Our Boys Can Swim!

Yes, it's official, both Tom and Ollie can now swim.

In fact Tom has been swimming for a couple of weeks now, and naturally, he's becoming a stronger swimmer every day.




Today was a revelation for Ollie though. Ever since Tom stopped wearing his armbands Ollie has been complaining about his. Well, he would because as far as he is concerned, he can do whatever Tom can!

Bianca went to the pool with them today, and after some persistent whining, she decided to get into the learner pool with Ollie without the armbands. This pool is well out of Ollie and Toms depth, but not as deep as the big one.

Ollie doesn't understand the distinction between jumping in with and without the armbands and it seems he's got a point! He was leaping into the water and swimming!!! This is a two year old we are talking about. What a boy!





While they were in the learner pool Ollie climbed out to run around the edge to get away from Bi who was quite rightly making sure she was within reach of him at all times. Anyway, it seems that while she was telling him in no uncertain terms not to jump in out of her reach, he decided to do a typically Ollie thing. He ran in the other direction and launched himself headlong into the adults pool without a second thought.

Apparently people were scrambling all over the place to get to him, but when they did, there he was doggy paddling around the big pool with the other "men".

I wish I had been there. I don't have any photos but tomorrow I plan to go with them and capture it all.

I already have loads of footage of the boys (.mpg files) swimming around but I can't post them here. I may make up some discs and send them around.

Anyway Pride, Pride, beaming Pride. I hope you all get the impression!!

I'm going to finish up with a little action sequence.

Going....


Going...



Gone!




UPDATE: The photos in this entry were taken the day after the original post was published. I have added them so you can see for yourselves.


Nick

A Family BBCube (Ollie Speak)

We finally got around to that "quiet" BBQ. Threaded up a few Pinchitos (kebabs), grabbed a couple of beers and headed for the roof.

Hmmmm MEAT!



Bianca relaxing in the cool of the evening...




The whole family enjoying a salad and a kebab. Ahhhhh simple pleasures.




More later,

Nick

Alison and Libby Came To Stay

As you can see from the previous entry, Alison and Libby were here for the party.

However, I think I should dedicate an entry to their visit.

Most of the picture come courtesy of Alison's camera which is why there are none of her. Still you saw what she got up to in the last post.

I was amazed at how Libby has grown up. She'll be hitting me up for a teener on the way out for the night before I know it. And how pretty!



The locals really admired here blond hair and fair skin.

I think the kids were happy to see each other..




Unfortunately, I was busy (mostly) during the day while Al was here. It was pretty hot too! While I was working the rest of them went down to the pool to or up to the terrace. The middle of the day was really only suitable for sleeping and watching movies.

The paddling pool on the terrace is good enough for the little ones anyway..



Bianca showed Al and Libby around the old town a bit...



The fact that I was busy gave them a chance to cram into the car and head for the beach..



Libby liked the balcony as much as our two..



Time for one last holiday treat at the airport..



Her shoes seemed happy, but I was sad to see them walking away
.


Finally we had to say goodbye. :-(



I think they had a good time. Ask them yourselves. It was hot and tiring at times, but I hope they come back soon.

Thats all,

Nick

Arcos Party #1

Well, it was going to be a quiet BBQ but Bi went and met some people, and they brought some more people...

I was hoping for a few drinks and some fun. When almost everyone turned up with their own bottle of spirits, I knew it was going to be a good night.

We used the terrace for a party for the first time..



It took a while for people to warm up...



But not THAT long..



Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Hehehehehe.



The kids were in bed when everyone arrived. But not for long...



And they were remarkably well behaved. Must have been the vodka!



And did I mention it was a BBQ...




Anyway, they turned out to be a good bunch.

At around 3am El Fuzz even showed up to tell us to keep it down, but by that time the dancing was over. They were too late to cramp our style.

About 4.30, the guests were flagging, though showing no signs of leaving. Hehe. They left shortly after, and we all collapsed into bed.

*I woke up with a terrible headache*

More later,

Nick

Yes, Another Day At The Beach! (And no, we're not bored of it yet).

Well, we learnt a valuable the lesson from our last visit to the beach (see previous entry) and today we went to Los Canos de Meca instead of somewhere more local. OK, it takes about 1.5 hours to get there but when we arrived, we soon remembered why we love this place so much.

This is a beautiful beach, with just enough people on it. The water was warm and clear, there was a warm breeze blowing and the Chiringuito down the beach was playing Cuban music all day. It was perfection. The kids were really well behaved, both in the water and out. Tom is starting to swim without arm-bands now, which he is very proud of. Bi and I are proud too.

The thing is with Los Canos de Meca...... it's a nudist beach, and although it is not compulsory, a fair number of people take advantage of the fact. This makes photography tricky. That said, I did get in a couple of shots with no jiggling boobs or flaccid wangs in evidence...

The beach...


The cloud in the photo above was very lonely!

Tom, waiting for me to come for another dip. Check out the tan line.




By the way, for a CD of the photos I took which were unsuitable for publication, email me privately, and in confidence ;-)

Yes, we scored another great day. I sincerely hope you are all very jealous.

On the way home, along with a large number of biscuits, we were treated to a lovely cloud affect...




And a fabulous sunset...



Thats all for now,

Nick

Another Day At The Beach

Well, it seems that the school breakup has badly effected the amount of space available for us at the beach. We went to both Chipiona and Valdelagrana (El Puerto de Santa Maria) and they were jam packed.

You could hardly put a pin between the Sombrillas (Beach Brollies).

Tom got into the water as quickly as possible, and was out again and playing in the sand in no time. Ok, you can't see the crowds in this photo, but they were there, I promise.



Ollie was equally quick into the water, and came out cold.



Unfortunately, Chipiona, is a bit like Whitsands, nowhere to go when the tide comes in. When it did, we packed up and moved on to Valdelagrana.

Before we left we saw this guy selling Camarones out of a basket. Camarones are tiny shrimps which you can cook with or eat as a savoury snack, a bit like peanuts only with more legs.




The wind was blowing like hell, and the sand is very fine at Valdelagrana, so we all got a good sand-blasting! Despite the wind it was lovely and warm and Tom spent ages in the water, fighting the waves and building confidence. Ollie mostly sat and ate Pipas (unshelled, salted sunflower seeds) and biscuits.

I took the boys for a walk along the Promenade to give Bi a break (Ollie had sand in his eyes most of the time, and didn't like it, naturally). No sand on the Promenade though, and he soon cheered up..



We didn't leave the beach until about 9.00, and it was still hot! We ate half a Watermelon between us on the Promenade, jumped in the Jalopy and sped home (a moderate, fuel efficient sped that is).

One last photo of the three of them. Ollie on the left, Bianca in the middle and Tom on the right...




More later,

Nick