Spanish National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España)

12 Oct - In America, this is Columbus Day but in Spain, this is their day of National Celebration.  They celebrate it as the Day Columbus discovered America and Spain because a world leader and took Spanish to most of Central and South America. 

We went to a Spanish Restaurant in Alexandria and had tapas (small Spanish dishes) and paella (Spanish rice dish) - and DESSERT!!   http://www.latascausa.com/site/

Cheese platter

Sangria with apples

Calamari - fried squid

beef empanada (not as good as Sara's )

Pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon

Seafood Paella - mussells, squid, clams, shrimp (not typical of Galicia where Sara is from) 

Churros with chocolate sauce

Galician Orange Cake - Sara said her Grandmother's is MUCH better!!

Spanish Rice Pudding

Association of the US Army Convention

12 Oct - James took the girls to the convention at the DC convention center.  This is a showcase for hte US Army where alot of companies come show their products and where units showcase what they do in their areas.  The girls had a good time.  It was different for Sara to see alot of equipment that we use in the US Army - weapons, training equipment, vehicles, etc. 

Jamie and Sara with a STRYKER troop carrier

Sara manning a rotating turret .50cal Machinegun

The girls with Watson - the IBM supercomputer

Sara at one of the displays

Tour of Monuments in Wash DC

9 OCT - Sara, James, Jamie, Tot and James' aunt Alice toured some of the monuments on the mall.  It was a very nice day

Korean War Memorial

World War II Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

We will revisit these later and Sara will learn ALOT more :)

Update

Sorry - it has been a while since we updated the Blog.  We have done many activities in a month :)

Sara started school and changed a class.  She dropped guitar and changed to Personal Fitness.  It is part weightlifting and part health class on how to eat and live healthy.  She will enjoy it. 

First Day of School!!!!!!!!

9 Sep - Sara and James went to an event in Wash, DC to get the word out about exchange students and finding families.  It was a program called the Global DC Initiative to get more kids in Wash DC exposed to the cultures and languages of other countries.  The Mayor of Wash, DC - Mayor Gray - was the speaker.

Mayor Gray

17 September, we hosted the families of the other students at our house for an orientation for the students and families.  We had some EXCELLENT foods and Sara made an excellent empanada with Ham and Cheese.

Spanish Ham and Cheese Empanada...sooo good :)

Our Students this year Omika from Georgia, Sara, Raul from Spain, Wenjie from China and Laura from Germany...great group of wonderful young men and women!

On 22 Sep, Sara went to her first High School Volleyball game at Robinson.  She had a great time, it was a good game and Robinson came from behind to win 3-2. 


Robinson Volleyball

 23 Sep, We went to another football game at Robinson on 23 Sep but Robinson lost bad to Westfield high school.

24 Sep - Jamie had her first volleyball game.  She is on a club team in Chantilly.  The girls are getting their first volleyball experience and well, they had fun. 

Jamie is the one on the left :)

Later in the day, two other students from China and Thailand joined us for the afternoon and we went to a DC United Soccer game.  United won 4-1 and we had a great time.  The girls enjoyed their first hot dogs with alot of Jalapenos - they ate them up!!

View of the DC United Soccer Game

25 Sep - I took the girls to a Baseball game.  My favotite team, the Atlanta Braves were in town to play the Washington Nationals. It was the last home game for the season for the Nationals.  Washington won 2-0.

Sara, Mint and Wenjie at the Braves Nationals Game

Wenjie, Mint and Sara with President Washington

26 Sep, The Washington Redskins played the evil Dallas Cowboys.  Sara and I watched it and ate Chicken wings while watching!   Washington lost :( :( :(

Sara likes wings!

Kims parents visited us from 29 Sep - 2 Oct.  We had a great time. 

29 Sep - we went to Mad Fox brewery in Arlington.  http://madfoxbrewing.com/  The beer was very good and the foot outstanding.  See the next post. 

30 Sep, Sara, James and Jim (Kim's Dad) went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant.

1 Oct - We had a yard sale to get rid of some of our stuff then went to a Belgian Restaurant for dinner.  It was very good but in a small restaurant.  http://cockandbowl.com/  See food entry for photos

More Food from September

 Some of the different foods Sara has tried this month :)  She likes different foods ;)

Japanese Rolls - yummy!!

noodles, chicken and stir fried vegetables

Pizza Carbanara from Mad Fox Brewery

Nutella, banana crepe - fried and rolled in cinnamon and sugar - REALLY DELICIOUS!!!!!!!

Japanese cooking

Spicy Hot Wings (chicken)  Best to eat while watching FOOTBALL!!

Banana Belly Buster (Banana and icecream inside a crepe)

Kim's Beef and Vegetable Stew with Rice

Cinnamon Rolls

Chinese Food

Sweet Potato with Sugar and Cinnamon  - Kim did not like

Pork Chop, Broccoli, fried cabbage and bread

Boston Market Turkey, Spinach and Veggies

Noodles, Chicken and Broccoli

Baked Noodles and cheese with ham

Chili Hotdog with Jalapenos

Indian Curry Chicken and Rice

Belgian Waffle

Five Guys Hamburger with Fries

Belgian Mussels

Roasted Chicken and Belgian French Fries

Belgian Waffle with chocolate and whipped cream (Yes, I know it is upside down :)

Sara also had a Peruivian Chicken and El Salvadorian food but we forgot the camera so we will have to go back to those places :)))

9-11 Ceremony

11 Sep - Jamie participated in a ceremony at the Fairfax Government Center.  She and other Girl and Boy Scouts led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.  After the ceremony, Sara met some important people.  Sara took the time to tell them she was an exchange student from Spain and thanked them for their support of the exchange programs.

Sara and US Congressman Gerry Connelly.  He is a member of the US House of Representatives.

Sara with Ms Bulova, Chairwoman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors and Mr Bulova who is a Delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates representing Fairfaxand Son of Ms Bulova.  He is a graduate of Robinson where Sara attends school.

Sara with Mr Cook.  He is the represenative on the Fairfax County board of Supervisors.

Jamie is in the group in front to the left....the TALL one :)