If any of you are Ray Bradbury fans you will probably have read "The Illustrated Man," and if you have read the "Illustrated Man" than you have read the story The Long Rain. This has always been one of my favourite books.
The first paragraph reads as follows:
The rain continued. It was a hard rain, a perpetual rain, a sweating and steaming rain; it was a mizzle, a downpour, a fountain, a whipping at the eyes, an undertow at the ankles; it was a rain to drown all rains and the memory of rains. It came by the pound and the ton, it hacked at the jungle and cut the trees like scissors and shaved the grass and tunneled the soil and molted the bushes. It shrank men's hands into the hands of wrinkled apes; it rained a solid glassy rain, and it never stopped.
This pretty much sums up how I have felt for quite some time now :) So we booked a trip to Menorca, Spain. Heat? What is heat? I have almost forgotten what it feels like to have flesh searing desert heat boring into my pores and glands, but I want it.........I want it bad. We woke up super early and like little kids at Christmas Hubby and I loaded up the kids and headed to the airport.
When we got to the airport we went up to have breakfast at a place here in the UK called "Pret A Manger". The kids were up to their usual antics only this time they were telling everyone they saw that we were going where it was warm. Hubby and I ordered our food and then I went to sit down with the kids while Hubby paid and brought the food to our table. I looked over and saw Hubby looking confused as "Matteo" told him he owed nothing for our breakfast. Husband thanked him and came over to tell me that the guy wouldn't let him pay. At first I thought that he was new and didn't know how to work the register until I saw him charging everyone else who came through his till. When we cleared our table and started to make our way to the exit Matteo came running over with 2 gingerbread men cookies for the kids and patted them on the heads and told us to have a nice time. We were shocked to say the least! Free breakfast and cookies for the kids? NOTHING in this Country is free, so to have someone comp/pay for your breakfast was bordering on overwhelming. This proved to be a great start to our Holiday. Thanks Matteo.
This kid is a hoot. Liam is not really a 3 year old.......he is an 18 year old in a very muscular 3 year old body. This kid seriously thinks he is a teenager and would hang with the teens over another 3 year old any day of the week.
This girl is such a nature child. I love that she is a fearless warrior child who will pick up any creepy crawly creature and admire it. Ads was able to go out snorkelling with John and see a starfish, a jellyfish, and a whole bunch of flat white and tan fish. There aren't any reef's here so there aren't reef fish, just flat sand fish.
The boy is less fond of the water, but he still gave it a go. Liam likes the sand and thoroughly enjoys being on the hot sand rather than the cool water.
I could never deny that this little cheeky boy has my heart twisted around his pudgy little fingers. I LOVE him to bits.
So it probably looks like we were staying in a FABULOUS resort with flamingo's and tiki torches, but it was really quite ghetto. Cheap prices mean a great location but less than stellar accommodations. There was barely room for us to move past the bunkbeds that the kids slept on to our beds and there was nowhere to put your luggage. However, we made do and spent 0 time in the room except to sleep. Ads on the other hand thought that sleeping in bunk beds was pretty much the coolest thing she had ever done.
The pools were great and had a couple of great and large water slides that Ads and I went on again and again and again.
Tonights show had an Elvis, Tina Turner, and Freddie Mercury impersonator.......yes HE impersonated all 3.
We prayed a gentle breeze would not come and blow that skirt any higher than it was. I was prepared for horrible nightmares in case the Menorca Gods weren't with me.
As bad of an Elvis impersonator as he was he was every bit as good impersonating Freddy. I mean he was super good. Hubby and I were speechless.
Ahhhhh, Paradise! We arrived at our hotel, got on our swim suits and headed to the beach. This is pretty much what we did day after day for 7 days: eat, swim, eat, swim, eat, floor show and to bed.........REPEAT. Nothing fancy, just good old fashioned relaxation and over indulging in an all inclusive buffet breakfast lunch and dinner.
The beach was just a short stroll from our hotel room. We bought 2 snorkels when we got there a couple of buckets and a fish net. The next several days were spent catching little fish in the crystal clear waters and snorkelling.
My boys.
This kid is a hoot. Liam is not really a 3 year old.......he is an 18 year old in a very muscular 3 year old body. This kid seriously thinks he is a teenager and would hang with the teens over another 3 year old any day of the week.
This girl is such a nature child. I love that she is a fearless warrior child who will pick up any creepy crawly creature and admire it. Ads was able to go out snorkelling with John and see a starfish, a jellyfish, and a whole bunch of flat white and tan fish. There aren't any reef's here so there aren't reef fish, just flat sand fish.
The boy is less fond of the water, but he still gave it a go. Liam likes the sand and thoroughly enjoys being on the hot sand rather than the cool water.
I could never deny that this little cheeky boy has my heart twisted around his pudgy little fingers. I LOVE him to bits.
Ads and I being sharks about to alight on our prey AKA Dad.
Yeah, he glows in the dark.
Hubby with Ads.
Tanning our pasty white selves.
Ads had a ball making sand castles on the beach.
So it probably looks like we were staying in a FABULOUS resort with flamingo's and tiki torches, but it was really quite ghetto. Cheap prices mean a great location but less than stellar accommodations. There was barely room for us to move past the bunkbeds that the kids slept on to our beds and there was nowhere to put your luggage. However, we made do and spent 0 time in the room except to sleep. Ads on the other hand thought that sleeping in bunk beds was pretty much the coolest thing she had ever done.
The pools were great and had a couple of great and large water slides that Ads and I went on again and again and again.
Hot stuff.
No make-up......au naturale.
I feel so blessed to have these gorgeous kids.
After dinner the kids went and danced away at the mini disco and then settled down for our floor show performance.
Tonights show had an Elvis, Tina Turner, and Freddie Mercury impersonator.......yes HE impersonated all 3.
We prayed a gentle breeze would not come and blow that skirt any higher than it was. I was prepared for horrible nightmares in case the Menorca Gods weren't with me.
As bad of an Elvis impersonator as he was he was every bit as good impersonating Freddy. I mean he was super good. Hubby and I were speechless.
After being thoroughly entertained, a bit sunburnt, and super sleepy we headed to our room and settled down to bed. Great first day in Spain.
