So we just came back a few days ago from the twins’ third visit to Spain, and I must say that it went very well! I’ll break the journey down:
Getting to the Airport.
Our flight was very early in the morning once again, so we left the house at around 5:30 am. We had left everything packed the previous night so there wouldn’t be any last minute panics.
We left it a tiny bit late to book the airport parking, so we had to look for alternatives to last year’s Valet Parking. I went on the Gatwick website to look at the options and found “Meet and Greet” parking. It was a fantastic price and the reviews were quite decent, so we decided to give it a go. I must say that it was fantastic. Definitely worth every penny.
We had to call the number given to us about ten minutes away from Gatwick (roughly once you join the M23 from the M25) and you park opposite the Sofitel Hotel. There will be an operative waiting for you, they go through a couple of administrative details, you sign the paperwork, and off you go. Really easy and stress free. And then you’re only a short walk away from the terminal building.
At the airport we were disappointed (again!) to find out that there was no McDonalds. We used to fly from the South Terminal all the time before, and we used to have our breakfast there. But last year and this year we have flown from the North Terminal and there was no Golden Arches! To be totally honest, I don’t think we would have had much time to sit down and eat anyway, since the kids had refused to use the pushchairs and were walking everywhere ve-ry-slow-ly.
We went to the Family Area where the kids sat down to watch a bit of TV (the “soft play” bits were actually looking very tired and worn out so I don’t think the twins found it very attractive). I checked the information board after only a couple of minutes there and our gate was already displayed! On the move again…
Boarding the plane was easy. As it happens, it took us a long time to get to the gate with the kids walking at snail pace (although Eric did sit in the pushchair briefly), so when we got there there was no queue and we went in pretty much straight away. We had prebooked our seats at the back of the plane, to have space to walk in the back “lobby”.
Outward flight.
The flight went mostly well. Eric and Elisa were actually very well behaved, and we had come well prepared too. I had packed food, snacks and drinks, plus we had plenty of Peppa Pig, Night Garden and Pocoyo on our phones. In addition, we had backup books, colouring books and pens and more snacks.
We also had a bit of an adventure right next to our seats. A diabetic young man fainted right next to our seats as he approached the toilets. When a flight attendant asked him if he was ok, he replied that yes. And right after that, he puked on the floor. He didn’t get up for quite a while, and the twins couldn’t stop looking at him. I almost puked myself with the smell… Fortunately, he was fine after a bit, although he looked pretty embarrassed.
As I said, the flight went mostly well. The problem arose at landing, when Elisa profusely refused to sit in her own chair and buckle up. We had the mother of tantrums and she cried for the whole duration of the landing. Not pretty.
Rental Car.
We decided to go with Record Go, not only because they were the cheapest rental car company at the airport, but because we had already used them a couple of years back and I remembered that the service was very good and there weren’t any queues at the office.
Well, this time the queue thing was an issue. It was the longest queue in the world! However, I must admit that the kids were absolute troopers and took the waiting very well. They were just playing and entertaining themselves like nothing was wrong.
The journey to Motril was quite smooth, the twins slept all the way there (about 1hr 20 mins)
Motril and the beach.
The main difference of this holiday with other years’ ones, is that this time we went for so much longer. This meant that nobody was in a rush to do things, go places, see us… Everybody was much more relaxed, even us. And it also meant that we had plenty of time for ourselves too.
We stayed with my mum and uncle, and our days kind of revolved a bit around them. I mean, we had breakfast out everyday and both my mum and tito Pepe came with us. My mum took my other uncle’s dogs for a walk every morning, and the kids absolutely loved “playing” with them. (Playing is in inverted commas because they never actually got anywhere near the dogs, it’s like the twins were a tiny bit scared of them, however they laughed and cried with glee everytime we saw them.)
The only downside was that it took the twins almost the whole length of the holiday to warm up to my mum and uncle. By the end of the holiday they were “talking” and communicating a lot, but it took a lot of effort and consistency, taking the kids to them every morning and every night, asking them to say “buenos dias” or “buenas noches”, etc. In the same vein, at the beginning the children were flatly refusing to say anything in Spanish, but by the end of the holiday they were saying a few words.
We went out every day. We did lots of things, like going to the shops or ice-cream parlour, to a couple of different parks, to see friends, to the restaurant with the family, and to the beach.
Oh, the beach.
The fist time we went we had just been eating at a restaurant and weren’t really ready for it. However, the kids really enjoyed it. Eric was very curious of the water and Elisa kept playing with the pebbles, Makka Pakka style.
The second time, however, we were more ready, with a parasol, chairs, towels, and some snacks. We had a great time and Eric even got in the water! Elisa wasn’t sure and although she did get her feet wet, didn’t get near the water for the rest of the day.
For our third trip to the beach, we bought two sets of beach buckets and spades and that was a real success. We made so many sandcastles! Elisa had such a great time with the buckets and spades 🙂
We went a fourth time, however the weather had turned for the worse and we didn’t last very long. Still, we managed to make a considerable amount of sandcastles. Satisfactory enough to leave the beach without much of a fuss.
Adult time.
The kids slept very well since day one, so Jon and I took that opportunity to go out every night. What a difference from the year before! I was still a bit nervous and the little concern was always at the back of my mind, but I was definitely more relaxed than last year. Most nights we went to have tapas, although after the second one it was actually painful to keep eating, as we would have already eaten dinner at my mum’s, so we were pretty stuffed.
Some other nights we just went to the ice cream parlour and have tons of leche rizada. In fact, I think this is the most leche rizada I’ve had in a 10 day period in my life… and we used to OWN an ice cream parlour!
But it was great having the nights for ourselves and be free to chill out and relax, safe in the knowing that my mum and uncle would be there if anything happened.
Homeward journey.
