Nedster's World now featuring Ellis!

Tuesday 18th
Bread making for homework this week, proper last minute of course as always.  Here's my rolls, pre-rise:

There aren't any post rise or indeed baked pictures as it was eaten pretty swiftly.

Wednesday 19th
Tag rugby went well this week, we did a bit more structured practice stuff and I outdid the boys on many occasions which has helped my confidence no end.

Friday 21st
Last day of term, yay, how exciting.  Gave gymnastics a miss and used my time more wisely, getting ready for tomorrow....

Saturday 22nd
Holiday time!

A return trip to Fuerteventura, and rather weirdly the flight was at a civilsed time (midday) and on a  Saturday.  Unprecedented scenes.

We met up with Kimi, Marny, Abi and Faye and their associated adults at Andy's and headed for Gatwick.  It was Abi and Fayes first flight and they were pretty excited, I made sure Faye was looked after:

Things got off to a great start when the lady on security waved us through the 'Premium' lane, dodging the worst of the queues:

We got through quickly and had time for a meal at the Wetherspoons as it was very nearly lunchtime.

Then it was time to wait for a bit:

We soon saw the plane taxi down the runway and dock at our boarding gate and very soon after it was time to board.

The flight seemed to pass really quickly this time and we were soon flying over the parched, dry looking landscape, littered with enticing looking swimming pools from above.  We had a longer than usual wait to pick up our hire car before we could get on our way to the villa and by the time we got there it was already dark.  Didn't stop us from having our now customary dip in the pool of course efore heading to bed.

Sunday 23rd
What better way to kick off our holiday than a sunny day by the pool, Ned seemed to feel at home rather quickly:

Faye and I did too:

It was hard work though:

We took a drive out to the beach in our super cool hire car:

A Fiat Doblo no less, maybe even brown depending on how the light caught it!

We went for a brief dip in the sea, well it would have rude not o after all.  We didn't see much in the way of fish when we were snorkelling, probably because the sea was pretty rough and the sand got swirled up.

You do see the strangest things in car parks though....

The weather closed in a bit in the late afternoon and it got a bit wet.  We thought it had eased off and started walking down to the village for a meal out.  It started lashing it down though, so we decided to hot foot it back to the villa until it eased off enough to make another trip a bit later on.

We sat out the back, andthere was enough rain still coming down off the roof that it wasdripping through the awning and onto the floor.

Monday 24th
The rain carried on and off through the night, come morning time we had a few new interior water features:

The rest of the day was sunny and warm thugh, we hung out bythe pool and enjoyed the sunshine.

Tuesday 25th
It was pretty overcast but still lovely and warm, we went to the beach to try another spot of snorkelling but despite finding a lovely calm cove, out to sea was seriously wild.  The waves were truly massive which meant the visibilty in the water wasn't great.  We had a nice splash about and then, under foreman Ned's guidance built a lovely volcanic rock wall/windbreak/footings of a hut.  We employed Dad, Nick and Ben to shift the really heavy slabs and Faye kept them all busy by finding partially submerged rocks that need ped a lot of excavation. 

We took a trip out to the furthest point at the lighthouse and enjoyed the sight of the epic waves.  Ned and Abi decided they would add their effort to the landscape, litterd with similar constructions:

Wednesday 26th
We 'd managed to wear the grown ups down eventually, today was to be early Halloween!

Art club was in full effect, getting as many extra dcorations ready as we could manage with our supplies:

While the boys enjoyed the pool, Ned no doubt saving his energy for the main event later on our 2 euro lilo's:

We took a trip out to the East coast across the dunes looking for waves.  Ned, Dad and Andy went for a surf, while Mum and I stayed in the car, I was tired and it looked a bit grey overhead.  We made the right call, it soon went from grey to almost black as the clouds gathered and the rain came down.  They didn't seem to mind in the sea as they were wet anyway.  The lightning and thunder that soon followed was a different kettle of fish and they were soon back at the car trying desperatley hard to get dryand get dressed in a serious downpour which stopped as quickly as it stared.

