Skip to main content

Questing Again

 Yesterday I didn't take a single picture and we didn't do much, so I opted not to blog. We went to church and then the girls swam in the pool while the rest of us watched the Olympics and rested. It was a nice lazy day. Yesterday was our last day in Spain. Malaga has reminded us the most of the US out of anywhere else that we have been. It feels very much like Southern California. We enjoyed our time there and I think we would like to return to explore more of Spain some day. There are a lot more slot canyons and other amazing outdoor places that we didn't have time for on this trip.

We packed up this morning and headed out in M Bot. We finished The Reckoner's Series yesterday, so today we had a few options of books to try. We started with Redwall, but the thick accents of the narrators were difficult to follow and the kids soon lost interest. So we busted out another Brandon Sanderson book, "Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians." So far we have enjoyed it a lot. It is witty and entertaining. I think it is a little more age appropriate for Lucette which is probably a nice change for her.

To be honest, the drive was a bit rough. It was only 5 hours, but felt like a lot longer. We hit some very slow traffic and the kids couldn't stop fighting. The constant time together has been awesome, and I think we are also ready for a bit more space from one another. 


We arrived in Portimao. My dad served his mission here in the Algarve and said that back then it was full of small fishing villages. It has undergone a transformation since then. We are staying in an apartment building right off the beach. This place is packed. We parked and then went in search of the apartment building. We could not find it anywhere. We went into one building that is where Google Maps said we were staying, but after a while of trying to figure out how to get into the apartment we realized we had the wrong building. We walked up and down the beach for a good 30 minutes. It felt like the quest to find our rental car all over again. We eventually figured it out. Once we got in, Ammon had to move our car to the correct parking lot which was a whole ordeal on its own. We finally had to call the owner to figure out which parking spot to use. We are in apartment 7e, so naturally we park in parking spot 3. 




Our view from the apartment is pretty amazing. After finally getting settled we went downstairs and found a restaurant. Poor Azure was getting settled in her room and stubbed her toe, but instead of the normal way you stub your toe the metal part of the bed went in between her pinky toe and her 4th toe and cut her pretty deep. So after dinner she didn't feel up to walk in search of groceries. Lucette and Azure returned to the apartment and the rest of us got some groceries. 

The street we are on really comes alive at night. It was already busy. Tons of vendors, shops, and restaurants. This evening there is also a carousel and some fun kids bike type things as well. Tons of people. We got unpacked and have settled in to watch the Olympics. Specifically, we are watching USA face off against Spain in Women's Water Polo. As the evening has gone on fog has rolled in and we can barely see the street from our view here on the 7th floor. 

As we visited during dinner today Azure said she has mixed feelings about this being our last week in Europe. She is so excited to go home, but is also sad to leave. Lucette is not conflicted at all though, she is ready to be home. Cormac is ready to go home, but feels like he will definitely miss traveling. He also thinks it may feel weird to be home. Ammon feels it will be nice to be home, but will miss parts of what we are doing. I think we are both ready to not work all night anymore. I too am conflicted. I am ready to have my car and my bed back and to be in less crowded places, but I will miss seeing the world. We will just have to continue to adventure once we are back home.

Comments

  1. Mark DahlJuly 29, 2024 at 10:09 PM

    I am so glad you are all enjoying the trip so much. It is natural to be ready to get home, but you have all had so many good times. So many memories for you all.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy 15th, Cormac

 My kids are fairly disgusted with me and the fact that I've missed a few weeks of blogging. It has been a very busy few weeks for us with lots going on. So I'll do my best to chronicle the comings and goings of these kids. On October 4th Cormac ran in the State Cross Country meet. He did really well. He placed 26th overall and his team took 3rd place. We are really proud of Cormac and all his hard work. The very next day Cormac had a double header for water polo. Azure also had a game. In the first game Cormac got put in goal for a while. He doesn't love playing goal, but as long as he is in the pool I don't think he minds too much what position he is playing. They lost their first game, but won the second. Azure's team lost, but they played well. Because we are water polo obsessed and 3 games in one day was not enough, and mostly because Cormac begged for a ride, we went and watched the High School boys state game. It was an awesome game. I snagged this picture of...
4 comments
Read more

Murdered by Pirates is Good

 I sincerely hope that this morning was our last early morning. It will all depend on what time our flights back home leave, but as far as touristing goes, we should have had our last early morning. We rose early in order to head to the dock. We had booked ourselves a boat tour that would take us along the coast so we could see the various caves that are plentiful in the Algarve. This is such a beautiful place. We donned our life jackets then went with the group to get on the boat. It was an interesting boat. Most of the seats you straddled like you would if sitting in a saddle. Since we were a group of 5 we had one of the only 2 rows. It was a tight squeeze and unfortunately we were in the back of all the others so the view was always full of people and their phones. Lucette was particularly sad that she didn't get to "ride a horse." We headed out of the port to the ocean. The towns along the ocean are all very picturesque. We even got to see a private castle. Our guide ...
4 comments
Read more

This Random Island

Cormac says that I always threaten with, “That’s going on the blog.” Which is true. When the kids are being obnoxious during pictures I will tell them I’m putting it on the blog.  Today we should have been in Boston, but due to Flight Fiasco 2024 TM we ended up on Madeira. Prior to this week we had never heard of Madeira. The other consequence of the aforementioned Fiasco TM was that we had a 6:00 am flight which meant we needed to get up at 3:00 am to make the flight in time. For the past 2 months Ammon and I frequently go to bed around 2:30 am. Trying to get myself to sleep early proved to be impossible. Especially when I felt a fair bit of worry about sleeping in and missing the flight. I ended up pulling an all-nighter, but we definitely did not miss our flight.  The kids popped out of bed pretty easily all things considered. We got packed up quickly and headed down our 5 flights of stairs trying very hard to be quiet. Our Uber was already waiting for us. The flight was ...
3 comments
Read more