Paella and Cream

May 27th Another fun day wth friends.

Marta, a friend of Maria, who we had met at the Leonardo exhibition invited us to her Paella party. There were about 14 adults and about 30 children with lots of food and fun. It was great for us to try different typical Spanish recipes - mm- delicious.

Susan, Pilar, Maria, the great chef, Elena, Fiona and Natalia (Maria and Montse's sister).

Adult table with great salds.

The Children's table

The great Paella dish.

And then came the cream....

Billy got zapped.

Collecting more ammunition.

Harry got zapped.

Chasing or fleeing?

Charley got zapped.

But brotherly love thought not enough!

Still Billy looks worst off!

But everyone got covered.

Time for the hose pipe.

Cleaned up nicely

Lunch at the Robinsons

May 26th A fun afternoon with friends.

After our last league futbol game the Robinson's who had kindly given us rides to many away games, invited us over for a Spanish barbeque and the rest of the day.

Ana, Paul, Beatrice, Wili, Pablo, Harry and Charley.

Graduation at Alarcon

May 18th Graduation Day.

For the Graduation of the Seniors at my school all teachers were invited. I was allowed to bring the boys. The audience are sitting in the patio where I look after the small children at playtime.

Line of teachers who taught the Seniors with the HeadMaster in the middle.

Students collecting their certificates and Alarcon sashes.

San Isidro

May 15th.  San Isidro - Male Patron Saint of Madrid
Since it was a Madrid Fiesta the boys having a school in Pozuelo did not have the day off, whereas I did. In the evening, however, after soccer, we went in search for the celebrations along the river of Madrid -the Manzanares. Most of the little children (2nd. grade and lower) dressed up in the San Isidro costumes at school either the day before or the day of.

Setting off with our apartment block still in the background.
Harry, Charley, Billy.

Principe Pio walking down to the river.

River Manzanares.

First sign of the celebrations along the river. The little girl is wearing a typical San Isidro dress.

Palacio Real and the Cathedral on the hill and the fountains on the otherside of the river.

American Hot Dogs with Spainish Olives for dinner. Never seen ketchup this way before.

The River Cafe where we had dinner.

Athletico Madrid Futbol Stadium in the background.

A close up of the stadium but the descending darkness still prevents a clear view.

The footbridge across the Manzanares with three entrances to the banks and meeting in the middle.

Fun parks along the way.

On our return, showing the Cathedral lit up.

Visit to El Escorial

May 13th. El Escorial visit with Grandpa

El Escorial has a huge monastery on top of the hill. It is actually divided up into the place for the public to view art which is where we went, the church, the monks quarters and a school. Again there are no pictures of the art in the building as Spain does not allow photography in its museums.

Billy proud to show off his birthday purchase - the Real Madrid jacket.

On the way to El Escorial we stopped for lunch in Villalba.

We had arrived at the top of the hill.

Part of one side of the Monastery.

One of the courtyards showing a belfry.

The start of our descent down to the station.

Wily celebrates FHC with his friends.

May 12th - First Holy Communion celebrations at Buen Consejo.

In Spain the children take their FHC in fourth grade. I loved to see the suits worn by the boys - fancier in my opinion than both England and the USA (in my experience at any rate).



Raul, Wily and Joel.

Wily with most of his classmates.

Wily's reading

The three brothers (Billy, Harry and Charley) with Grandpa.

Some mums of the fourth graders.

In the school.



Lunch afterwards.

While Wily joined his good friend Joel's family for comida Grandpa took us out for a very nice lunch.