Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we headed to England so spend the Holiday with our good friends The Huber's. Our friend Rob, who is also living in England, was able to drive down and stay with the Hubers as well.

It really wasn't too bad getting to their house. It was about 3.5 hours to get to Calais, France where we loaded our car onto a ferry. It was a nice 1.5 hour break from driving. The girls spent time looking out the window at the ocean and running around in the lounge. It was during lunchtime, so I just packed lunches for everyone and that also took up some time.







As you are coming into Dover in the UK, you have a pretty good view of the white cliffs. It was REALLY foggy that day and we couldn't see them very well.



I'm mad at myself because I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving. Brooke took a couple that I stole :) She had the kids decorate cupcakes for Thanksgiving and also had a couple more darling crafts the kids were able to enjoy!








That night, we took a walk to their local park and let the kids play for a little bit. It was pitch dark and wet, so we didn't last very long. Here is a picture of all of headed to the park.



Thanksgiving day was a success and the food was so yummy. I love that we have good friends close by that we can spend the Holidays with since we can't be near our family. In the military, our friends become our family.

We spend most of the weekend hanging out and enjoying each other's company. The weather was not ideal, but we did get out a little bit.

They don't live too far from Cambridge, so we headed there for one of the days.

















Pretty sure Rob was being tormented by all the kids the entire time begging him for piggyback rides and choking him with their gloves. What a good sport!

















The most awesome candy store. It was like Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory!





Abe bought this ginormous sucker for Meika because "she really wanted it!" Hmmm... not the best idea ;)



Cute little market that goes on everyday



The next day we headed to this amazing park with tons of fun stuff for the kids. Of course it was freezing cold and a little rainy, but the kids still had fun. I would love to go back in the summer!



























The night before we left we went to this super yummy restaurant. Abe and I say all the time how much we crave it. They even had free refills, free water and ICE!! Love that! What a great weekend!

St. Martin

This was our 3rd year celebrating St. Martin. The first year we celebrated it in the little German town where we were staying in our guest house. Last year, we celebrated it with the town that we currently live in. The tradition is that all the kids will make Laterns at school and on the night of St. Martin, they (with their families) all walk in a parade around the village while holding their lanterns. The parade eventually comes to a bonfire where they act out the story of St. Martin while everyone surrounds the bonfire. After that, everyone walks back to the Burgerhaus (town hall) where you can get hot chocolate, Glu Wein (hot wine for drinkers) and the kids can turn in their ticket to St. Martin to get a large bread shaped as a man. I have always enjoyed celebrating this holiday with the locals. Adeline's school (AFNORTH International school) always host their own St. Martin at the school. I have never gone because I thought the local ones would be much more enjoyable. Adeline begged to go to the school one this year. Of course Abe was on shift that day/night, so I ventured out with the three girls by myself. They had a little assembly and then they had their little parade around the outside of the school. At the end you could get your bread man and drinks. It was really lame in my opinion and not the same as the local celebrations. I was disappointed we didn't participate in our town our last year here, but the girls had fun and that's all that really matters!

Adeline and her friend Katelyn

Portugal {Part 3}

Our fifth day was the Huber's last day. We also ended up having great weather this day, so that was really nice! The night before, we had met a guy at Marinha beach that does private boat tours through the local caves. We originally were signed up to do one in Lagos, but it would not have been private and been nearly as adventurous (we later found out!). So in the morning, we headed out to Praia de Marina and met our guide. I really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!

The crew headed out.



At first he should us into come caves that looked like this and had easy access.









At some point, we started exploring caves like this...



I thought we would get up close and look in because it was so small and the was was a little bit choppy. Ha, I was so wrong. As soon as we got up close, he started going really fast right into the cave. It was super dark and small and we were in a boat... with our kids. I may have almost had a heart attack. This picture does not do it justice. On the way out of the cave, he had to time us leaving through the hole with the waves. If he had gone when the waves came in, we would have all been toast! There were several caves that ended up being the same way. As we were approaching a new cave, Allie would say, "Oh no, don't go in that one!"



Pretty sure we had to leave this cave through that hole.





Everyone still in good spirits.



THIS cave, is what I really wanted to see. You can get amazing shots of it on the beach, but of course we weren't aloud to get out of the boat.









Afterwards, we headed to the Lagos Marina to find some lunch.



After lunch, we headed to the Ponte da Piedade which I was dying to see!















Afterwards, we headed to a local beach called Praia da Dona Ana. It is one of the famous beaches of Lagos and a local had suggested it to us. This was my least favorite beach of all of them. The most crowded and not as beautiful as the others. Of course it was still a great time!











Meika was so tired from not napping. She kept finding her "bear bear" and binky in my purse and we would find her like this.



Our last day we had to say goodbye to the Huber's. It felt weird going to explore another beach without them. After not liking the more "popular" beach the day before, I researched some pictures of the nearby beaches and found one that looked amazing. It was sort of hidden, so I didn't even know if we would find it. There was a big main beach called Praia de Alvor which was a long sandy beach and there were quite a lot of people on it. We split off over the rocks to a nearby more secluded beach. At first we were thinking, this is nice! Adeline took this picture of us.



I knew what the beach looked like I wanted to go to and this wasn't exactly it, so we went exploring. There was a little pathway that led somewhere that we started following...





And then it opened up to the beach I was looking for: Tres Irmaos Praia









This was such an awesome beach!







This was probably the coldest day, but we didn't care!









Remember how I said Meika wasn't interested in the water? In fact, she was terrified of the ocean. Well, she got over this on our last day. She was hilarious running around in the water. She would stop and squeal at the top of her lungs in pure excitement.



I loved how the waves crashed far out, but then the water would come up and stay shallow for a long time.

















Seriously, what a fun trip. That was such a great ending for us. And how could I not take a naked picture of Meika after clearing loads of sand out of her swimsuit and diaper?