Thursday Update

Not a whole lot has been going on the past few weeks. We have been taking it easy and sticking close to home. Our evenings have been dedicated to dinner and the world cup. I have to admit that I have become a little bit more of a soccer fan than I used to be, which isn't too hard. I still can't stand how the players pretend to get injured every 2 minutes and flop around on the ground until they figure out whether or not the ref is going to call a foul. It is sooo obvious that most of these little displays are completely fake and I think it really takes away from the game. The players are really talented - I know I could never do what they do - but the little displays of wimpiness and the cry-baby attitudes have made me not a huge soccer fan. I even saw a little kid (probably 4 or 5 years old) playing around in the Plaza Maria Pita practicing how to flop down and grab his leg in pain. He was running around with the ball and then all the sudden he would just flop down, grab his leg, and scream. He would lay there for about 5 seconds, get up, run about 10 yards, flop down, grab his leg... etc. It was very amusing that even the little kids have caught on to the point that pretending to be injured is just part of the game!

Last week the weather was really nice, so I spent some afternoons reading out on the beach. It was really nice, but a little lonely. (I can't wait for my seester to come and visit!!) Last Friday night Juan and I went to the sports club and alternated swimming and laying out/reading. It was great because the sun stays out so late, you can sunbathe until after 9pm.

Saturday morning we woke up really early and went to the big Zara sale. It was a madhouse - think after-Thanksgiving sale. Juan and I split up - he went to Zara Man while I went to Zara Woman. He found a few nice dress shirts for a pretty good price. When he came to meet me, I had 2 skirts and 2 tops in my arms and was ready to check out. The line was soooooo long (literally 30 people ahead of me) and not moving. I decided that I really didn't want anything that bad, so I put everything back and we left :) I was being impatient, I guess.

We did a little bit more shopping around the mall and the big grocery store and made our way home. We packed a picnic lunch, sunscreen, and books and drove to a beach about 20 minutes away. It was a really pretty beach and less crowded than the ones closest to our house. We stayed at the beach just long enough to turn a little pink all over.





It was a very relaxing way to spend the day! Juan commented on how much he missed our little pup, Ringo, and about how much fun it would've been to have Ringo on the beach with us. I agree - I miss him. But, the day on the beach wouldn't have been quite the same with a crazy 90 pound dog...

Ringo had his own weekend adventure! His doggie grandparents took him to march in his first parade! He even got a singing solo :) The neighborhood 4th of July party was over the weekend, so my mom got Ringo dressed up and walked with him in the parade.



Right before the parade was starting, everyone was singing Star Spangled Banner (or something like that...). The fire truck that was leading the parade got called out to a fire, so they turned on the sirens. Ringo started howling at the sirens, but he was standing in the middle of everyone singing, so it looked like he was just singing along. Everyone got a kick out of it! I'm glad that the whole neighborhood got to hear his wonderful howling skills.

On Sunday Juan and I decided to go for a long walk along the boardwalk. We knew where one end stopped, but didn't know how far the other side went. So, we walked and walked and walked and never reached the end! We only went a few miles, but there was no end in sight, so we turned back. We'll have to drive it one of these days.

We have a few trips on the horizon:
July 7th - Gijón (probably)
July 14th - Bilbao!
July 18th - My SISTER gets to Spain!
July 22nd - Paris! We'll be in Paris for the final leg of the Tour de France - it should be a ton of fun.