30 June 2011

Beach combin'

I am back from my 9 day trip to TX and CA.   And now I am finally writing about our beach vacation!

  Last year when we came to this area we fell in love with the beach.  And the lady, Maria, who rented us these beach chairs for the day.


Her kindness (and prices) left an impression on us.  Not only did we get a beach chair (we rented 2) for the whole day, we got sand toys and could even get a beach towel if needed.  She was so sweet to the kids and her face sure brightened when the kids started speaking to her in Spanish!!

June is the best time to come to the beach in Spain.  That is if you don't like people on top of you, which we don't!  School doesn't get out until late June so on the weekdays the beaches are only spotted with people instead of covered on the weekends.  We learned that by going to the beach on a Sunday!  Crazy!!  So many people!!
Compare this picture to the last beach pic!  Weekday vs. weekend!
The water was still a bit cold, but it sure didn't deter Karis!!  Brennan & Reegan were a bit more hesitant and seemed happy to sit and enjoy the sun or play in the sand.

Our most favorite thing to do, though was beach combing!!  What a perfect area to do so!  Our first day there as I was enjoying the edge of the water, I looked down to see something green and noticed it was glass.  I thought to myself "how dangerous!"  Upon closer inspection I noticed that it had been tumbled in the sea and was now smooth with not a hint of a sharp edge.  It was beautiful!  Isn't it amazing how a piece of junk can become something of beauty?!   And a great illustration.  A perfect example of what Christ can do in our own lives when He takes the junk we have and turns it into beauty for His glory!

It also seemed to be a landing spot for various types of shells.  This is only a hint of what we found.

We found enough to take one shell back for each kid in Karis, Brennan & Reegan's classes!

It wasn't a fine powdery sandy beach, partly due to the broken shells.  It was a bit hard on the feet to do much walking.  We were thankful for those aqua socks we bought last summer in Altea.  None the less, we still enjoyed it!
Just behind the line of beach chairs was a cute little restaurant called La Cubana.  It was perfect to leave our towels and toys by our chairs while we grabbed a bite to eat at this open restaurant.  We ate there just about every day we were at the beach!  Good prices, decent food (we loved the french fries or patatas fritas) and great location!  We loved it!

We didn't spend every day at the beach, but almost.  One day we headed to a nearby mall.  Mainly to get an internet connection, do a bit of grocery shopping and grab a bite to eat.  Then we headed to our rental home to play in the pool.

Another day we headed into the center beach area of Benalmadena and check out the beachy, touristy shops.  We ate at a little British fish and chips place and walked along the board walk area taking in the sights and sounds.  We enjoyed the excursion, but it made us like the area we were staying in even better!



 A popular menu item in this area...sardines on a stick!!  And only 4€!
One glorious week on the Costa del Sol!





We got in some game playin'.... 


 ...as well as Karis & Brennan learning to blow bubbles!

We loved it!!  Hope you enjoyed it along with us!

16 June 2011

What a Vacation

Where to start!  We had such a great time!

We decided to take a return trip (from last summer) to the area of Benalmadena, Spain, which is located in southeast Spain on the Costa del Sol (Coast of Sun) in the region of Andalucia.  Lots of hills and sea!  It is such a gorgeous area!  We liked the apartment rental we stayed in last summer, but what I did not like, at all, was that you had to clean the place yourself when you left and if it wasn't up to par you got charged a hefty fee.  We cleaned it of course!

We considered staying there again, but I just did not want to clean at the end of my vacation!!  We knew we loved the area and the particular beach there, so I hit google with a specific search.  And I found a place!  I figured I would.  It is a very popular area for the British with many relocating or retiring there.  The place we found ended up being close to perfect.  We actually rented from a British family.  The downside, we didn't have a clear view of the sea.  Too many cactus and palm trees in the way!  Ha!  It was beautiful!  I'm really not complaining one bit, I just missed having a view just a tiny bit.  But, I didn't have to clean at the end of our stay!!  And the beach was just about a minutes drive away.  It was in walking distance, but we are talking some steep hills!

Welcome to Casa Don Juan

This cactus tree was outside our kitchen/living room window.  It was huge!!  I could just catch a glimpse of the sea behind it.
The view of the pool from the terrace.  That's my little family you see playing at the pool.  Not a shabby view, is it?
They love to dog pile daddy at the end of the day!
 I introduced Karis to Instagr.am.  It's a fun little app you can add to your ITouch/Phone (which I've used on all of the photos you see here).  It has many different filters you can apply to photos.  It's a lot of fun!
Karis wanted to take a bunch of pictures!


Silly girl!  But I love the last one!  So cute!

I'll be back to share more about the beach next time!


14 June 2011

The Party of 5

It's been over a week ago since our two, 5 year old's party, but thought I'd get these pictures up knowing the grandparents will want to see them.

I have a lot of fun decorating cakes.  I do find myself getting lazy though.  You can tell by the base on the dalmatian cake.  It could have been smoother.  The good thing is, my kids could care less about those little imperfections.
Blowing out the candles.
 They each had the happy birthday song sung to them individually.

