Day 144 - Lake Runs, Tennis Lessons, and Letting the Kids Roam

Another late night meant another slow start, which seems to be the rhythm at the moment. Kia and I were up before the kids, so I got the coffees going while she eased into the day with her usual meditation. Not long after, the kids wandered out and we all ended up sitting around the outdoor table, coffees in hand, just taking it slow before the day kicked off.

Emmett had tennis at 9:30, so he and Kia headed off while Maddie went down to watch. I went out for a run along the lake, just a steady 5K to see how the legs were feeling after the bigger run the other day. They held up pretty well. The path along the water is unreal, clear lake on one side, gravel track the whole way, just easy running and a good way to start the day.

On the way back I stopped by the gym thinking I’d sneak in a session, but you needed your own towel and I didn’t have one. Couldn’t be bothered walking all the way back to grab one, so I bailed. Lesson learned for next time. I’m keen to get a few proper sessions in while we’re here.

By the time I got back, it was getting close to lunch. Maddie and I ducked down to the shop before it closed and grabbed bread rolls, ham, and cheese. Once we were back, I threw together a quick Tabata workout while Kia was at one of the classes they run here, Zumba or something similar. There’s always something going on, which is great.

As I was finishing up, everyone got back and we all sat down for a late lunch together. Simple food but it hit the spot. After that, Emmett headed off on his own mission, wandering around trying to find the other kids. He couldn’t track them down at first, so he was just cruising solo.

I went for a walk to check out the washing situation and found out it’s €7 per load using tokens. Pretty steep. We’ll probably limit it to one load a week and hand wash the rest to keep costs down.

On the way back I ran into Emmett, and we ended up kicking the soccer ball around before heading to the playground, which is where all the kids were. He took off straight into it, and I ended up chatting to one of the mums from an Estonian family here. Her husband came over as well. He’s a software developer working full-time while they travel, so we had a good chat. There was a bit of crossover in what we do, which made it interesting.

Back at the place, Kia was relaxing after doing some kinesiology work. Maddie had eventually pushed herself to head down to the playground and made some friends, which was great to see. She needs a bit more encouragement than Emmett, but once she’s in, she’s good.

I spent a bit of time working on the website before Kia and I went down to the supermarket to grab food for the next couple of days. Then it was back to cook dinner, and the usual effort of pulling the kids away from whatever they were doing. Emmett smashed a burger and ran straight back out to play on some hoverboard thing they had going.

It’s funny seeing how late the kids stay up here. It’s just the culture. Everything shifts later into the evening. We’re trying to keep some sort of consistency though, especially with Morocco coming up. We don’t want to completely lose our routine and end up with overtired kids.

We didn’t get any schoolwork done today either. At the moment it feels like they’re learning in a different way anyway. They’re socialising, figuring things out, meeting kids from all over the place. We’ll bring a bit more structure back in soon, but for now, this feels like it’s working.