This holiday has been a long time coming. We’ve not had a holiday since Christmas 2014 so were in desperate need of getting away from it all and relax. It’s wonderful when we go to my parents, it’s like a home from home. We left our home in the UK at 3.30am on 25th July. It was very dark and a little on the chilly side. We crept out to the car very quietly so as not to wake our neighbours (we’re good like that), and set off to leave our car with Mark’s parents. We arrived at the airport around 4.30am ish and checked it at the British Airways desk. They are a lovely airline, and you get 23kg of hold luggage where as the rest are usually only 20kg. All our 4 cases (new cases) were way under and I think the heaviest was only 14kg. The plane was on time, so we were sitting by mum and dad’s pool at a little after 10am Spanish. As I unpacked the kids went straight in the pool. Emily walking down the steps delicately (later on she would jump in), and George would either bomb in or dive. Emily and I can’t dive, and to be honest, even jumping in freaks me out. I’m very tall you know and it’s a long way down.

The view round mum and dad’s. So quiet you can hear a pin drop.

Very soon we all got in the pool and messing around, either swimming, diving, or just floating about relaxing in the sun.

Nothing more relaxing than floating about in the pool.

There are lots of undercover areas around the pool, so if you want to get out the sun and find a bit of shade it’s no problem. The temperature was usually in the low 30’s, but a couple of days got incredibly hot and  one day we hit 37 degrees!! That was too hot for everyone, and even sitting in the shade you were sweating uncontrollably. Fortunately those temperatures only lasted a couple of days and then it went down to something more acceptable. We visited the local market on both the Saturday mornings. They sell all sorts from clothes, plants, fruit, vegetables, fish and items for the home. Because where my parents are isn’t a tourist place the markets are full of useful things.

If only my herbs would grow like these ones.

We had a small problem with some wasps round the pool. When the weather gets really hot they come and take a drink from the pool. This can be a bit of a problem when you’re trying to have a swim. For the first few days we must have removed at least 200 drowned wasps from the pool each day. We were’t sure whether there was a nest nearby of what. But we suddenly discovered they had made one behind a light round by the pool. My dad constructed an ingenious contraption, where he blocked off their exit route and puffed a load of powder up into the next. The following morning we had success!! Most of them had died. Once we had sorted that nest out, our wasp problem seemed to practically vanish. All but one day was bright sunshine with the odd cloud. But one day we woke up to total cloud. We also a a couple of spots of rain? This was a welcome relief to be honest, but by the afternoon the cloud had all gone and we were back to blue sky once again. In the evening we went to the local village fiesta. The Spanish are Catholic, and it was a very solemn affair, but beautiful and glorious at the same time. I did feel very sorry for the men who had to carry either the Jesus statue or their Saint statue as they looked very heavy, and in that heat couldn’t have been fun.

The music sounded like something from the Godfather.

As the sun set the celebration lights came on. The church in the village is tiny, and was open, so we all went in to have a look. The bell on the church roof then started to ring, but not like a proper bell, like what I does, but there was a man who kept pushing it round and round. One single bell just going ding, ding, ding. The procession of people walked very slowly round the village and ended up walking over a beautifully laid out pattern on the road. It was made of leaves and different coloured petals. It looked so beautiful there on the road, but then the procession is then supposed to walk all over it, and within minutes the beauty was no more and there are petals and leaves strewn all over the road.

It took them ages to make that pretty pattern and now you gone and ruined it.

Once this was finished we went back to mum and dad’s to watch the fireworks and then went to bed. Another day we went to see my mum’s sister Chrissie and her husband Tony who live in the next village to my parents, they have 2 dogs Ollie who is about 12 now and has a white beard, and a new puppy called Wilson. Well to look at him you wouldn’t think he was a puppy because he’s so large. He’s about 9 months old and is going to be a very, very big boy when he stops growing. They have a garden where they’re growing chillies (hot ones), peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, squash.

Part of Chrissie and Tony’s vegetable patch.

We went to the beach twice. It’s a drive of about 45 minutes, so it’s not something that you can do every day. To be honest I wouldn’t want to go there every day. Sand gets everywhere!!! The waves were fairly rough, but not too much for me. We’d bought a couple of boogie boards so we could catch any decent waves and be pushed in land. The sea is the Med, so it’s very warm. We all went in, and although I’m a little apprehensive when first entering the water, only because the waves were a “bit pushy”, and the sea floor is a little uneven. But once you get past the breakers then it’s much better. It’s getting past the breakers that’s the problem. Some of the waves were large and several times they crashed over our heads. I’m please to report that even I went on the boogie boards. Yes I’m a cool mum and I join in with the fun.