We had fun with our colleagues and friends!

I'll be getting back soon to tell a little about our beach vacation.  Not much to share seeing as we spent most of our time at the beach!  Oh how I miss that place already!

06 June 2011

Today They Are 5!


 This morning as my twinks are turning 5,  I began to think about the morning of June 6, 2006.  I had been up in the wee hours of the morning due to insomnia.  I was 37 weeks, 6 days.  Somehow I managed to climb back in bed and get a bit more sleep.  When I woke up at about 8, I realized I was bleeding.  It wasn't heavy, but it was scary none the less!

Jerry was getting our not even 14 month old daughter out of bed and I came in crying and explained my fears.  I giggle a little thinking about his response.  My level headed hubby!  He looked at me and with the most calm voice said "Well, go call the doctor."

My doctor, also being a very level headed lady, answered her phone and instructed me (very calmly, I might add) to get myself to the hospital as quickly as we could.

We had to arrange for someone to take Karis, but we have some great colleagues who stepped in and in no time were at our door to pick her up.  While we were waiting I decided to get a shower and put makeup on.  I couldn't go out of the house without it!!  My hubby laughs about that to this day!

We had a taxi come pick us up (we didn't have a car).  The Lord gave me such peace at this time.  Even allowing me to feel my babies moving around inside me.

We got to the hospital where my doctor was waiting, somewhat chomping at the bit when I think about it now.  Her and another doctor cleared the sonogram room and got me right in.  I'm not sure why now, but they didn't let Jerry in with me.  They saw the babies were doing ok, but needed to get them out fast.  We discussed how they would take them and the three of us (me and the 2 doctors) decided
that putting me completely under for a c-section (which I was scheduled to have just a week later) was the safest quickest way.

I wish I could have been present in mind when my twins were born, but it was not to be.

The room was a buzz around me as they prepped me for surgery.  So many people coming and going and in a very quick manner.  The great thing is, all I felt was peace.  Jerry got to stand in the doorway.  He describes it as being like a cartoon.  It's interesting when you think about the fact that Jerry got to experience the whole birth and didn't.

My situation was very dangerous.  I had placenta previa, which means the placenta was lying low to my cervix.  In my case it began to detach from the uterine wall.  The blessing is we acted fast.  From the time I woke up to the time they delivered was just over 2 hours!

I did not know the extent of our situation until later.  My doctor told me afterward that she saw no need to scare us, but she knew that only God could do a miracle like that.  It's neat how it opened the doors for us to share the Lord with her.
Reegan
 Brennan
In the background of this whole story.....my parents were on a plane scheduled to land that day, June 6.  Since I was out for a good portion of the day and Jerry unable to see Brennan & Reegan much, he decided to go pick my parents up from the airport.  They got to come to the hospital for a quick visit.  I got to wave at them from ICU and they had a chance to peek at Brennan & Reegan and take over the duties as Karis' caretakers for the week while we were in the hospital.  Crazy times!!
A day that will ever be etched in my mind!!  Our beginning as a family of 5!
Jerry came across this while sorting through his office for our move.
Their party last week at school.

Happy Birthday Brennan & Reegan!!  We love you!!

03 June 2011

Field Day

 We showed up late to the field day activities, not knowing we could be there.  So we didn't get to see our kids race.  Oh well!  We got to see the medal ceremony though.

My big girl won out of all the 5/6 year old girls!!  She told us later that she didn't even run as fast as she could!  Ha!  What confidence!
I think we have a runner in the family!

02 June 2011

Birthday Time Again

In Spain, the month of September and the month of June the kids only go half days, until 1:30.  Brennan & Reegan's birthday is next week and normally birthday parties are done in the afternoon.  So, their teacher asked if we could do it this past Tuesday, May 31st with one of the other kids in the class.  We had a triple birthday party!


Email subscribers can see it here.

It was a lot of fun.  The other family brought the cake.  We brought little toys and candy for the kids.  We showed baby pictures and the other family read a story (I think!  Ha!  All in Spanish, remember?).

I am sure going to miss the school and teachers.  What a blessing they have been to us this year!

01 June 2011

Looky, Things Are New Around Here

I've been toying with the idea of changing the name of my blog for some time.  I called on my Held peeps for some ideas and they helped me out. 

I waited a long time for the title of "mom," but at the same time there are SO many other things in my life that define me.  So I went looking for a title that was a bit more versatile.  My friend Karon (Hi Karon, she's not a blogger....yet!  Ha!) came up with "Girl Meets Globe". 

I fell in love with it.  I had to think on it for awhile.  I am a "girl" going on 4-0, ya know!  People tell me all the time I look young for my age, so I went with it!

Hope you like it!  I am still changing things up a bit, but I'm liking the look so far. 

It shouldn't affect my email subscribers.  Just know that Life of a MissyMom is now Girl Meets Globe!

Deeper

  Deeper - adj. 1. extending or situated relatively far down from a surface: a deep pool. It's been a long time since I've ...