This, That and The Other

THIS past weekend we had a small storm come through town. Yeah, like every other storm we've had come through we didn't really pay much attention. After a while, the excitement of thunderstorms wears off and you gain some sense of numbness to the weather forecasts that pinpoint to the minute when storms will be hitting certain parts of the metroplex (a freakishly wierd weather forecast phenomenom we've only experienced in Texas!). Well, that all changed on Saturday when out of nowhere fire and brimstone seemed to be raining down on our house and we thought we were witnessing the beginning of Armageddon.

Hail assualted our house with such force I thought our windows were going to burst. The kids were freaking out and Aprille who had been laying down in bed came running out still half asleep and totally disoriented. So what did I do? "Kids- let's open the blinds and open the door to see this freakishly dangerous storm!!!" Yeah, hindsight is 20/20 and now that I've had some time alone to think about that faux pas, I realized my first reaction should have been to gather the kids and run to the bathroom and cover ourselves. We live in tornado country- hello!

Well, after it was all said and done, we went outside where my car is parked and realized that it had suffered pretty serious damage. At the present, it looks like a teenager with acne- dents all over the roof and hood. Not to mention, we had our insurance adjuster out who wrote our roof off as a total loss. Yeah! New roof! Our house is only 4 years old! Yippee! Seriously- looking at it you can't tell, but I'll leave the adjusting to the experts.

THAT Koebe and Kalee have so much fun playing together is one of the best parts of our day. They are really into Diego and Kalee, in keeping with her cat mantra, plays the baby jaguar while Koebe runs around saying "beunos dias" and "let's go amigos!". It's really cute. Kalee, although is a paradox at times. She can be soooo girly, always wanting to wear her "dancey dance" (code for dresses) and carries her kitty in a purse, but then she is also really into dinosaurs. Her favorite at the moment is a bracchiosaurus. Lately, I've been asking Koebe about his dreams and it has been really interesting. Some nights he dreams about the circus and other days its monsters, which would explain why he has been coming into our room in the middle of the night!

THE OTHER week I went to Spain (um, yes, this would make it the 4th trip out of 5 l will have taken the first two months of the year- not sure what is keeping Ape from not leaving me. :o. Guess its the life insurance???). Seriously, she has been more than patient and I'm sure that a payoff is in the not too distance future. It was my first time to Barcelona and it was great! The city is beautiful, the seafood AMAZING (I now know what shrimp is suppose to taste like) and the language slightly gay- I'm sorry- I just couldn't allow myself to pronounce "gracias" as "grathias" or "Barcelona" as "Barthelona"! It just felt wrong!

But, the city again, is beautiful, thanks in large part to Gaudi, a famous architect from that city. I stayed right in the heart of the city and it was really great. I saw some of his work including Casa Mila and Sagrada Familia (pictured here). Sagrada Familia is the catherdral you may have heard about that has been under contstruction for over 40 years. It is very impressive and was great to see.