Playgrounds in Marbella
So much fun!
Will I make it or won't I?
There are plenty of playgrounds in Marbella but unlike the UK where mums get together in toddler groups, it can be hard for new comers and new mums to find these playgrounds as they are often tucked away in the Marbella urban areas.
I took Erikita today to the playground close to Swans primary school in Marbella. Photos below for you to see it if you haven’t been before.
More suitable for older children rather than toddlers as the climbing frame was tricky for Erikita and she’s nine! She loved the zip wire, but again needed some help getting onto the ramp. If she had worn trainers rather than flip flops it may have helped. 
Lots of stones/gravel in this playgrounds so trainers highly recommended, if your little ones haven’t outgrown them over the summer.
Smaller swings and a mini slide for younger tots but I would say best suited for those aged 6 years and up.
Directions….if you know where Swans school is located ( the primary school) carry on driving ( Swans school is on your right) and turn 2nd right. You will see a circular dog walking/poopie area on your right. Go up the hill and about quarter of the way up is the playground. Plenty of off road parking here.
Word of warning, the slides are too hot in the summer to use. Hot metal and bottoms don’t mix. We just went for about 15 minutes, took water with us and that was enough exercise for the year, I mean day….
You can also walk to the El Corte Ingles here if you fancies a little sit down drink. There is a restaurant/cafe area on the 1st floor.
Air conditioned!!!!!!!!!!!
Slippery slide.....
Me, getting carried away....
Climbing frames, slides, swings and zip wires....
Teenage party
My son has just come into the bedroom to ask me if he can stay up until 11pm on Thursday for a party. Really pleased that he was getting a social life, maybe meeting a friend after years of just being interested in his own company so I said “YES!”.
Turns out he’s part of Guild called House of Rice, well that’s what it sounded like, on the internet game World Of Warcraft. He wants to go to this “party” as he’s been invited and all his “virtual friends” are going. I asked him to describe the party and he told me it wasn’t really a party, he just used that word because it’s a word I would understand. What’s he implying? The last party I experienced was cica 1986.
So the party is actually a raid on a robot. I asked him how many people were going, whilst trying not to laugh as his sister made a big L sign with her fingers at me whilst smiling sweetly at him. Turns out there are two going. I expect one of those was him.
All is well though as it turns out he now cannot go as he needs a speaker. I said ” can I speak for you?” He meant a proper, record player ( see I’m old…) type speaker. So I guess The Guild of Rice house party won’t be much of a party after all and I think the robot, whoever or whatver that is, will survive until Friday morning.
We can all sleep easy now…..
The wanderer returns
My better half has been away in the UK for five days, which is a long time for us to be apart. The first couple of days I found myself lovingly sniffing his clothes in his wardrobe and had to remind myself that he wasn’t dead. I then had to battle the demons as a voice whispered to me ” but what if he was….” Well I’d have a lot more closet space for a start…..
Night times have been the worse. Much as it is pain at times to hear the little snores ( I am being kind…), to find myself pinging upwards towards the ceiling when he gets into bed ( he’s heavier and taller than me …by some measure) it is also re-assuring and comforting to have your BFF lying next to you. I won’t complain quite so hard next time I wake up at 3am due to him fidgeting in his sleep. Little noises became big noises and I began to wonder about the legality of going to bed with a pair of knitting needles tucked under the pillow. I also wondered what I was supposed to do with them should a robber decide to appear in the night through the shutters. Knit him a jumper? Poke out his eyes? Quite frankly I’d probably not even see him as I struggle enough to see people’s faces during the day time. Having a weapon of mass destruction under my pillow didn’t give me comfort as I then spent night three worrying that I might sleepwalk and hurt my own children with them. Or stab myself. On night four I put them back in the sewing box, looked down at my uncut toenails and decided that they would suffice in an emergency.
I’ve enjoyed the usual things that women do when their better halfs are not around.
The loo seat is down, one bathroom is always clean, the bed is really easy to make in the morning, the ironing pile is much reduced, dinner times have consisted of toast and cereal and I’ve caught up on all the SKY tv that I wanted and deleted a few Top Gears….
