This week (among other things) she began reading Charlotte’s Web, conducted a science experiment involving magnets, wrote a short story, took her first spelling test of the year (10/10 folks), baked something new, started piano lessons and began learning how to finger knit.

Here’s some pictures of Aliana on her 1st day of first grade.

I’m really, really looking forward to this year watching my daughter grow as she learns through curiously exploring the world around her.

More recently, I was asked by a friend of mine to attend the birth of her beautiful daughter. I was overjoyed as this was my first friend that I was able to serve in the delivery room and not just someone I knew on a client level. Words can’t describe how amazing she did that day or how beautiful of a connection her and her husband had together so I’ll just show you a few shots from that special day.

Chris was by far one of the most supportive husbands I’ve seen in the delivery room!

One thing that was really special was my friend, Nicole, also had her mother for additional support. I’m so happy that Grandma Beth got to attend the birth of her first grandchild! One thing I know for certain is that Baby Raina was brought into this world surrounded by an abundance of people who loved her from the very start.

Getting closer…

A lot of people ask why I love doing birth photography. I have to say because of moments like this one. If you ask any woman, she will say the day she became a mother is one of the most important days of her life. It should be honored and celebrated and I am passionate about providing that service to women on their most special, life changing journey.

Welcome to the world, Baby Raina!

Which door is your favorite?

Of course I waited until my siblings came to visit. Such a special experience could have only been reserved to share with some of my favorite people in the entire world. Besides, going without them would have triggered years of overwhelming jealousy and never-ending sibling rivalry.

To begin the planning of our day trip, I booked a *tour guide named Jamal. He’s pretty well known within the American community as the go-to tour guide for Tangier. As soon as we exited the ferry from Spain, Jamal was there at the dock waiting for us. Originally, I had planned for a day full of walking. Much to my relief, Jamal had a private driver and a large, clean van for us equipped with A/C. We were able to leave some belongings in the vehicle safely each time we stopped to explore a new place as the driver stayed with the van. The trip was more comfortable for us with two small children and lots of little extras that we ended up not having to carry every step of the way.

After Moroccan security gave our passports a look-see, we were bright-eyed, bushy tailed and on our way to our very own Moroccan adventure.

Mosque in memory of King Mohammed V.

This is a restaurant that we popped in for a quick break. We didn’t eat our lunch there but I’ve known of several Americans that have. Next time I’ll have to try some of their food.

My brother is musically talented in several instruments (drums, guitar, piano and the ukelele). He met with these fellas while in Morocco and we’re all looking forward to when this newly assembled boy band puts out their first record.

In the museum in the Kasbah.

The Kasbah and two chickens out on a stroll.

Overlooking the port of Tangier.

Ah, yes. The snake charmer. An unbelievable experience.

Oh, what a trooper.

Growing up, my sister had a couple of snakes as pets. She loves them.

See?

And then… there were camels.

We went for a camel ride! This happened to be Andrew and Leila’s favorite part of the trip.

This little baby was hanging around enjoying the ocean breeze.

This was my camel for our short camel-riding excursion. We bonded.

A view of Cape Spartel.

After our camel rides, we were hit up a local restaurant for lunch. To start, we had this delicious seafood soup. My sister, brother and myself all had amazing chicken and lamb kebabs. Andrew went straight for the typical moroccan dish, Tajine.

Lunch ended on a high note with this Moroccan Mint Tea, mighty tasty indeed.

After lunch, we got to visit the Church of St. Andrew, an Anglican church built in 1894.

Then, it was off to shop. Here’s a few shots around the market:

Here we are all together basking in the beauty of experiencing Morocco.

*For those of living within traveling distance to Morocco (that means you, Rota), I highly recommend using Jamal as your travel guide. He has really great tours to offer you and is more than willing to work with you on your very own customized tour upon request. Contact Jamal for more info at jamal_chatt@hotmail.com

This was one of the first places we saw (well, after I sort of led us into the wrong direction and got demoted from map-holder/line-leader).

I was trying to take a picture of the white buildings in the background but these two people got in the way of my shot.

