….Take me back to the place that I know....On the beachGemma and the kids!!!!!!
They arrived in fine spirits and ready for their 6 weeks! stay.
We had rearranged the spare bedroom to accommodate them all with a blow up bed and a travel cot for Arwen, we all had a good nights sleep and awoke at 7am!!!! ready for our first full day of kids on the beach, kids in the pool whilst still maintaining 6 gigs a week!, Unfortunately it was still very windy, too windy to go anywhere, we even had to eat in the kitchen it was so blustery, which was strange for us as we have always eaten out on the balcony here. We did manage the Athina pool later on that day as the winds died down.
On the beach…….
We took them all in the morning to the Athina pool, home for lunch then a quick siesta
On the beach…….
We took them all in the morning to the Athina pool, home for lunch then a quick siesta
...then we thought we’d take Finley & Arwen for their first taste of the beach; literally! as it turned out, both of them sampled eating sand
before they realised it was more fun splashing in the sea and watching their granddad dig in the sand!!! (Keith welcomed the excuse to finally be able to dig holes in the sand and make sandcastles)
The following day we went back for a longer spell, armed with parasols, buckets & spades, toy trucks and a borrowed Lilo from one of our friends who runs the local sun bed hire, we also had armbands for Finley so he could really go in the sea.We’d picked the hottest day so far to do this (40 degrees) and although we kept the little ones smothered in lotions we all had to spend a lot of time in the sea and under the parasols to keep cool.
Finley never stopped running all day, until he finally fell asleep on the lilo under a parasol after a long play in the sea. 
At the end of the first week the weather changed again and we had a couple more windy days, so we decided to go out and about looking for some sheltered bays to play out in. After a hearty breakfast we all piled into the car and set off for Paleokastritsa only 30 mins away. But 10 miles and 20 minutes later Finley woke up and promptly threw up everywhere, all over Gemma and the back seat of the car. And because he is 2 years old and at the ‘touch every button’ and ‘play with every switch’ stage, we had centrally locked the windows and the doors of the car, poor Gemma couldn’t even stick Finley’s head out of the window to avoid the deluge. We pulled over, hosed Gemma and Finley down, threw away some of the stuff in the back of the car (including a book that Keith had borrowed from his colleague Andrew at work) that had been hit by Finley’s tsunami, then we returned home without further incident, day out cancelled, another lesson learned, don’t fill a 2 year old with yoghurt before going on windy Greek roads!
Thursday was a really rainy day and having learnt the lesson of the previous day, we didn’t fill the kids with food as we set off for a day out in Corfu town. It poured down all the way into Corfu town and it appeared that everybody else with a car had decided to do the same thing, the traffic was chaos, and many of the traffic lights had stopped working, possibly due to the rain storm. We couldn’t get into any of the town centre car parks so we headed up the main road to the airport where the supermarkets and toy shops are, first stop the Corfu branch of “toys r os” where we purchased some toy trucks and diggers. Then to another store called Jumbo where Liz was in shopping heaven, aisle after aisle of toys, toiletries and general stuff that only Liz would want to buy! 1 hour later, armed with more toys and toiletries than you could shake a stick at, we emerged into sunshine and headed back into Corfu town. This time we parked and spent a couple of hours sightseeing, eating & Caitlyn shopped till we all dropped, we even managed to fit in a visit to a children’s playground near the old fortress before going back to the car at 5pm and then home.
What an eventful first week with only 5 more to go….and as the season gets busier, more requests for gigs keep coming in, Keith is now doing 6 gigs a week and with the change in our sleeping pattern (the kids wake up at 7am) we are now finally living a Greek lifestyle and taking essential siestas in the afternoons so we don’t burn out with the pace we are keeping. Ah well back to the pool !
We all arrived home exhausted after a full day on the sand.
Keith got involved with a bit of sand castle wars with the German family who parked themselves next to us on the beach. Keith & Caitlyn had gently built a Pyramid /sand castle with the basic plastic bucket & spade set we had bought at the local shop but Keith was a bit gob-smacked when the father of the family appeared with his folding, all metal shovel come pickaxe and proceeded to tunnel his way into the sand.