We left Motril very early in the morning and the drive to Malaga was actually quite painless. Queueing at the airport wasn’t the easiest. The kids had started getting cranky the day before, and this crankiness continued into the airport. But we managed to get through bag drop off, security (where we jumped a queue and got challenged by an irate woman), passport control and finally into the plane (where we had priority, being a young family – and legally jumped the queue)
The flight back was pretty much a copy cat of the first one. The only difference is that this time it was Eric who decided to throw a tantrum when he didn’t want to sit and buckle up in his own seat. To top it off, both Eric and Elisa decided to fall asleep during landing.
Oh well…
We were the last ones out of the plane, the last ones from our flight to go through passport control (very nice immigration lady, by the way, it makes such a big difference coming back home to a friendly person!) and the last ones to pick up our suitcases. In fact, by the time we got to baggage reclaim, the belt had already stopped going round, and all our belongings were on the floor.
Once we had picked up all our things, we called the Meet and Greet people to collect our car. We walked back to the same place where we had originally left it, and after barely a five minute wait, our car arrived. And off we went back to Amazingstoke!
The kids monthly summary
Feeding
Elisa ate SO much during the whole holiday. Everybody was so surprised! I think they were surprised because she looks so meek and small, in comparison with her brother… Eric ate. Just enough to go by.
They had lots of fruit and veg every day. My mum is big on fruit and veg and she would always serve a full salad and lots of fruit in addition to the main meal. Lots of watermelon and mango every day and Elisa ate it all!
They even had a bit of fish when we went to the beach restaurant. The fish that they liked is called “dogfish” (cazón in Spanish) and they ate quite a bit! I wonder if I can find it here in the UK and prepare it in the same way for them…
Sleeping
They slept pretty well almost every night, despite the heat. (Although, despite going earlier in September than last year, this time the temperatures were lower). I saw “almost every night”, because one night was SPECIAL.
At around 2:30 am on Sunday night, my mum came into our bedroom with Elisa in her arms, saying that Elisa had taken her nappy off and done a wee and she was soaking wet. Apparently Elisa had woken up and cried for a bit, and my mum heard her (and we didn’t!!!)
Well, we had to change her and try to dry her cot (and sheepy) and in the meantime, Eric woke up and wanted to join in the party. Jon and I tried to take it in turns and take one child each to try to get them to sleep. But they were both wide awake and had no intention to go back to sleep. We hadn’t had a night like this in well over a year (or more!). Eventually they both fell asleep – the four of us on the same bed, which is only a small double bed – at around 5 am or so. Yaaaawn.
Apart from that night, the rest of the nights went very well. My mum was even impressed on how easy they went to bed without making a fuss. We continued our same routine there, with bath, bottle, story and goodnight, and it worked perfectly.
However, they didn’t have a nap at all, any day! On one or two occasions you could see that Elisa was tired and could have done with one, however we didn’t force it and we let them do their own thing…
Funny thing is that now that we are home, they are really enjoying their naps. Elisa had over two and a half hours at nursery today, and Eric had an hour and a half – when just a few days ago, they were both happy to not have one, despite being way more active during the day!
Development
My family weren’t very pleased about the fact that the kids were not talking Spanish. I knew it would be a sore subject and both Jon and I tried very hard to get the twins to say a few words in Spanish, but they mostly refused! By the end of the holiday they were a bit more receptive and attempted to say a few words here and there, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough for my family.
On other bits of development, they are doing very well too. They can now jump with both feet together, and quite high! You should see them jumping on muddy puddles. Daddy Pig, the Champion Puddle Jumper, would be impressed.
Elisa is also drawing very well. Drawing is a term that I use loosely. She colours very well, I should have said. If she pays attention and concentrates, she can colour within the lines and all… The only problem is that her new favourite hobby is painting her hands, and her arms, and her legs too… Can someone please remind me to remove the felt pens from her colouring bag and just leave the crayons, please?
Socialising
This was a bit difficult whilst in Spain, I must say. The Spanish character is very different to the British one, and Spaniards will come and touch you and tease you even if they don’t know you. On the first day, someone took Elisa’s dummy out of her mouth, and later on someone else took Eric’s hat – as a funny thing to do. However the twins did not find it funny AT ALL and put them off people for the rest of the holiday.
It was quite a change in character from the previous year. Both Eric and Elisa were quite happy to be held by any member of my family or other people, however this time they didn’t tolerate even a little touch to the cheek. I really hope it was just a phase and they will grow to be a tiny bit more affectionate (although I do understand that they had not seen most of my family for a whole year, and it had been three months since they saw Carmen and my mum, and three months is like an eternity in toddler years)
Back in the UK, we attended a birthday party just the other day, where most of our friends from the NCT were there. I knew it would take the twins a while to warm up to them, since we hadn’t seen most of them for months, however I was quite surprised to see that Elisa NEVER warmed up to them and spent all the afternoon playing on her own or with Eric. Eric did warm up eventually (after 1hr+) and played a tiny bit with the other girls.
Health.
We didn’t have any major health issues whilst in Spain. We noticed Elisa had a tiny bit of a raised temperature one day, and was dribbling quite a lot, so assumed that she must still be teething (back teeth). So bought her some paracetamol and gave her a dose, and she was completely fine for the rest of the holiday.
Once we got home to Basingstoke, she’s had a bit of a stomach upset, and had a day when she did three very disgusting and terribly stinky poos. But it seems like it’s cleared now. No other symptoms have shown, so I think that was her body clearing all the fruit and veg that she ate in Spain 🙂
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And here are a few photos from the holiday. Oh, did I mention that the kids and I had a haircut whilst we were there too? Elisa was in so much need of one. Not only was her hair way too long, but she was also sweating a lot through her head and her hair was always minging looking.
