Agua Amarga Again

This year I took a chance on our summer vacation. By mid-June, I had Nacho's following month schedule and so I knew we would be trying to get to Spain around the 23rd of July. I figured within a week of that, we would probably take a little side trip to the beach as a family. But I wasn't sure yet of Nacho's August schedule, so planning anything was a bit tricky. After a few quick searches near Agua Amarga, I was disheartened. Agua Amarga is a special little white-washed village in Almeria that Nacho and I discovered on our first beach trip back in 2012. Most of the Airbnb type rentals were not that nice or completely booked and none of it was cheap. Fast forward a few weeks and I sat down one night to make some more inquiries in that area and check out hotels too. That's when a listing came up for a place called Arto Blanco that seemed to be a sort of hybrid apartment/hotel with availability for the week starting Aug. 30th. I was intrigued. When the price came back under $1000, I was sold. But I still didn't have Nacho's time off confirmed yet and waiting wasn't an option. I booked it and prayed we'd find out in a few days that he was free until later in August. Otherwise, the girls and I would be enjoying the beach without him (yeah, right). Luckily, by middle of July we found out that he was indeed off until August 10th and so we were all systems go for both the big trip to Madrid and our beach vacation to Agua Amarga. 

Of course, booking a place online and not having been to the village for a few summers, I was slightly nervous about pulling up to a dump. But within minutes, I could see we had lucked out and our tour of the three-story apartment with the girls oohing and ahhhing every minute proved to be quite the introduction to this perfect little getaway. The girls loved all the steps and our roof deck and I loved our washer and full kitchen. Nacho was just happy to be back in the village and we all hit the beach that afternoon without a care in the world. In previous trips to that region, Nacho and I had stayed at a small resort outside of the village. So we'd never actually spent much time at the beach in Agua Amarga. But it turned out to be a great village beach for the girls and so near to our hotel that it was really the total opposite of their first trip to the beach last year when we stayed in Lorca and drove everywhere. Not that we didn't enjoy exploring different areas every day. But something about being in one place, with a beach just a 5 minute walk away was ideal. We closed out our first evening with pizza up on the roof at sunset and the most amazing views. Yeah, I could get used to this. Happy to be here and so glad we are showing this to our girls. They love it as much as we hoped they would. 

Away We Go

July was just taking shape with the girls in camp at St. Sebastian's and lots of afternoons and weekends at the park when it was all about to change. Having only 8 weeks off for summer vacation means it gets sliced up with a week of rest here, a few weeks of camp there and then a little trip to Spain and that's about it. So as we finalized Nacho's August schedule mid-month, we had a better idea of just when we could leave to see his family. Sunday July 23rd was looking like the first day we could escape so a plan was hatched and it was up to me to get things ready that week with him traveling back on a red eye that morning. I'm a veteran traveler with kids by now, but it's always a little daunting to get everything laid out for packing. The night before our big travel day we were hanging out in the park, but at least the clothes were clean. Finishing up and getting out to JFK for an early evening flight went according to plan and with a few hours delay, we got to chill inside the airport a bit longer. But Carolina just used that time to practice her gymnastics and I was able to grill Nacho a little more about my last minute idea to join him on his two back-to-back Paris overnights in August. That part of our plan wasn't firmed up until we were literally at the gate waiting for our Madrid flight and I started looking at cheap flights and discount hotel rooms. But when I found both, it seemed that maybe this could all work out. He would have to return to NYC to work by the 10th, but I could leave the girls in Madrid for a few nights and join him in Paris. Our time away from the girls hasn't happened the past few summers, so perhaps I was desperate to sneak it in. And having an excuse such as a paid hotel in Paris was all I needed. Oh yes, I would be crashing that trip, but first, we needed to make it to Spain....

