First of many photos ...... Sol!

Okay - once again I took far too many photographs while we were on our holiday. I decided to split them into groups - the first group is Sol.

Sol loves beer!

Sand Angels

Say "Cheese!"

It Rained!

For all of ten Minutes it rained today! Once again the weather is
glorious, much warmer than I ever anticipated.
The taxi driver was saying it's really quiet just now, more like
march . . . I can agree with that, considering that this is
the Algarve, and it's the holiday week I would have expected it to
be much more busy.
We visited a town called Vilamoura today, supposedly the home of the
rich and famous. We did not see anyone famous but there was plenty of
evidence of the rich. The marina was out of this world, rows and rows
of millions of pounds worth of boats. Cars we could never afford, and
plenty of expensive wares to buy. Needless to say we managed a few ice
creams and drinks - that was it. The beach could have been anywhere,
I got loads of photos to download when we get home. If you could
imagine a beautiful carved wooden four poster bed with cushions and
canopies, place that bed and many others like it on a sublime golden
beach then you would be here - here where I was today.


Sent from my iPhone

Zoo Marine

We visited Zoo Marine, the day started overcast so it was perfect to
ensure we had no sun burn casualties.
Poor Toni, she was so sick today.
We saw various shows, the two I liked most were the dolphin show, and
the sea lions.
There was a 4D cinema there, it was really funny as during the
film there was breeze and water droplets blown over the audience. Poor
Seb almost jumped put of his skin when a 4D shark came swimming up!
We also had fun on the theme park rides, most of them were geared for
younger kids. We got soaked a couple times on the water rides too.
All in all it was a good day, took loads of photos which I will post
when we get home.

Sent from my iPhone

Portugal Has Got Talent

Firstly, Sol, she is so much better today. Her medicine worked and
I can honestly say we have our happy little girl back.
We started the day with a 'quick' hour by the pool, just so we could
relax and plan our day. That proved to be as short lived as Roy's
patience. After me walking that sick girl up and down and round the
hotel gardens yesterday Roy could not hack doing the same for 20
minutes this morning. Testing time this was for myself and the
children. That incident sorted we jumped on the train and headed for
the famous, perhaps infamous, Strip. I saw a naked Indian, am only
sorry now I did not take photos - oh alright he was a dummy, very life
like though, and I am not talking about his face. We walked our
little legs off, had lunch, took photos, then hopped back on the train.
The next stop was the old town, which
once again proved an interesting sight. They have a daily Market,
with stalls selling a vast array of goods. Plenty to see and spend
your money on.
Went to the beach after that, there is something about Algarve beaches
that makes them special - you have to be there to understand. The
kids had brilliant time playing in the sand, and me, I topped up my
tan in all the places that needed it.
This evening back at the apartments saw the children rehearsing and
performing in a talent show - much fun was had by all. Mag was
compere, Sol danced to Barbie Girl, Toni sang and danced to my
favourite Mica's Lollipop. Seb he was just plain funny and told a
stack of jokes. Sol could not have Seb being the only comedian so
she did an encore of her own made up jokes . . . Now she was funny!

Sent from my iPhone

Sunny again

Another sunny day in the Algarve over. Temperature each day seems to
be climbing, with a forecast of sunshine I am not one to complain.
Sadly for us we have been limited in how far we can go. Sol has
been I'll, her fever has been spiking at 103 the last couple of nights.
By day she has been listless and unable to eat without vomiting.
Sol also had not been to the toilet for seven days now, and I am
sure this is the cause of her illness. Setting ourselves up to the
fact that we may have to get medical treatment we come to realize that
we don't have our E1 11 cards with us. That would mean an automatic
bill, which is not an issue but certainly a nuisance. Anyway I went
to a particular pharmacist, who I was assured was as good as a doctor
by our reps to ask for advice. Great place, ticket system, speak good
English ...
They gave Sol some laxatives and told me that nothing will happen
today buy we will see plenty action tomorrow. On a positive note
Sol seemed to pick up this evening, she actually wanted to go to
the disco. I am sure the morning will be a turning point for her now
and we can get back to fully enjoying our holiday. It's not all
negative, Sol being ill has ensured that I have been able to relax
for a couple of days.
We are pretty much set up here, there is a shopping centre behind our
hotel with a huge supermarket. I have never seen such a wide range of
products, especially the fruit and veg section. There is an optician
and it's great too, they fixed Seb's broken glasses free of charge,
can't beat that for service.


Sent from my iPhone

Elvis is alive - 16th May

Elvis is still alive, I knew it all along.
This is us blogging from the Algarve. The weather is fabulous, you
have to forgive us sharing that as our friends sit back home in the
rain.
The apartment hotel we are staying at is superb and worth every one
of the four stars it has been awarded. Despite the stars, the pool
is a bit chilly, the children don't seem to mind that so much.
We had a non eventful journey except for me getting a random search
at the airport - sigh.
We have been exploring the area where we are staying and tonight we
decided to head into the old town. What an interesting place
Albufeira is, we experienced many a strange thing here ... Elvis,
did I mention he is alive and well sporting a very nice sun tan. We
saw a one armed fire eater. A man with a White painted face who
wore a gown which looked like one of those dresses the toilet roll
dollies wore.
&
What was most interesting was the huge open air escalators leading to and from the beach.

On a more serious note Sol has been I'll, she was sick today and has fever of 102. We are considering contacting a doctor.

Wishes

These photos of Sol on our trip to the Wetlands deserved their own post. I just thought Sol was particularly cute today. She kept finding the dandelion clocks, and trying to blow them. Sol calls them 'Wishes'.

Here she is getting ready to wish.



One Two Three Blow!


Harder


Oh no, the blowing didn't work - try something else.



That's it done now.

Trip To The Wetlands

This is the first of two blog posts about today.

We visited the Balloo Wetlands Nature reserve today. This was it's official opening, its a new reserve where The Wildlife Trust have turned boggy waste ground into a haven for wildlife. Although its only been there about a year already there are birds and pond life establishing themselves. As you will see from the photographs the weather was very kind to us also.

The opening day was marked with various activities - here are the photos!

The Mayor, Leslie Cree, was visiting to help mark the day. There were a few photographers and a camera man filming, they wanted a child to sit beside the mayor for a photo shoot. So wouldn't you know, not one, but two of my children got in on the action! They ended up in the newspaper that week.

This was Seb pond dipping. He caught quite a few living things which we looked at closely before throwing them back.

Watching the pond dipping.

Two swans have already made themselves at home, along with a couple of different breeds of ducks.

~In the bird hide

Summer enjoying some tadpoles which were on display.

Tigers At Large

Sol was playing with her bread crusts! Here she is showing off her 'teeth' while wearing a sun dress and a woolly hat.

The same girl playing football

May Day Wetness!

Went out today to enjoy the May Day holiday in style. Of course it rained, but never mind we still had fun. We took a drive down the Newtownards Peninsula and stopped in Donaghadee for Ice Cream. Drove as far as Ballywalter then headed across to Greyabbey to head up the Mount Stewart Road.



We parked at the old Gas Works and took a walk along the shoreline of Strangford Loch. Our plan was to walk as far as the old outdoor swimming pool which belonged to Lady Mairi Bury of Mountstewart. I have fond memories of 'stealing' a swim in that pool as a teenager, the surroundings were exquisite. Sadly today the pool is filled in and the area is just a mess of briars and such like.

This is a memorial to some of the family who drowned in the loch over 100 years ago due to a tragic accident. I don't know the full history and I may be wrong here but I believe they were in a boat and it sank.






Heading back to the car!