Viva Espana!

I love Spain. 

That about sums it up.  You take 13 people who pretty much have not seen the sun in 6 months, and I tell you, it's like a drug.  You don't know how much you miss it until you see it again.  See, when people warned me about the London weather, I thought surely they were exaggerating.  Brits in particular love to wallow in the sheer terribleness of the forecast.  But they were not joking.  Not even a little bit.  So, as soon as school gets out - we are off!  To sunny Marbella, Spain!

Marbella is on the coast, and is a gorgeous beachfront city which meanders up on to a luxuriously green hillside.

We stayed about 10 minutes from the beach - in a house tucked into the hills.  All we really wanted was a spot to bask our lily white bodies in the sun.  I'm pretty sure when all of us pasty white people were sunbathing together it caused some kind of a reflection that could be seen from space.  This place was just the ticket:

And of course, what would a vacation be without the Goulds and the Walkers?  This is pretty much what we did all week.

 These two have a nickname at TASIS - "The Frat Boys".  I have no idea what they have done to earn this:

Occasionally (or way too often, if the scale is to judge) we were roused from our sun induced stupor to eat.  We had a fabulous chef who cooked all sorts of local favorites!

And we did venture out for one day on on a Catamaran and a little ocean adventure!

Which the kids loved. 

Everyone got to try the Banana Boat!  And I mean EVERYONE.  There are not pictures of me, Shauna or Paulie that will be made public.  It is impossible to look cute on a Banana Boat after the age of 35.  But the kids managed nicely:

The kids learned how to jump off one end of the boat and swim under it to the other side.  I did not teach them this.

And then relaxed for some (blessedly unsuccessful) fishing from the back of the boat:

Other than our boating excursion, we only ventured out one other time - to the beach!

I ask you, why do children enjoy grovelling around in sand?  How is this comfortable? They have sand in places where there should be no sand.  But yet, every time they see it they wallow in it like baby pigs in warm mud:

I like the beach - but I enjoy it more from a safe, sand free position:

The end of the week was especially sad, because we were saying goodbye to our amazing friends Paulie, John, Eva & Alex.  They moved back to Texas, and it was really hard for everyone to say goodbye!

 

 Sometimes in all the changes of Expat life, you meet people who immediately make it feel like home.  We will miss you, Goulds!

But we will always have the best memories! 

And that ends Year 2 of our Expat Adventure!  Who knew when we took of for our "10 month" tour in Dubai that it would come to this?  Next stop: California for the summer!

Friends Forever...Party Together!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY T & G!

As most of you know, Taylor and Georgia have been buddies since age 3 in Miss Traci's Montessori classroom. It is only by the happiest of coincidences that they were reunited in England!  In celebration of 6 years of friendship, we decided to join forces for their 9th birthday!

There are not a ton of party venues in England (which, I have come to realize is a good and a bad thing.  It is hard to have a kid party - but then again I don't have to spend a 5th year in a row at ArtZone).  So, we decided to do an at-home party, making use of our indoor pool one last time before we move houses.  People always ask where we get our ideas for parties, and it's pretty simple.  We steal them.  So, here's a total shout out to both Debi Thomas and Caroline Kitchen for the ideas for this party - which featured a Candy Bar:

 

And a Foam Pit:

What Shauna and I didn't realize is that we had inadvertently created a kind of Hedonism for 9 year olds.  All the candy you could eat, coupled with the conga in the foam pit. 

Plus a dip in the pool:

The kids totally learned life skills, though.  Like how to eat a giant laffy taffy and tread water without getting your candy wet.  Just replace the taffy with a beer and they are ready for Vegas:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Foam Party Pit, it's basically a device where they blow foam using this:

To provide this effect:



I think the original intent of the Foam Blaster was to get single people all wet and slippery in places like Ibiza and Mallorca - or maybe South Padre Island.  But hey, kids totally love it.

Here's G's great buddy Kate - who just moved back to California.  We will miss you!

We love you T and G!  May the wonders of life never cease to amaze you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G & T!

Monaco Madness

F1 - MONACO!

As many of you may know, Augusto is a HUGE sports fan.  Of course, being that he's from South America, his tastes veer from the traditional football, basketball, baseball rotation.  Instead, our TVs are faithfully tuned to football (the kind with the kicking of the round ball), cycling (the kind with guys in lycra with shaved legs), and car racing (the kind with open wheel, million dollar cars).

So when our great friends the Walkers causally asked if we might be interested in joining them at the Formula 1 race in Monaco, Augusto was actually rendered speechless (this, I assure you, happens about as often as comet sightings).  See, for F1 fans, Monaco is not just a car race.  It's a life event.  It's THE car race.  It's everything F1 means to be - glamour, speed, mystery.  If James Bond attended a sporting event, it would be Monaco. 

Imagine Augusto's reaction when Geoff added on that his tickets came with Ferrari Club and Pit Lane passes.  Now even I was excited, because I realized that Rule #2 of event attendance applied - If You Need A Badge To Be There, It Must Be Good. (Rule #1 is Just Because It's Free, Doesn't Mean You Want It in case you were curious).  And this event required not one, but two badges.  Score!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the unique thing about the race in Monaco is that it actually races through the curved, winding streets of Monte Carlo.  As such, when they are not racing, you can walk the track.  Here he is.  The Start/Finish Line.  He made it:

Shauna and I are not ones to miss out on a photo op, so we get in on the action:

Monte Carlo is absolutely stunning - a tiny city carved into a hillside, forming a perfect tiny inlet in which the uber rich squeeze their ginormous yachts. 

