Wednesday 29th November: Movie Afternoon
Another morning of boat school and then a kid free afternoon while they enjoyed a movie in the meeting room with the rest of the kids. Such a great idea and a very welcome child free time used for catching up on admin and sorting some issues with our train tickets from Manchester Airport back to Leeds. Looking forward to seeing family in a couple of weeks or so!
Thursday 30th: Quiet Day
A bit of a quiet day. I've signed the kids up to Doodle maths which has a free component which is pretty good, it does a handful of questions a day in a lovely format and kids can earn stars to spend on their robot. There is also Doodle Maths times tables which is good but I'm not sure if this is the first part of the paid section I have requested or is also free. Esmé is currently learning about volcanos, AJ about Greek Gods.
After a busy week of afternoons AJ was a bit disappointed to see some of the boys seemed to have disappeared without him so he an I went for a walk to try to find them. We enjoyed watching the big waves at the stoney beach and had some lovely chats although we didn't find the others. It was only later that we realised they were probably walking to their Italian Lesson with a lovely lady up the hill. We might try this next year!
In the late afternoon and early evening there was a strange haze, desert dust we thought that made a really weird moon overlooking the marina.
Friday 1st December: Titania for Dinner - 1st attempt
AJ and I concluded his week of learning about Greek Gods by producing an animation. It was great fun and a lovely way to get him engaged in story telling without having to write.... much!
In the afternoon I cooked Curry as the crew of Titania were coming for tea, however I made the Rookie mistake of leaving the invitation to the kids and so Helen and Matthew had no idea they were supposed to be coming over. Curry put in the fridge to save for tomorrow. Pasta for tea!
Saturday 2nd: Games afternoon and successful Titania Dinner!
We woke up to horrible weather so decided our planned trip to Ragusa would wait for another day. Bianca and Max had seen the appalling weather forecast and arranged a games afternoon in the meeting room which was starting to look like a brilliant plan. I mistakenly thought the rain was over and made a dash to do some shopping before heading back to meet the rest of the gang for the games. About 200m from the room the heavens opened and I got drenched. AJ made the same mistake coming from the boat!
We all had a lovely afternoon playing a variety of games including a big beetle run!
However as the afternoon moved on the parents became more serious about the games and the kids retired to the end of the room to build dens!
Curry in the evening with Helen, Matthew, Ben and Annabelle was lovely and worth the wait!
Sunday 3rd: Mrs Chippy for Dinner
After a lazy brunch we decided to head out for a walk in the town up to the playground that the kids had yet to see. It was a success despite still being a bit wet and we decided to return on market day.
On the way back we stopped at the town square for Gelato!
Such a lovely place we are living in right now!
In the evening we hosted the crew of Mrs Chippy, an American family of 7 who are just lovely. Thai curry was enjoyed by most, and it was lovely to chill out and relax with the adults while the kids disappeared for a Movie back aft.
Monday 4th: Ladies Night
Missing my nights out with the girls back home I arranged a night out for the Ladies here, finding one of the only places open on a Monday night as it seemed to be the only night everybody was free. A good night was had by all although my precarious seat near the step was actually as bad an idea as I first thought!
Cocktails were fantastic, followed by copious white wine. When the waiter asked us if we wanted some nibbles we agreed and then were amazed at what turned up.
As the end of the evening neared we started to get concerned about how much all this food would cost. But in the end we needn't have worried. Everything you see on the table (excluding the wine) came to a grand total of 22 Euros!
Such a lovely opportunity to chat to the others without having kids around!
Tuesday 5th: Sinterklaas Party
The Dutch and South African Contingent organised a Sinterklaas party as the 5th December is when Santa traditionally visits Dutch children. They cooked traditional Dutch food and we all took a shoe and a secret santa present to be put in each shoe as per Dutch tradition.
It was a great evening with amazing food! (Note the shoes below the table!)
Wednesday 6th Elf Movie
Just a normal boatschool day but with Movie Afternoon watching Elf! I'm not sure it's starting to feel like Christmas yet though!
Thursday 7th - Reuben and Matteo's Birthday
Today was Reuben and Matteo's Birthdays so boatschool was quickly out of the way so we could go to the party at 1pm. We all assembled on the pontoon and enjoyed music, games, drinks and cake. I'm not sure if the adults may have enjoyed it more than the kids! AJ was particularly good at the game "poop the potato" and the Pinata's were amazing!
It was a beautiful afternoon with a beautiful sunset.
It is possible that Patrick and I drank a little too much Prosecco (in fact somebody reliably informed me that there were definitely more empty bottles than adults present!). Cooking wasn't going to happen for dinner so we sampled the local pizza take a way. 3 Pizzas for 14.50 wasn't bad! Funnily enough we met a couple of other parents there too!
Friday 8th: Feast of the immaculate conception and meeting Scouts
So for a few days there has been talk of "something" going on in town for the "Feast of the Immaculate Conception". Eventually after much joking about the fact that if this was to celebrate the immaculate conception of Jesus then it was a remarkably short pregnancy, we eventually worked out that it is celebrating the conception of Mary! In any case we were still no wiser about what was actually happening in town although somebody said something about decorating the tree so maybe some lights were being turned on. Anyway I needed some groceries so as Patrick was feeling ill I took the kids into town. On the way in we saw some Boy and Girl Scouts selling decorations to put on the tree... I assume the money went to charity! Esmé was very excited to see them so we tried to explain that she was a Rainbow in England. There was a pretty big language barrier but they were very friendly and Esmé and I decided to return later with some of the Rainbow Badges she had brought to give away to any members of the Scouting or Guiding family she met.
When we got to the supermarket it was closed!!! Bank holiday for "The feast of the immaculate conception". On our way back Esmé scooted ahead and we lost her for quite a while..... not a good Mummy moment but I think she was suitably frightened enough to think twice about doing similar again. After tea we set off once more into town, this time with Esmé sporting her Rainbow uniform and carrying badges. We spent a lovely 20 minutes with the scouts, who now understood what we were trying to say and Esmé had great fun being the centre of attention.
A lovely end to the day!
Early on in our stay Patrick and I had a sneaky night away in Leeds to do some Christmas Shopping and have a well earned rest from 24/7 childcare. It was lovely to reconnect as a couple and enjoy some childfree time. This is the view from our window, looking out across city square at the old Post Office Building where my Mum used to work.
