Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was so low-key and relaxing, and we enjoyed every minute. The boys had school on Friday, but my hubby had a free day. Lately I've been volunteering in my youngest son's class on Friday mornings, and I asked my hubby to join me as a surprise for the little man. M was so thrilled to see both of us (particularly his dad) in his classroom. Later we strolled around downtown Rota and ate lunch at a cafe/bar kind of place where the food was fabulous.

Saturday the boys were supposed to have had baseball games, however, since many families were on weekend trips, the games were cancelled, but both teams had a practice of sorts. Later we joined the crowd at the opening of the base pool. It was a warm day, but the water was frigid and my hubby and I let it be known upfront that we were NOT going to be taking a dip. We watched the boys swim and play, but we didn't get in. Of course it was quite the social event as everybody knows everybody here in Mayberry.

Sunday we went to church and then packed some food for a short road trip to Cape Trafalgar, Spain, a little over an hour away from Rota. We'd read about this historic location and figured we'd go check it out. What we found were beautiful beaches, a lighthouse and lots of livestock. We also learned a few historical facts about the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805).

FYI from Wikipedia.... "a sea battle was fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition (August-December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The battle was the most decisive British victory of the war and was a pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre Villeneuve off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost."

There you have it... your history lesson for the day. Now, moving on to the sights we saw while visiting this beautiful area... Take a look at the brilliant blue colors in the sky and water! What a beautiful day!


I don't know about you, but I had never seen cattle grazing near the beach before this day.


I must have invaded this critter's privacy as it did a 180 on me the minute I zoomed in for a photo.


If you know me very well at all, you know I love lighthouses, so I was thrilled to see this one.


We asked someone to take a photo of us standing on the walkway surrounding the lighthouse, overlooking the water, and he happily obliged. We don't seem to have many photos of all four of us, so we took advantage of the opportunity.


Pretty wildflowers were scattered here and there over the dunes.


The boys initially weren't very excited about our excursion as I think they would have preferred to stay at home and play Wii, however, once we got there and they saw the sand dunes and the water, they changed their tune. They explored for two solid hours and had a blast.


We took our tri-pod with us, but naturally we left it in the trunk and were too lazy to walk back to get it, however, we managed to sit the camera on a rock in order to get this family photo. Wow! Two family photos in the same day... that must be some kind of record for us.


I couldn't resist another photo of the lighthouse. Actually, I took like 10 more, but I won't force you to see them all.


Yeah, I'm thinking I could get used to sights like this...


... or this...


... or this...


... and maybe this...


M loved playing in the sand and surf, although the water was C-O-L-D!


D in his usual "thumbs up" pose.


Partners in crime


We thought this was an interesting form of recycling at the beach.


The boys climbed this sand dune, and then attempted to slide down, which didn't exactly work out. They wished they'd had a sled or one of those round discs to ride, but who knew this would have been a possibility at the beach?


Time for a refresco (soft drink) and M chose his favorite... Fanta Naranja (Fanta Orange). Of course the bottle makes for great entertainment too.


Ditto to all of the above!


Here's MY partner in crime! He was responsible for planning our little excursion. Good choice, babe! You can plan all of our trips.

The rest of our weekend included the hubby playing a rare round of golf with a friend, movie rentals and a BBQ with lots of neighbors. What an awesome weekend!