Fun Weekends!

Life since we've moved to Madrid has been a little hectic.  Marcus has been working a lot.  We haven't had a ton of time together during the week, but the last couple weekends have been so nice.  We've been able to relax and enjoy some much needed family time. 

A couple weeks ago we were really in the mood for some American food.  We wanted ribs specifically.  Unfortunately Tony Roma's is on the Madrid schedule of not opening for dinner until 8:30, and we wanted to eat at a typical American diner time, so we headed to TGIFriday's instead.  We thought it would be dead, because people here don't eat until really late, BUT there was a Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game going on so the place was packed.  Fortunately we were able to find a place to sit.  It ended up being the perfect night out.  We'd wanted to watch the game, but we don't have local T.V. and we thought it was going on later, so we had thought it just wasn't going to happen.  After we got seated at the restaurant it ended up being the perfect entertainment.  Not to mention the place was so animated, that no one noticed the girls when they got loud.  It was a great night.

Last Friday was the Day of the Dead here in Spain.  Marcus got the day off, and we were able to meet up with some of our friends at a park about an hour away.  I don't know why, but they have way cooler park toys here.  Some seem almost dangerous.  I don't think a lot of them would fly in the U.S.  We are loving them though.

That night after the park our ward was having a cultural party at the church.  Our ward is called the "International" ward of Madrid.  Which means that there are a lot of South and Central Americans in our ward and a couple families from the U.S.  The party was really fun.  People did dances from their native country, which the girls couldn't get enough of, then everyone brought food from their country.  I felt bad...Our U.S. Table was no where near as good as a lot of the others.  This was because us and another family in the ward had been out all day at the park and we hadn't had a lot of time to make anything.  We also are never super sure of what's going on, because all the announcements are in Spanish in the ward, so we didn't really know we had to bring something until we met up at the park and Paul, a friend of ours in the ward who is just here temporarily told us.  Anyway, I rushed home and made some pumpkin bread.  The Clayton's brought some peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies, and that's pretty much how our "American Food" was represented.  We've already committed to going all out next year.  I felt kind of bad we didn't do more, but it was a really fun night!

 A super blurry picture of some of the dancers.

The next day we went out and finally got Chocolate and Churros.  They are a big deal here, and Marcus and I have been meaning to do it for a while.  The Claytons came along with us, and we had a lot of fun.  Avery LOVED the churros.  It was so funny because they aren't even sugar covered like they are in the U.S.  They are basically just deep fried bread, but she loved them.  She dipped them in her chocolate, but once the chocolate was gone she didn't stop.  When we finally told her it was time to go she grabbed three and ran out the door.  It was really funny. 

After churros we headed to the park and let the kids run around and play.  Then later that night Marc and I got a sitter and went out to dinner in our neighborhood. 

It was a great couple of weekends.  So fun to be able to spend time together!