Final Moments in the Costa del Sol...

As usual, I dragged the kids into a few of the churches in Marbella. This one especially stood out as it’s the first we’ve seen with TV screens behind the columns. Somehow it seems hypocritical to demand silence when there’s TVs involved.
While it wasn’t exactly beach weather, the kids didn’t let that stop them from playing in the sand. Nor did it stop Ashlynn from getting completely soaked. We were all sad to see the great week come to an end and were even sadder that we all managed to come home ill.

Marbella...

Our flight back to Holland wasn’t until evening, so we had one last day to explore the Costa del Sol. We drove into the quaint town of Marbella. We walked along the oceanfront and through a promenade filled with sculptures by Spanish artist Salvador Dali leading into the old city center of Moorish alleyways. Here the kids are enjoying a 3-course lunch in the main square. It’ll be hard switching back to sandwiches after all those excellent Spanish lunches.

Taking After Their Daddy...

Jimmy didn’t belay the whole day as he also got to do some climbing. After they each climbed this rock face twice, it was time to move onto another location.
Can you spot Ashlynn? She’s the blue dot just about in the center of this photo. They didn’t actually climb all the way up this rock, but managed to get pretty high as advanced beginners. While they were busy being daredevils, I went into a small mountain town with Sally’s family for a nice lunch and to stop at an aloe vera farm.

Our Little Mountain Goats...

Despite the exceptionally late return from Morocco, Jimmy was able to get the girls up early the next morning to go rock climbing. He hired a British rock climbing instructor who met them at the climbing school to get them geared up. She took turns climbing with the girls while James belayed.

Higher and Higher They Climbed...

No surprise, but the girls had no fear on their first outing to climb on real rocks. They had complete faith in the equipment and really liked the instructor. They were disappointed that the boys weren’t able to come along, but didn’t let that stop them from having a great day.

A Lovely Day in a Lovely Town...

Although none of us have any desire to ever watch a bullfight, we were happy that Ronda’s bullring is open for visitors when there’s no event. It was built in 1785 as Spain’s first purpose-built bullring. While Sally and I wandered through the museum, the kids filmed another scene for their movie. We ate dinner back at the house, then jumped a fence onto the golf course to play light-up Frisbee in a space between the greens--the kid’s Ultimate Frisbee coach would have been proud.

Ronda, A Mountain Village...

The drive up to Ronda, at 2,370 feet, was very windy and a bit hairy, but worth it. Our first stop was for lunch at a restaurant with beautiful views of the canyon on which this white village sits atop. The New Bridge is the newest (finished in 1793) and largest (390 feet to the bottom) that spans the canyon. After lunch, we wondered through the historic city center.

Easter in Spain...

After spending four Easters at the Chateau with Sally, John, David and Andrew, we weren’t going to allow losing access to the Chateau to stop us from spending Easter together. We originally considered going to Ireland, then switched our sights towards Iceland. While I was in the US, Sally and John had an epiphany--Iceland’s still cold in April. Since being warm sounded better, they found a 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom villa to rent on Guadalmina Golf Course in the Costa del Sol area of Southern Spain. Our view overlooked the 17th hole.
The kids loved the backyard with its heated pool, ping pong table and pool table. They enjoyed playing a strange version of a scavenger hunt where they had to complete different tasks. Here David is directing a blindfolded Veronica to retrieve a ball from the pool. It’s always entertaining to see their imaginations at work.