A night of Sevillana

Spent the night out with a friend of mine watching her and her group at their dance rehearsals. It is really very stereotypical Spanish, but I am in love! I am hooked and WILL be dancing like a Sevillana in, hopefully a short while. It was all you can imagine, passionate, sexy, graceful, moving and euphoric to watch. The music enters in your being and grabs a hold of your heart compelling you to dance. It is beautiful!! Viva La Sevillana!

Here is Loli, my inspiration , she also happens to be the mother to Lorenzo's best friend Manuel

Gorgeous with her shawl.

Small pleasures

How long would your list be if you sat and listed all of the things that you love. Or rather all of the things that bring you joy? I wonder......

1. Fresh baked bread (gracias Agueda)

2. The smell of fresh cut grass

3. The smell of a new born baby

4. When your child tells you that he loves you "google plux"

5. Yummy fruit from your friends orchard (thank you Pedro)

6. Feeling empowered when you step out of your comfort zone

7. Rain

8. Laundry dried by the sun

9. The smell of farmers burning their fields

10. Slipping into crisp clean sheets on a cool summer night

11. When your kids still call you "Mama", not "mom"

12. Reading a great book

13. How you feel after a great run

14. Yoga

15. Chatting with elderly (they have great stories)

16. Walking on crunchy leaves

17. Making a list, and checking it off

18. Coloring with my kids

19. Being in my home alone

20. Baking, on autumn days

It really is not that hard to list the things we love, what is hard is to stop and appreciate them.

My list could go on, but for now it is a good reminder for me.

A Family Effort

Sometimes having a large family can be very beneficial, like when you need to do some serious yard clean up!

Everyone pitched in, weeding, raking, trimming, shoveling, and of course mowing. All wanted a chance to push the mower, even the little guys. Now if only I could get them as excited to mop floors and dust furniture.....

Chores

Home again

Back in sunny Spain. We arrived on Sunday night after a long and hard day. The kids were so good, troopers, I was TIRED, and Matt, well, he got the better half of the deal, he left for 10 days in The UK on monday leaving me to pick up all the pieces and all the clothes that were thrown around the house. How did we arrive in Boston with 5 suitcases and leave with 25??

Sturbridge Village summer camp

"only you mom would send your kids to a working 1830 New England Village camp". " Not true" I said, "There were other kids there, which meant that other moms did the same, plus shoveling cow manure is good for your character". Thankfully all had a wonderful time, and some; (Sandro) even wanted to have his own set of clothing to take home, "where will he wear them?" you ask, humph, you don't know Alessandro! I sure thought it was an excellent experience, and wonder if we shouldn't get ourselves a few animals and maybe a spinning wheel. Put those kids to work!!

Playing on Cape Cod

Dante and Ottavio got to spend the day alone with mommy, with no other brothers. We had lots of fun, especially after we hit the toy store!!

Setting up camp

Setting up camp was not as difficult as I imagined. We arrived before anyone else so we got to pick the best spot for our tent. Although there was plenty of room in the tent, Thank You Jon and Holly for giving over your RV to me and Ottavio. We had the best bed in the camp!!

Renzo, of course, putting up the tent. He loves to "figure things out and put them together"!

Flying the kite on the end of a fishing pole. We for got the string for the kite, but the fishing pole worked pretty good.

Shooting the B.B. guns was something that I had to choke down. A big Casto favorite since Matt and his brothers were small, and quickly passed down to their sons, and daughters!

All firing at the targets.

Animals at the camp

While camping and hiking we had a few visitors, some we cought on film and others we only heard, like the wolf.

This guy was surprisingly long and the boys all wanted to touch him. I think we scared him more than he scared us.

Hot spring

Matt and Lorenzo went fishing for a couple of days. Once at 5 am and once at 11 am, oddly enough they cought the fish at 11 am. While they fished the river, the rest of us hiked up the mountian to a hot spring and went for a dip. The hike was beautiful, and the hot springs so fun.

Rainbow Trout #1.

Max and Sandro making their way up the trail. LOVE the big blue sky!

When we arrived at the hot spring we were excited to find a waterfall, and someone had the fun idea to get behind it and stick our heads through. We all took our turn. The water had a pretty strong pressure and was VERY cold so screaming was a must as you poked through the falls.

Relaxing in the spring.

Camping

4 Wheeling was a Big part of our camping trip. Not only is it fun and fast and dirty but everyone can do it, even the little guys. The kids actully did great, they were all safe and considerate, being able to go off on a ride with out an adult was an extreme thrill, and brought on a big sense of independance.

Dante in his Glory!

About half the group back from a long ride and looking great I might add>!

Bathing was far and few between, usually done when we hit the river or lake. Ottavio was a lucky one as he could sit and have a nice warm tubby. He fit just perfectly in our dish ware.

Hiking

Whittiling was the most favorite passtime of all the boys. The mothers were not so keen on it, but hey how can we win when we are so far out numbered by Casto boys/men!?!

On one of the lasst days, most of the crew had headed home already, our family and Holly's family went for a hike, it was a beautiful day and there was lots to see.

One of the best sights was a beaver dam. we could barely peel the boys away from exploring here, they were fasinated and were really in their element, mud, sticks, and water. What more could a boy ask for. Well other than a Swiss army knife.>

Enjoying our first taste of watermelon after a long hike. Yummy!

getting a quick shot before we left.
No shoving cake in my face!!!!
How do drunk people manage to stand on a moving boat, we will never know, I could hardly manage in heels holding the baby.
Rick and Paula
Bruno an Delio