Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Summer is Over! The Summer is Over!--Final Summer Blog Post

23 September 2012

The summer is over!  Max is going back to school tomorrow!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  OK, now that I've gotten that out of my system...

It has been a truly wonderful summer.  We've gotten to travel more than I ever thought possible, we finally managed to find a boat and get moved into it and gotten it here and we're learning our way around Lagos.  We've seen Max's school, met the teachers, helped work on the school getting it ready for the year to start, and we've gotten to spend way more "quality time" with Max than most parents ever get to spend with their children.  It's been truly fantastic and life is good...

However, it's time for Max to head back to school.  I know he's enjoyed the summer, but he's looking forward to going back and using his brain for things besides math games on the computer.  Since he's been hanging out with us so much, his time with other kids has been limited.  He's met some kids at the pool, but they have mostly been on vacation and have had to leave within a few days, so it will be fun for him to meet some more permanent friends.  Also, since he will learn Portuguese, it will be easier for him to understand what's happening at soccer practice and to talk more with his teammates there.  Max is excited about learning Portuguese and I am looking forward to getting into a bit more of a routine.  I've been wracking my brains trying to decide what to do with myself professionally and once Max is gone during the day I'll be able to devote some serious time to this issue.  I'm also looking forward to playing tennis with Frank (if he can keep all comments, both good and bad, to himself :) ), and coming up with some sort of exercise routine.  Frank and I are also planning on taking some Portuguese classes too.

All the parents of the first class were asked to make some sort of roll/case for the students' drawing utensils, so I am including pictures of what I made here.  I know I've posted these on Facebook, but I am way too excited about it, although now that I'm looking at it I wish I had made it smaller.
All rolled up-the ribbon is to tie it.

It's got individual spots for the wide ones and the narrow ones.


The back of it, with his name and the year.




This past week was quite busy.  We rented a car for three days and did some sightseeing.  On Tuesday we went to Silves and checked out the old Moorish castle.  
The Max who ate the canary...

This was the inside of the cafe where Max had ice cream and Frank and I had coffee.  Such a pretty room!


Wednesday we went to the water park.  We had promised Max for ages that we would take him once September came and the tourists left so it wouldn't be crowded (it was also nice that in September he got to go for free) and we were right.  There was almost no one there and we never had to wait longer than about two minutes to do anything--Max even got to sit in the front row of the roller coaster three times!  No pictures from there because I wanted to go on things too, but here is a picture of a picture of Max holding a boa constrictor...


Thursday we went to Sagres (about 30 km the other direction) and saw the fort and the end of Portugal.  Then we went to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world for lunch and a swim before we had to return the car at 4:30, so here are a few pictures from that little jaunt...









Today was our first rain since we've been here, and it was not only rain, but it was a full-blown thunderstorm.  It lasted about an hour and then it was cloudy for most of the rest of the day before the sun came through.  It's supposed to be nice for Max's first day of school tomorrow, so will post more soon!