Yesterday, I took off work to go “hooky hiking” with the family.  In the entire 2½ years we’ve been here, we’ve never once taken advantage of the tours run by MWR.  Most of the tours are either overpriced or too tour-centric for our tastes (we don’t really like to go in a large group of people somewhere).  However, yesterday’s tour was a hike that was pegged for “all levels of experience” and encouraged families to bring along the kiddos.  We left bright and early while it was still cool and got to the starting location by about 9.

Our hike took us along the El Bosque river that flows through the Grazalema National Park, starting in the town named after the river and ending in a town named Benamahoma (I can’t find a single useful link to send you to, sorry). The hike to Benamahoma wasn’t too challenging; the kids loved finding things like the ruins of a mill, lime trees, fig trees, blackberry bushes, lizards, fish in the river, etc.  Once we got to our turnaround point, we were starting to be leary of walking up the hills that took you to the few shops located in the town, but we walked in anyway so we could get some cafe con leche for the grownups and some ice cream for the handful of kids on the hike.

Turning around, though, it was noon and it. was. HOT.  The sun was now high in the sky, eliminating a lot of the shade that kept us cool as we hiked through the forest.  And it was on the way back that we realized that this was a very long hike - it was over 3 miles into town, and then we hiked about a half mile through town, which meant our hike was about 6½ miles long - hard enough in cool weather, but when it’s over 90°, the return trip was not quite as much fun as the first leg.

I am both glad and regretful that I didn’t bring my camera with me.  The hike had some really beautiful spots, and looking through the web I realize there is a lack of pictures from that area.  However, it was a very long hike and by the end I was cursing the added weight of my watch, so I’m sure my 2-ton camera bag would not have been a wise addition to the hike.

We really did enjoy ourselves on the hike, though, and I’d like to take more hikes while we’re still here; the exercise was great and it was nice getting to meet other people from the community here.   I hope that wherever we go next time already has pictures on the web for me to share.

Last weekend was eventful, with the extended weekend being filled with carnivals, barbeques, beach trips, and waaaayyy overpriced dinner. This weekend was markedly different, spent within 5 minutes of home and involving a lot of Pledge and Windex.

We contemplated having a rummage sale next weekend with our neighbors but decided instead to pack all of our stuff with us when we move back to the U.S. and have a rummage sale there. It really is easier moving things thousands of miles away than to think about dealing with the Spanish converging on our house. The last time I sold some stuff I wanted to take my toys and go home, literally.

But what has me posting this weekend is Anja. She is mourning the recent move of her best friend here, the one person that she has spent the most time with; the one who she clicked with from day 1 of them meeting. We have always been so happy to have him over because he and Anja can spend hours playing happily together, and it finally hit her tonight that he’s gone. That’s the hardest part of being a military family, having such short times to forge friendships.

So this post is for Anja and Mason, two fantastic little kids that enjoyed their friendship every day they were together - I’m hoping they get to eat Popsicles together again soon.

As most of you already know, the main reason we went back to the U.S. last month was for B to finish the naturalization process and officially become a U.S. citizen.  While it wasn’t the smoothest process we’ve ever gone through, B was very fortunate to get a great USCIS agent who was very accommodating to our situation and he ended up getting sworn in as a citizen on June 16th.

It has been decided by The Powers That Be that B needed a nice American name now that he’s an American, so…happy Fourth of July, Bob!

These are the four grandkids on my family’s side.  My nephews are Matthew, who’s 12 (gasp!) and Jacob, who is 4 months older than Anja and already several inches taller than his 2-years-older cousin Isak.

Jacob gets his eyes from his Nana…heh.