Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Noa's birthday over a span of a couple of days.  First we celebrated with an adults-only dinner with some friends at a local Thai restaurant, followed by a quiet family celebration at home the next day.  There were presents, carrot cake cupcakes, and lots of singing and playing with the girls.  

We are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful, giving person in our lives.  Because of Noa's hard work and sacrifices, we can have some pretty amazing adventures....like living in Spain!  He's a dedicated father and thoughtful husband who deserves much celebrating.  I hope we were able to express that to him this year.  Happy birthday, Noa!  You are loved!

Additional Portugal Pics

I snagged some Portugal pics from Noa's phone.  I had to include these because they were from Arrifana beach, which is where we went in Aljezur after the rock beach.  Gorgeous, right??

The restaurant we ate at was called "Restaurante Da Praia" and it was fabulous!  We ate our share of amazing food and wine (yum, vino verde, or otherwise known as Portugal's green wine) and had an amazing view of the beach.  Noa tried the local favorite: barnacles.  Yes, this is what the area is known for.  His take on them: they were fun to eat.

I also forgot to mention that during the meal, Noa had to balance Ruby on his lap because she completely fell asleep before we even ordered anything!  She slept through the entire meal! 

Labor Day Weekend in Portugal

We took advantage of the holiday weekend last weekend by taking a short trip to Portugal (specifically, the Algarve, or southern coast) for the holiday weekend.  Our trip started at the Four Seasons in Vilamoura.  This was a wonderful choice for our family because it was a complete getaway with all the amenities our kiddos (and us) enjoy.  Specifically, we had a large apartment so that the girls could have their own room and lots of space to run around, several pools to choose from, and a spa and restaurant on the grounds.  Plus, the town had a little train that stopped by the hotel to take visitors into the downtown marina.

We spent a lot of time by the pools!

Our favorite pool was the 2-foot toddler pool that allowed Ruby to swim without her floaties on.

The train to downtown: Ruby loved it!

A view of the Marina in Villamoura, Portugal.

After a couple of days in Villamoura, we met up with some friends to explore some of the Algarve.  Our first stop was Fiesa, the International Sand Festival in Pera, Portugal.  We had visited a similar display back in Washington several years ago, so it was interesting to compare the two.  The one in Washington was held in a parking lot, this one was in the middle of some rolling hills.  One thing that made this one different is that it was one whole unit of sand.  Each display worked into the next one, whereas the sand sculptures in Washington were each separate (I think that festival may have been a competition; this one is just for fun).  Like the Washington display, this had signs that described the scenes and also named the artists.  The theme of this year's Fiesa was "music" so all the sculptures had that in common.

This is a Portuguese singer.  Of course, I forget her name, but I do remember that she became famous for her ad lib singing when she forgot the words to her songs.

Mozart

Ballet

Broadway

Bono (apparently, I only took photos of things that started with "B")

Ruby with her favorite display: Frozen

Next we headed to Sagres, the southwestern most point in Europe.  We ate lunch at a cozy little restaurant and then headed to the Cabo de São Vicente.  This stop was breathtaking, since it's atop enormous cliffs and there are no buildings around, except the lighthouse.  In the old days, this would be the last stop sailors would see before heading out to the great unknown - or the edge of the world.

It was a little windy.  Ha ha!

After all this touring, it was time to settle "home" for the next couple of days.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the cute little country house we .  It was such a cute find!  Set amongst farms in the rolling hills of Aljizur, Portugal, the home had lots of space for all the kids to run around.  The simple home had white wall, exposed beams, and extra toys, which is always a win for us now.  There was an outdoor area to sit, eat, enjoy the scenery and watch the kiddos play.  It was the perfect spot to get away from it all.

Making "stone soup" out front.

Our first full day started with a lazy breakfast and then we loaded the kids into the cars to go exploring.  We were told there was a nearby beach.  It was only about 15 minutes away, but this was not an easy drive.  It involved unpaved roads with lots of dips, rocks, and steep inclines.  We had to take it super slow.  However, the sight at the end of that "road" was well worth it.  The beach was more rocky, but still had a beautiful view of Portugal;s coast.  We only stayed for a half hour or so, but there were other families who were camping close by.

