Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Spain - Day 10

Day 10 (Sunday) – We fully intended to head to Seville today, but after another night of being up until 1am, we could not make our early morning start! So we decided to walk into town – up the crazy bumpy road, and head to the gourmet market - Bonnisim. We were not disappointed! Elisa had fantastic fresh baked pastry’s so we sampled the chocolate croissant, the fruit one with kiwi slices on top, the cream croissant, and the pecan one, and a big liter of fresh cold milk. We ordered some fresh bread, cheese and a chicken to pick up later that afternoon for lunch, and took our spoils up through town to the castle at the very top. There we ate every last pastry and drank the entire liter of milk! It was so much fun!

The feast! Fresh baked croissants filled with apple, apricots, almonds and chocolate. Who could want for anything more?!?


We decided that the little carved out watch tower rooms in the castle were really the rooms where the princesses had to take their time-outs. This is Lily's imitation of what a princess in time-out looks like : )

On our hike back through town Caden fell asleep. We sat on the curb of the street letting him sleep and letting Lily play until our chicken was done, then we hiked home. We were extremely hot and sweaty from the hike – especially carrying an extra 25 pounds of children apiece! We
headed right for the pool with our chicken, bread, cheese and wine Elisa recommended and swam and snacked. A wonderful afternoon.
Lily is pointing up at organes in the tree lining one of the village streets. We all wanted to pick them. It took a lot of restraint.
Caden sound asleep during the hot hike home. All of his adventurous exploring shows on his scratched up little face '_'
Oh – and as I skimmed for bugs before diving in, I noticed a little baby shrew swimming laps! The poor little thing was exhausted! Lily and I scooped him up, and monitored him until he was strong enough to run off and find his mommy.

Next we partook in the Spain custom of the Siesta…we LOVE that custom : ) Before we knew it, it was 6:30 and Wilma arrived. Wilma is the chef we hired to cook a few days while we are here, and boy, was it worth it! We headed up to the pool and painted, played the guitar, and played in the hammock.
When we finally meandered to the terrace, we were treated with a delicious dinner of pasta with cheese made special for Lily and Caden – and they ate every bite – and fresh gazpacho soup for Corey and me. We had lamb, mashed potatoes, and a veggie dish of green beans and tomatoes. Excellent! Lily and Caden ate all of it! It was the best eating I had seen them do in some time! I think it helped that we were all very relaxed, eating at home. The kids loved Wilma, enjoying playing peek-a-boo with her into the side kitchen window : ) For dessert we had flan. Lily had 3 helpings!!!
As we chatted with Wilma as she cleaned up, Lily and Caden wandered off. I found them on the side of the house by the clothes line. When I found them Lily announced they were on an adventure! That is what we keep calling our various excursions out. It was so cute! They both were in their bare feet.

We read some books on the terrace and then headed for bed. They are both asleep now. It seems like they like sleeping in the same room together. Lily is certainly having an easier time lying down for bed. It was a perfect day! The Kidder’s arrive tomorrow!

Corey just headed into bed and bang we heard an hour ago was indeed our little Lily rolling out of bed again and onto the floor. Whereas last night she woke up, tonight she slept right through it! Thoughtful parents that we are, we are now adding more chairs to keep her in ‘_’
[July 12, 2009]

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Spain - Day 9

Day 9 (Saturday) – Today we made scrambled eggs for breakfast and ate on the terrace. They we played at the pool all morning swimming, saving bugs, lounging in the hammocks, and eating more plums than I can count picked right from our plum tree. Caden and I whipped up a pasta for lunch with some of the fresh veggies we bought in town the night before, which we enjoyed with a great bottle of wine on the terrace. Enjoying the hammock. We spent a lot of time here!

After siesta, we headed in town to a pizza restaurant. It was excellent! I drank two coca-colas, in those cute little bottles, that were fantastically syrupy sweet! After dinner we each picked out an ice cream which we ate in a little square with a fountain. This is the second time the kids have eaten this ice cream that is like a push-up, but with vanilla ice cream and chocolate chunks. Then in the clear handle there is a stack of Smarties that come out once the ice cream is gone. It is a big hit! I ended up taking a ton of photos of the kids playing. It is so wonderful to just relax in the village and watch the locals!


Playing around with a camera feature I just learned about. I think the one above and below look like classic shots.

Note the beautiful lipgloss Lily secured from a corner vending machine in Gaucin. The only thing better than the color was the fact that it came in heart-shaped princess ring! Oh, one thing I did forget to mention is that there are massive amounts of ants around. Not really in the house, until you leave a morsel of food on the ground or counter for 10 seconds. Then it is like they instantly appear in droves! All of the windows and doors are open, so they certainly have a route in, but you don’t see them in the house unless you give them that reason. Well, as anyone who knows me knows, ants are my least favorite insect – yes, I have them all carefully rated and classified. Well I awoke from siesta after my third swipe at something on my ear…you guessed it! A good 20 – 30 ants were crawling around by my head! Absolutely gross!!! I was careful to scrub down all of the baby handprints of food off of me before bed!
[July 11, 2009]

Spain - Day 8

Day 8 (Friday) – We left the Marriott timeshare, after another Marriott timeshare pitch for 10,000 points mind you, for our house in Gaucin. We stopped in Puerto Banuse for a visit and lunch. A very posh area filled with incredible yachts and the finest of stores. We made a mental note to visit again without kids : ) We then completed the beautiful drive into the mountains to our little country home in Gaucin – one of the tourist-anointed “White Towns”. It was a very beautiful drive with one section including a wind farm.
We wasted no time upon arrival and started off with a swim. We then headed into the little town – which is 1.1km up a crazy-bumpy dirt road to the edge of town where you then drive on paved roads to a whatever parking place you can find. The roads are only wide enough for one car, so if someone is coming your way, you have to back up until they can pass. The turn off for our road is such a hairpin turn it is truly impossible to just make the turn without backing up at least once!

In town we did a little grocery shopping, then found a little tapas bar called La Puente where we ate the most amazing sword fish on their balcony, and a bottle of wine for 8 Euros! Crazy! One of the great things about grocery shopping in Spain, or Europe for that matter, is that very little is refrigerated. So were able to buy shelved milk and eggs, and not worry about how long we were at dinner!
[July 10, 2009]