Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A and Z

Today we went to visit Anya and her new baby brother Zachary. We had fun playing with Anya's toys and her mummy, Debra, made us fishfingers and waffles for tea. I loved Anya, we chased each other up and down the hallway and fought over who got to play with Roary the Racing Car..Anya won that game mostly!






Portugal Part III

Sand sculptures in the old town of Albufeira...







On Monday we made our way to the marina in Albufeira where we boarded a sailing boat that took us to the beautiful beach at Benagil. The boat moored just off shore and we were taken, in a speed boat, through the gorgeous caves before turning back to the beach where tour staff prepared a divine beach BBQ for us...fresh sardines, salad, bread, melon and a selection of wines! We had a job keeping Coby calm in the speed boat, but he seemed to like wearing his life jacket and made friends with five year old Dylan and seven year old Kara. The boat trip to Benagil took about an hour with spectacular views of the Algarve coastline, we even passed Cliff Richard's house, Adega do Cantor in Guia.














Portugal Part II

Unfortunately, for some reason, Coby hated the water. He wouldn't go in the pool or set foot anywhere near the sea. To be fair, the pools were pretty cold and it put the rest of us off quite a bit. Al and Justin performed the classic "lets just grab him and put him in the water" act, but, with Coby crying, shivering and calling for mummy the whole time, they gave up after about 5 minutes!





The little lad was far happier on dry land and instead thought it was hilarious to run around the edge of the pool with one of his rather irritated and concerned parents running after him - a novel way to acquire a tan. Al and I both took it in turns to run around the water park to show him there was no need to be fearful, but he wasn't interested.





On Sunday evening we took a taxi into the old town of Albufeira. There was street performers and lots of busy restuarants and cocktail bars and with the warmth of the setting sun, yet a cool breeze, we felt very relaxed as we basked in the smells of food, the bustle of the market stalls and the beauty of the town.








Monday, September 22, 2008

Portugal - Part 1

Departure: Thursday 11 September 2008
Location: Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal

Believe it, or not, it was with great reluctance that we hauled ourselves out of bed at 3a.m and risked waking a sleeping toddler, to make it to Gatwick Airport for the 7.05 flight to Faro. Once Coby came round from a deep slumber, the first thing he said was "are we going to the airport now?". He stayed awake during the entire journey to Gatwick and thought the airport was amazing....




Coby enjoyed the take off and laughed as we flew down the run way. Mum, on the other hand, was ferociously sucking Extra Strong Mints to ease the anxiety building in her throat (I hate take off). Fortunately, Cobes slept for most of the flight, as did the rest of us and we landed in Faro around 9.20a.m to blue skies and 23 degrees heat!





A coach transferred us to our holiday village in Albufeira, about 40 minutes from the airport. The apartment was great - bright and spacious with a kitchen and lounge area, bedroom, bathroom and large balcony. Best of all though, was the air conditioning! Coby tested the beds as soon as we arrived, but we decided to savour the luxury of a nap until the evening, even though we were pretty wiped out. Instead we changed into our holiday best, grabbed the sun cream and headed down to the pool area...





As we started to relax and unwind, the tiredness crept up and eventually swept over us. We had a fairly early night that first night and it was a luxury to drift off to sleep knowing we didn't have to get up for work for the next 7 days!!

The next morning we headed to the beach. Coby, armed with his bucket and spade, was slightly wary of the sea and opted for a spot in the shade to dig, bury feet, build things and generally flick sand everywhere. We were happy to watch and listen to the waves crashing on the shore while the sun beat down from blue skies and the palm trees swayed in the cool breeze - bliss!






As the sun set over Albufeira, we enjoyed a stroll after dinner and soaked up the atmosphere. Coby caught on quickly to saying "Obrigada" (thank you) to the waiters in the restaurant and they soon took a shine to him, exchanging high fives and calling him by his name.