Blue sky meets blue ocean...bliss!

We just got back from a two week holiday to Spain. It was wonderful. Blue sky meets blue ocean and much needed warm temps. Low of 23C (73F) at night and high of 35C (95F) during the day. We could not have had better weather, we were blessed!

It was truly a swimming holiday. We were in the pool or the ocean or both on a daily basis...I even think one day was pool in the morning, ocean in the afternoon and Tim and Lexi took another evening dip in the pool. We also hit a few playgrounds, ate our fair share of ice cream and lived in our swim gear. We did venture out of Santa Pola a bit since we had rented a car as you will see in the pics below.

Here is our one and only family pic taken on the boardwalk in Benidorm. Seriously, this is one pic out of 400+ pics... I think it turned out quite well :)

The pool (Lillian didn't last too long in her float...she kept trying to crawl out of it...)

Swinging is so much fun
Run, run into the surf as fast as you can...over and over again.

Walking in the sand with bare feet is the best

Lillian and I at the zoo in Benidorm (Terra Natura)

Floppy hat Lexi at the zoo in Benidorm waiting for the Birds of Prey show to start

Lillian isn't so sure what to think of the birds that fly around the stands during the show.

As part of the show, a falcon landed on my head. It felt like an intense head massage.

This is the annual pic of Lexi on Tim's shoulders...these days, it is Lillian that gets the priveledge, but I don't seem to have a pic of Lillian on Tim's shoulders. It's funny because she holds his ears to steer...

We visited the Aqua Natura water park after the zoo (they are conencted).

Slides are fun

A rare moment of tenderness at the market in Santa Pola

Sisters

Our beach set-up

It took a few days, but Lillian discovered the stairs in the apartment. We couldn't keep her off of them. Initially, the two empty suitcases that blocked them off served their purpose, but she quickly learned to slide the suitcases out of the way so that she could start climbing. Our little monkey.

Lexi became quite confident swimming with her arm bands and will "almost nearly" go under water. She is no longer afraid of water in her face, and will dunk her head up to her bangs, but won't go all the way under. Regardless, she made tremendous progress. We are so proud of her.

Trying on Mamma's sunglasses

Tradiotional Spanish paella

Waiting for sister to come back to the boardwalk from the beach

So close to walking solo...

The boardwalk in Torrevieja

Enormous sand castle in Benidorm

Lillian loved to play in the sand and only tried to eat it once (on the first trip to the beach)

Lajla and Tom joined us for our last three days. Lexi and Lajla didn't waste any time hitting the pool.

And the beach

Lillian was usually the first one up and she played with her toys and dolls before having breakfast.

Lillian's favorite thing was for us to dig a hole in the sand that she could climb in and out of - filling it with water makes it double fun.

Sand everywhere...