Christmas in Seville, Spain!!!

We had to go somewhere over Christmas.  Staying in a Muslim country over Christmas was something I was NOT going to do.  Shawn works with two girls that have been to Seville before and they loved it.  They invited us to come along, so we did!

 Gwen and Kris waiting for the train in Casablanca to go to Marrakesh where we flew to Spain.

 Waiting at the airport in Marrakesh for our plane!

Let our Christmas vacation begin.....

 This was a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the town square.  Adah didn't like that we gave her a big smooch!!!  We just couldn't resist.

 Christmas lights everywhere!!  It was beautiful, except for the lack of snow and cold, it really felt like Christmas!

 Plaza de Espania

                                  

 
 We rode around this amazing park on a bike made for four people.  Plus it had a space up front for little kids.  Adah had the front seat.  She thought she was something special that's for sure!  (Well she is something special)  It was so fun, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

 Orange tree's everywhere.  Shawn picked one....  they were nasty!

 They even put lights on them.....

Adah eating Chocolate con Churros!!!!

Christmas Day

 In the apartment we rented for the couple of weeks we were there, we didn't have an oven just a stove.  We did our entire Christmas dinner on a stove top with only two burners!  Ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and bread.  It was very yummy!!!

 The church we went to for Christmas morning also did a children's play that evening.  Yes, those are people dressed up like smurfs....

 Plaza de Toros

The fighting of the bulls!  It would have been really cool to see a bull fight, but they don't fight during the winter months.

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede (otherwise known as Seville Cathedral)

This is the largest gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world!  It was beautiful.  We didn't get to see inside but hopefully next time we visit we will have enough money to do some of the "tourist" stuff.

A day in the life......  can't get much better than this!

 We just couldn't get away from the paparazzi though!!  hehe

The second oldest bar in Seville....

 some tapas and beer.... 

 while Adah slept!

 We pretty much ate and drank our way thru Seville!  It was great and cheap.

 My two favorite people in the whole wide world!  It was wonderful to be together all day everyday for two whole weeks!!

 Adah had a blast!  Such a good little traveler

This was a long post but we were in Spain for almost two weeks so we had a lot of pictures.  My mom and Shawn's mom are coming to visit us in a few weeks and back to Spain we go, Malaga this time.  I am sure we will have lots pictures of Adah with her Grandma's!  Thanks for taking a peek at our adventures, see you next time!

Adah at Friday playdates!

Every Friday Adah and I go to O' Palm on the Corniche with a few other mom's and their kiddo's (The Corniche is the road that follows the beach). 
The structure is new in the last month or so.

 "What should I do first?"

The merry-go-round is her favorite!!

 Adah and her buddy Iris. 

Our little monkey!  We should have stayed in Bozeman and put her in rock climbing classes.
Next week we go to Spain for Christmas, stay tuned for many pictures!!

Spain!!

I am so bad at this blogging stuff.....

Our first real trip!  Aahhh!!!   Shawn had this past week off for a Moroccan holiday known as the Eid.  It is the sacrificing of the sheep (or cow).  Apparently there is so much blood, the streets are red....  so we weren't so excited to see sheep killed we headed to Spain with our friends Dan and Steph and their four kids.  (Remember our friends from Bozeman that now live in Fes)

Ceuta is a pennisula on the northern part of Morocco that is "owned" by Spain, but still in Africa.  It is awesome.  Pork, cheap beer and wine, no trash!  Having a little Culture Shock, it was good to get away for a while.  We are planning on going back real soon...

We spent three days in Spain eating, drinking, and shopping.  This was a small pub Shawn and Dan found while looking for Vespa shops...  they didn't get to any shops!  Each table had it's own tap that was frozen, it was so cool.

 A little creepy...   not the KKK!

Daddy and Adah playing by a fountain.  Everywhere in Spain there are small little areas with fountains and benches.  It is so safe and clean, except for the smoking everywhere.   I loved it here!!!   (I told Shawn to look into teaching in Europe next) 

Our little world traveler.  She is such a trooper!!!

Next we headed home via Chefchauen.  This is a little mountain town in the Rif Mountains.

 Shawn, Adah and I spent the night here and did some shopping.  Wool was everywhere...
We got two blankets for our bed.  Shawn got a half jilaba (jilaba is something the men wear here but it is usually long)  I got some wool slippers and Adah got a cute little hat that she won't keep on. 

 Blue doors are everywhere.  I don't remember the whole story but it has something to do with the Jewish settlers letting others know they were here. 

That was our trip.  Christmas is a few weeks away and we are not sure what we are doing yet.  I would like to go to Europe again, to a Christian country.  I will do my best to keep up on this better....

Another day at the Beach!!

 This past Saturday, which was October 8th we went to Sunny Beach again with our friends the Douglass'.  It was a beautiful day.  I can't believe we are still going to the beach and wearing swimsuits in October! 
We moved into a new place at the beginning of October.  It is closer to people we know and I  can just walk out my door and be at the beach in 2 minutes.  Adah is loving our new place, more room for her to play.

 Sunny Beach is a private beach that you can have lunch or dinner at.  They have picnic tables and chairs to lay out on.  You have to pay for the chairs so we used a table and just had an awesome lunch!  Grilled calamari with grilled veggies and a baked potato, it was wonderful.

A day at Sunny Beach!!!!

We showed up at the beach and Adah and her new friend Iris had the same suit on.  Even in Morocco you've got to love Target!  (bought in the states)

 Sunny Beach is a private beach that you can eat at and have beach chairs and the beach is clean with no trash!  This is worth the price having no trash on the beach.

Our trip to Fes

 Shawn, Adah and I went to Fes to visit our friends Dan and Stephanie from Bozeman.  It is a crazy story and it of course involves a VW van.....

Shawn sort of meet Dan a few years back in Bozeman because they both have/had VW vans.  When we decided to move to Morocco we had a mutual friend who said "I have some friends who moved to Morocco last year, I will give you there contact info".  Well it was Dan and Stephanie, small world! 


The train ride from Casablanca to Fes was about 4 hours, Adah got in a nap on the way there.  We spent 2 1/2 days in Fes and had a great time!

On Saturday we went to the medina and looked around, saw the leather tannery and had some great tajine!

 These are pictures of the tannery.  No one was working because they had time off after Ramadan.  It has been in existence since like the 1200's.  It is amazing to see something so old. 

 The medina is a huge old city that has walls around it and people live there and work.  It has everything you can imagine.  The halls are close and winding, we thought we were lost a few times.  We had a great time with the Barnett's and look forward to spending much more time with them in the next few years!