Life In Madison

On Monday we arrived in Madison ready to begin our new journey in Madison for a year!  Andy will be attending graduate school at the University of Madison.  We are thrilled to be back in the Midwest and close to family and friends.  Andy and I had the chance to leave Drew and Claire with Andy's parents for a week while we unpacked FOUR shipments of house hold goods! When we arrived back this past weekend for the first time with the kiddos everything was put away, pictures were hung, and sheets had already been washed.  We were so grateful and by far this has been our most organized move, with not even a box in the garage!

 

 Our home for the next year

We packed out in Spain the month of May, so it had been a long time since the kiddos had seen any of their toys!  When we walked in it was like Christmas morning!!  The train table we had put in storage before we left for Spain, to this was new to the both of them!

I think if Andy and I were to settle down in the Midwest we would choose Madison as our city.  The city has SO much to offer from festivals, parks, lakes, farmer markets, and our favorite hundreds of miles of bike trails! 

This past Saturday we went on a bike ride to the large farmers market around the capital!

Enjoying a bike ride around one of the many lakes

Few More Fair Photos!

                             This was Andy's first year at the Iowa State Fair and loved this sign!

  The fair had a really cute area called "Little Hands"  where the kiddos had an opportunity to see what it would be like to work on a farm.  When you entered each child was given an apron and a basket and continued on to several stations.  At the end each child was given a fake dollar bill where they went to the general store to pick out an item for their hard work.  Drew and Claire chose a Popsicle!

                                                                    Planting vegetable seeds

                                   Filling the baskets full of grain for the farm animals

                                                                    Picking up eggs

 They then had to jump on little tractors with their buckets in the back, pick up hay, and feed the cows

                                                                  Milking the cows

   One of the many foods at the fair is a GIANT turkey leg!  Drew and Claire had to try a few bites off of Brian's!

 And of course there was a large selection of tractors!  The cost on one of these bad boys is INSANE!  Many of them were as high as $500,000!!!  The kiddos loved climbing inside them and "driving."

Iowa State Fair!

   This weeks kicks off the Iowa State Fair!  The Iowa State Fair is listed in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die.  And it is said that over a million people will come to the fair from all over the world!  We have been visitors to the fair ever since I was little and it's sad to say that I have not been there for five years!  However today we made up for all of that lost time and we spent TWELVE hours there today!!!  And yes, the kiddos were with us for the twelve hours with NO NAPS and NOT ONE melt down!!!  We had an amazing day with so many fun memories!

  One of the many attractions there was a butterfly garden.  In this garden one paid $3.00 per person to have all of the butterflies one could imagine land on them and pick up!  The kiddos were in heaven, along with the adults!

                                Mimi and Claire having a great time!!

Grandpa and Grandma's

This past week we spent at Andy's parents house in Minnesota.  Their cute town has hundred's of lakes and one person is never bored!!

Drew, Andy , and Grandpa took the boat out one night and look what they came home with... dinner!! Drew's face had to of hurt from all the smiles!!  He was in heaven.

Claire not to sure about eating a roasted marshmallow

Look what we saw on our road trip from Wisconsin to Minnesota, our good friend Paul!

One night at Grandpa and Grandma's was devoted to catching frogs!!

I don't think Drew and Claire will ever want to leave Andy's parents house as he was able to shoot a gun!

HoMe SwEEt HoMe!

On the 8th of July we landed in Virginia at 3am and started our new adventure here in America.  Saying good-bye to our friends in Spain was so hard, however it will be so great to be near family for our next tour in Wisconsin.

We were able to spend three days at my brother's Brain's house in Virginia Beach, which was awesome  & with so much entertainment.  Uncle Brain is like an amusement park for the kiddos and they always have a BLAST!

We then loaded up the car and spent two days driving to Madison!  The children did awesome in the car and the time actually went by really fast!

We then spent two days in Madison checking out our new house and the kiddos school's. 

Relaxation was in sight as we headed to our family cabin in Northern Minnesota for five days.  The days were filled with fishing, boating, state parks, and swimming in the lake!  We couldn't have been more relaxed if we tried!

The Olsen's cabin

Drew and Claire ready for their first fishing trip!

Flash backs from my childhood... hammocks are ALWAYS a hit with kiddos!!

Boating with grandpa!

Drew ended up catching six fish!!! For his first time fishing he did amazing and Andy has found his fishing buddy as he will stay fishing for HOURS... YES, HOURS....

After seeing Drew catch a few, Claire wanted to try...

So peaceful..

and so HaPPy!

Baseball Season Is Here!

Drew started baseball this year and made the cut to the 6+ team!  His team was the Braves and I have one little boy who couldn't be more excited!  Drew had an awesome season and didn't even use the tee!!

Our blog is still crazy and turns the photos the wrong way without the option to turn them the right way.. UGH..

Drew at practice

Andy helped out with the team this year which made it a lot of fun!  (Andy is pitching in this photo to Drew..)

Quick Review

So our blog has gone NUTS!!!  The past month our blog has switched it's server over to an EU address and that has made it insane hard to post photos!! With this, I can not rotate the photos as well.  When I upload them, it looks like it will appear normal and then the photo is turned the wrong way and one can not change it!  UGH!!!  Only a few more weeks with this problem and the blog will be back on a US server in the states and back to normal with frequent posts.  I think this is the one and only thing I can really complain about living here in Spain, so life still is good:)

Feria

The beginning of May kicks off Feria season here in Rota.  Every town here in Spain has it's own Feria which is like one huge county fair only really elegant!  The women are in Feria dresses along with the kiddos and the men are dresses to the nine!

Claire and her friends tearing up the dance floor for Feria!

An example of the men and their outfits, it really is an elegant affair and wonderful tradition here in Spain

Drew's 5th Birthday

On May 9th Drew turned the BIG 5!!  My sister, Allison started the tradition with her kiddos with breakfast in bed on their birthday.  When Drew and Claire saw this on her blog we decided also to start this tradition!  This is the 2nd year and running!  They LOVE it and start planning out their meal a year in advance!

For dinner we went out to our favorite beach restaurant with our friends!

Drew's Preschool Graduation!

The middle of May Drew had his BIG graduation from Preschool!  The graduation was super cute filler with songs, the big hand out of the diploma, and a light lunch!

Drew and his teacher, Mrs. Luisa

And the hat toss!

Happy 3rd Birthday Claire!

All Claire wanted for her Birthday was a doughnut!  She decided not to eat breakfast in bed as the movers had already come and packed up our furniture and she was on loaner furniture and still wasn't to sure about her rental bed!!!

Time to open gifts, with of course help from Drew!