Unfortunately for Carolina, this would be her last overseas trip as a five year old which meant still no first class bed for her. She took it like a champ and Elisa was bouncing off the walls when we found out we had space in the "comfortable" chairs. We boarded up and met again when we touched down in Madrid. Not a bad flight over in all honesty and probably the first time I've actually slept on a plane in years. I didn't get much shut eye, but I was comfy and as rested as possible touching down. We took a cab to Aluche and stopped in to see Kiki and Merche and pick up her car before heading off to Encinar. The girls were pumped to grab a little breakfast and see cousin Paula before making their way to the pool later in the day. The rest of the cousins came over and we gifted them a giant poop emoji pool float which was a big hit. A few restful days later we made it to a restaurant at El Lago in Madrid for lunch to celebrate Pauli's birthday. The kids were happy to hang out in the park and play a bit as lunch dragged on.  Ah yes, we were acclimating to Spanish time again and all things in due course seemed to be the theme. Thankfully there was a lot of swimming to be had, and eating things they aren't always keen on. But somehow the path to relaxing and feeding them is much easier these days. They are able to get by just fine in Papa's homeland and that's a good thing. We'll be here awhile!

Jubilant July

The luau leftovers aside, the day after the Summer Social we had to return Nacho to work at the airport, so I decided to make it an outing and we hit Bareburger for lunch before running some errands including Costco. The girls always love a little day out and about and sometimes when they are being good, it feels like this is real life. This is how it should be. So we brunched and then went off to shop and I mostly wanted to stock up on snacks and fruit, though finding mermaid tale blankets was an early birthday gift from Grandma. That's the kind of stuff her money should buy, amirite? By Monday we were out in the city on a playdate with two sister friends the same age from AOC. I love it when the feeling is mutual and we wanted to use up our Cool Culture pass a little more before it expires in November. So we met at MoMA and then grabbed some lunch on the go before hitting Central Park Zoo and the Billy Johnson playground. The girls were paired well and mostly behaved though they were clearly amped to be out and about with these friends. Summer was getting us all in the mood.

Do NOT sit on these benches. They are art. Apparently.

Nacho returned from his first (of two) trips to São Paulo this week and brought us some wonderful cachaça and havaianas for the girls

I had the pleasure of booking a few little fun evenings out for myself and with Nacho working so much it was a perfect release valve for taking on the brunt of summer by myself. The first was a trip to Summer Stage in Central Park to see PJ Harvey live. I couldn't believe my luck to see her in concert again having done it twice before when I was a slightly more rabid fan. But sometimes you need to dig deep and get back to that part of yourself that was into things like new music from one of your favorite artists ever. And so I went off to hear Polly Jean sing it out into a humid and stormy-looking night sky. She was amazing as always even if being a concert goer in this day in age is a bit annoying. So many people with their fucking iPhones in your face recording or taking terrible photos. I warned one young thang to put hers away only later realizing her English wasn't so good--but hey, she got the point. And a few others around me were equally strict. It helped that they were selling cute little cups of rosé and I had Monica and Maryann to share the fun evening with. Getting another ladies night out at the end of the week courtesy of Dawn was another perfectly stress-reducing evening. Olive came over to watch the girls and I skated off to the Empire Hotel near Columbus Circle to join the group toasting cocktails to our playgroup days and Jessie's eminent departure. We've been friends for 8, almost 9, years already most of us and the connections are hard to recreate. Having a group of moms who I could identify with initially was such a saving grace and it has been a comfort through all these years of child rearing. Losing one of our dearest feels like a harbinger of things to come in a way. More and more these days, I feel like Sunnyside is only part of our story. It's been everything to us so far, but somehow I believe there is more to come...

And yet, we are here and as much as the future might take us elsewhere living in a community where spontaneous music festivals can happen at our park or where we can just pack up and leave for the airport with only 30 min travel time is such a dream. We made the most of our last night in the neighborhood before vacation by spending it with Quinn and Adam and the boys who organized the first annual QUIP festival. Food trucks and live music added to the atmosphere and I enjoyed hanging out in a beach chair while the girls mostly ran around like always. The light rain drove us to seek cover for a bit, but thankfully it ended quickly and we were able to stay out as long as possible. Knowing we'd be captives on an airplane for so much of the following day, it felt like we had to bottle the air and take it with us. Nacho was flying home on a red eye the next morning so I made good on prepping for the trip by getting laundry done and having the girls mostly packed by Sunday morning. Now for the rest of July in Spain. Estamos listos!