Summer 2020

 After what turned out to be a strange spring, we followed it up with a summer that we struggled to make as normal as possible. Online school ended in June for both the girls and Jose and I think everyone involved was ready for a break. Our community pool thankfully opened after much debate between neighbors and we took full advantage as the heat started to bear down on us. Summer here in the south of Spain is awful and after having spent months inside all day we used the pool as a much needed break.


We also decided to book a house in the mountains for a few weeks early on when we saw what travel restrictions were going to look like. Since we weren't sure what the beach scene would be (and because going to the beach with three small children is a daunting task), we decided to head to the nearby mountains to a place with a pool all for ourselves. We stayed in a tiny village with about six houses so social distancing was not a problem and our days looked pretty much like they do when at home: breakfast, pool, lunch, nap, pool, dinner, bed, except with a beautiful and much needed change of scenery. Oh and we went to a drive through zoo and saw the giraffes again.



After the mountains we came home in time to celebrate Carla's first birthday. Unfortunately she wasn't able to have a party this year but she won't remember and we are hoping to be able to celebrate next year with fewer restrictions. (Here masks are mandatory and gatherings are limited to fewer than 10 people). We had birthday pancakes, a special lunch from Burger King (chosen by her sisters) and then cake with my in-laws.



In August we headed to Portugal to spend a few weeks at an apartment that Jose's parents have by the beach. We were later joined by his sister and our niece who live in France and who we rarely get to see. She is the same age as Vera and Laura and although they sometimes struggled to get along, I think they had fun together.



The end of the summer found us back at home which hopefully won't be our home for much longer as we put in an offer on a house which was accepted. Now we are just waiting with our fingers crossed as our apartment sits on the market. The place where we will be moving has its own pool and a fairly large yard for Spanish standards. After having been inside with the girls for 44 days we decided it was high time for us to have some outdoor space. Plus we have outgrown our apartment.

Now we are back to school and Carla has started at daycare. There are a lot of unknowns with this school year and like most parents I am nervous about sending them all back but I know that they need the in-person classes and to see their friends. We are all just hoping that things remain pretty normal and don't shut down again. We survived it once, but I'm not sure how we would do it again.

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