I’ve also got two dead birds on the terrace that nobody will deal with ( thanks Garfield…) I’m a bit fed up of toast and cereal, the clothes in my hubby’s wardrobe are losing the sniff factor, now I want the real thing, I haven’t slept properly for five nights and being the only parent in the house is really hard work. Hats off to all you single mums and dads. Being a mum and dad all rolled into one is not easy and I only did it for five days. I’ve given myself a C minus.
Hubby is due back in 2 hours and 30 minutes and I’m a very happy girl…..:)
Bogus Bodies
9.30am as I headed to the re-cycling skips, bleary eyed as I’m going to bed too late I had the fright of my life. I’ll show you…..I thought it was a real person.
It scared the neighbour too…..then I took a close up photo which begs the questions “who buys this stuff?”
Release the child inside you….
It is there, you may just have to dig deep.
I think most mums find it difficult to make time to have fun. We are so busy giving to the family, giving to the workplace, that our idea of fun becomes an early night or a glass of wine. “Me time” is in short supply too, with a hot bath run with the remains of shampoo bottle considered a pampering experience and if you get to eat breakfast on a school run day sitting down, you are achieving more than me…..
Well today for some reason everyone was up earlier than usual and little Erikita and I grabbed our bikes and went for a quick bike ride. If you head out before 10.30am the mornings are cool enough to go out without emergency supplies of a backpack filled with water, water, more water, salt tablets and the local ambulance number. Gracious, I even managed to go out without my mobile phone.
It has been a long time since I was last on a bike and I had long forgotten just how much fun it can be. When the children were very small we used to go out but the whole time I would be turned around like an owl watching my brood, worrying that at any minute they could get concussion, be hit by a car on a pavement or crash in a heap and end up in a coma. It wasn’t really what I would call fun….
Now Erikita is older the worrying is less and we both went out and cycled away. A lot of it was downhill and there is something about sticking your legs out on a bike and shouting ” wheeeeeee” with the wind ( yes a wind is produced when you are travelling at 45km downhill…) that is utterly liberating. There were quite a few workmen and gardeners working on the villas nearby and I found myself smiling away at them, shouting ” hola” at anyone and everyone. Being a little childish on my bike made me more friendly.
Erika and I noticed the soldier ants marching away, the advocadoes on the trees, butterflies, swallows, all the wild flowers on the verges and mostly just how beautiful the mornings are…when you are on a bike.
I wouldn’t say we cycled enough to get fit, I wouldn’t say we cycled enough to work up a sweat, but we definitely cycled enough to feed our souls and I did release my inner child today. It felt gooooood!
Now, anyone for a game of tiddlywinks?
Catty chit chat
Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth but a lizard might....
All these gorgeous photos of the kittens has made me want to take a break from my boring work emails and website work and purrr away about the wonderful world of cats.
I do think of myself as a cat lover. I just happen to love everyone else cats and not my own. I counted how many cats we had looked after recently and it amounted to 11 cats. We have 2 left, so I wouldn’t be a good candidate for looking after Sharon’s kittens ( below…)
Garfield is our oldest cat, he’s three. I told you, I’m not very good at looking after them. In the early days they used to get diseased and dribble a lot until I found Pointer’s Vet in Nueva Andalucia and realised that you could get cats vaccinated. Then a few were hit by cars. I really did try to slow down…..Recently and more sinisterly the cats we had began to disappear one by one. I think Nagueles Park is a lovely place for cats…..
We also have Olly. He didn’t come from Triple A, he appeared at the garden gate, all cute and fluffy, 6 weeks old and with huge bluey eyes. I melted, he wormed his way into the house ( later I found some real ones, another trip to Pointers Vet) and last time I saw him he was making himself comfortable on my just washed outside cream sofas. He is now hiding. He knows I’m cross, very cross but it could be worse. My friend’s dad has a cat they adopted that pees on their inside sofas.
Between them Garfield and Olly plot my demise. In the morning when I am sweeping the bags under my eyes over my shoulders they try to trip me up down the stairs. They leave nasty half eaten creatures on the doorstep and the odd cockroach, legs still moving….They bring on my cat allergy with their hairs and two days ago Olly decided to have a bout of sickness and diarrohoea whilst we were having a family meal.
