Pauline Jacobi

This lady is so cool.

Watch this short clip about her to see why.

Handy Website

Ever stare at the meager contents of your fridge and think, "How am I supposed to make dinner out of that?" Well, I learned about a cool website today. It's SuperCook.com. (Maybe you all know about it already, but when you live nine time zones away, news reaches you slower, OK?) Anyway, you just type in what ingredients you have handy and it searches the web to find all of the recipes that have your stuff in it. Good for when you've run out of ideas for dinner and don't want to run to the store. (Or when you live in Spain, where they close the stores for 3 hours at a time every afternoon, and where they observe holidays we don't know about.)



I'm going to use it to get rid of these garbanzo beans I've had in the cupboard for months. (We just haven't been able to perfect that hummus.)

Sunday Picnic

The Jacksons in Spain climbed up "Camarma Hill" again this past Sunday to have a picnic in the sunshine. The kids picked olives for olive soup (they are currently in the trash can, don't tell) and the adults attempted some kite flying, but it was too windy. Walked home via the park; a nice leisurely Sunday.

Happy Birthday Ransom!

Ransom turned 5 years old! He took cookies to his friends at the school (which is basically all 21 elementary students) and they were happy to sing to him and play his games at recess. They are all quite amused by Mr. Charisma. The four of us then headed home for cake and a movie. Here he is as king for the day.

With Corrie and Stretchy (the Lizard):

Happy Birthday Ransom!

Easter Snow

We were a bit shocked when we looked out our front window yesterday and saw...snow. We California types have never seen a snowy Easter. It didn't last long and barely hit the ground before melting, but it was a fun surprise.

The snow was the big news of the day. Easter was very quiet this year.

We had church at home as a family. That's been the usual for the past month or two because of transportation and language difficulties. The kids like to reenact the lesson whenever we have home church. Yesterday Corrie (playing the part of "they and certain other women") stopped the reenactment to run to the kitchen and get some spice. While we are pretty sure basil didn't make the list of embalming spices, we didn't speak up. At least we know she was listening:

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen!

Hope you had a great Easter.

Good Friday

Miss McGraw invited our family to the Good Friday service at her church. Before the service we had dinner at our house, and she hid some Easter Eggs in our "backyard" so the kids had a mini Easter-egg hunt.

Snow!

After the castle, we drove a little higher into the mountians to a little place called Cotos where we had intended to hike. Instead, we were surpised to find a fresh little layer of snow. The kids caught sonwflakes on their tongues, and threw snowballs (okay, I guess we all threw snowballs), we ate our picnic lunch in the warm car, and then stopped into a little restaurant for hot chocolate. We were amused that the lady preparing our glasses of milk was going to serve it to us cold because we are Americans, and of course Americans like their chocolate milk cold. Don't worry, though, we stressed that we wanted our chocolate caliente like everyone else in the little lodge! Mmm, and was it ever hot and frothy!

Manzanares El Real

On Tuesday (the school's off for Easter Break), the Fields family offered to take us adventuring. Our first stop was at a castle in Manzanares El Real (which translates to something like the Royal Apple Orchard - though you won't find any apple orchards there today). It was an amazingly well-preserved and well-designed castle. Here are some pictures.

Adventures in Ransom #9

Ransom is becoming quite his own character. Recently, people have relayed some stories to us about the little man. We thought we would share.

1. Ransom has never been fond of coloring, but it's one of those things that's pretty much standard when you go to kid's church. Most kids recognize this and go with the flow, even if coloring isn't their cup o' tea. Ransom's Sunday school teacher informed us that she had asked Ransom to draw a picture. "Okay" he reluctantly agreed. Ten minutes later she returned and said, "Ransom, you didn't make a picture!" He responded emphatically, "Yes, I did! It's FOG!" What could she do but staple the blank sheet to the wall with all the other pictures?

2. Our kids sometimes join the other kids for recess at the school where Andrea teaches. The volunteer on playground duty informed us she overheard the following:

• Boy at recess: "What are you doing?"




• Ransom: "Playing Superhero."




• Boy: "That's cool. Can I be a superhero, too?"




• Ransom: "No, I'm the superhero...but every good superhero needs a sidekick!"

