What makes me happy?

A teenage son who can make lunch!

The final stretch

Pai did great in his penultimate exam today. A chocolate cake has been baked, champagne is out and ready, and the pizzas are hot.
I'm so proud of him! We can't wait for him to get home.

Sunday in Sintra

The second birthday party of the weekend was held at Palácio de Pena in Sintra. I was astonished that the palace allows birthday parties, but thrilled that we had an ocassion for Zita's silk dress.

Here's my girl arriving at the party- not your standard bounce house entrance!

 This blurry picture was the only shot I got of her head on, and as you can see, she's not at all pleased with my paparazzi ways.

 I'm sure I've been to this palace close to 20 times, but I never tire of it. Give me views, tiles, and interesting architecture and I'm a happy girl.

Tile scenes are in abundance in Portugal, but especially so in Sintra. Textured tiles however,  are less common so of course I set about documenting them. 

After having coffee in the hot sun of the patio cafe, and a good walk around, Pai and I spent the rest of the party sitting on a small stone step, talking and watching the many tourists come and go. I love playing "guess the nationality," but after the 100th spanish tourist, it got a little repetative.

The time spent with Pai in the afternoon without children is so rare and appreciated. We depend on Moojie for these breaks and can I just say again how much the children-spread-apart-in-age thing is working out for us now?  Moojie watched Freddy's tennis lesson, walked him home, made him lunch and kept both of them alive which is what really matters. This is a new phase of responsibility for him and so far it's working out very well.  Generally we don't pay him to babysit, but in this case we exchanged dinner and a movie with friends the night before for babysitting.

Rainy Day Sewing Project

Brought to you by Zita

Exercise Shmexercise

My gym membership just ended and I didn't renew. Lately I equate all euros spent into plane tickets "home" ( yes, Portugal is home too, but I can call two places home, can't I? ). My second reason for not renewing is that after two years of consistently going 5 days a week, my weight budged maybe 5 lbs. Those five pounds were extra anyway so I don't think they even count. You see, I was sort of a fake exerciser at the gym. I went on the machines and moved alright, but rarely did I get my heart rate up or break a sweat, and that's the whole point.

These are not my feet. This image was taken from the NB website. 

We don't really have true winters here in Portugal so I could and should be out exercising every day. It's free to walk on the street and we have some pretty great views of the ocean around here. My gym machines looked out onto a parking lot so I'm telling myself this is an improvement. I'm trading parking lot views for sea views.

On that note, I'm off for a walk/run/whatever I can manage.

Halloween

Halloween at Zita's school was a big success. All of the children except for three dressed up and really got into the spirit.  Here's Zita after a bit of her make-up had already started to come off.

 After the fashion show, trick-or-treating, and games, there was a piñata and almost every child in the school got a chance to whack it.

 Here I am as the Scream with Zita. Oops- my necklace was not very Scream like and I should have pulled my hair back.

 Here are some of the little kids watching the fashion show

This bat piñata that was featured on Marthastewart.com and was made by the children.

I had 6 kids in the afternoon for Halloween cookie decorating, play time, and a movie. I was not snapping away and trying to get kids to pose. Instead I just let go, left my camera upstairs, and had fun with the cookie making. Zita's friends embraced Freddy and were happy to let him play and decorate cookies with them. Since so many kids come from large families, folding little brothers and sisters into the mix is never a big deal. How lucky Freddy is!  It was surpisingly calm and easy, and everyone was very polite (maybe because I wasn't always trying to take their picture!)  I love having the house full of kids, and every time I fill the car with 6 kids on the school run, I think "we should have had 6 kids," but then there is always that great sigh of relief at pick up time when I can change into my yoga pants and snuggle up with just my own.

All Saints Day

Today is All Saints Day which means at 9:30 in the morning, I get to be in my pajamas, the kids are building legos on the floor, and we might head to the beach later on. The joy of the feriado (national holiday)! 

As I said before, birthday party season is in full swing and last weekend's activities were centered around two.  Saturday's party was an hour north of here in a place called Bombarral. It was held at a quinta surrounded by apple (Pink Lady!) and pear fields, and a growing petting zoo there for the benefit of the hosting twin grandsons. The party itself was held in the adega-turned-party-space so common in countryside homes. The high, rustic exposed beam ceiling of the adega had over 100 large white paper laterns that when lit at night were insdescribable. I never tire of peeking into other people's quintas.

 We wound up leaving Zita and Freddy since Zita was having such a geat time on their trampoline. She also has a camp counselor spirit that comes in very handy at these parties. Pai, Moojie and I went off to visit the Buda Eden which is nearby, and we also went into Bombarral proper. Here is a view of the quinta from the road. It's moments like these when I wish I could paint. That yellow windmill kept me chattering on about how beautiful it all was.

 Bombarral itself was a typical abandoned agricultural town, but there were a few old beautiful houses like this one.

 We had a lot of time to kill so we visited the municipal museum and I think we were the first visitors of the year. They had to unlock doors and turn on all the lights for us. Here's Moojie below telling me he refuses to pose in front of the sign while he cleans his sunglasses.

 The square in the center is exactly like every single square in every Portuguese town and comprises 1 post office, 3 or 4 patio cafes, a library, the hardware store, and a pharmacy. We stopped for coffee and split a pear tart three ways. We were in pear terrirtory afterall.
I made Pai pull over so I could take a picture of this gate. The gate is a fairly standard gate, but the Fall colors are what made my heart sing. We drove home in the dark with three tired children, a crate of pink ladies in the trunk, and one very happy Mummy.

This is just a sliver of our very packed weekend, albeit a large sliver, but now I have to rally the troops and take advantage of another sunny beautiful day.