Days 236 to 238: 5th to 7th Feb - Birthday drinks, bonfires and more sick!

Monday

So Esmé nearly one week on from the last sickness was suddenly sick again:-( AJ not sick but still not feeling that great, and the adults not 100%. We've been having a run of unsettled weather and this often brings in some dust from the Sahara which covers the boat and makes walking about a little like navigating through red mist.

However it was the day of my girls night out for my birthday and as it had been delayed by a week due to the restaurant being painted I wasn't about to miss out. In the end there were only 5 of us but we had a great time drinking cocktails and Quattro  Quarti and will try to do this more regularly. The lovely Clare gave me some oranges from Greece that I'm looking forward to and also told me about a free exercise session on the beach which happens at 8am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.... more to follow!

Tuesday

It rained! A lot! Boatschool went well, it seems to be improving all the time, but generally a quiet and boring day other than the obligatory pancakes for lunch:-)

The comedy moment of the day came when AJ brought a electrical cable back from the gazebo (where people leave unwanted items that others may find useful) only to be told we put it there in the first place!

Wednesday

So I managed to drag myself out of bed in time to make it to the beach for 8am. I have still no idea how to spell what I did but it's a rather gentle form of Yoga (no lying down on mats needed) and was a lovely start to the day looking out across the bay before heading back to the boat for breakfast and school. The afternoon movie was cancelled so Esmé went to the shops with Helen and Annabelle while AJ played with the boys. Very soon he came, very excited onto the boat, asking if one of us could come to the beach as they needed an adult to supervise them playing with explosives which they wanted to launch with paper aeroplanes.  I quickly delegated to Patrick who spent the afternoon overseeing the boys playing with firecrackers. Half way through waging war on the cavern of carnage under the forepeak I was assaulted yet again by a very excited AJ asking if I had started cooking yet, saying that they needed meat to cook on a fire. Somewhat dubious but equally not wanting to curb his enthusiasm I sent him off with marshmallows, forks, and a tin of bacon grill. It seems the kids had a great time building a fire and toasting marshmallows but were somewhat disappointed that Patrick vetoed the use of even one tin of his treasured bacon grill!

After a somewhat more filling tea than toasted marshmallows the kids rushed off to watch a movie with Ben and Annabelle while I beat Patrick at Qwirkle (again!) finally giving up when Patrick accused me of cheating (again!). AJ is such a poor loser and I'm beginning to understand where he gets it from!