Sanity Check: Catching up

Wow! It's been a few days since I've posted. Sorry, but I've been busy. Between the boys' birthdays last week and my in-laws visiting for nearly a week, I haven't had a lot of spare time. I'll share with you some of the happenings of the last several days...

D turned 13 last week and we gathered around and watched him open gifts from family after dinner. As you can see, he was quite pleased to have received this particular gift. He still loves legos.

M turned 10 and is thrilled to now be in "double digits." He got his military I.D. card and will be getting his Spanish I.D. card this week. Here he poses with a coveted birthday gift, a Pokemon DS game, something he and his brother will no doubt enjoy.

We went several places during my in-laws' visit. One day we had tapas at La Brisa on the boardwalk in Rota and then went for a walk afterward. We saw this beautiful sand sculpture on the beach. The artist told us it took him a week to create it.

We also saw a group of boys running and doing acrobatic maneuvers off of this ball. A couple of them were very impressive.

We took my hubby's parents and our boys and went to dinner and a flamenco show in Jerez. We took a tour bus from the base, which was preferable since that meant we'd have transportation and wouldn't have to worry about parking our own vehicle. Here are the men in my life enjoying the show.

The exact same singer was there as last time, but the guitar players were different people as were the dancers.

I wasn't expecting to see a male dancer as I didn't realize men did this particular kind of dancing. This guy was very, very confident in his dancing ability and a lot of fun to watch. Wanna see?

The next day we drove to Gibraltar as this was one of the places my in-laws really wanted to visit while they were here. We had a great time, although it poured rain most of the day. We jumped on a tour bus and hit the highlights of the Rock.

My hubby and mother-in-law walked and talked together for a while. I think she really enjoyed having some private time with her son.

My mother-in-law was a good sport with the Barbary Apes as she allowed one to climb on her. The boys and I got in on the act too...

We saw a baby ape that was old 5 weeks old. Here's a short clip of the the baby with two older apes. The high-pitched sqeaking noise is the baby.

The boys are standing on Europa Point, with the mosque and Rock in the background. It was unfortunately too rainy and foggy to see the coastline of Africa.

During the course of my in-laws' visit with us, the boys introduced my father-in-law to Guitar Hero. I think he may have found himself a new hobby. My mother-in-law may disown all of us.

We went to Puerto Sherry during low tide so that we could explore the tide pools and search for shells, rocks and beach glass.

My hubby ventured out into the tide pools and beyond.

M had fun exploring too.

I believe D had the most fun of all. He found evidence of sea life among the tide pools and he was so mesmerized that he was reluctant to leave.

These are the Phoenician ruins in this area.

My hubby stands in front of a part of the old Phoenician city wall to give you an idea of how massive it is. I'm still in awe just thinking of the amount of work that must have gone into building this structure. Incredible!