Rota loves college football!

Wednesday night ended up being a lot of fun for our family. We had the unique opportunity of attending Coaches Tour 2009, sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment. A group of college football coaches traveling to several U.S. military locations abroad made their way to NAVSTA Rota where we had the pleasure of meeting them.

Among those on the tour were Mack Brown (University of Texas), Troy Calhoun (Air Force Academy), Jim Grobe (Wake Forest), Rick Neuheisel (UCLA), Houston Nutt (Ole Miss), Jim Tressel (Ohio State) and Tommy Tuberville (former Auburn coach). Check out some of our photos from the evening...

This is just one line of people waiting to meet Mack Brown. We felt honored that these coaches would take time out of their busy schedules to come visit with us.


All three of the men in my life took the opportunity to chat it up with Coach Troy Calhoun. You know we're just a little partial to those Air Force Falcons. Here Coach Calhoun signs the Air Force football pennant my oldest son had brought from home. D is all about getting autographs.


Coach Calhoun signs a hat for my youngest son. They were giving away lots of "freebies" to include T-shirts, hats, photos, etc. It was awesome!


What a genuinely nice guy!


Coach Jim Grobe


Coach Rick Neuheisel


Coach Jim Tressel


Coach Houston Nutt


My girlfriend gets an autographed photo from Coach Mack Brown.


Behind the table, on the right, is former coach at Auburn University, Tommy Tuberville, acting as "Coach Emeritus" on the tour. He's the only returning coach that participated in Coaches Tour 2008. The gentleman next to Tuberville is an Under Armour representative.


All the coaches pose together with the gentleman holding the football. I never found out who that guy was.


Clowning around at the end of the event


My hubby (on the left) poses with friend, neighbor and also the Navy Skipper here. He's obviously a big UCLA fan. It was pretty cool that both the coaches of Skipper's and my hubby's alma maters participated in the tour.


My hubby (center) poses with two other former Air Force Academy grads.


I approached Coach Calhoun before the end of the night to ask if he'd mind posing for a photo with my fellas, and he graciously obliged. The boys left there fairly impressed. As a result I believe they'll be watching the Air Force games a little more intently this season, and every time they see Coach Calhoun, they'll remember meeting him and shaking his hand. Very cool!

Feria in El Puerto de Santa Maria

Yesterday I shared with you photos and commentary from a recent trip to the feria in Rota. Today I'll share photos from a feria in another small town near the base... El Puerto de Santa María.

I actually went to the feria with girlfriends from my Spanish class. We went after class and only stayed a couple of hours, but had a great time. Here are the highlights...

The entrance to the feria was similar to Rota's.

Tinto verano, anyone? Some of our friends arrived ahead of us and were waiting with pitchers of drinks.


My Spanish teacher is pictured on the left, and the other two ladies are friends and fellow Spanish students from the base.


We hung out in this caseta, enjoying some Spanish cuisine and conversation. Thursday was "el Día de las Mujeres" (Ladies' Day) at the feria, therefore we saw lots more women than men.


The lady in green is another Spanish teacher at our school. She's helping one of her students, a neighbor and friend of mine, learn some dance moves. Don't you love their feria dresses?


I loved watching this precious older couple dance together!


These ladies weren't part of our group, but I had a good time watching them dance together and I thought their dresses were lovely.


I'm such a people watcher and this lady held my interest during her smoke break, as she managed to use her cleavage as a holder for her cigarettes. That's all I have to say about that.


Some of the ladies in our group were participants in the sevillana dancing, while others were merely spectators (That would be me since I have two left feet).


As we were leaving, we saw horse-drawn carriages carrying people. Even the horses are dressed for feria!


Did I mention Thursday was Ladies' Day? There were women of every kind there... young, old, Spanish, American, nuns, ladies in wheelchairs... you name it!

Maybe next year I'll learn to dance and buy myself a feria dress. Yeah, and maybe I'll win the lottery too! We'll see...

Rota Feria

Feria season in Spain is quite a cultural event. Everywhere in Spain, from the tiniest of villages to the largest of cities, devotes at least a couple of days a year to their festivals. We just think the Spanish like to party, which is okay with us.

So... what is feria anyway?

Feria is basically like any county fair or "carni" I've ever attended in that one can find...

