Now that we have been here for a few days, I am starting to relax and take it all in. As much as I want to treat this like a holiday, and try to pack everything into as little time as possible, I am trying to remind myself that we have plenty of time to explore the surrounding area. Okay, I'll be honest, my family keeps reminding me of it, I want to go, go, go. I can't help it, it's who I am. I have however kept myself occupied nesting. Organizing cupboards, rearranging furniture, unpacking and finding places for all our stuff, figuring out guest rooms...you know, generally chilling out and relaxing.

We have had a few issues, but generally things are coming together. I booked a hotel room at the Malaga airport the night we arrived, so that we could arrive and go straight to bed, then pick up the rental car at the airport in the morning and drive to Casa Yolo. After waiting an hour for our bags we found out that there was no courtesy shuttle to the hotel which was 1 km away. I looked into picking up the rental car one day early, but they said we couldn't pick it up 12 hours early; we would have to rent a car for the night and bring it back the next day for our reserved car, so we took a taxi which ended up costing 25 Euro for the 1 km drive. I nearly lost my mind! Shane calmed me down, and said it was worth it. Out of principle I almost wanted to walk...if we didn't have 250 kg of luggage, and if it wasn't 10 PM and dark, and if we knew where we were going, and if my family wouldn't have killed me...I probably would have.

The hotel was one of the smallest rooms I have ever stayed in. It barely fit a double bed and crappy pullout couch. By the time we brought our bags in, and stacked them as high as we could, it was an obstacle course to make it from the beds to the bathroom. None of that mattered though, it was a much needed place to sleep. After breakfast in the morning, we walked back to the airport (no taxi this time). We had been to the rental counter the night before, so we knew exactly where to go...unfortunately, you could only access it from the secured arrivals area. We spent an hour walking in circles and asking directions, which kept leading us to a dead end. The most frustrating part is that the counter was on the other side of a glass wall from us. So close...yet so far away. Finally, we got directions to the kiosk in the parkade where we waited in line for 30 minutes, then waited for them to bring us the car for another 30 minutes. Finally we went and asked, and they gave us the keys and told us where it was parked. Why they didn't do that to begin with, I have no idea! We headed back to the hotel and loaded our bags. We had nightmares of needing to rent two vehicles to fit all of our stuff, but the Fiat Doblo had tons of space...okay, just enough. By Canadian standards, it would be a small SUV, but after parking it in a few parkades, it felt bigger than our long box F150. We will be happy to trade it in on a compact car this week.

The highways are great in Spain, but once we left the highway and headed towards our villa the fun began. The roads are not as bad as many places in the world, but they are definitely fun! The area is made up of hills and cliffs, so the roads are steep and windy with lots of switchbacks.

After arriving at our villa, meeting with our landlord, kids testing out the pool and picking bedrooms, we headed into town to buy groceries. So far, we have BBQ'd and eaten outside every night.

It will take some time, but slowly I am adjusting to paradise. I had three criteria when picking a house:
1. Walking distance to the beach-It is not an easy walk, but we have done it a few times already, and it will definitely keep us fit.
2. Pool-kids have practically lived in the pool...SO worth it! Can't wait until we have more people here to share it with.
3. Quiet/not in a big city-We are successfully remote, hopefully the commute to school every day won't become a pain. The cicidas are noisy, but they become white noise after a while, we do hear the goats as well when they wander into the yard to snack on the carob trees, oh yes, and the faint sound of the waves at night...I think it will do.

We spent the entire day Friday trying to get the kids registered in school, tomorrow we will do the same. School starts on September 12, so hopefully it is sorted by then. Tuesday we need to trade the rental car in on something smaller, so we will do some shopping while in the bigger city. We are thinking we need to look at inflatable SUP and/or kayaks, bikes, and a climbing guide book of the area.

Vida es bueno!
Kris