Lately.....

Life has been pretty wonderful lately. We had a wonderful Christmas with our families back in Seattle. It was really wonderful to see everyone and hang out with them. We really enjoyed meeting our new niece on Steven's side of the family: Alayna Collins.

Steven, Heather, and our niece Alayna (Deanna's daughter)

We had fun with both families doing a lot of family traditions. The Breshears' side did our annual Argosy Christmas ship. It was a ton of fun. What happens is there are a few cruise ships that go around the Puget Sound. On the main ship, there is a choir that sings different carols and other Christmas songs and the music is piped out to the surrounding boats. Behind the main ship, you get a huge trail of people with their own personal boats that they have decorated with lights and plastic reindeers and snowmen. Along the cruise, the boat stops at a few locations and there are bonfires on the shore where people come to listen to the music. We had a great time and are always looking forward to it next year! 

Dad, Christian, Mom, Santa, Heather, Steven & Josh before getting on the Christmas Ship

We also enjoyed some bowling. Unfortunately I had more than my fair share of gutter balls. Playing bowling on Wii is so much more of a confidence booster. At least there I can pretend to be awesome and do cool tricks (aka putting a spin on the ball).  Steven of course was able to hold his own and did pretty good- seemingly effortless too. However, playing with the family in un-virtual life totally takes the cake. 

Mom and Dad at bowling

Other Christmas time events included pickup sports with siblings, cousins and other add ons. We also played Whirley ball (a mix between basketball and go carts), white elephant gifts, amazing food. Christmas Eve was great because our families got together at my parents house and we had a potato gun fight (little pellets not the potato cannons) to round off the night.


We did have a recent opportunity to take a trip to Madrid, Spain. We found a great deal and decided to jump on it. Madrid lived up to it's name as the sunniest place in Europe. It rained only for a bit on the last two days but then cleared right up. It was beautiful- but still very cold as it was winter time still. You can see in some of our pictures the ponds and fountains are largely iced over still.  The food was great, the people were great (aside from the protestors who trashed the main city center) and the sights were great. You can take a look at more of our pictures by going to our gallery at this site: http://gallery.me.com/shsifuentes#100480

We did take a day tour out to Toledo (just south of Madrid). That was probably one of our favorite parts. It's enough outside of the city that you can see some of the countryside. The old part of Toledo is no longer inhabited because the streets are too narrow- so it was nice to not have a ton of people bumping into you every few minutes. The other thing is that it used to be separated into three different groups: The Catholic/Christians, the Jewish and then the Arabic community. So, you almost feel like you are visiting three different places within the same tour.

Steven in Toledo

Apparently the bull fights are more in the summer and few and far between even then because of the progress of animal rights in the area. So we did not see any of those. We did have a chance to go to a Flamenco show. Embarrassing tourist moment happened along the way. We walked into this empty place and asked if the show was going to start soon. They said it was, so we took our seats and then realized that no one else was arriving. When we looked at the name of the restaurant (there was no sign on the outside) we realized that we were in the wrong place. We totally had to get up and leave. It was very awkward.  The show wasn't what we were expecting- they look very intense and angry/depressed when they dance. They were definitely not smiling like the little souvenirs show. But the show was overall very good. 

Heather at Main City Plaza

Other "I'm totally a tourist moment"- we didn't realize that there was a one hour difference in Madrid. So needless to say the first couple of days, we missed some of the events and tours. Because it was mid-week, we thought that people just were not showing up for their job to give us tours and what not. Turns out, we were late by about 45 minutes or so.  So we did do a lot of our own walking around. The place is incredibly easy to get around (although don't expect the taxi's to not overcharge you- they will if they think they can get away with it). If you're into art exhibits and museums, Madrid is a perfect place for it. Especially since they are free during certain hours.

Madrid Palace Grounds

Interesting note, when Steven went to London, there were the student protests with vandalism. When Steven was in Peru, there was a protest with vandalism. When we went to Madrid, there was a protest with vandalism. I tease Steven that where ever he goes- his presence seems to rile up the locals. 

Protest in Madrid

We also have a new roommate: Teresa. She recently moved in before we went into Madrid. We met her last semester- she's also an international student from Germany. She was in most of my Irish Study classes. We've really enjoyed having her around (and she's a great cook!)

Heather, Teresa and Andra

Steven has also been enjoying his time volunteering with the Dublin Fire Brigade. Normally they mostly only allow him to observe on calls and what not. However, last week they did fire behavior training. He seemed to really enjoy it because he was able to put all the gear on and go into the fires with the other firefighters. If anyone has tips for getting the smell of smoke out of clothes- I'm very interested. I've washed them a couple of times and they still stink!!

We hope that everyone is doing great and look forward to hearing from you!