Sun and Siestas

Breakfast today was in a sweet cafe with lots of shade. We ordered bomboloni (doughnuts) filled with custard and croissants. Fresh squeezed orange juice was delicious but “too pulpy” for some of the kids. At 4 euro a glass, I told them to skull it. It’s hot and we’re active and often in the full sun, so making sure we’re hydrated is genuinely important.

We rented some beach umbrellas and lounges for our local beach. We were positioned in the front row and immediately went in. Well, once we wrangled sun cream on the little darlings we went in. No, I lie! Isla couldn’t bring herself to swim. She’s scared she can’t with her arm and its lack of movement. You might notice in some of the photos she has it bent. She can’t currently

straighten it, although we think all the walking might be doing her good and gravity pulls it down. We hope! We’re so grateful she can use her arm as one of the risks with the break was she’d lose feeling or use of it. We’re grateful she’s not in a cast anymore. But it’s still hard seeing a kid who is a strong swimmer, become a child who can’t step in the water. We don’t push her today though, she needs to have control of her own body and what she is comfortable with. We also need to pick our battles and the water was calling. I secretly thought she’d get too hot and enter. She didn’t. We explain everything regarding her recovery to her again for the 1000th time and tell her we expect her to swim at some stage this week and leave it at that.

The water is lovely, the rocks not so much. They are bloody hot and hurt to walk on. We retreat under the umbrellas where I start to read my book. The

boys take off in search of gelato (in fact our apartment is above a gelateria!). I love that this village is so small that we can let the kids roam freely and confidently. There are two sides to Monterosso. The new village and the old village. They are linked via an underground tunnel. The new one has the famous beaches, the old is just that. Old! And beautiful with a smaller beach. It appears, that just like us last time, many tourists don’t even know this end exists. And that’s what makes it truly magical.

My book club in Perth is meeting up at the exact same moment that I am reading and relaxing in the sun. They reach out to me to “spin the wheel”. Each time we get together we spin a virtual wheel to see who is in charge of choosing the next book. It’s me this time! Later that day one of my gorgeous friends writes a “blog entry” for us about the evening at book club! It’s beautiful and I tear up. I can picture it, taste the wine and hear the laughter. Good friends are hard to find, a good book club even harder. I’m so glad I have both combined. And I’m truly shocked and touched that so many people have reached out to tell me they are enjoying this blog.

After a few hours we head back into the village. It’s a very short walk to our apartment. Watching the locals go about their business is fascinating and beautiful. Greeting each other in the street, carrying their fresh fruit and bread. Stopping to chat to the police who are sipping their espressos at the bar.

Mike points out that Kayden could fit in quite well here. There are groups of teens hanging out at local delis and gelato shops buying granitas. They dress and look a lot like him with their white socks and white shoes. And there are Isla look a-likes everywhere. Long brown hair, tanned skin and big brown eyes in their sandals and sun dresses. Max stands out amongst the others with his beautiful auburn hair blazing in the sunshine. His confidence to speak Italian is the best amongst the three at this stage. He rolls his r’s well and speaks loudly and confidently. The Italians love it. And so do we. This reminds me, he wants to send his year 6 teacher photos of his adventures. I love the relationship he has with him.

So focaccia is Cinque Terre’s thing! They do it really well. Our air bnb host sends us up an alley to find it. We’re so glad she did. It’s a little intimidating ordering when there is a big line behind you. We send the kids back to the apartment and promise we’ll bring back food they like. Our host suggests we also try farinata, which is a chickpea pancake. And also pan frito which is a pastry stuffed with a sour cheese. The woman serving us is impressed we know what it is and want it! The focaccias are sold by weight. We decide to go with whatever she serves. We don’t want to hold the line up. We get margherita, sliced tomato and pesto, anchovies and tomato, olive, capsicum

and eggplant and a mortadella roll. She wraps it all in paper and then into a brown paper bag. I’m buzzing! I feel like a real local. A girl can dream. She tells us the price but we can’t understand what she said. €30 or €13? Surely not €13 for 5 of us and all this food. But it is. We are gobsmacked. Back at the apartment we gather in the tiny kitchen with a plastic table cloth. Note to self: buy plastic lemon tablecloth for Perth summer lunches! The church bells ring and we crack open some apple juice while devouring these salty delights. It is time for a siesta! THIS is living.

Mike and I later head back down to our reserved beach umbrellas. The kids don’t want to come. Sweet! We’re giddy with the excitement of being on our own. We hold hands and pretend we’re lovers on holiday without children. Well at least I do. I finish my book while Mike reads some sport news no doubt. Isla messages us on her iPad. Where are we? It’s been at least 15 minutes! We invite her to walk down and meet us. She says she can’t, she has too much to do. She’s enjoying writing her own diary and illustrating our adventure.

There is a few American families around. We’ve not been around many families with kids until now. It’s is 100% reassuring to hear the other families converse like we do and go through the same struggles with kids on holidays. “Mila stop touching your sister”, “Maya come here and put sun cream on”, “Ethan be quiet, why are you yelling?” Ethan stop throwing rocks!”. “Where is Ethan!?”

That evening we head to dinner at restaurant Ciak. The kids are annoyed

there is no pizza but enjoy what they order. I promise we’ll get them their first Italian pizza soon. Our appetisers are fresh buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, a special dish of octopus, olives and potatoes doused in olive oil and a plate of grilled eggplant, zucchini and capsicum. Our main course is a variety of pastas that we slurp up. I’m glad we booked ahead, the line to get in is building up as we walk out into the cooler evening with full tummies.

We walk up to a lookout and listen to a man playing the piano in the distance. We speak about Isla picking up her piano lessons again when we return. She hasn’t played since her accident. The sun sets late here and the sky is a pretty pink. We head home for bed. The church bells will ring at 7.30am tomorrow. We will all sleep past this alarm. After all, we’re now truly on vacation!