On Saturday, we flew to Faro, Portugal, for a week long vacation in the sun. The kids had another long weekend, and this week worked best for Jay's work schedule - so we decided to take a week, in search of warmer weather.
The flight was relatively uneventful, but getting to the resort was anything but. I made the tactical error of renting a car, which was problematic for three reasons: (1) It took us over an hour to actually locate the rental terminal, which turned out to be from the back of a van in the parking lot (Hertz? Not exactly...), (2) Once I located said van, the rental process took another hour and was completed entirely by hand, and (3) Once I was rewarded with our car, it looked like this. (Actually, the picture doesn't quite do it justice)
4 Door is not a fair description of the car - yes, it had 4 doors, but NO TRUNK!!! As we had arrived with 3 large suitcases, a stroller, and tons of carry-on pieces, it was quite a scene to watch us try to fit everything (and the kids) inside. At several times, Jay asked me to return to the rental car place and trade it in - but having gone through the painful rental process once, we tried to fit everything in... in the end, we managed, but it was not pretty (or very safe). Once we arrived at the resort, we happily parked the car - not to set foot in it for another 7 days!
Our arrival greeted us with an incredibly beautiful resort... we had rented a 2 bedroom, 2 bath "condo-like" room on the grounds of a large hotel and resort. It was absolutely perfect, and we absolutely loved not sightseeing, not going anywhere, not having to plan anything for a week.
Our typical schedule was: Kate (the alarm clock) would wake up around 6am, and she and I would relax with coffee as she completed all of her "homework" for the day (done by 6:30am). She would then ask me repeatedly if we should wake up Jack (NO) so he could get his homework done as well. :)
Jay and I would then take turns at the gym, and we'd all end up at the breakfast buffet by 9:15 or so.
After breakfast, we would hit the tennis courts - with either Jay and I playing with the kids, or the kids taking a lesson. There was a really great instructor there (from the US!), so we signed up the kids for two lessons.
After tennis, we'd head down to the beach, where we would take a long walk together (Jack's favorite activity of the trip). He would alternate between running and walking down the beach, and kept out yelling, "the sand feels like a rug!" (It WAS really soft)
After the walk, we'd have lunch at the beach, with the kids playing in the sand, while we enjoyed a really long, leisurely lunch... we'd then head back up to the hotel and visit one of the pools for the afternoon.
Then the highlight of the day occurred - the hotel organized a soccer tournament each night from 5:30-7:00. Because it was late in the day for our kids, we weren't sure they would want to do it - but they asked to do it every night. Kate was the only girl nearly every night (and younger than the average player by about 2 years), but even she wanted to play each night. (As long as she could be on her brother's team)
The hotel would set up captain's chairs around the pitch, and the parents would watch, while enjoying cocktails... could anything be better? It was a total hit, and we attended 5 out of the 7 nights there! After the soccer match, we'd have dinner waiting at an outdoor restaurant right next to the pitch, and we'd enjoy a quick bite before heading back to the room.
The kids slept well, having been super active all day long. (This was Kate's first trip without the stroller, and it was about a 10-15 minute walk to anywhere on the property from our place, so she definitely earned her rest!) And Jay and I rented a bunch of movies, enjoyed sunsets on our balcony, and just relaxed.
It was an absolutely perfect week... and what we needed for our upcoming adventures. Watch this space for big news to come....
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