We spent yesterday with our friends Bobbi and Ivy (Bobbi's dog) at La Pedriza, a recreational area in the mountains an hour northwest of Madrid. We had a great time! The weather was sunny, but slightly cooler there. We ate a picnic lunch, waded in the creek, took a little hike, climbed boulders, and ate some wild blackberries we found. We'll have to go back in a few weeks as only the first few were ripe yet. Ransom fell asleep in the car on the way home around seven o'clock and didn't wake up until after seven this morning! We will definitely be going back.
It went over 100F today. I know Riverside has seen that a few times already, but you have air conditioning! The buildings here are all brick, concrete, and tile, though, so they stay relatively cool. It stays about mid-80sF inside our house. We have a basement here, too, in which we've been retiring to wait out the afternoons playing "Sorry" and watching "Little House on the Prairie." There is no thermometer downstairs, but it feels significantly cooler than upstairs. When it finally cooled off some outside (about 9:30 or 10:00PM), we ran around the yard with squirt bottles. Here's a picture of Ransom donning new hair-cut (a buzz job by his Daddy).
This is Ransom "driving" the double-decker bus. It was the kids' other pick of things to do (the 1st being the Eiffel Tower). The top deck is open so you can see the sights as they drive you around all the attractions of town with a commentary offered in headphones. As we could get on and off at the different stops and get a feel for the layout of the city, it was really a pretty nice activity.
The Seine River flows right through the center of Paris. Just about every block has a bridge across it so there are countless of them gracefully stretching across the river. And all illuminated at night! In certain areas, the river is also flanked with paved banks down by the water (not in these pictures, oops) so of course we strolled along the Seine a few times.
The Louvre Museum. The glass pyramid is even stranger in person than I figured it would be. I suppose it's the juxtaposition of old world and modern. We didn't go in for if you look really closely, the courtyard was crowded with people. We generally stay away from crowds. I know, so unSpanish of us.
We ate dinner on the Champs Elysees just for the experience- same as many others there no doubt!
Notre Dame was amazing. Absolutely beautiful inside and out. Mass was going on when we walked through so we got to hear the choir singing- and the acoustics under those arched ceilings is incredible. Had we had more time there (and maybe a babysitter) I would have liked to attend a concert they were holding as they were performing Bach and Gregorian chants. Next time!
There are huge, elaborately stained glass windows in the cathedral and as we were admiring them (from inside, though, when all the colors show - sorry, didn't get a picture of that) Corrie says matter of factly, "Boppa (Grandpa Paul) makes windows like that." 
Looking at the third deck (top)
from the second deck.
Escargot anyone?
(We couldn't get the kids to try it even on bribe of ice cream!)
Aranjuez is famous for its strawberries (in addition to its asparagus and artichokes). The train ride included a guided tour of the palace and a visit to a few of the large gardens. It was a long day, but it was a beautiful city - a must see when y'all come to vist.Forgot to take pictures of the palace, but here's the church:
Grammie came to Spain for a visit for a week and half earlier this month. Andrea was able to take a couple of afternoons off and while Grammie was here she was able to see... 