Keith got involved with a bit of sand castle wars with the German family who parked themselves next to us on the beach. Keith & Caitlyn had gently built a Pyramid /sand castle with the basic plastic bucket & spade set we had bought at the local shop but Keith was a bit gob-smacked when the father of the family appeared with his folding, all metal shovel come pickaxe and proceeded to tunnel his way into the sand.
It was just like watching a military operation, we had to drag Keith away before this major earth works was completed or before he went and jumped on the turrets.
At the end of the first week the weather changed again and we had a couple more windy days, so we decided to go out and about looking for some sheltered bays to play out in. After a hearty breakfast we all piled into the car and set off for Paleokastritsa only 30 mins away. But 10 miles and 20 minutes later Finley woke up and promptly threw up everywhere, all over Gemma and the back seat of the car. And because he is 2 years old and at the ‘touch every button’ and ‘play with every switch’ stage, we had centrally locked the windows and the doors of the car, poor Gemma couldn’t even stick Finley’s head out of the window to avoid the deluge. We pulled over, hosed Gemma and Finley down, threw away some of the stuff in the back of the car (including a book that Keith had borrowed from his colleague Andrew at work) that had been hit by Finley’s tsunami, then we returned home without further incident, day out cancelled, another lesson learned, don’t fill a 2 year old with yoghurt before going on windy Greek roads!
Thursday was a really rainy day and having learnt the lesson of the previous day, we didn’t fill the kids with food as we set off for a day out in Corfu town. It poured down all the way into Corfu town and it appeared that everybody else with a car had decided to do the same thing, the traffic was chaos, and many of the traffic lights had stopped working, possibly due to the rain storm. We couldn’t get into any of the town centre car parks so we headed up the main road to the airport where the supermarkets and toy shops are, first stop the Corfu branch of “toys r os” where we purchased some toy trucks and diggers. Then to another store called Jumbo where Liz was in shopping heaven, aisle after aisle of toys, toiletries and general stuff that only Liz would want to buy! 1 hour later, armed with more toys and toiletries than you could shake a stick at, we emerged into sunshine and headed back into Corfu town. This time we parked and spent a couple of hours sightseeing, eating & Caitlyn shopped till we all dropped, we even managed to fit in a visit to a children’s playground near the old fortress before going back to the car at 5pm and then home.
What an eventful first week with only 5 more to go….and as the season gets busier, more requests for gigs keep coming in, Keith is now doing 6 gigs a week and with the change in our sleeping pattern (the kids wake up at 7am) we are now finally living a Greek lifestyle and taking essential siestas in the afternoons so we don’t burn out with the pace we are keeping. Ah well back to the pool ! 
and walked along in the direction of the Liston and the old fortress. 
We passed old Venetian style buildings some with plaques telling of the famous and not so famous people who’d lived there including Edward Lear.
We walked through the archway
We went from here to the old fortress, which dominates the east side of Corfu town, dating back to pre Byzantine times, and was made into an island by the Venetians in the 15th century when a channel was dug between the fort and the Town. We climbed to the highest point of the fort which gave us impressive views over Corfu town
Hannah befriended a young Greek girl of a similar age, who lived at the restaurant in the summer, and by the time we’d finished eating, both girls were playing well together despite having no common language between them. 
Liz’s mum stayed with us for a week, Helen & Martin moved into an apartment with Paddy & Lorraine a short distance away, (as the crow flies, but up and down 2 big hills). Doreen managed to swim in the sea most days at the pool at the Athina and had a couple of days out in the car. First with us, then with Paddy & Lorraine, with a couple of lunches in mountain villages, 
and the boys went to the Sea Monkey afternoon gig in Sidari, and despite all the tales of semi-nakedness on the beach Paddy was stilled amazed by the sight of a young couple, (in very skimpy swim wear) who had set up camp right in front of where Keith plays, and proceeded to kiss, cuddled and generally climb all over each other on one sun bed in full view of everyone in the bar, Maybe they couldn’t get a room anywhere! Luckily they decided to go for a swim to cool down; just before Keith started playing (his guitar that is and yes, on his own etc…) the boys definately needed a cold swim & shower after that gig.
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