We stayed at the Fairmont (required a badge, YES!), home of the world famous Hairpin Curve which is right in front of the hotel.  Here is the view from the roof:

And can we ever thank Geoff enough for these amazing tickets?  The Ferrari Paddock Club was incredible. 

It allowed Augusto to get THIS close to his driving heroes, who came to chat:

And provided great seats for race viewing.  We were right across from Pit Lane, so we could see the action.

And we also had this incredible view of the fans, who crowd the hillsides just to get a glimpse of the race:

For several hours each day, we were permitted to walk Pit Lane and check out all the team garages.  Augusto was in an engine induced trance:

Shauna and I people watched and checked out everyone's shoes. 

Some of you may know that I always wanted to be a Barker's Beauty (you know, from The Price is Right? The girls who are there to make the prize grandfather clocks and supplies of Jell-O look exciting?).  So I've been practicing the leg pop and ta-dah arm for years.  So many opportunities to use it in Moncao!  Voila!  Shauna and I present the Pace Car!

Monte Carlo is known for it's amazing night life as well.  Women wear actual gowns and flock to civilized casinos, where you need a jacket and tie to enter.  Five star restaurants book months in advance. And Moncao weekend is the biggest party of the year. We can attest to that - we spent one evening at the Buddha Bar with some fabulous TASIS friends Christine and Jamal.  It was so fabulous that there are no pictures.  If I tell you it involved vodka, sushi, techno and sparklers, you get the idea. 

All and all - it was a weekend we will never forget.  Thank you again, Shauna and Geoff, for making Augusto's dreams come true!!

PROM!

That's right...I said PROM!

I am obsessed with the 80s.  There.  I said it.  I like neon, big hair, Duran Duran, and California Coolers (and why, I ask, did they stop selling alcohol in 2 liter bottles?).  I love hot pink, animal prints, Lee Press On Nails, Obsession, Madonna, and Zima. 

During one particularly  philisophical evening, fueled by several bottles of Roederer, Paulie, Shauna and I began to wax nostalgic about the good old days.  And an idea was born. 

So, maybe it's because I was the subject of tremedous ridicule in high school.  Maybe it's because hot pink IS the most fabulous and yet unappreciated color in all of the Pantone palatte.  Or maybe it's because I refuse to admit my advancing age. For whatever reason, we decided to try to recreate the good, bad and the ugly of the 80s. 

Let's be honest.  I wanted a total do-over. 

And here it is, in the form of:

STARRY SURREY SKIES

AKA

1980's PROM!

We invited everyone we know in England!  But I will not incriminate them in photos without permission.  However, I have some loyal friends who have suffered my incrimination with aplomb in the past, and I will feature them here!  

First - every Prom needs a Queen and Princess!  And who better than my partners in all things party - Paulie and Shauna.  They make excellent royalty.  And they gamely sported their tiaras until Georgia got out of bed and weaseled Paulie's right off her head.  

I would like to state for the record that my shoes are totally NOT Dye-Ables, but Miu Miu.  I do not want you to worry yourself that I allowed historical accuracy to win over fashion consciousness.   

And every Prom needs a Junior Prom.  The kids were SO EXCITED to don formal wear (check out Danny in the tux!) and sport corsages.  Yes, Taylor and Georgia coincidentally showed up in the exact same dress.  Mortifying at 18.  Super exciting and cool at 8.  

We allowed them to spend the hour before the party busting moves on the dance floor (and then we made them go upstairs with the sitter. You need to have lived it to relive it):

This setting bears some explanation.  It would seem that throwing a party with 75 people, a live band, a DJ, two bars and a vodka luge is a bit difficult in space constrained London.  Augusto was so very pleased to find that I had a totally easy solution to this.  A giant marquee pitched in our back yard - duh! 

This provided plenty of room for the Ice Luge:

And the band - Born to Be Jovi!

And every good Prom needs a theme.  Fellow O'Dowd Dragons, Class of '88 may remember "The Time of Our Lives" (Really? Was it?).  We went with "Starry Surrey Skies".  Notice entire marquee roof is LED starlight sky!

We love the TASIS community - they got behind this idea wholeheartedly!  Everything from letterman's jackets (original vintage) to mullets, giant teased hair to leg warmers.  I didn't even recognize one of my closest friends Michelle due to her PromHair.  Here she is with our other awesome friend Shelly. 

More big hair...

And what does every real Prom need?  Chaperones, of course!  Mr. & Mrs. Sasso were on hand to make sure that everyone behaved.  That is, until Grandma did the vodka luge not once but twice, and decided that Jell-O shots were totally delicious.  Then all bets were off.

More luge-ing, and things were getting good.  Recognize Michelle, Francis (note super-fly piano tie and matching suspenders), and Jeff, complete with WhamWig? 

Augusto and the California ladies:

A little more luge-ing for good measure...

Hanging out with Royalty - Princess Paulie:

And her husband John - some of our favorite peeps of all time...who have now abandoned us and moved to Texas. Sigh.

Francis and Heather...the two of them can always be counted on to totally bring it:

I can honestly say it was definitely a most satisfactory second time around.  Even Bon Jovi thought so:

A huge THANK YOU to all who came and made our Prom flashback so much fun!  You are amazing! 

Can't wait until next year!!