Our second beach was also secluded but in a different way.  We parked at the top of the cliff and then walked down a steep, windy road to get to the actual beach.  This beach was gorgeous and not too crowded.  We loved it!

Ruby flew a kite (with dad's help)!

We ended up eating lunch close by at a fabulous restaurant (name to come in a later post).  It was a perfect beach day with lots of sun and sand.  At the end of the day, we headed back to the country house for a smorgasbord of food for dinner and to kick back after another lovely day in Portugal.

Primer Dia de Escuala (First Day of School)!

Today we were all a bundle of nerves and excitement as Ruby embarked on her first day of Spanish school.  This year she will be in the 4-year-old class (the Spanish use the calendar year to determine what grade to assign students; Ruby will turn 4 in November, so she's in the 4-year-old class).  

I'll admit that I was pretty nervous about the day, but tried to show excitement to support Ruby.  We were all very excited for her this morning, especially our nanny, Maria, who helped us get Ruby into the Spanish school system.

A few weeks ago, Maria, while out at a cafe with Ruby and Mila, ran into Ruby's teacher.  So Ruby was actually able to meet her before school started.  I think that made things so much easier today.  In fact, drop off was pretty quick since Ruby was distracted by all the toys in the classroom. 

When we picked her up, Ruby was happy and her teacher reported that she didn't cry.  Ruby told us that she played outside and that she only played with girls.  Haha!  Her teacher also said that she spoke a little Spanish, so I'm thrilled that she's already using Spanish in the classroom setting.  

We are looking forward to this new adventure.  I can't wait to see how much Ruby grows this year!

Commander!

Last week our family celebrated a milestone for Noa: his promotion to Commander!  I was waiting for the official photos from the hospital, but those may take some time, so I'm posting with a few from our phones to share this event.

Military promotions are interesting because they can take almost a year to actually take place.  Service members will get notified of their selection to the next rank, but the actual promotion may take several months to a year from that point.  Until then, the service member is known as (new title)-select.  So, for almost a year, Noa was considered a Commander-select.  

Last week, he and another service member from the hospital participated in a small ceremony in the courtyard to make their promotions official.  The Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and Command Master Chief of the hospital were there, in addition to 20+ service members (mostly officers) from the hospital to witness the event.  The day was beautiful and sunny, although the sun was right in our eyes for some of the photo opportunities.  Oh well, we're keeping it real.

The girls were troopers, considering it was Mila's nap time and the sun was in their eyes.

The ceremony included our family when it was Noa's turn.  I changed his lapel pin (Noa gets a new pin to show his new position).  Talk about pressure: all those in attendance watch this part.  Thankfully, I didn't drop anything or stab my finger while pinning it.  

A view of the ceremony: service members in attendance to the right, 

Noa in front with the CO of the hospital.

Our family with Captain Starks.

Noa, always thinking of others, presented me and the girls with flowers for our 

support of his career.  He's a total keeper.

Not the best photo, since the sun was in our eyes, but we were so happy to share the moment with Maria,

 our nanny, who is such a big part of our lives here.

Congrats to Noa, who works so hard to support our family and give us a fun, adventurous life with the Navy.  We are so proud of you!

 

Dirt Rain

For the second time this summer, we had an unpleasant weather phenomenon happen: dirt rain.

  Summers here are hot, somewhat humid, and pretty dry.  Yesterday began as a warm, windy day, but the later afternoon turned extremely foggy and arid.  When it started sprinkling outside, we were fooled into thinking we were getting a random summer shower, only to have the rain last a few minutes but leave lasting effects.

Also known as rain dust, it's dust (most likely from the deserts of Africa) that becomes airborn and brought back down from the atmosphere as rain.  The superfine particles of dust make everything look coated in a film of dirt, even after the water is all dried up.  Sadly, it's not just something that can be rinsed off.  You have to scrub or use a power washer to get things clean.  Our patio, even with a power washer, takes hours to clean because of the other items that get coated, like the playhouse, stationary picnic table, grill, etc.  This was not on the to-do list for this week.  Sigh.

A few of our patio chairs will need to be scrubbed down.

The entire playhouse will need to be scrubbed inside and out.  

The girls really can't play in it until this is done.

All the outdoor plants look like this.

Tile, tile, tile...thank God for the pressure washer!

I'm so thankful Noa realized what was happening this time and grabbed the clothes off the outside line!