However without them my children would be miserable and when we come back from a few days away camping and they rush inside, well, yes I will have missed them too. When they are good, they are very, very good, but when they are bad…..well the yowls you hear now and then that you think are mating cats.
That will be me and I’m not mating……
Cute Kittens looking for a home…your home.
Kittens/cats they make really easy pets and children get so much out of having a pet in the home. You just know you want one and if you are feeling greedy for goodness then you can actually have three kittens as there are three poor orphaned fluff balls looking for a new home. Adopt one and you will go straight to heaven. I did a deal with St Peter himself. He’s a big cat lover.
Just in case I haven’t convinced you here is the case for taking one.
Three tiny kittens. They’re all fit and healthy, about 2.5 weeks old now, no teeth yet and need to be bottle fed. As they haven’t any teeth the animal charities cannot take them in. They’re all drinking beautifully by bottle and are nowhere near as much trouble as you’d think! So, if anyone is interested in taking one, two or more, for a week or two or longer (forever would be nice!) then please contact Sharon at info@comarni.com or telephone 952 90 80 61. There’s one white one with pale grey stripy tails and ears, plus one tabby, and one very pretty dark tabby and white mix. Gender not determined yet. Any help gratefully appreciated.
And if that isn’t enough, think of those big dark eyes of Puss in Boots on Shrek 1, 2 and 3. You could have your very own Puss in Boots.
I want to find these cute boys and girls a home so much I’ve trashed my entire website layout for them.
HERE
Repeat after me.
” I want a kitten. I want a kitten. I want a kitten….” and then phone Sharon.
Arm numbing cream for blood tests for children
I’ve never been offered this before but in the UK a friend recently took her children for a blood test and she was given a special cream that you use an hour before the blood test. It numbs the area so that there is no pain. With children it can be difficult finding a vein and getting enough blood so this cream sounds like a very good idea. It won’t stop the fear of the needle, but if the needle doesn’t hurt then the next time around it may be easier. I wish I had known about this cream last year after a terrible experience at the Clinica Ochoa in Marbella. The nurses were clearly inexperienced at taking blood. The USP in Marbella had been fabulous…..
Mine are due blood tests next week so tomorrow when we see the doctor I’m going to see if I can get this from the pharmacy here in Spain.
The name of the cream is Ametop, there is another one called Emla 5%.
White Knights on horseback
Gin Gin who is 12 told me a story that I thought quite sad. She was with her friends and they began talking about where they saw themselves in the future.
One girl said she imagined herself with a baby before being married and then getting married and having another baby. Another girl said she imagined herself getting married, having a baby and then getting divorced. Gin Gin said she imagined getting married, having two children and living happily ever after.
Thank God some girls can still believe in the white knight on horseback sweeping them off their feet and living happily ever after. It won’t happen for a lot of them, but how lovely to still have that day dream as a child before they meet the spotty faced teen called James that will two time them with Sophia the school hockey champ…..
I’m back to being English
I spent a good week morphing into being Spanish. Spanish flags, I wore red a lot more than usual, enjoyed being English with my sallow skin that has a hint of yellow. I stopped indicating in my car, used my horn with passion and I didn’t say thank you or please and started drinking tinto verano at lunchtime. I had worldcup fever.
Well last night the change happened and I went back to being English. Erikita was playing Cooking Mama on the Nintendo DS and asked if I’d like her to make some scones for me. That was it. Emergency speed dial to my husband asking if he had left the office. He hadn’t, great, go get me fruit scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam this instant from Supersol.
I re-assured him that I wasn’t pregnant, insane or having a surprise visit from the Queen, but that it was just one of my cravings.
I have the best husband in the world as he came back with a little glass jar filled with thick Devonshire cream, fruit scones and strawberry jam. I had two last night and have had one this morning and yes, I feel sick and I’ve stuck the emergency numbers to the fridge door as I think I could have a heart attack coming on. But that could be the stress of seeing my ironing pile heading towards the ceiling.
Either way, I’m English and I’m thinking for supper……fish and chips followed by apple pie and custard?
ps fruit scones in Supersol are found in the freezer section….that’s if there are any left as I’m stockpiling and I don’t just mean around my thighs and bum.
As if that thick clotted Devonshire cream would ever make it to 2011……