Sunday we were up and decided to go back to the market. We bought shoes and a pair of trousers for Hope. I bought a pair of trousers for myself as well. Grandma and Grandpa had stayed at home, so we were in charge of buying the veg and roasted chicken for dinner. After wandering about for a bit, we headed back to the house for a swim.
Chris and Sheila came over for dinner. These are Karen and Barry’s besties. Karen and Sheila have been friends for well over 40 years, I believe. We had a lovely dinner of chicken, pork and vegetables.
Monday morning we puttered around the house until about 10:30 am. Then we took the kids and headed to the lake. The wind was pretty strong. We managed to put the tent up and the kids got in the lake. I wasn’t keen on the coolness of the water, so just sat in the tent. Around 12:30 we got an ice cream from the stand on the beach. Grandma and Grandpa showed up around 1:15 pm. The kids were still in the water having a great time. We packed up our stuff just before 2 pm, and went to the restaurant to eat lunch.
We were home by 4:30 and back in the pool. We had an evening of leftovers, which are our favorite. Millie didn’t go to sleep until nearly 11 pm. She was a positive beast. I think she gets so wound up and then can’t shut it off. Once she was asleep we broke out the Mexican Train and played a few rounds.
Tuesday was another semi lazy morning. We decided to go to a natural spring up the road an hour or so. We sat and had coffee while the kids swam in the natural spring, which was very cold according to the kids. Auntie Sheila and Uncle Chris joined us just before noon. At about 1 pm, we headed to the tapas bar that they had been bragging about. It was delightful. There was plenty of food and it was relatively cheap. We tried a Russian salad that we are sure we can make, and most likely will, for lunches.
We drove home and stopped in Olula to buy Jack an iPad cover. His has been wrecked for months, but completely broke at Grandma’s. Stuart said if we didn’t get something to protect it, we would have to put it away permanently. When we finally arrived home, the kids chilled. They went swimming around 6 pm, then were out, showered and fed by 7:30 pm. They were asked to read for a bit and then it was witching hour for Millie. She claimed she wasn’t tired. She finally relented and went to sleep in our room at 10 pm.
We were all up before 8 am and in the kitchen for breakfast. The kids sat around for a while and then went in the pool at 11 am. They hadn’t been in that early before so it was rather chilly. They didn’t last long and then no one wanted to get the noodles out of the pool. There was a bit of an exchange of words from Jack to me, which resulted in him not speaking to me most of the day. His cutting words, he has yet to realize, can’t be taken back. I’m not sure I’ve learned that either, sadly. I guess we pass our bad qualities down to our kids, don’t we? I hung clothes on the line and then, before we had lunch, I had a conversation with Jack about his words and his anger. I told him how it was always best to calm down before you said words that you couldn’t take back. It was a good conversation, in the end, and I think maybe he understood that when I instruct or discipline him, it’s not always to make him mad. Sometimes I correct him to keep him safe, and the harsh reality is, I am the adult and do actually know better for him sometimes.
We finished the day on a high note, going down to Espiranza’s for a birthday party.
We ended up at home just before 9 pm, when the kids showered and headed to bed. Millie, you ask? She has lost the plot and is beyond ready to go back to a routine. Hopefully, it won’t take long for her to get back into her routine once we are home and settled back in. The adults decided we needed to play a few rounds of Mexican Train before retiring to bed. It’s a great game and we have enjoyed playing it all summer long.
We decided to go to a market on Thursday in Olula. We had some churros, as you do at a market, and stopped for a beverage so the kids could eat the churros. Once we had our pit stop, we headed down the hill to Terra Cafe for tapas. Millie had some difficulties following directions in the restaurant, resulting in her having no ice cream. For some reason, she has difficulty understanding cause and effect relationships. It may be her age, I realize, but it’s none the less quite frustrating.
A quick trip into the Mercadana to get some treats for our journey to Madrid on Friday, and then we were on our way back to the villa. We had just arrived at the house when a storm brewed up. The thunder, lightning, and rain continued on for over a half of an hour. Once the rain had stopped, we could still see the lightning and hear the thunder. Stuart and I sat on the terrace and watched it all. We don’t see many thundershowers, so it was a nice change for us. It did mean, however, that the kids didn’t get to swim one last time, but they enjoyed playing Mexican Train with Grandma. The electricity went out a couple of times and the kids were terribly excited. But we all made it through.
Sheila and Chris came over with their dogs to say their ‘goodbyes’. They stayed until the next storm rolled in, but decided to go before it got too bad. There was no real dinner for the adults, and the kids had fish finger sandwiches, except for Millie. She’s really opposed to any sandwich except a grilled cheese sandwich. So she simply had fish fingers.
The kids were in bed a bit earlier than previous nights as we had an early start the following morning. We let Millie have her electronic devise in bed for 10 minutes and then she went to bed. It was the first night since being in Spain that she didn’t fuss about going to bed.
The alarm went off way too early on Friday morning. Grandma and Grandpa were up to day their ‘goodbyes’ and Grandma made us sandwiches for the road. Our drive to Madrid was quite uninteresting. We arrived just after 11 am and then turned in the rental car. We headed through security after checking our bags and then waited for boarding.
The kids were especially nuts on the plane. I can only assume they knew it was just a few hours before Hope would not be with them. They all have really enjoyed their time together.
Once we landed in London, Jack, Millie and I got a cab to the hotel, while Stuart and Hope headed to the rental car. Stuart drove her back to Birmingham, which ended up being a little over a 2 hour journey there because it was during rush hour and the beginning of a bank holiday. He said the traffic was unbelievable.
Once the kids and I got settled into the hotel, we went to have dinner. Both kids were so well behaved and I made sure to compliment them on their behavior. Sometimes I forget to do that. We went back to the room, showered, and laid in bed watching television. Stuart got back to the hotel around 10:30 pm and I was asleep. I think he was thankful I heard his pitiful knock on the door and let him in.
We got up around 7:30 am and headed to breakfast at the hotel. Once we were checked out, we drove to the airport and returned the rental car. We checked in and went through security. We decided to go to the Aspire lounge and have some coffee.
Our last flight of the summer was almost 7 hours from London to Abu Dhabi. Again, it was pretty uneventful. We did, as was disappointing to the kids, have to sit in economy this time. Poor us!
So, 8 flights, 3 countries, 3 currencies, 4 rental cars, 7 bag (we started with 4), family and friends, many adventures, and 7 weeks later, we arrived home. The kids have another week before they go to school, but Stuart and I start back to work tomorrow, well, actually by the time we got home it was the day we had to go to work.
All good summers must come to an end, I suppose. We had a wonderful one for sure.
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