Portuguese Easter

With Easter upon us -- a period stacked full of holidays in the UK ('bank holidays' as they're called, fitting name given my job) -- we hopped aboard a low-cost airline and flew south to Portugal for a few days (here's the full photo shoot).

This was the second spring beach vacation taken by our Howell family-of-4. The first, a trip to Puerto Rico last February, worked pretty well -- thanks in part to having Karen's mom along to help with the young'uns. This time we were without grandmotherly support... true, the kids are a bit older, and the hotel offered a morning drop-in nursery. Nevertheless, Karen and I were nervous: would we survive?? I am glad to report that despite some hitches (Karen lost her purse for a couple of days, and the kids were indeed a handful throughout), spring break #2 can be pronounced a success. 

I can't deny that I am still mourning vacations "as they used to be" -- the kind where we could read a whole book by the pool, or finish a bottle of wine over a lazy lunch. With 2-under-3 in tow it's a jungle out there... but an energizing, fun jungle. We made a good choice in destination, the Algarve coast in southern Portugal, about a 2-hour flight from London. The Sheraton Pine Cliffs, a 30 minute drive from Faro Airport, was large and luxurious but not over-the-top, and I thought very well designed. A pristine beach, multiple swimming pools, restaurants galore were all there, as were various kid-oriented activities. As for the weather, despite the shock of arriving to rain and cooler temperatures than we had been experiencing in sultry London, the weather during our stay turned out to be great. Clear, sunny mornings and occasional afternoon thunderstorms; low humidity; temperatures peaking in the mid-70s. Think San Diego or Santa Fe. I can definitely imagine going back there. 

The kids seemed to enjoy the change of scenery despite some early complaints from Sadie ("I want to go back to Eton Avenue" -- apparently "I want to go home" is too ambiguous). The hardest part for them was the disruption of the usual routine, less sleep than normal and the resulting crankiness. This is mostly on Sadie's part; she turns 3 in a month, and we keep reminding her that her "terrible twos" are supposed to be abating any day now, but we only get occasional glimpses of the placid times that allegedly await us. As for Parker, he's pretty even keeled and lots of fun, if you can keep up with him. 

Nice time of the year

Springtime continues to deliver some wonderful weather to London in 2011. Even at the height of summer, the English climate is not usually one for shorts and sandals -- a cool breeze tends to keep it too brisk for that -- but the last few weeks have brought a prolonged blast of sunny, mild, even balmy weather. So that pair of shorts that I brought over from New Jersey have been getting some good use.

A highlight of the vernal season so far was a visit to Kew Gardens last weekend. A luxurious set of botanical gardens on the west side of London, these are also surprisingly easy to get from our place, thanks to the shiny new London Overground (new line that will be transit hub during next summer's Olympics).  We met up with our friends from Sadie's ballet class, Sophie and her parents Hunter and Jenny, and had a picnic by the newly-budding azaleas. Nice.

Otherwise we've been chugging along. Some sicknesses here and there (Karen with a feverish achey joint crud, Sadie with a cold, Parker with diaper rash and me with a quick 1-day bug) but nothing too prolonged and generally we feel a lot healthier than we did last fall. Sadie is currently on spring break from school which is keeping Karen and Andrea particularly busy, especially since Sadie's back in a phase of hard-core terrible two defiance (always gets worse when she's sick). I've been traveling a bit (3 days in US, where I got to see my family in DC which was great; and a day in Zurich). 

The exterior work on our house continues, and although we managed to negotiate a modest rent reduction out of it we're still pretty pissed off at the situation. Hoping we at least get some of the warmer weather without spending it with a bunch of Polish workers over coffee and cigarettes (which they spend a lot more time consuming than they do working on the house).