Spain - Costa Dorada Day 3

Day 3 was our first real full beach day in Spain. After breakfast we set off from our Festival Park hotel loaded up with buckets, spades, watering cans, inflatables, snacks, water etc.etc.etc. Fortunately for us the beach was only about 500m from the hotel.

Captain Joshua wasted no time at all in boarding his boat and taking to the open sea. As you can see from the water it was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine.

We never realised just how close we were to Barcelona and as such a lot of the merchandise was FCB based. So Brandon being a football nut chose a FCB mini boat for himself. I think we underestimated the size though and this was fractionally too small for him and toppled over. Fortunately I found a solution by cutting out the bottom of the boat so that he could use it as a buoyancy ring and drive through the water with it around his waist.

Brandon soon got bored of the boat and as I mentioned previously he prefers pool water to sea water. So I entertained him by playing some beach football. He was getting some cracking airborne kicks going and lobbing the ball out into the sea for me to retrieve.

The boys both love playing with watering cans and filling sand holes with water or making cement type sand by getting it all wet and guey.

I used this wet guey sand to teach the boys that you can do a bit more with sand than simply digging holes and making sand castles. So my first effort was a train. I am sure you will agree this is not bad and quite creative, however rest assured some of my sand sculptures later in the holiday were a lot better.

This was what Joshua and Brandon thought of the train. About 3 seconds after completing it they were diving all over it!!!!

The beach extended for miles either side of us with glorious golden sand and very few people. Perfect.

Joshua soon learnt how to operate the beach showers to clean all of the sand off of him.

As well as doing some creative sand sculptures, me and the boys tried some simple line art in the sand. Of course you always start off with names.

Then Joshua started drawing this shape (not sure what it is, maybe the Nurburg Ring).

Then we drew the plane that brought us to Spain.

And the car that got us to the airport in London.

After a long tiring day at the beach we got showered and cleaned up before slipping into the typical routine of the park, dinner, then the kids mini disco. This Indiana Jones style children's bridge was a good idea, the platforms pivot on the top so the kids have to balance and coordinate their movement carefully to cross. Joshua could make it, but Brandon couldn't quite reach between poles and needed a helping hand.

Now I have mentioned the mini disco and a character called Estivee previously. Well here is a picture of the boys posing in front of a painting of Estivee. Estivee is the hotel mascot for the kids club and is a colourful Spanish caterpillar. Olla Estivee.

Finally for today's update a nice picture of Brandon in a children's pool with his swimming goggles and that adorable smile.

Day 4 was back in the Aquasplash Park and I managed to get some really cool pictures. Joshua has a little boat ride and we get a close encounter with a sea lion. Read more tomorrow.

Spain - Costa Dorada Day 2

Day 2 of our holiday started at a very respectable time of day as the boys both slept in until gone 8am (probably something to do with the busy Day 1 and a 10 o'clock bed time). On route to the restaurant for breakfast the boys once again had a play on the large brass animals.

Here is your classic Spanish bull fighter in action.

And here is a matador arriving in style.

Breakfast was eventful trying to find something the boys would eat. They did not have their regular cereals, the bread was different, the sausages and bacon were more continental and the boys tend to only eat what they recognise. Brandon slipped into a routine of boiled egg whites, peaches and raisins! Joshua seemed to like mash potato wrapped with a slice of ham (yes for breakfast) followed by a plain yogurt.

Anyway after breakfast we headed over to the water park called Aquapolis which was right next door to our hotel. As part of our holiday package we had unlimited access which was worth every penny. On day 2 we had lots of fun in the park, but I didn't take too many pictures. So there will be more on this in later blog updates.

This was one of the main children's play areas in the water park. Absolutely huge and water projecting from everywhere. You might not appreciate it from this picture but when that big yellow bucket on the top tips, everyone gets absolutely soaked.

Here are the boys playing in another of the water features in the park.

We had not had time to arrange a packed lunch from the hotel, so we bought lunch in the Aqua park. Brandon chose his favourite - chicken and chips! He is a funny picture of him looking at a chip like it is pure gold dust.

One of the best features of the water park was the dolphinarium. They ran two shows daily in a spectacular tank which allowed you to see under the tank as well as on top. I think in total there was 6 dolphins and about 5 sea lions. The boys absolutely loved watching the dolphin shows and must have gone at least 6 or 7 times. Joshua would even try and replicate some of the dolphin moves/dances in the swimming pool.

