School Birthdays!

Here in Spain, birthdays are a really, really big deal.  Granted, most Spaniards only have one or two kids, so it's doable... but most of the time, a child will have his/her birthday party at a place where they have the big blow up toys, a ball-pit, etc.  The parents drop off the kids, and the party is run entirely by the staff.  Our kids love going...but, we have yet to follow the cultural tradition b/c it's so expensive!  With four kids, I cannot even imagine fitting that into our budget. :)  It's expensive just to SEND the kids to the parties, b/c each of our kids is in class with 30 other kids.  So if you think about 30 birthday parties times 4 kids!... yeah, craziness! :)  Well, realistically, all 4 kids don't get invited to every single party, but it's still expensive... even for families with only 2 kids!  SO one on my closest friends came up with an idea that we implemented for Weston's class, and it was so successful, there has been talk of doing it in some of the other classes.  We were all for it.

The trampoline!

This is Marco, one of Weston's best friends.  He is Toña's son... many of you have heard me talk about her!

Nathan getting ready to swim!

They were much happier here than in the pool. :)

They decided to group all the birthdays every quarter together in one birthday party.  Every child (other than the birthday kids) going to the party, contributed 5 euros in place of a gift.  The money collected goes to paying for the party itself and then the parents bring one gift to the party for each birthday kid to open.  WOW.  Talk about saving money!... at least for the parents throwing the parties!  It was also cheaper for those of us attending too, b/c it's tough to find a decent gift for only 5euros.

Games!

Even Carolina got to play.

Weston has a summer birthday, so near the end of school, we coordinated summer birthdays.  Weston has one girl in his class who is from England.  Her family lives on the golf course and they live in the only "houses" we have seen in Cáceres... you know, like what we would consider a house and not a town home or an apartment.  This is a very, very well-to-do neighborhood, and it was like stepping foot back on American soil! :)  hehe... it was seriously beautiful... or maybe I just miss houses and lawns. :)  Anyway, this family offered to host the party at their home (since it's huge... by Spain stanards... and gorgeous!)  The perk from that, aside from the fact that we ALL got to go... little ones included... was that the money normally used to "rent" the facility, came back to us to buy Weston's gift! (after food expenses, etc. were taken out, of course)  HA!  Wes and I couldn't have had it better! hehe... :) It was hosted at someone else's house... Weston felt special and recognized... and they even paid for his gift! :)  It was a really fun day for everyone.

Antonio and Nathan... Antonio is Toña's husband.

Opening gifts!... that is Carmen beside Weston.  Her family hosted the party... does the blond hair give away that she's British? :)