I joke, I joke. This was actually my sisters’ favorite day while she was in Spain. It’s not hard to tell why.

This is one of my new favorite photos. My handsome husband holding my precious daughter on his shoulders makes me weak in the knees. Coincidentally, so does me holding my daughter on my shoulders on days full of walking. Another win for me for having a husband who has big, macho muscles.

No Spanish town would be complete without small walkways. Eventually, we came upon the bullring (Plaza de Toros). As soon as we walked in, two real live bulls started having a face-off…

It was too much excitement so we ventured onward…

If any of you Rota folks get the hankerin’ for a little exploring soon, I encourage you to head over to Ronda.

Directions from Rota straight to Plaza de Toros in Ronda can be found here. Print out a guided walking tour here (you can even do the same walk Michele Obama took while she visiting back in 2010). Happy travels!

The first day we ventured off to a small bodega hidden in the small alleyways in Jerez de la Frontera called Bodegas Tradicion.

I’ve visited Bodegas Tradicion in the past (there’s a whole heap of information here) and there are several reasons why I chose to go back to this particular one. For starters, when I knocked on the door (after getting lost in the small streets in the city and missing our appointment), the tour guide from our last visit, Sabrina instantly recognized me from more than a year ago and ushered me in excitedly. She remembered my girls and details about my life and I felt like I was catching up with an old friend. The rest of the visit with my sister and brother was much the same feeling;  friendly chatting on top of filling us with plenty of information about sherry.

On top of the regular tour, she showed us where they bottle the sherry.

Sure, these just look like a couple of long necks now, but…

After a little DIY sherry-bottle decorating…

and finally, grabbing the nearest pretty little gal to help you stamp a seal onto it, it’s nearly drinkable. Speaking of drinking…

… we did a little of that, too. We could have stayed at the Bodega all day but it might have ruined their plans for a following appointment or two. So, we kept it moving right along and found a place to settle in for a good lunch in the city center.

Thoughts about this photo: my sister is one of the most photogenic people ever and thanks to the sunlight, it looks as though my little brother appears to have a patch of gray on his head.

Ahh, delicious gazpacho. A cool Spanish dish on a hot afternoon hits the spot and also gives you enough room for churros and chocolate for dessert.

The second day, we drove to Sevilla. Our first stop there was the Catedral de Sevilla. The Sevilla Cathedral is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world and the third largest church in the world.

Theories have been thrown around, but it is believed that Christopher Columbus’ remains are buried here.

As soon as we stepped out of the cathedral, we were melting in the Spanish sun. I couldn’t bare it considering I’m too much of a lady to perspire. Thankfully we found an entire street filled with cafes and restaurants with mist coming from their umbrellas. We planted ourselves there and gorged ourselves on paella much like any other smart tourists would.

This was my second trip to Sevilla. I’m super blessed because I live only a little more than an hour from this beautiful city.

Things that match: outfits (totally accidental) and our excitement to be in Spain together. Olé!

Before my sister, Whitney and brother, Seth arrived a couple of weeks ago, I started planning a dinner party for some of our friends to meet them. Both my siblings are adventurous food-eaters and since they were vacationing in Spain for the first time, I knew I wanted the dinner menu to only be Spanish food. But, what I really wanted was to 1) be immersed in conversation with my family and friends while sipping on Sangria 2) relax and have fun and 3) not a cook a thing.

As you could imagine, hosting a dinner party while not cooking would end up in having just a party with no dinner. So, I began trying to find ways to make this happen. On my quest, I was directed to a personal chef named Carlos. I met with Carlos once to discuss menu options and a few days later, he showed up to my house ready to cook me and my guests amazing Spanish food.

My sister and I took care of the drinks and dessert. Since it was Spanish-themed, we had tinto de verano and of course, Sangria! I also picked up several different kinds of Spanish beers (you can buy them individually) from the local grocery store for people to try if they wanted. Dessert was simple; s’mores over the fire pit! Carlos brought everything else for the meal.