It had all blown over by the time we got back to the villa and we were treated to a lovely sunset:

Then the most anticipated event of the week, the great halloween sweet hunt.  Being such a big villa there were a lot of hiding places to search, we left very few stones keft unturned!

We were 'contained' in a bedroom until it was time for us to be unleashed:

We amassed quite a haul:

And there were even a few left overs that had to be divvied up:

It was rather tiring work:

Thursday 27th
I felt a bit ropey overnight (not down to overindulgence on halloween sweets I might add) so it was touch and go as to whether or not I wanted to go to the waterpark as planned.  In the end I decided I would go for it.  Although I wasn't on top form I enjoyed myself and took it much easier than I normally would and enjoyed some serious sun bed time.  The others seemed to really love it and get stuck in though which was good.

I really ought to mention my holiday romance at this point.  Charlie, the local cat.  She was so cute, so loving and so friendly that by Thursday she really felt like part of the furniture. 

 I spent hours with her, fussing her, making her beds, giving her iced water and cat treats and even making impromptu toys using a nice stick with a feather toed to the end that she loved:

Very best of all though, she didn't make me sneeze or wheeze or turn my eyes bright red!
We went out for an evening meal on the Corralejo main strip, after a few false starts we settled on a nice looking place that actually had real linen table cloths (Nick's top criteria).  So we had a proper civilised meal all together followed by a bit of late night shooping on the way back.

Friday 28th
Dad's birthday today, and only a small amount of squabbling giving him his cards and holiday present.

Then it was out for our second most hotly anticipated event of the week, Kayaking with Jorge!

After he had to cancel our trip three years ago due to thunder we were glad to have a glorious daythis time round.  We spent a while kitting up, getting a few tips on efficient paddling and then we were in the water.  I went with Dad and Ned went with Mum.  Our styles were quite a contrast, Mum and Ned opting for a strictly regimented synchronised stroke (started well, soon descended into arguments before really getting it together eventually) whereas Dad and I opted for a more telepathic and wholly more laid back approach.  Jorge complimented me on my paddling and said it was rare for a youngster like me to kick out such horsepower and not just sit back for the ride, he was very impressed with my determination.  The thing was, it was really easy to get going and glide along  the sea and I loved it.  We finished up on a tiny beach between the volcanic rocks for some snorkelling over the reef, it was teeming with fish.

A special mention to Faye for this one, she isn't that confident in the water yet but she did brilliantly on the kayak.  At one point she was so brave she even swapped boats with me while out at sea.

As it was Dad's birthday we decided it would be a good idea to get a takeaway curry.  So after he had actually ordered it himself (truly remarkable, he never uses the phone) and then gone to collect it in the car we decorated the table with the best materials we had to hand:

I think he was genuinely impressed with our efforts.

Saturday 29th
Another lazy day by the pool today, plenty of loving for Charlie the cat and time for silly selfies with Faye:

We went snorkelling down at the El Cotillo lagoons in the late afternoon. The wind was almost still and the water was crystal clear, perfect conditions.  I decided to stay on the beach and do some long jump practice instead though.  The others seemed to love it, with tales of all sorts of exotic fish and even a reasonably big ray that Mum claimed to have accidentally trodden on.

Once it got dark it was moonlight swimming, at the request of Faye who had been on about it most of the week on and off.  It was great fun, but with no outside lighting, very, very dark indeed.

Sunday 30th
The weather was seriously hot and sunny by now, Charlie was certainyl takng it easy:

We had a game of spot the Ellis in the garden:

Mum tried to hide from the relentless sun:

The pool attendant was on duty:

We headed off to the dunes in the late afternoon, it's great to run across them in the sand towards the beach.

This time we actually made it to the water and had a lovely swim on our last day.  

It'll be a while before we're back in the sea again without a wetsuit!

Some herberts had got to the sandstone though:

We had an early start to tomorrow for our journey home, so we had a mellow night:

Monday 31st
So we were up at stupid o'clock to drive to the ferry port, to catch the catamaran to Lanzarote (lovely out on the rear deck) before our minibus transfer to the airport and a super quick ( 3.5 hours) flight home to a surprisingly bright and sunny England.  We were even home int ime for Ned to go Trick or Treating with his friends, he was thrilled.