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?

Portugal {Part 2}

Our third day in Portugal we really wanted to head down to a town called Tavira. It was supposed to be a really neat town and there is a beach nearby that you have to walk over a bridge and take an old fashion train over to the beach. We did drive to Tavira and as soon as we got there, it was a complete downpour. It was raining so hard that you were completely drenched if you stood outside for 2 seconds. It was such a bummer. We ended up going out to lunch and then drove around hoping the rain would quit. Of course it didn't, so we drove over an hour back to our house.

The kids entertained themselves.



We found Meika and Blake on our bed snuggled up watching the ipad at one point. So cute!



Miraculously, It stopped raining before dinner time and the sun came out. We quickly jumped in the car and drove down the road a couple minutes to hit another beach. We found this neat lookout point on our way.













About a minute down the road, we found Praia Sao Rafael. This beach was also amazing. I liked this one better than the other one we went to. Here is a picture looking down on the beach from the parking lot.



If you look closely in this picture, you can see that there is an opening in between the rocks right below where the water is coming down.



Of course the boys timed the big scary waves and ran back there. The even ran with some of the kids in their arms so they could see it. You could get to another small secluded beach from there, there was a small waterfall and cool rock formations. Of course Brooke and I decided to give it a go. We made it there safely and this is a view of what we ran through to get there.



And then of course one the waves would come up, which were quite often and we couldn't see when they were coming!



Norah and Avery posing by the mini waterfall



Secluded beach behind the rocks



Brooke and I both had our nice cameras with us, so we were a little nervous to go back. Brooke went first and as soon as she started running a huge wave crashed and it looked like she got hit up against the rocks. Once the wave went back down, she went running with her camera above her head. She luckily didn't get hurt and saved her camera's life. Luckily, I got out of there with no injuries :)

Abe teaching the girls to plant their feet in the ground so they don't get swept away!



Of course Norah almost always got swept away. That girl has no fear.













And of course Abe always is throwing Norah around... at her request.







It got pretty darn cold at the beach, so we finally had to call it a night and head back to the house for dinner.

The next day was by far our nicest day. It felt pretty warm and the sun was out. We decided to go to Praia de Marinha. From what I read, it was supposed to be more of a "hidden gem" and I would rather go somewhere like that! It was supposed to have great snorkeling, but unfortunately the water was way to rough for any of that. Here are some views from the parking lot.











Walking down to the beach...



On our way to find a more secluded spot towards the end of the beach





And we found a great spot with hardly any people around us! This beach was even better than the two we had already seen!



Looking back towards the beginning of the beach





Meika doing her stuff!







It was nice not having to worry to much about the babies wanting to be in the water the entire time. They would much rather play in the sand!






We climbed through a couple rocks to get to this secluded beach.



And another view of the beach we were playing on.



At night the girls would either all jump in the spaceship shower together or take a bath in a crazy huge bathtub that had lights, jets, etc.



That night we went down to the beach so I could take some family pictures of the Hubers. Here are a couple random ones involving my kids :)







And the kids would end their night like this...