Thursday 31st August

Fetched Emma and Amy over in the afternoon, now that I have conquered my fear of the jeep, and all the girls spent an afternoon having fun and capers around the pool. The apartment that Hop found for his sister is perfect, as the patio is right near the pool, and we can sit in the shade and keep an eye open whilst the kids play.
Gill's husband went to get some petrol just as we arrived, and ended up gone for 2 hours. When he came back he said that he got lost, even though there are 2 petrol stations virtually just down the road, and the truth eventually came out when Gill rumbled a sandy patch on his arm.
In an effort to keep the kids out of some of the sun in the afternoon, we kept sending Sammy and Emma to the shop for bits and bobs, which they loved as it gave them a bit of independance. Quite amusing to see how they kept thinking that they were being swindled. (Highly unlikely as I would say that if anyone was up to a spot of swindling, I would say they would be two likely candidates, and indeed it came out that two extra juices had been procurred and drunk on the way back round!)
Had a family dinner at La Fortuna, and i had a huge chunk of probably the tastiest lamb on the island. So tender it more or less melted in my mouth!
Hop and Paul required more liquid refreshment afterwards so we wandered down to the front in Los Cristianos. They had beers, I had a couple of espressos, Gill had a coke whilst the kids hopped about on a giant spiderweb of a climbing frame. (Mookster was kipping in her pushchair by this time). One kid had an accident and jumped off the frame, we think trying to impress Emma and Sammy. Port police appeared on the scene, and summoned an ambulance to take the hapless individual away. Emma and Sammy were less than impressed, and were infact unsympathetically scathing about the matter.