Last day

Much better weather. We lounged around the villa all morning, ate what food we had left for lunch, then drove to Carvoeiro for a last walk along the seafront. Some had a last ice cream and others had a final coffee in our favourite cafe and Daisy went shopping for a final time  (I think!)
Final fun and games in the pool followed and then we went back to Carvoeiro for a last meal. I wanted to try a different restaurant even though all those we’ve been to have been really nice, and I had scoped out the choice and, having spoken to one of the waiters this afternoon chose one that looked like another Italian restaurant.
The main man certainly seemed Italian and was as mad as a box of frogs. He wanted to fix Daisy up with a boyfriend and was all over Felicity but wanted us to sit outside. It was getting chilly by this time and some of us had coats on but he persuaded us to sit outside “while I set a table for you”. It quickly became obvious though that it was full inside and they brought our drinks outside, then they brought us bread and nibbles outside, and then wanted to take our food order outside. At this point Mum kicked off and said she was only eating inside. He assured her a table were just finishing their coffee before leaving so we ordered our food. Much to George’s amusement he then went inside and literally moved a table of 8 onto a smaller table adjacent to it and then brought their pudding to them. They quickly re-set the table and took us inside! So we ate inside after all. Meanwhile the football was on a tv on the wall and that well known Spanish team Ronaldo was playing Juventus and the madman kept shouting “penallltee “ at the telly and every time he passed our table he said “apologies “. Then, as we were finishing our main course George spotted another party of 8 shivering at our original outside table and the madman was pointing at our table so we decided not to order a pudding as we may have had to eat it in the kitchen or outside! So we left! But George had the best time and absolutely loved the entire experience and kept ranting on about Dad’s deals! I do my best

The wet day

Well the weather forecast was spot on. We had wall to wall heavy rain from getting up til around 5 o’clock, so there was no point in stepping outside the door! Felicity entertained us all morning and we had an early lunch. Felicity and Daisy entertained us in the afternoon and we watched a film on sky. But we had several heaters on, the dishwasher and washing machine were going etc and the electric kept tripping out! So the film was in 4 instalments as the 2 Toms had to keep re-setting the electricity and then finding the sky signal and channel.
Then we were set to go out for tea but George requested that we go early enough to get back in time for the Man City/ Liverpool match. But Felicity went on much longer than usual before needing her afternoon nap. And then, when she did give in, she slept so long we set off much later than we needed to. We went to a different Italian restaurant in Carveiro which was just as nice as the other one we went to. But George got very frustrated by the, usual slow unhurried service you tend to get in Italian restaurants. The meal was lovely and the staff were brilliant with our girls but George was getting very tetchy waiting for our pudding. Felicity did her best to help by literally running back to the car, holding George’s hand. We arrived back home to see, literally the last 5 minutes but the shoreline told us it was all over but Roma were beating Barcelona on away goals so we finished up watching that instead.
So, a frustrating day overall as we couldn’t do anything and we never even took the cover off the pool, never mind anyone venturing into it! But the sun did come out at teatime and the evening was ok although George exhibited proper withdrawal symptoms from missing his football!

The next bit

Not sure where we got to but let’s start on Saturday; we went shopping. Daisy didn’t want to go so her and Tom stayed home so me and George did the driving. It was his first time abroad and he did fine. Went to 2 different supermarkets and bought loads, including enough ice cream to stock an ice cream van! Oh and lots of beer, sweets and crisps! Tom S did a barbecue for tea. The thing about there being so many of us is that the dishwasher needs filling and putting on twice a day. I like to get cleared away after meals and put it on and, in my enthusiasm I may accidentally have spilt George’s beer, thinking it was an empty bottle. He was very good about it though and hardly mentioned it (well only 20 times a day thereafter).
On Sunday we played in the pool in the morning and after lunch we drove to Carveiro and then walked along a cliff top board walk to the resort. We all had an ice cream but the ones who avoided queuing up and ordering it sat so far away that by the time we servers got to them, their ice cream was running down the cornet onto hands which made them sticky, eeeeyuk! I had rice pudding flavour and it had pieces of rice in it! Nice though! We had another coffee at the cafe we went to the other day and George was impressing the owner with his language skills. Daisy went in several shops and bought several things. We drove back there in the evening and went in quite a posh restaurant called Wolf! It was expensive but nice.
Monday was expected to be rainy and chilly but towards late morning we decided to set off for the beach, in the rain. We arrived at lunchtime and went straight in a restaurant on the edge of the beach for lunch, which was very good. The brilliant bit though was that the sun came out and was very strong in blue skies for the rest of the day. Daisy went in the sea and befriended another English girl and the bigger boys built sand castles. Oh and we played rounders (I won) and kind of cricket (I won that too). When we got back mum not only put on her swimming costume but also went in the pool and got it wet! So every one of us was in the pool today. A fabulous day but the weather forecast for tomorrow is wall to wall rain all day long!

Starting on Thursday we got up at 3-15; except for Tom who didn’t really bother going to bed! Journey to Manchester airport went ok but the experience wasn’t brilliant. Tom and mum both got frisked at security and they treated Faye like an arch criminal because she had all her diabetes tackle and also forgot to take some liquids out of her bag. The flight went ok apart from the plane was full of hen/stag do’s and golfers who are always a pain. How they could all be sozzled at 8 o’clock in the morning is amazing. Felicity was entertaining and was passed around the whole party. Others found her cute apart, possibly from the woman sat in front whose seat she kept kicking and hair she kept playing with!
We got matching cars, Renault Clio estates that you don’t see in UK. One black and one dark grey. The villa is fabulous and very rambling; there are passages and balcony terraces hidden all over! It has large grounds with trees and grass and a lovely pool with lots of inflatables to play with. Daisy immediately took up residence in the pool and everyone bar mum went in. Tom S did a barbecue for tea and we watched a Mr Bean dvd after as we couldn’t find any English programmes on tv.
On Friday we spent the morning in the pool as the weather forecast rain later on. After lunch we walked to Carveiro, the nearest seaside resort. We walked there in hot sun but it clouded over as we got there. Faye went to the shop that sells inflatable giraffes that she wished she’d bought last October and got one but when we came back out of the shop it had started chucking it down! So we nipped into a cafe over the road for a coffee. We sat there until it stopped raining then set off to walk back, with both girls wrapped in Chinese ponchos mum had brought. It kept spitting but we made it back home just about dry. The sun then came back out so we went back in the pool. We drove back to Carveiro and went to an Italian restaurant for tea.
Saturday was forecast for rain all day but it was sunny first thing so we could again eat breakfast outside and then we went to 2 different supermarkets food shopping. The afternoon was spent in the pool until it rained again and we came in to watch the Manchester derby as Tom had worked out how to get Sky sports through his firestick. Tom barbecued tea again but we had to eat it inside as not only was it raining but it was also quite cold. We are now sat watching those 3 idiots who used to present Top gear as Felicity has gone to bed. She’s absolutely loving having all these relatives to entertain her all day long!