Here is a close up of some of the dolphins which was taken from the side of the tank.

Joshua getting up close and personal with the dolphins.

Both boys fixated on the dolphins who were more than happy to entertain them both at the side of the glass before the main show started.

Then the show started and the dolphins started going airborne.

After a shower, clean up and dinner the boys had a play in one of the hotel soft play areas before going to the kids mini disco and watching their new hero, Estivee, in action. More on Estivee will be revealed in later blog updates.

Check back tomorrow for a first full beach day and some rather impressive sand castle building (if I do say so myself).

Spain - Costa Dorada Day 1

There has been a good reason for the lack of blog updates lately. Namely our recent holiday to the beautiful Costa Dorada region of Spain for 2 weeks all inclusive. Lots of "firsts" ticked off during this vacation. Brandon's first flight on an aeroplane, the first time we have flown anywhere with both boys, Brandon's first foot steps on foreign soil etc.etc. The good news is I have over 600 pictures and loads of new material to share on the boys blog page. So enjoy day 1.

Its all started with a very early 1:30am alarm clock and a drive to Gatwick Airport with two very excited boys (still in their PJ's). At the airport they both very proudly pulled along there new trunki suit cases. Brandon with his orange and black tiger case and Joshie with his brown Gruffallo trunki.

Brandon is a bit of a car enthusiast as everyone already knows. Needless to say he enjoyed seeing a few super cars on display in the airport.

Here is Brandon having his first ever flight on an aeroplane (window seat of course).

Peeking out of the window to watch the night lights of London Gatwick disappearing into the clouds.

2 hours later and we are on Spanish soil. Adios Amigo.

Once we had checked into our room and grabbed a bite to eat, the first job was to test out one of the many pools in the hotel complex. This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare first day as Joshua was a little over excited and insisted on charging around everywhere at break neck speed. Within about an hour of being at the pool he had managed to crack his chin on the pool side and slip over the stage area and put 4 teeth through his tongue!!!!!!! Boys will be boys. Neither injury prevented him from leaping in and out of the pool though.

This was the bar area in the middle of the pool.

Brandon was a bit more apprehensive about the deeper pool and initially stuck to the shallow children's pool.

Joshua demonstrating his backwards fall into the pool.

The early start, flight, coach ride and pool session soon took its toll on the boys and it was time to let them have a power nap in order to last the rest of the day. Within seconds of getting back to our room, both boys were crashed out on the sofa bed.

This gave me an opportunity to take some pictures of the views from our balcony. Nice eh!

We had a small park right outside our room and here is little Brandon sporting his hat and shades on a donkey.

Once the boys woke up their next task was to help me to take the luggage trolley back to reception (very loose sense of the word help!).

Making the most of the warm weather we then headed down to explore the beach which was about a 5 min walk. Just along La Pineda was this very impressive modern art type statue which we initially thought was giant mushrooms. It turns out it actually represents a specific type of tree which once lined the coast line along La Pineda .

The beach did not disappoint and had golden sands, blue water and was not in the slightest bit overcrowded (the luxury of currently being able to vacation outside of school terms!).

We had not really planned on the boys getting wet, but they soon knuckled down to some serious wave jumping and playing in the sand. Needless to say they were soon stripped down to their undies.

Brandon is a bit of a tart and does not like sand on his hands, He is definitely a pool person like his mummy, Joshua is 100% beach person like his daddy though.

Those legs you see sticking out of the water are Brandon - caught unexpected by a small wave.

A castle fit for Kings.

Another view of the mushrooms taken during our walk back to the room.

Unfortunately on route to our room we had to pass another one of the hotel pools and the boys could not resist another "cool down" dip and to test out their new inflatable boat.

After a nice shower and change into some fresh clothes we all dressed up for dinner. Just outside the restaurant were some big brass animals which the boys enjoyed playing on,

After dinner we settled down by the night pool for a drink and to watch the children's entertainment (more on this on a later blog). Whilst sitting their a local came past selling roses. How apt was this given that Day was mine and Tina's anniversary anyway. So I did the good deed and purchased a couple of rather expensive roses.

Here is the pool and hotel complex all lit up at night.

Day 2 to follow soon.