Kelsey's 10th Birthday Party -- Parque Aventura

Zip lines, ropes course, and climbing walls made up Kelsey's birthday party at Nautida Aventura Urbana in Zaragoza. Kelsey invited all the girls + Gabriel in her 4th grade class at JDL, and Colin brought his good friend, Alex to give him some boy energy.




















Fun, but more challenging than we expected, some of the children needed extra support to complete all the tasks. Parker and Celia thought they were going to relax with the other parents and sip coffee but it turned out that adult guidance was required so we joined the action. In particular, Celia was quite unprepared in her floppy sandals.







It's common at birthday parties in Zaragoza for parents to have coffee or beer and a few snacks together, while the kids are off bowling, playing laser tag, or the like. If the parents drop-off the children, then upon returning for pick up, they stay for a drink and a chat for about an hour. Birthday parties were an all day affair.


Photo Kelsey's buddies and classmates: Gabriel, Carlota, Lucia, Ana, Kelsey, Raquel, Alba and Paula (in front)


Photo: The parents' table. Parker, Raqel (mother of Raquel), Celia, Gabriel's father (and also the husband of the SYA school psychologist), Tron, Pilar, and Isabel


Typical to an American tradition, we made and brought a birthday cake. Surprised yet impressed, the other families gobbled up our homemade treat.

Compañeros -- Friends, Students, and Colleagues

On school days, we walked Colin and Kelsey to the bus stop a few blocks from our apartment on the corner of Paseo de la Constitución and Isaac Peral. There, we would meet two other JDL families: Patricia and her two sons, Antonio and Diego, and Aidan Wolff-King. Patricia went to high school in Seattle and recently got her Masters from MIT in Logistics.




Every couple of months, we hosted a get together with SYA students, often times with Parker's advisees but sometimes with others. One of our last fiestas included students from the Spanish class we took with Griffin along with Hannah and her friend Maria. Before dinner, we played soccer on the grass at Plaza Los Sitios which the Spaniards thought was rather odd because the lawn is usually reserved for dogs.

Photo: Hannah, Parker, Maria, Danielle, Sofia, Sofie, Riley, Helen, Colin. Top row: Arlene, Kelsey, Maria, Jacob and Holden



Over the course of the school year, we had many outings with Parker's colleagues. Here, we celebrated Parker and Marta's birthday with dinner at patio style restaurant. Outdoor dining is common place in Spain, like many parts of Europe and is something we wished was more common in America.

Photo: Oriol, Ellen, Griffin, Alvaro, Parker and Marta


As the end of the school year approached, different events popped up. The entire JDL 6th grade class and parents were invited for lunch at the Montecanal club. It started at 2:00, lunch was served at 4:00 and it was still going strong when we left at 8:00. the highlight was when Luiz Carlos (Alex's dad) and a few others sang songs Pais Basco or their native region.

Hiking La Peña Oroel

At the recommendation of Parker's colleague, Marta, we took a day trip and hiked La Peña Oroel near Jaca, Marta's home town which is less than 2 hours outside of Zaragoza and on the cusp of the Pyrenees.



We were also motivated to hit our favorite sushi restaurant in Jaca, "Rice and Fish." You wouldn't expect to find good sushi in Aragon but the owner bought his fish fresh from the coast of France. But back to Peña...




We asked Marta for a leisurely hiked that we could do with the kids in an hour or two. We should have known better since Marta is a true outdoor enthusiast and her version of an easy trek obviously differed from ours. When we arrived, we looked up at the peak and thought, 'how are we ever going to make it up there!'





As it turned out, while the climb was relatively steep, it was manageable and rewarding with 360 degree views of the surrounding region. Parker and I hiked to the top to touch the enormous, steel cross (la cruz).


Shortly after making it the peak, we had to scramble down to dodge the rain.

JDL Fútbol Tournament + Colin's 12th Birthday Party

At the end of April, JDL held a tourney with a few of the local schools and Colin's team came out on top in their group of four competing at the 6th grade level.







As it turned out, all the JDL teams took their brackets. Someone did a great job of picking the competition....mmmmm. Or, was it rigged?

Photo: Colin with good friend, César


After the tournament, we co-hosted a joint birthday party for Colin and fútbol teammate, Javier, with pizza and the movie, Thor at the Aragonia center, which is a movie theatre and large mall with many empty store fronts. Construction began a few years ago when the economy was flourishing and then came to screeching halt when the crisis hit...like many other construction projects in Zaragoza.