Hansen trip part 2

Picking up where we left off... leaves us at Thursday of their first week.  We did not do a whole lot in the morning.  We drove on base (they needed to wait until their passes were ready) and picked up a few things at the store.
In the afternoon, we went to Aydins soccer practice.  Steve met us at practice to take the boys home while we took Morgan to horse lessons.
SJ (her trainer) moved locations since we have last seen her and we were very excited to see her new place and start training again.  Her new place is absolutely beautiful.

The baby horse is only 6 days old...

Morgan was amazing!  She began the nights lesson without a lead... completely by herself for the first time AND got the horse up to a trot (she was doing a standing trot).  She was so excited and you could see her smiling from ear to hear the whole time (occasionally hear her laughing when she came trotting by).

Friday morning we went into Sanlucar.  We walked around the market streets, the bars, and up to the market.  It is so fun seeing the reaction of others in the market where they will be exposed to whole fish, bull balls and peppers larger than your face.

Friday afternoon, we played around the house, mom and dad took the kids to the beach for about 2 hours and had an amazing greek dinner outside.

Saturday morning we packed in the cars and made our way to the oldest city in Europe: Cadiz.  We love this city and its beauty.  This time we started off a little further down than last allowing us to go into a castle and walk around.  It was awesome!

We then walked the water front into the center by the Cathedral.

On our walk... we saw this man repainting his house...  Attached to the end is NOT a ROLLER... it is a PAINT BRUSH!!  A paint brush?!  Seriously Spain... you dont have anything better for this poor man?!

In front of the doors to the side of the Cathedral.

 
Mom, dad and Morgan went in the church... we stayed outside and played with the camera.

We made our way down to the town hall square and sat down for tapas/lunch.

After lunch, we walked back to Ben and Jerry's and all got ice cream before walking to the market.  This market was closing up last time we walked by... so this time was fantastic!!  We got to see it is action... and that it was.  There were so many people there getting their fresh meat, fish and produce we even joined in.

Before we came home, we left the kids climb this amazing tree!! 
Aydin is quite the climber...

Once home, we relaxed for a bit.
Steve and I had the chance to take advantage of mom and dad being here and went to the plant store BY OURSELVES.  When we got home, we ate dinner and then mom and the kids walked the beach while we planted our veggies (peppers and tomatoes) and lilies. 

Mom and Dad Hansen part 1

My parents are finally here... a day Morgan (and the rest of us) have been waiting for since she turned 8.  Morgan has been waiting for Grandpa to come visit so he could baptize her into the church.  

They arrived in Madrid early Wednesday morning and spent the first two days of their trip sight seeing Madrid.  Friday afternoon, they took the train from Madrid into Puerto de Santa Maria where Liam and I picked them up.  The kids we so excited to come home to nana and papa!!

Friday night, I had to run to base to pick up Steve from work (he spent the week somewhere is southern Spain for work).  We spent the night visiting, eating pizza and pasta, and getting ready for Morgan's big day in the morning.

Saturday was the day Morgan had been waiting for for months... years!!  She was so excited to get baptized and become the newest member of the branch.  

 Liam and Aiden

 Getting ready...

 After:
Morgan and Emry

 Outside... after...

It was a beautiful service.  Aydin gave a talk on the ordinance of Baptism, Grandma talked on the Holy Ghost, Grandpa preformed both the baptism and gave her the holy ghost, Heather Nelson played the piano, and prayers were said by Emry Price and myself.

After pictures:

After we got home, the kids jumped in the pool (the water is still cold!!) and played outside and we BBQed (per Morgans request).  Hailey and Matt Pitre, and the Price ladies came over after the baptism to eat and hang out.  

After everyone left, we took a walk on the beach and showed mom and dad how perfect this little piece of the world is.  What a great day for all of us!!

Sunday we went to church.  After, we walked the beach... Mom is in heaven!!   

Monday mom and dad took off by themselves to a little town called La Rabida.  This is the town where Christopher Columbus stayed in and eventually left Spain from.  This little town (we blogged about months ago) also has replicas of the boats that were sailed across the Atlantic.  Little did I know, Monday's are the only days that the town is shut down- NOTHING was open!! They drove almost 3 hours to find that what they had wanted to do was not even open.  I felt so bad but typical of my parents, they were able to make the best of it.  They walked around the monastery and gardens, down to the water and looked at the replicas and then headed into Portugal to spend a few hours in Faro.  They really know how to make a crappy situation better!

Tuesday we went to one of my favorite places: Arocs de la Frontera.  We dropped the kids off at school and drove 45 minutes north east to walk the streets, visit the white walled/house town and look at the beautiful scenery.

Walking up...

1st church that would not let mom in...

Once we got to the top of the city, we were able to go inside the church.  This was something I had not done yet, so it was fantastic!!  I am truly amazed on how much work went into these churches and buildings so many years ago.

Inside the church (the one in the picture above)

From the church, we walked around.  We stopped at this little store (LITTLE) that my parents loved.  They even walked away with a few souviners.

After walking through the small streets, getting cookies from the nuns, and going in a few stores we walked back down... but first stopped at this castle.

Buying cheese...

After school, Aydin had soccer so we all loaded up and took him to soccer.
I think mom and dad were impressed at the amount of money that the city puts into their field!

Wednesday we headed into Rota.  Our first stop was the gypse market where they got a little dose of how the markets are ran.

First stop- OLIVES

Dad impressed with the snails...

 Liam trying on the hats...

We then went into Rota and walked the water front and a little bit of the town.  My parents are having so much fun seeing all of these little places we have been talking about for so long and can finally understand why we would be happy if we could live her forever!

Mom had to get her feet in the sand... it is so soft.

After school, the kids came straight home once again and played in the pool until it was time to head to tutoring (for Aydin).

While Aydin was at tutoring, the kids had a water fight with nana and papa... it started out with grandpa telling Liam to get nana with the squirt gun which lead into an full on water fight.

Grandpa didnt like the ONE little squirt gun full of water he got so this is how he got them back...

 After his tutoring, we all loaded up and went to get churros and chocolate at our favorite place.  I think dad was loving himself at this moment.