Carvoeiro Portugal part 1

 

We got to our next stop a little late after a lot of driving.  It was hard to find the hotel because there were no clearly marked signs saying where it was and where the parking lot was. Jer was a trooper and got us where we needed to be.  Even with the hard check in process and not realizing that we needed to put our key in a fob on the wall for the electricity in our room to work.  It had a cute kitchen and bathtub and two balconies.... but we weren't planning on staying there very long so we didn't use them. The kids started doing hand puppets on the wall just waiting for the check in.  That was fun. 

So the next day was our beach day.  It was the day that Evelyn had been looking forward to.  She's been talking about going surfing again, so we tried.  The water was cold, but the kids still enjoyed it.  We rented two surf boards for the morning and played. I enjoyed the beautiful sand and sun. It was so lovely.  It was harder to surf because the waves were larger, but they put in a valiant effort... especially Sam.  He practiced on his knees as much as he could. Ada tried her hardest to help Evelyn get out past the waves so that she could stand on the board but it was too hard for her.  I wouldn't let Jer go in because I didn't want him to hurt his knee again yet.  They still had fun in the waves and the sand. It was a very nice day.  Then Ada went to a shop to get a hat and shirt that she saw while Jer took the kids to turn in the surf boards.  I found a restaurant on the beach in the middle and waited for both groups to get back. It had the most delicious food ever!  We did find out that 'shakes' are more chocolate milk or fruit smoothies, but that's okay.

For dinner the night before, we found that the ice cream place at the bottom of the hotel also sold waffles.... so waffles for dinner it was.

These guys found their first crab by digging.  We found some in Hawaii, but they were just skuttling on the beach.  This one, Evelyn was digging and got nipped by it when she dug into his spot.

For breakfast, we found a bakery.  They had these easter sweet potato things that looked like carrots and birds nests.  They weren't bad, but I wouldn't ask for them on purpose.

A sand artist was working on this when we walked by.

Hawaii Saturday

 

Saturday we had left open.  We asked the kids what they wanted to do again.  They all said snorkeling and surfing.  So that's what we did.  We rented a couple of surf boards and they went out while Seth and I played on the beach.  Then we took them snorkeling at Turtle town/Makena beach.  While it was too turbulent for snorkeling, it was my favorite swimming beach.  Once you got in to about your chest you could just swim and float for hours.  We also met a fun Hawaiian family that were hanging out at the beach.  Evelyn and Seth played with the 6 year old granddaughter and Sam made friends with the 10 year old grandsons.  They brought an A frame ladder and everyone was jumping off it into the water.  My favorite were the 2 and 3 year old boys that had no fear of the water and just swam like little fish.  

Dad spent most of his time getting the kids on the waves.  That's really the hardest part is to time yourself onto the waves. Evelyn loves her new sport though.  She kept waving at me and throwing out shakas. 

Sam did really well too.  

Ada came back to join us on the beach after getting some rashes from the surf board.  She had fun in both places, so it works out pretty well.

After surfing, we found a fish and chips place that had the most delicious Mahi Mahi.  Even Sam enjoyed it and he's not a huge fish fan.

Evelyn chose a waffle from next door instead.