not to open so we'll have one last day together.  She wants to go to see her favorite soccer team, Real Betis, play in Seville.  If she can get the tickets that will be her Christmas present because I was a terrible person and wasn't able to get her anything.  All my plans were foiled.  If this works out though, I know she'll be happier than with anything I would have gotten her anyway.