Day 256 to 262: 25th Feb to 3rd March - Happy Birthday Max

Sunday

A lovely lazy Sunday finished off by AJ wanting to cook his version of Ratatouille for Patrick and I. However AJ and Esmé don't like Ratatouille so we made some seriously unhealthy fried cheese sandwiches for them!

Monday

A beautiful morning in Marina di Ragusa for my 8am Yoga. Can't wait for Mum to get here so she can have a go too. Such a lovely view!

School in the morning followed by crafts in the afternoon for Esmé. We finished off building her Viking long ship which she was pretty proud of. The kids had time to play before dinner; then reading and bed for Esmé while AJ helped Patrick by drying up. I then did our usual session of English with AJ before he too hit the sack.






Tuesday

A quick maths session with Esmé before we all headed up to the market where I bought far too much fruit and veg as normal. I was really pleased to see the dry foods stall as oats are really expensive here and I thought they may be a little cheaper at the market. I duly bought some for Lynita and I only to find out later that they were actually cheaper in the supermarket! We pay nearly 5 Euros per kilo for oats.... I'm sure Asda smartprice are about 75p! The kids enjoy the walk (or rather scooter) up to the market and we think of this plus playing at the playground next to it as their PE lesson. Certainly they do some crazy gymnastics on the play equipment there! Back down to the boat to put the food away and have lunch then the kids were off to pantomime practice. Performance day is getting nearer and despite it being trimmed down to just one act, they are all really excited with the boys taking all the acting roles and the girls handling everything backstage from props and sound effects to making posters. Just a pity that performance day is the day before Mum and Dad get here. One of the star performers is going to stay with a friend in Romania and flies out a few hours before Mum and Dad land!

As it was such a beautiful day a bunch of us then headed to the beach where a number of the kids took advantage of the good weather to have a swim, or at least a very deep paddle! It was a really pleasant afternoon with just a small amount of excitement when a couple of the boys managed to dig up a crab well away from the sea. It was a strange creature which went up on two legs and had eyes that popped out on stalks when it was surprised!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Manzano

 The kids spent a lot of time "playing" with the crab before releasing it into the sea, squealing with either delight or terror as it was washed ashore time after time until eventually it disappeared into the waves.

In the evening I babysat for Max and Bianca, as cruising parents we don't often get time away from our kids so while we are here with other families we are taking the opportunity to swap babysitting duties to allow for some rare time alone. It's also quite nice for the person babysitting as often it is an easier job than bedtime on their own boat. This was certainly the case for me, with Beau, Kai and Zoe already in bed, and the luxury of "real" unlimited internet, I enjoyed a quiet night catching up on 3 episodes of casualty before Max and Bianca returned and interrupted my viewing!

Wednesday

In the morning we headed down to the meeting room as I had offered to do a maths session using Tangrams. It was a bit crazy trying to work with such a diverse range of ages but it was quite fun and all the kids were engaged for at least some of the time, although the girls definitely had more perseverance than the boys!

In the afternoon there was a pontoon party for Max's birthday. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as warm as it had been, however it did stay dry and a great time was had by all. In true cruising style everybody brought something to drink and a plate of food which we all shared, and Max organised games for the kids. Lottie also took the gathering as an opportunity for the kids to showcase, and in some cases sell, the artwork they had been producing with her on Monday afternoons, as well as judging the Viking long ship competition.

Photo courtesy of Ina Ballerina 

Photos courtesy of Ina Ballerina

It has to be said that perhaps I had a little too much Prosecco..... end result being that the kids were subjected to Patrick cooking them Heinz Ravioli for tea, and I felt the need to repay my lovely husband's kindness by cooking him a big breakfast in the morning! At least afternoon drinking means not too much of a hangover the next day.

Thursday

More beach after school, although the weather was not so good this time.  I hesitate to say that Doug was rather more sensible as he did join in with some of the crazy games, however only AJ and Ben were mad enough to go "swimming", I don't really mind them doing this as it is then quite easy to encourage AJ into the shower to warm up!

Eventually though enough was enough and the three boys retired to AJ's bunk for some electronics time.

Friday

School, more panto rehearsals, then the kids were all excited to go to Vesna for a games/movie night. This time the crew of Mrs Chippy joined the usual gang so it turned into quite a party, although it may be the last one as Declan (the eldest and responsible one) is flying to Romania next week to spend a few weeks with a friend and his family. Patrick was feeling a little under the weather so I delivered him some pizza and headed out with the other parents to "Happy Hour" at the Stella Marina Bar. Another lovely evening, talking with lots of interesting people before Matthew and I decided it was time to retrieve our kids and deliver them to their bunks!

Saturday

It was Helen and Matthews wedding anniversary this week so I offered to let Ben and Annabel join us for our family viewing of the last Harry Potter movie, complete with chicken nuggets and chips. The kids had a great time, although they talked all the way through the movie leaving Patrick and I totally confused as to what was going on. Oh well, at least Helen and Matthew got a night out!