Ben, Chelsa & Aubrey

From Saturday until Tuesday of this last weekend, we were graced with the presence of this very fun family!  Chelsa wrote up a blog post, and I'm simply going to link it here (for those technologically challenged of you, click the word "here" to be magically transported to her blog). She's an amazing photographer and recorded our time well!  I also have yet to get back on the blogging horse, so I'm using her blog to enforce my laziness (it's nice to take a deep breath today and try to catch up on emails, work, and cleaning...)

But, I will leave you with a couple of videos of their gorgeous daughter, Aubrey.  She was so much fun to hang out with!  Brian and I were both surprised at how quickly she warmed up to us, and we had a lot of fun at the baaah (think of an Irishman saying Bar), which meant park, where we spent a lot of time trying to escape the heat of Madrid, since it was at least 100 degrees each day!

Thanks for making the stop in Madrid, Ben & Chelsa, and for helping us relax and enjoy our city with you!  We loved having you here, and hopefully our paths will cross more often than they have in the last couple of years.  Have a great time in France!

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One more,

Whoops!  And a very special first Happy Fathers day to my Brother :)

Isn't Ben such a cutie???  My mom and I found that little swimming outfit @ Hema in Amsterdam...

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Happy Fathers Day :)

Happy Fathers Day!

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Well, hello there!

Last week, Ross & Amber flew in to Madrid for a week long visit to Europe.  The plan was to spend a night here in Madrid, then fly to Norway for a long weekend, and then come back to Spain for the rest of their time here.  Little did they know what they were going to encounter first...

Banga surprised Brian (and Ross & Amber) by showing up at our place from Afganistan!  Banga and I had been working on this plan for weeks, so he could visit us while he was on leave.  We were able to coordinate things so he was able to travel to Norway with us this last weekend, and spend some quality time with all of us while he was away from his daily army duties.

I picked him up from the airport around noon, and we spent the afternoon together.  Then I sent him off to Retiro while I picked up R&A from the airport, and once we got home, I had put out a signal on the balcony for Banga to come back, and here's what happened when he walked in the door:

It was pretty awesome.  We had a great time up in Norway, and it was really hard to say goodbye to him yesterday.  Ross & Amber left this morning for Seville, and they'll be back for one epic night in Madrid on Friday before they head back to the states.  Ben, Chelsa & Aubrey come next week!

Never a dull moment at Casa de Thuesen...

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City of Arts & Sciences

Yum, yum, architecture & photography, two of my favorite things.

I mentioned in my last post that I took too many pictures of the City of Arts & Sciences in Valencia.  But, they all turned out so sexy.  Here's a sampling (and this is especially for you, Dennie & Katie, you non-blog-readers!)

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