The World Cup-Spanish National Anthem

Video of the people singing the Spanish National Anthem at the start of the game. We went to the local bar to watch the game. A special treat for you is the "Future Fascists of Spain" joining us for the game at the bar. You won't have any problem spotting them in the crowd.

World Cup-Spain Wins!

A video of us driving around town celebrating the World Cup win.

Rota Commanding Officer's Independence Day BBQ

The commanding officer (CO) of our base held a barbecue on July 4th night for the American Ward Room and some Spanish military and VIP's of the Spanish side of the base. He holds these events twice a year, at July 4th and Christmas and most, if they aren't traveling, attend. The Spanish usually attend in full force as its a fully catered meal including alcohol and its a big social event for the officers of the base. The CO holds the event in "Captain's Circle", a cul-de-sac where his house and other high ranking American officer's houses are located. Most homes in this cul-de-sac have commanding views of the harbor and ocean and are very spacious for our base's standards.
The barbecue was outstanding. It included crab legs with an engraved souvenir crab leg cracker, bbq ribs and chicken, corn on the cob, cole slaw and an open bar of tinto de verano, beer or wine. There was also a DJ and a contest for best festive hat which surprisingly, a lot of people, both American and Spanish, participated in.

Heading into the Captain's Circle. They have a big landscaped grassy area in the middle of the cul-de-sac. The event was held here instead of the usual spot, the CO's backyard, due to the high winds we have had the last few days.

Justin and some of his fellow officer friends.

Kurt (Justin's friend and fellow officer), me and Alicia (our neighbor and Drew's mom) after some great bbq. As you can see, Alicia was participating in the "hat" contest.

Me, Alicia and Tomasina (she is the one of the other base JAG's wife and our adjoining neighbor).

The front of the CO's house in the back center of the cul-de-sac. The ENTIRE backyard is a 180 degree ocean and harbor view.

The back of the CO's house. His patio has three separate patio tables and chairs for entertaining.

We stole a picture in the CO's backyard in front of his unspoiled view of the ocean.

Sadly, our flag had to come down last night. It was an emotional moment for Justin and me. We had to console each other as we took it down.

Rota 4th of July Celebration

On Thursday, the base held a huge event to celebrate Independence Day. They do it every year and it such a wonderful event for those families and sailors not traveling over the long holiday weekend. It was held early so people could still take advantage of traveling for the weekend. Last year, we were in London for the 4th so we did not see any of the events held.

This year's theme was "Wild West." They had a country band and another band, Safety Suit, that had some hit last summer? I don't know. It just confirms I'm getting old. Anyways, different commands were selling Americana food, the bouncers were out for kids, along with face painting, and a movie started for kids at about 11pm. At midnight, they did a small fireworks display as well. It has been pretty hot here lately so we did not last too long at the event. We went to get something to eat and have O play on the bouncers a little. By the end of that, which was about 7pm, we left to go to our neighbor's house for a night cap and have the kids play a little before bed.
On Friday, the adults put the kids in our day care on base for a few hours and we all went to the local beach together! It was nice to have adult interaction and be able to do what we wanted at the beach. Justin walked over to the local cigar shop and bought some cigars for the guys to smoke on the beach. It was awesome to have the day off with our men!


The stage for the bands at the Wild West Independence Day event.

Daddy and O getting ready to hit the bounce houses.

O makes an attempt to climb the rope with Daddy's help.

Climbing out of the tunnel together.

O and Drew. They got these hats as they entered the event. She loves this hat and has been wearing it a ton since Thursday.

Who has command duty (is on call) and has to wear his uniform to the HOT Independence Day event? This guy!! He's our friend Ben. I felt sorry for everyone who had to be in uniform at the event. It was so warm!

Drew and O checking out the NavSta Rota Firetruck with their fireman hats on.

Time to pack it in and head home.

Had to include this. I am not really smoking this cigar but I wanted to pose for a picture with the "Forbidden Fruit" of cigars. A Cuban. We are such rebels.

By the Dawn's Early Light

The official base flag raising was yesterday morning at 07:30. I hurriedly got up and got Olivia up and we hurried to the command building to make the flag raising ceremony. As stated in the previous post, this is an important day for all of us in Spain as we really miss seeing the American flag flying and cherish the few moments in the year when we can. The entire base of active duty Navy, Marines and Air Force were required to muster and stand at attention for the ceremony. There was also a small brigade of Army on their way to Afghanistan in attendance as well. Civilians were invited to attend but due to the early morning ceremony time (I can only assume), there was only a small faction of us in attendance.
The ceremony did not disappoint. The commanding officer of the base gave a moving speech and eluded to the ongoing noise coming from the air terminal as evidence of our continuing operations around the world (Multiple planes took off while the ceremony was going on). The actual flag raising was so emotional as the flag pole, that stands empty throughout the year, had a huge American flag raised and hung on it to the loudspeaker blaring The Star Spangled Banner. I will admit, I was barely holding it together when I saw the flag being slowly raised and listened to our national anthem. A PERFECT start to our day in my opinion.
I have a confession. Most of these pictures I took from the base Facebook page. They had a better vantage point than I did and a better camera. Enjoy!


Presentation of the flag.

The flag has been raised! This picture shows the entire Rota command and the small group of civilians standing in the way back.

Daddy and O in front of the flag.

Okay. I threw on ANYTHING to get to the ceremony in time. I know. Frumpville.

The men of the Region Legal Service Office. Chief Mike Stevens, Lt. Commander Todd Kline and Lt. Justin Boyd.

Ooh Say Can You See!

This year, the Spanish admiral granted the US military members permission to fly the American flags outside their home for the 4th of July holiday. This is the first time that the admiral has allowed this for the Americans living on base. Per the agreement made between Spain and the US about 60 years ago, the US Navy are "guests" on the Spanish base. This means that Spanish flags are always flying and in many ways, we must answer to the Spanish and ask permission for certain rights. Our American flag is only approved to be flown at Memorial Day and the 4th of July holiday and that is usually only at the flag pole in front of our command building, not in front of our homes. When we found out we would be able to fly the flag outside our home, Justin immediately got hooks and drilled them into the outside of the house to hang the flag. As we all knew we could not fly the flag here, no one brought flag poles with them in the move! We were NOT going to let that stop us from hanging Old Glory.
It was great to see so many people slowing down or staring as they drove by us hanging the flag on the wall. It is wonderful to come home and see it hanging everyday. It will be so sad on Monday when it will be taken down again and stored until we come back to the states permanently. There, we will never take for granted how special it is to fly the American flag everyday.