Carlos was super laid back and friendly. He speaks really good English and was really good at explaining how things were made and the ingredients in them.

My sister even got her hands dirty while assisting with the squid.

One of Aliana’s favorite things to do is cook. She was so excited about learning how to cook Spanish foods.

Our meal started off with a couple different kinds of cheeses.

Accompanying the cheese was jamon.

Next were the delicious croquetas. Which, is now my favorite Spanish food.

Next up was the ensaladilla de pulpo y langostinos. Delicious!

Carlos served us this amazing Salmorejo, similar to Gazpacho.

The whole time we were being served all this delicious Spanish food, I kept slipping into the kitchen because of the overwhelming, mouthwatering smell of the Paella that kept drawing me near.

This entire time of being in Spain, I haven’t been a big fan of paella. But after eating the paella Carlos made in my home; I’m sold and I love it!

The delectable finished product. It was soooo good, y’all.

Not only did I accomplish my goal of not cooking, I had a great time with friends and the food was wonderful. As an added bonus, after Carlos finished cooking, he cleaned my kitchen and did my dishes. Seriously it couldn’t have gotten any better than that. By the way, his specialty is sushi. I’ve heard it’s absolutely wonderful. He’s available for show-cooking at dinner parties and also can provide a flamenco dancer. Yes, please!

So, to all my readers in Spain, if you’re looking for a dinner party where you basically don’t have to lift a finger, follow these simple steps:

1) Gather a list of some Spanish food items you’re interested in plus a solid number of how many guests will be attending your party.

2) Contact Carlos straight away at carlosmunicio@hotmail.com to reserve your date for your special Spanish Fiesta.

3) Once the time arrives to have your party, sit back and relax and enjoy great food and company while Carlos takes care of the rest!

The drive there offered breathtaking scenery.

Okay, so the views were spectacular as you can tell. However, our American-sized SUV on European roads is one thing, but our American-sized SUV on tiny European mountain roads is a whole nutha story. The roads are built for one car but have two-way traffic. It was a nerve-wracking drive (not just for me, but for my man who put up with my whining the entire drive up the mountain), but totally worth it.

As soon as we could, we set off to find a trail. On a side note, both my husband and I are sporting HealthSource FWB t-shirts from our favorite chiropractors in Florida. Who here thinks that this should be their next billboard?

Babywearing while hiking is for hot Dads only. He melts me.

Aliana is our explorer. She’s the leader of our adventures and seeing new things is totally her element. And so is hiking. Obviously. Look at her. She loved  every single second of it.

The first trail we were on was beautiful, but eventually got too narrow for my liking with two small, precious children. We took off on another nearby trail to see what else we could find.

Turns out, we found a whole lot of sheep hiney trying to soak up what little shade they could to stay cool.

Oh, and the views didn’t disappoint on this trail either.

Turns out a day hiking mountainside with the three people I love most was exactly what I needed. A perfect day indeed.

And then…

I had Leila…

My sticky-fingered…

… (sometimes) snot-nosed…

… messy, messy, messy child.

Who eventually leveled out her older sister and taught us all to live a little and embrace a good mess every now and again.

Yeah, she steps in every puddle, plays in the dirt, gets a little too friendly with insects from time to time, but, hey, we like her thatta way.

And I can deal with being that Mom, too I guess.

There were women wearing the typical clothing for horse-riding. They were tough and beautiful in their own right.

Her hat. Oh, her hat.

Then there were the women in the ever so lovely Feria dresses. The dresses are gorgeous. Sadly, I skipped the chance to get one this year. But, I promise next year I will go all out to make up for these last two years without one. For now, feast your eyes on these beautiful Spanish women in their colorful dresses.

If you follow my blog page via Facebook, you’ve seen this woman already. With the feria dresses being so expensive (ranging between $200-$600 per dress/per year), I could see why these women were so eager to be photographed and show off their beauty.

This is one of my favorite shots of the whole Feria.

Ole´!

Inside the castetas, you will find Spanish people drinking merrily (all day and all night) and dancing the night away.

Which feria dress is your favorite?