April - we have our first visitor from the U.S.

I started the following entry on April 23rd and am finishing it today, May 11th:
I can't believe the month of April is almost over! This month has also flown by, especially because we were so busy entertaining our first visitor from California, my niece Jasmine. She's a senior in high school and will be starting college at UCLA in the fall. She had a 2-week Spring Break, so this was a perfect opportunity for her to come see us. She arrived April 3rd and stayed through April 18th. The boys only had the week before Easter off so we took advantage of this time and drove up to Madrid and Toledo at the beginning of the week since we knew we had to be back here in Malaga for the festivities of "Semana Santa" which have a wonderful reputation.

Madrid and Toledo: Since our car only seats 5, we decided this time around that Juan and Pablo would remain in Malaga and I would make the 5 hour drive to Madrid with Jasmine, Esteban and David. We left on Sunday morning to give Jasmine at least a day and a half to recovery from her jet lag before getting on the road again. So nice to be young, she was fresh as a clam, no jet lag. We were so lucky to have perfect spring weather in Madrid- not too cold, not too hot. We parked by the Atocha train station in the late afternoon and walked to El Retiro Park, which is like the Central Park of NYC. It was so nice to have this time with Esteban and David without the usual interruptions and demands of their little brother. There was a sculpture exhibit in the park and tons and tons of people, just strolling, watching the street performers or getting on the pedal boats in the lake.