Allie in the South of Spain

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S. and obviously like most everyone else we have a lot to be thankful for here in Spain. It might not be surprising that the foremost thing that comes to mind at this point when listing things that I appreciate are the two little babies that will hopefully be coming sometime in March. We are over half way through the pregnancy and things continue to progress well. Everyone involved is healthy though not always comfortable. Growing two little people is exhausting and though I have had relatively few complaints up until now in this pregnancy (no nausea for example) it seems like lots of little issues are cropping up now. Hello heartburn! Or needing to be very close to close to a bathroom thanks to the little girl sitting on my bladder. All in all though, I can't complain (though I am sure that is coming). Before I move on to another twinning update I would also like to point out that I am thankful for the doctors and nurses who helped us during ...

Recently we had a long weekend and Jose, Cooper and I headed to the south of Portugal. I love this part of our neighboring country because though it is quite similar to the south of Spain, it has it's own charm. We usually stay at my in-laws' apartment right across the border in Vila Real de San Antonio. It is less than two hours from home and we can walk to the beach when we are there. This area of Portugal is really popular with retired people from all over Europe and we enjoy exploring the villages that dot the coast as well as heading a bit in-land every once in a while. One of my favorite things about this time of year is the Christmas festivals, fairs and markets that pop up all over. Vila Real is no different. In their main plaza there is always stuff to do, see and buy. This month there was a holiday themed fair going on complete with an ice skating rink. There was a stand in the market with its own wood stove where they were making bread that looked FANTASTIC. ...

This weekend Jose, our friends, Cooper and I went to spend the weekend at a casa rural outside of Aracena in the Sierra of Huelva. We make a similar trip every year because this is probably my favorite place to visit in the south of Spain.  You can read about other weekends away here  (Aroche), here  (Aracena) and here  (Almonaster). This time we stayed in a place right near a small village called Corteconcepcion.   Casa Rural El Chaparral I love visiting this part of the mountains of Huelva because it is home to a very unique ecosystem, the dehesa which I find incredibly beautiful. The best way I can describe the dehesa is as follows: imagine a mountainous area with lots of trees (though not very tall or full) like cork trees. There is no underbrush or any bushes that cover the ground. Rather centuries ago, man adapted this area to his needs by clearing away the smaller plants to allow sun to reach the grass. This allowed them to take advantage of not on...

Right after leaving the airport During Holy Week here in the south of Spain my sister Chrissie came to visit us since both Jose and I had off work (the perks of living in a Catholic country). She has been here twice before (read about the first time here and our wedding here ). We drove and picked her up on Monday and spent that day organizing her trip and allowing her to recover from her jet lag.  On Tuesday we headed to Seville to see some of the Holy Week processions that are so famous here. I will spare you the details of what this all involves since I have discussed it before and I sense that this post is going to be long since we crammed so much into such a short amount of time. If you are interested you can check out my Semana Santa post here . In any case, we headed into the city center and while enjoying the beautiful weather and some beers we got to see a few of the pasos come by before heading home again.  Holy Week The following day we headed to Gibr...

My dog is needy. Like if I am sitting down in my apartment he needs to be on my lap needy. Like if I am standing doing something around the apartment he tries to jump into my arms to be carried around needy. Lately though I find that if I am distracted with something when I am home in the mornings before work, when I realize it, he has disappeared. This is not like him but now I am on to his game. When I am not paying attention he jumps into the bed where he knows he shouldn't be. I will find him cuddled under the blankets. I have started to take photos as evidence. As you can see from this last picture, he sometimes has the decency to try to look surprised that he has been caught even though he knows he isn't supposed to be there. Cooper usually sleeps in his crate with his blankie that he is loves. He is really comfortable and often will go in by himself at night without any prodding on our part. Would he prefer to sleep in the bed? Certainly as is evidenced ...

One year later We adopted our dog Cooper about a year ago. A lot has changed for us since then (new apartment, new job, new furniture, a summer at doggy camp) but one thing remains the same. Bringing this big-eared, short-legged, little guy into our lives is one of the best decisions we have made. I talked about why I wanted a dog here  and though at times neither of us wants to get out of bed to take him out, he has only made our lives better. A day in the life of Cooper the Pooper Generally speaking the Cooperonian calendar doesn't change, even on the weekends. He wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. by scratching at the big crate that he sleeps in with his favorite blanket. Then he goes outside and has breakfast. The rest of the day entails sleeping, snuggling and chewing on his various toys and bones (especially Donald Duck, meet him here ), interspersed with sucking on his blanket. I first introduced this weird trait here .  This summer while we were back in...

Carrying on the family legacy This week as I took out Cooper for an afternoon walk I was approached by a mud-covered black lab. She was super friendly and when I petted her, she immediately sat down and pushed her head into my hand, leaning in to me (like a typical lab). She looked healthy and though dirty, didn´t seem to have spent too much time outside by herself. I think she is either lost or much more probable has been abandoned by her owners. This is actually something pretty common here in Spain. People (who I assume are suffering from the crisis) turn their dogs loose when they can no longer take care of them for whatever reason. I have a soft spot for labradors. My family has always had them as pets and they are the best dogs! Wonderful with children, friendly and energetic. Though this dog approached a ton of people and was rebuffed by almost all (mostly in quite mean ways) I feel like she must have somehow known that my family also has a history of taking in strays. ...

We have a bunch of vacant land near our new apartment. Someday if and when the economy picks up these lots will become buildings but for now they are open areas where we like to take Cooper for long walks in the morning. Cooper loves it. He is able to run around safely (see no cars) and act like he is a real dog. He especially likes flushing and chasing birds. Since Cooper is so short with his stubby legs we sometimes lose him in the tall grass or shrubs. We have to look for movement to be able to find him because he can get pretty well camoflauged. Here are a couple of pictures we took with Jose's phone. See if you can find Cooper. In this first photo he is completely hidden. Where is Cooper??!! Now can you find him? Hint: look in the middle and look for movement. SOLUTIONS:     See, it isn't easy. We have to make sure he is following us so we don't misplace him out there : )