Archive for August 26th, 2006

Day 479 – Friday 25th July 2006

The night from hell !!!

Normally a night from hell is due to one thing – pain !

This time, it was due to – ABBY !

Karen and I experienced a night with Abby for the first time since she was a toddler. I can well imagine it being the last. We spent about 3 hours last night just laughing and saying to each other “Look at her now” .

She was snoring big time and then all of a sudden she would sit bolt upright in the bed (still fast asleep). She would talk to herself and then she would flop down. One of the times she sat upright, when she flopped down, her head rested on my bum and she just carried on sleeping. After a few minutes, she got up again and then lied down but this time was within an inch of Karen who was on her side. It left Karen trapped unable to get on her back, so I had to move her. When I grabbed her to move her over, she shook, but not with fright, the kind of shock you get when you lose balance.

We had a good laugh, but also an awful night’s sleep. At about 4am, the snoring reduced in volume to that of a plane at takeoff and we could get some sleep.

4 hours later we were wide awake. Kids – God Love ‘em !

We treat Abby to the same treatment Ethan had had the other night – i.e. room service breakfast.

abbyroomservice.jpg

And then a trip to the indoor pool….

abbykpindoorpool.jpg

Abby and I then went to the villa leaving Karen to get some more sleep and lay still for a while because of her pain.
I have been keen throughout the holiday to get Ethan to ring his mam, and although he sometimes said “Yes”, more often he said “Nah”. Today, he took me up on the offer and went out the front to phone his mam. I was watching him from inside the villa. After about 5 minutes, he started getting really upset. It’s his first holiday away from his mam and dad. I went out to console him. He needed hugs big time and I spent the next 15 minutes carrying an 8 year old around the villa bumping him up and down like a baby. Weird, but it really worked.

Emma (Ethan’s mam) was also in tears, so I assured her I would get him to ring her back when he was feeling better. About 30 minutes later, I tried to get Ethan to smile so I could send her a photo of him “ok”. This is the best I could get !

ethanlookinghappyforhismam.jpg

Sorry Emma !

It was then time for the fag run. A quick nip into Torrevieja, parking illegally in a pedestrian zone, ready to play the “We are English, we didn’t notice there were 500 people on the square and no cars” routine, and then back again.

Marie had done us all a packed lunch for the beach. On arrival at the beach, Karen (who has been experiencing a crescendo of pain today), got up and joined Adele at the pool, while I took Abby and Ethan for a ride on a jetski.

They were both a bit wary. Abby offered to go first as Ethan was too scared. She absolutely detested it. I am not sure if it was because of the speed I was going (only about 8knts or the 10′s of jelly fish we saw. I had to take her back with her in fits of tears on the back :-(

Ethan didn’t want to go on. So I ended up doing it on my own. But, jetskiing looks fun, but is actually a bit dull on your own. You whizz along, jumping waves, then jumping more waves, then more etc etc….Not much fun on your own. So after 5 minutes, I was back with the kids who were looking glum, whilst making sandcastles, totally unimpressed with Uncle David’s jetskiing experience.

45 Euros !!!!! And I was only going for Ethan who never even went on the back !

Grrrr !

After spending the next few hours by the hotel pool, we went into Torre for our “Night Markets” experience. Arriving at 6pm was an hour too early, as things don’t really open until 7pm, so we went to a cafe and had tea.

Here we all are………

familymealintorre.jpg

Afterwards, Adele and I took the kids over to the statue of the lady who looks out to sea….

familyatladybythesea.jpg

ethanatladybythesea.jpg

The funfair followed ….. Here is Abby on the quad bikes…..

abby on trike.jpg

Abby (and Adele and I) went on all the big rides. We managed to persuade Ethan to go on 1 big ride and he really enjoyed it after a panic attack at the beginning.

Glenn & Abby and Ethan & I went on the bumper cars and had a great time with that.

Funfair over, we went round the night markets. Ethan bought loads of gear for his Mam and Dad. Glenn caught pickpocketed, but thankfully some Spanish people caught the chap in the act and alerted Glenn to the fact. The pickpocket had done really well in undoing Glen’s zip without him noticing, but thankfully had not got away with the dosh !

We returned to the villa. By this time Karen was in an awful physical state. Pain was abundant :-( The Fentanyl Patches seem to dry up really quickly in the sun, so I have a sneaking suspicion she has been without the relief they bring for 24 hours. Thankfully, she was due another one last night and things seem to be better this morning (6am when I write this).

I wanted to stay on at the villa last night as we were all having a great time, but alas, kp couldn’t hack it anymore and needed her bed, so Glenn returned us to the villa. Here’s what we left …..

leftpartyearly.jpg

Day 480 – Saturday 26th July 2006

A night on our own last night and we really appreciated it. We got up at 6am and did the blog and had a cup of tea which took an age to order as reception kept telling us to contact the restaurant and the restaurant kept telling us to ring reception.
But we got it in the end.

With the blog done and our tea drunk we had some great sleep until about 12pm.

The afternoon consisted of lots of swimming in the pool with the kids (for me) and a chatty afternoon for Karen and Marie before Karen retired for a snooze.

The pain was improved today, but still an issue. More of an issue was the stiffness she had. When she just got up from her chair, she looked like Mrs Overall carrying a tray of coffee over to some guests. When I said this to Karen, as quick as lightning she replied……..

Mrs Overall :- “Two soups !”

Only funny if you know the relevant Mrs O. Sketch.

After the snooze, we did Rancho Blanco and had a lovely meal with the kids before a nice chat back at the villa and then an early night before the trip home tomorrow.

Cracking Holiday that we all have enjoyed.

I’ll finish with a photo of Ethan that I took to send to his mam to reassure her that he was ok.

ethanjetski.jpg







. Page Hits View Stats