Perfect waves for boogie boarding.

We went bowling, shopping and mum made a Paella. We had a couple of BBQ’s and I tried on a chicken onesie. Yes you heard me correctly, I really am a made chicken lady. Oh, and talking of the chickens, Mandy and Kath some lovely neighbours of mine offered to look after my girls for the whole 2 weeks. Michelle popped in occasionally to look after my plants. I bought them back some gifts each to say thank you for all their troubles. Mark and I went out for a romantic meal, just the 2 of us. Mum always insists we go out for at least one meal. While we were out, mum, dad and the kids had Mac and Cheese and then had a night time swim. We went to a local Medieval market which was very good. There were lots of local produce being sold and we bought some jams and some fresh bread that the lady had been cooking in a brick oven next to her. We ended the evening having crepes which were huge and the man who made them had such skill and they were made while you watched.

Huge crepes, and very tasty.

One evening we played “Cards Against Humanity”. If you’ve not heard about this game, it’s not for the faint hearted. It is a game that can easily offend, but if you’re in the right company it’s so funny, but very shocking at the same time. If you have played it before, you’ll known what I mean. It brings the worst out in people, but in a very funny way. I’ll stop talking about it now, but it’s best played when you’ve had a little too  much to drink. On our very last day we went for a Menu del Dia (meal of the day). These can be of varying quality depending on where you go. Before we went to the restaurant we popped into the local Bodega (they sell wine, lots and lots of wine and other spirits as well). The smell when you enter is amazing. As we walked around a lady came up to mum and I with a couple of glasses of wine. “For the ladies” she said with a smile. One glass was Rose and the other was white wine. We tasted them both and decided which we preferred. I liked them both so bought a bottle of each to bring home. They’re now safely under the stairs and will be drunk for a special occasion.

I could only buy a couple of bottle because the barrel wouldn’t fit in the case.

The place that we’d booked to go to for our Menu del Dia had forgotten to book us a table and didn’t really seem to care, so we left that place and went up the road a little further to Veintiocho. We’d not booked, but they were very happy to find a suitable place for us to eat. We sat down about 2.30pm for a 3 course meal, tea/coffee and another drink was 13 Euros!! Bargain. We didn’t eat until we got to the airport at about 10pm that evening and that was only a croissant. When we got back to the villa we waited until our dinner had gone down, and then went in for one final swim before it was time to have a shower and pack the last of our bits.

Last swim before we go home.

We arrived at the airport a little before the check in desk had opened, but didn’t have to wait long. We’d already checked in online, but needed them to print out our boarding passes. We then lined up to go through security. We that was the most complicated security check we’ve ever had. George got pulled over for a “Random Search”. First time that’s happened to him. They put on special gloves and patted him down very thoroughly, then took a drugs swab from the band of his trousers. Obviously it came up negative. In our hand luggage we carried dad’s old car A/C compressor because he needs a new one and the Spanish can’t get them, but we know someone in the UK who can, so we had to bring that back to make sure we get the right one. It was all well labels, but a couple of security officers had a chat as to whether it could be taken on board. They let us take it. I’m sure they’ve seem other odd things before. It’s now down to dad to take the new one back through security. We’ve done our bit, now it’s his turn. Emily whizzed through, and I had to stand with both George (he’s under 18) and Mark to make sure both things got done without any problems. We can only think that because George was wearing a Jake the Dog hat that they clocked him on CCTV as soon as he’d entered the airport. Once all that was done we bought a drink and a small snack while we waited for our gate to open.

A little snack at the airport before we board out plane.

Our flight was on time, and we were airborne very quickly. Again we flew British Airways and they were fabulous. All the cabin crew especially a wonderful lady who gave me a little treat. Thank you. We arrived home at 2.45am UK time. All exhausted and tired. I said a quick “Hello babies” to the chickens. I think they thought I’d left them. Then it was to bed. THANK YOU Mum and Dad for such a wonderful holiday!!!! It was exactly what we needed to relax and recharge our batteries. You’ll have piece and quiet now, and won’t get splashed on when you’re taking a leisurely swim and George decides to dive bomb in the pool.