Father's weekend. part 1

It was Father's Day here on Saturday, so when I woke up - pleasantly late - I didn't have to jump out of bed and get the kids sorted (milk, toilet, telly, etc.) as I usually do, which was very nice. I was pampered and given beautiful handmade presents by my pride and joys - a finger-painted tie-shaped painting from Danny and a lovely box filled with bonbons from Jamie, and a card.

My Father's Day was a meal in the pizzeria, and we headed out early to let the kids have a play in the park and to do a bit of shopping in the market. In the park we bumped into our friends Magdalena and Rodolfo and their kids, Daniel and Monica, and asked them if they would like to join us. We're in, they said, and off we trundled for an aperitif.

The kids all enjoyed their pizzas, and I shared a fondue bourgignonne (meat) with Rodolfo, which turned out to be a little disappointing, but I snaffled leftovers of everyone else's pizzas, as you do, which made up for it. At one point Jamie was drinking from a glass and it was banged against her teeth, which made her cry briefly. But the upshot was that a tooth which had been loose now only needed a slight tug by Magdalena to come out, so Jamie lost her 5th tooth. Ratoncito Perez, the famous Spanish tooth mouse, brought her a kaleidoscope and a 2 euro coin in the night.

The kids went outside to play after they'd finished eating, and for the first time we were comfortable letting Danny out on his own, fairly confident that he wouldn't suddenly dash out over the road (after luridly informing him about the serious consequences of doing so!). Which meant we could relax and enjoy the rest of our meals and coffees in relative peace.

By this time we were settling nicely into the Spanish timetable for lunch on a lazy Saturday, i.e. take your time. We moved to the Manantial café for digestifs, and the kids carried on running around (God knows where they get the energy from). Jamie and Daniel played nicely together, and our Danny and Monica, and ne'er a cross word was exchanged, amazingly. See the pictures below in the mouse car, Danny and Monica look like boyfriend and girlfriend…