Avast, Grandparents!

As you can see from the photo above, Gran and Grandad came to visit me! I'm sitting on my Spanish Grandad - Eusebio.

They brought the weather with them as Daddy told them they had to pack warm clothes and rain coats only for the sun to shine for almost all the time they were here. Seeing as they came across in November they were very lucky as there were only a couple of cloudy days and it didn’t rain at all!

I was still learning how to crawl at the time, so they haven’t seen how fast I can move now. The next time they visit they won’t be able to believe their eyes! I can crawl so fast now that if I’m about to do something naughty, (almost every day), Daddy has to run if he’s to stop me. I’m also happy to spend all morning walking around on my own, but I still need to hold on to something as I can’t balance yet.

I like it when Gran and Grandad come to see me as it’s an extra set of people to do interesting things for me to watch and learn from. Just after they left I began to point the remote control at the television, even if it was the wrong one. It was about the time they were here last which I began to drink from a glass rather than a baby bottle, so it’s true what they say – watching is learning.

I hope they come to see me again soon and I’m waiting to see anyone else from the family too! So don’t be shy and give my Mummy and Daddy a call to see when you can come and visit me.

I’ll even share you with my parents!

Bye for now.

Love,

Samuel

The Aunties are coming! The Aunties are coming!

When Sue and Ev came for a quick visit, they made sure to bring the weather with them!

I had warned them to bring warm coats and jeans and had to endure their (read Sue's) endless complaints about bringing unnecessary baggage when they were treated to t-shirt weather. Of course, the very day they left it started to bucket down and we have yet to see the sun!

When they were here I don't think they stopped eating and drinking for two days straight. The Spanish system of tapas (a tiny amount of food served free with most drinks) seemed to agree with them. On Saturday night we visited the wonderful Museo del Jamon where we sampled the finest ham which Spain has to offer (it knocks the socks off the Italian stuff). From there we went to the old fashioned sherry bar La Venencia where we had top notch wine and the traditional dry cured fish which goes so well with it called hueva. By this time it was midnight and I was flagging, but Sue and Ev insisted on trying some more tapas so we shuffled off to El Abuelo II, a very popular bar with good tapas. Bloik!

The following day they took themselves off to the famous Plaza Mayor which is slap bang in the middle of the city. There they treated themselves to some more very good ham and Ev fooled Sue into eating some of the more adventurous food on offer. Time to buy a dictionary, Sue?

Sam didn't know what to make of these strange women at first, but he soon warmed up to them as he ordinarily does with people. Never let it be said that my progeny is not a tart! He asked me to say that he hopes to see some other family members in Madrid soon and is looking forward to seeing Granny and Grandpa at the beginning of November.

Hope to see you all soon!

Sam's 1st Birthday

It was a perfect day in Madrid for Sam’s 1st Birthday. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze and the temperature was about 22ºC/74ºF.

It would be nice to report that we awoke to the sweet chorus of the magpies and parakeets which occupy the nearby park…nice, but untrue. His Imperial Majesty (H.I.M.) decided that Mummy and Daddy had had more than enough sleep and that it was time to get up and pay court to his undeniable greatness. I lost the game of paper, scissors, stone and was dispatched to keep him out of trouble whilst Virginia had a lie in.

I fed H.I.M. and took him for his morning walk before delivering him to Mummy so that he might graciously eat the inadequate food which had been prepared for his lunch.

Later on in the afternoon it was quiet - too damned quiet! Sam had been behaving himself and that alone should have clued me in to the fact that he was up to no good. As you can see from the photos, we all enjoyed a visit to the swings for the nappy-bound which they have on the other side of the river. Sam loves them and goes most afternoons courtesy of Virginia and her mother. The slide holds no fear for this intrepid ball of fat either!

After an agreeable time spent there, we wandered up to the new shopping centre which they built in the beautiful building of the old Estacion del Norte (North Station). Sam saw his chance when Virginia and I separated. She went browsing in the clothes shops (zzzzzzzzzz!) whilst I went with Sam to buy a few things at the supermarket.

All went well and we were in and out in short order and met up with Virginia at the main entrance. Upon seeing us, she gave Sam a peculiar look and then started to tell me off on the grounds that he already had enough teddy bears.

“What are you talking about?” I asked indignantly. “I haven’t bought him anything!”

Virginia pushed back the cover to his pushchair to reveal the criminal mastermind happily chewing on the ear of a fluffy dog. Despite the fact that he had been caught red-handed, not a hint of shame was to be seen on his face as he played with his ill-gotten gains.

The label on the dog put its price at €4 and there was no way I was going to Alcatraz for such a piffling sum so we quickly exited the shopping centre, all the while expecting the heavy hand of the law to land on our shoulders.

So there you have it - Sam chose his very first birthday to commit his first (and hopefully last) crime. For those of you who may find my story incredible due to my (undeserved) reputation for telling porkies, please address yourselves to Virginia.

As God is my witness, that’s how it happened!

Welcome to 'Slave To Sam', the dramatically named blog which will be used to spread less-than-dramatic news and photos about the Spanish branch of the Pendleton/de Miguel family.

This, of course, means the majority of the entries will be about Sam. However, we'll try not to be Baby Bores to the nth degree and will try to include some information about his parents!

So, we'll wait to post some photos of the progeny until after his birthday which is Saturday 7th October and will instead post a couple of photos of our recent trip to London when Virginia and I absolutely didn't walk open-mouthed around the centre of London like a couple of tourists!

It was a quick dash across for a family reunion in London and an opportunity to say 'adios' to my older brother Iain (a.k.a. Sam) as he'll be upping sticks just as soon as the U.S. Embassy sends him his visa and will be relocating with his wife, Christina, and baby boy, Ethan, to Boston.

We all did our own thing on Saturday morning, but met up in the early evening at the tapas bar which now occupies the site of the old Marquee club. After that we took ourselves off to a comedy grotto which was top quality. I always get a little nervous about comedians as so many of them aren't...well, funny. Full marks to cousin Nick for arranging the whole weekend and finding such a good club, though! On Sunday morning it was a quick trot around the city centre before we Iberians had to catch the Gatwick Express.

Hope you all come back soon to see some pictures of Sam!