1) food galore, and none of it healthy (some foods, like churros and cotton candy, are familiar, but other foods, like coconut slices, are completely foreign to me)

2) music (flamenco being quite different than bluegrass and country, but WAY LOUD nonetheless),

3) dancing (except here they flamenco dance and where I come from they square dance),

4) fancy dresses (here ladies wear feria dresses, and in my neck of the woods ladies wear special square dancing garbs, but they're somewhat similar),

5) rides (pretty much the same as the ones back home),

6) drinks (except here they don't hide their alcohol... they flaunt it),

7) animals (except here it's usually just horses rather than the whole barnyard),

8) carnival games (the same kinds of games with the same kinds of tacky prizes),

9) foul smells (Here it's because of the horses, alcohol and perhaps a little B.O. thrown in here and there. Back home it can be blamed on all of the animals, the alcohol already on the Bubba's breath when he bought his ticket at the fair entrance and of course Bubba's lack of personal hygiene),

10) girls dressed like hookers and other interesting characters,

11) lots of trash, and...

12) loads of fun!

How about a peek at some of the sights we recently saw while visiting the Rota feria?

I don't believe I've ever seen these foods served at my local county fair at home in KY. I'm a little more accustomed to corn dogs, popcorn or funnel cakes.


The boys enjoyed the shooting gallery, despite the fact they didn't win a prize.


See what you can win at the carnival games? Priceless treasures, I tell ya... just like at home! I really wanted one of these Playboy bunnies, but I couldn't get the hubby to go try and win one for me.


The boys had a blast riding the bumper cars.


Here the boys get ready for this ride to start. Notice they aren't strapped in or anything. Apparently there are virtually no enforced safety standards for these carni rides. Were we crazy for allowing them to ride this thing? You'll be relieved to know, as were we, that the ride ended without incident.


These young ladies were beautiful in their feria dresses.


Even the little people dress up for feria.


Here's a chica dressed in "non-feria" costume.


This guy was entertaining. He stood just like a statue for the longest time and then he'd barely move. I'm more accustomed to other carni folk such as clowns, mimes and weight-challenged women (the new PC term for "fat ladies").


People gather in these pre-fab buildings/tents called "casetas" for dancing, singing, drinking... you get the picture. There are both private and public casetas.



These two had a great time. It's so nice to see them comfortable in their surroundings, particularly off-base among the Spanish. They no longer seem overwhelmed and anxious.


This good-looking guy was my carni date. Pretty cute, isn't he? He speaks a little Spanish too, which is always a bonus when out and about in Spain.


As it turned dark, the lights came on and it was really pretty. I don't ever recall seeing these kinds of lights at the fair back home.

We didn't go to the feria in Jerez or Sevilla where I understand they have big horse shows. Maybe next year...

Of course I kept wondering where the tractor pull was held. Sadly enough, there wasn't one. Can you believe that? The Spanish don't know what they're missing! Now that's some entertainment! Who do I call to make a suggestion for next year's feria?

Where's my willpower?

Dinner is a challenge for me when the hubby is out of town. The boys and I have a tendency to eat less healthy when he's away. I realize that's not a positive thing, but it's reality.

Case in point... last night I was busy preparing food for an event I'm co-hosting today. The boys were happy with a can of soup and spaghettios. I did actually slice some fresh fruit and poured each of them a tall glass of milk, so dinner wasn't totally without nutrition.

I've been trying to find a way to jumpstart my motivation to lose weight and begin an exercise regimen. Let's just say I've been ignoring this issue for quite some time and it doesn't seem to be going away on its own. I hate it when that happens!

Last night I decided to have a Weight Watchers meal, which was pretty tasty. I also had a banana. I was feeling very proud of myself in regard to my food choices. Then somehow during the course of the evening, I found myself munching on a Snickers ice cream bar.

If you see my willpower running around anywhere, send it back to me, will ya?

'Tis the season...

... for Father's Day gift buying, hubby's birthday gift buying, graduation gift buying, kids birthday party gift buying, congrats on change of command card making, and change of address for 147 military people on my Christmas card list as everyone PCS's this summer. (Okay, so it's not really 147 people, but there will be lots of address changes to be made.)

The hubby travels a lot this summer... without us... and the oldest kid goes to Boy Scout camp in another country... without us...

and I love summer vacation because...?

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!