The kid is 4 year old. Where does he come up with this stuff?

Ever feel like this?

If you can relate, just be reminded that this world is not our home....and that we can look forward to so much better than the lousy peanuts that this life has to offer.

Stir Crazy

These kids need to get out of the house...

Disneyland

During our time in California we got to go to Disneyland with the cousins. Unfortunately, the only decent video that we got is this short clip of cousin Travie (presented in old school cinematography for your reminiscing pleasure):

7 Years Old

We also celebrated Corrie's seventh birthday in Hawaii. Sunshine and smiles...long hair and lanky legs...bewilderment and beauty...innocence and intellect...goodwill and godliness. Our little girl is seven! Happy Birthday Corrie!

Unfortunately, Corrie spent the later half of the week in Hawaii with a fever and wasn't much in the mood for celebrating. (Blow out the candles, honey, but don't get your germs on the cake!)

The Wedding Day

Marissa and JC got married on February 23, 2008. It was not your typical wedding. The bride and groom, as well as several of the wedding party, skydived (or skydove, whichever you prefer) into the wedding, held on the sandy beach of the North Shore of Oahu (where they happen to live). Here are the happy couple in the air:


And here they are safely on the ground:

Wedding essential: The close-up ring shot.

Both families together:

It's rare to get Andrea's siblings together at the same time; apparently it is easier to accomplish if everyone is stuck on an island.

As you can tell, the weather was perfect, the flower girls passed out leis, the parachutes opened, and everyone had a good time. Overall success. For more wedding pictures, set to a groovy tune, just click here.

On the North Shore

As most of you know, we recently made a little whirlwind trip: California for a few days, followed by a trip to Hawaii, in order to attend the wedding of Andrea's sister Marissa (more to come on that subject) and then back to California for a few more days, then returning to Spain. Ransom who used to love airplanes, is now panick-stricken at the thought of getting on an airplane. Poor guy. Guess we logged a few too many hours of flight time! Anyway, about Hawaii. Marissa and her new husband rented beach houses for the family to stay in. They were fantastic. Here is a view of our backyard. Nice:

The kids enjoying he beach:

Corrie loves to body surf!

Ransom up to now has preferred the sand over the water

but swam with his daddy quite a few times this trip.

A man came to trim the palm tree while we were there and everyone enjoyed watching him scale the tree and hack off branches and coconuts with his machete-looking tool. He cut one open for us and everyone partook of the sweet coconut water.

The kids decided to do some tree-scaling of their own. Ransom the monkey:

Corrie and Holley, Marissa's new niece. Who knows what relation that makes the girls.

Went for a ride in a jeep to the tip of the north shore and did some tidepool exploring.

Wind-blown.

Ransom's been working on his goatee.

Homeschool lesson about crabs.

Corrie & Ivy

We had the pleasure of watching Ivy for a few days (sometime during the expanse of time we will simply call "the silent months of blogging"). Ivy is the dream dog: well behaved, well-mannered, kind, and loyal. Due to inhumane treatment as seen here, we don't get asked to dog-sit anymore. You can just see the look of terror in Ivy's eyes..."get me outta here!"

Picnic

We had a few beautiful days in the middle of winter and the kids were itchin' for adventure. So we decided to hike "Camarma Hill" and have a picnic. Stopping at the Dia (Camarma's idea of a grocery store), we stocked up on a few picnic treats and made our way up. Dad then relinquished control of all planning and decision-making. The kids still talk about the day that they got to be "in charge of everything." Here are the two monarchs surveying their kingdom:

In the Kitchen

Here's a picture of the bakers three makin' cakes. Despite the fabulous baking apparel (courtesy of Grandma - thanks Grandma!) we have to replace the "A" sign in the window with a lower grade whenever the smaller cooks get involved.

























The Spanish like their bread fresh daily, and crusty. It's a bit too hard on the outside for Ransom's taste (his 4-year old concept of Heaven probably looks something like the inside of a Wonderbread/Hostess factory), and he has been known to eat out the soft middle of an entire loaf, as seen here.











And yes, that is a washing machine in our kitchen. Where else would you put one, silly American?