Zante Day 13 and 14 - The End

So the final blog update from our Zante 2013 holiday. Overall I would say we have had a fabulous holiday and both boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves. For Tina she is typically a sun worshipper, but spent most of holiday in the shade due to being almost 6 months pregnant (so very unlike her). For me it was just a pleasure to spend so much quality family time and to see the two boys enjoying themselves so much. It was great to give them this opportunity and to see all of the things they were learning during our travels. It was also very nice to see them being independent young men when it came to helping themselves to the all inclusive food and drink.

 

Anyway Day 13 started out with both boys wanting to go for a run to the beach with Daddy. This was music to my ears, after all who am I to turn down an offer for a run. So off came the shirts, on went the factor 50 and the running shoes and we were off. Both boys did a great job at running all the way from the hotel to the beach. But by then we were all pretty hot and sweaty and the temptation to take a dip in the sea before returning to the hotel was just too great.

 

Joshua and Brandon running down the beach path, what a beautiful site.

The sea was so tempting for a cool off.

This is just a stunning picture of both boys launching into a sprint race along the beach with their tops off and shades on.

We found a lovely shallow marina area to cool down in the sea.

Brandon cooling his feet.

Joshua wiggling his rear end!

Lovely clear water to cool down in.

Joshua had the right idea.

 On our final day we pretty much just chilled by the pool and made a brief farewell visit to the water park. We had the room booked for a late departure which meant we could enjoy lunch, then have a final few hours in the sun before heading back to our room, freshening up and then checking out.

The final day and Brandon was enjoying playing in the pool and squirting all the sun bathers.

Joshua also getting in on the action to see who can squirt the highest and furthest.

Joshua all showered and hair spiked ready to come home.

And Brandon with his spiked hair.

The boys sat at the reception bar on our final day waiting for the coach to the airport.

Little B on a big bar stool. I think the look of concern is regarding hos he is going to get down.

Brandon with a Greek statue.

Our holiday ends and we leave Greece.

 

Given that Bubba is expected early December this could well be our last overseas travel for a year or two. After all I am not sure I fancy flying with a 5 & 6 year old plus a 6 month old baby! So for next years holiday it might be a little closer to home as we venture back to a Centre Parks or Haven etc.

Zante Day 12 & 13 - Sea Cucumber

Day 12 and 13 involved a lot of time at the sea. As the holiday draws to an end I find I want to spend every minute I can on the beautiful beaches as you never know when you might get this chance again. Towards the end of the holiday I also had another sad moment when I sat down to write out the postcards for the family. This was the first time I have not been able to send a postcard to Mum and it felt so wrong. Ever since I was 20 years old and first travelled to Florida, I have always sent her postcards which she kept and never through a single one away. It felt like I really needed to write her out a card, but had no way to deliver it to her up in heaven.

 

Joshua looking out at sea, and guess who that is who swam out to stand on the rocks? Yes yours truly.

Brandon enjoying shooting everyone with his water squirter.

Believe it or not the water squirter was another one of the boys pool side discoveries.

Inspired by our visit to Turtle Island, I had some great new ideas for sand castles which I was very keen to build for the boys. First off was Brandon's special request for an aeroplane.

My sand Boeing starts to take shape.

Nearly finished, just needs windows and jet engines.

Ta-da, the finished aeroplane sand castle.

Quite proud of this one, but I can do better.

The shape of Turtle Island inspired me to try and make a turtle shape sand castle. Seemed only appropriate given the the whole island seemed to be obsessed with turtles.

So I set off to work on my masterpiece.

 

Nice detail being added to the turtle shell.

Wow, the finished turtle and in my opinion my best sand castle yet.

It was heart breaking to see Brandon had destroyed it when I got back from a swim.

Joshua had seen so many fish whilst snorkeling that he kept giving me a bucket and asking if I could go and catch him a fish. I tried explaining that they are too quick and you would never catch one, but he insisted we could do it with team work. So the next best thing was a sand castle fish.

Not as good as the turtle or plane, but not bad.

 The sand castle did not solve the problem that Joshua wanted a fish so I took his bucket and headed out to sea for a snorkel to see what I could catch for the boys. It wasn't long before I found some sea cucumbers and decided to take them back to shore for the boys. I know they look like an overgrown slug or a poo, but it is still a real animal that the boys had never seen or handled before. So it was a good learning experience for them. The really funny thing was when Joshua tried to slightly squeeze the belly of the sea cucumber it ejected sea water out of one end as if urinating on him. Maybe it is a defence mechanism or something or perhaps just away of offloading water to help them reduce their body size as a defensive mechanism.

Getting stuck in there with a bucket containing a sea cucumber.

If you didn't know better you would think Joshua was holding something very dirty, but I can assure you this is a living sea animal.

Both boys held their sea cucumbers and kept them in the buckets as pets until it was time to go back to the hotel.

Little B squeezing this sea cucumber into a peculiar shape. They asked me which end is the head and I had no idea.

A nice picture of me, Tina and Brandon which was taken by Joshua. He became a right little David Bailey on holiday.

Brandon then wanted a go and took this picture of me, Tina and Josh.

Joshua chilling.....

Joshua "David Bailey" in action again.

Brandon on a late evening beach walk

Even at 9 o'clock at night it was lovely to walk along the beach and get your feet wet.

Both boys dipping their feet as the sun sets in the background.

Obviously I support the England football team, but everyone knows that my second (back-up team) is of course Holland. Anyway one evening we say some Junior size Holland football shirts for only Eur 5 each. I couldn't resist and had to buy one for each of the boys. It was actually quite funny when they went out wearing them as all the shop keepers and sales reps would try speaking to us in Dutch! What a cunning plan to get away from them when they are not speaking your language. 

Josh and B in their Dutch football shirts.

There was a very small fun fare type place in Zante town which had a few bouncy castles, go-karts, quad bikes, arcades etc.etc for the kids to enjoy. It wasn't the nicest of places we visited, but the boys wanted to go there one evening and seemed to have a good time.  

Josh and B on a two seater go-kart.

Go-kart racing.

Joshua loved this chopper style trike.

A Brandon size go-kart.

Joshua on a large inflatable dome. I was fascinated by the old wreck of a plane hanging above - I want one in my garden.

Little B coming down the Mickey Mouse bouncy castle slide.

And then jumping across to another bouncy castle.

Joshua has gone completely bananas in the fun fair.

Probably the best part of the evening was the water spheres. The boys have never tried this before and to be honest I never in a million years thought Brandon would try this. However he was a little superstar and managed to get his balance and stand up much better than Joshua. However neither boy could stand up for more than 3 mins in order to win the prize. 

Joshua getting up from another fall in the water sphere.

And down he goes again.

I was amazed Brandon went in the sphere. But he had such a blast and really enjoyed himself.

Brandon learnt to balance on his knees before getting to his feet.

Finally the boys found some water bumper boats which they wanted to go on. I rode with Brandon as he was just a bit too small to steer all on his own. Again we had great fun and got a good soaking to help cool us down on yet another very hot evening.

Joshua on the swan bumper boat.

Me and B on the duck bumper boat.

Joshua closing in for an attack on me and B.

Revenge is sweet, now we are behind Joshua and can ram him.