The end of 2019 finished with a wonderful whirlwind visit to the UK to see our family and friends,we wrapped up warm and had a great few days catching up.
We hurried home on NYE and caught a 5pm flight back to Malaga, after all we could miss the New year's eve celebrations. So, we rushed home put on our 'glad rags' and made it to the bar by 10pm, winning! The bar had a singer on and everyone was up dancing.
New Year's Day was supposed to be a day to do nothing but like many days in Spain things happen impromptu and we were invited to lunch by the lake. We gladly accepted and had a wonderful meal taking in the impressive view.
Next up was Los Reyes Magos (3 Kings) for those who don't know this day is huge its bigger than Christmas for the Spaniards. There is a parade through the town and campo and then a finale at the Ayuntamiento (town hall) Hot chocolate and cake is handed out - all free of course and then the Kings make there way up the balcony so they can throw 100's of sweets for the children. Most children take a couple of carrier bags, that's how many sweets there are!
All went back to normal for a couple of days before my BIG birthday (40) on the 10th of Jan, i was surprised with a visit from my best friend for the weekend and we all went to the beautiful Bbou hotel Cortijo Bravo for a meal and over night stay. A fantastic way to celebrate my birthday, made truly memorable topped with a trip to the Hammam in Malaga centre. It's my second visit and i would definitely recommend it. Ultra relaxing and filled with history.
January ended with a sprinkling of snow on the hills, this was definitely unexpected and didnt stay around for long. It was all gone by the time the grandparents arrived in preparation for Chloe's 9th birthday. She requested a party for all her friends so we decided on a party at home. Being February luckily the weather was on our side and all the children could play outside, although unbelievably it was a bit too hot and they spent most of the time in the shade!
After all the excitement of the party we started to get ready for our much anticipated trip, we booked a stay at the ski resort Sierra Nevada. All very excited it was our first time visiting and our first attempt ski-ing! What made it even better was that our friends from the UK were flying over to try it out for the weekend too! We all fell in love some more than others with the ski-ing but the whole experience was fantastic. Being only 1hr 50mins in the car made it another huge bonus for us.
As the news of Coronavirus started filtering through more and more, we couldn't wait for our first family holiday since emigrating to begin. The girls have a half term break at the end of February so we booked to go to Fuerteventura, only a 2 hr flight away and stay at the Barcelo hotel Castillo Beach resort. We got upgraded and had a bungalow right on the beach. We stayed all inclusive for 7 nts and made the most of all the delicious food on offer. We were pleasantly surprised by the glorious weather and even managed to spend alot of time in the swimming pool. One day we hired a car and explored the island more and headed north stopping off at the Corralejo dunes. Wow, what a stunning place! Beautiful white sand and turquoise waters, the girls tried their hand at surfing but i think a few lessons are required... Staying at a Hotel is great but there's nothing like getting out and discovering gems like this. It was the highlight of the trip! Refreshed and a few pounds heavier we were all ready to go home., That's the thing when you live in a holiday destiantion you don't get the holiday blues as much.
Once home our attention was fully on the Coronavirus situation and to be honest we were relieved we got home safe and sound. Following this it wasn't long at all before we were in lockdown. This really was a challenging time especially for the children who wasn't allowed to leave the house for 6 weeks!!! I was grateful that we had a garden and that we had a dog. Having a dog meant that we could walk the dog once a day and living on the edge of a national park meant we could safely disappear into the woods. We made sure we all joined in with the Joe Wicks PE lesson everyday, played lots of tennis against the wall -when it wasn't raining. That was the other thing we had the worst weather during March and April, it made things very difficult. Made lots of cakes and pies, even joined in with the daily art class online. The hardest part was that here the girls had to continue with schooling via zoom classes and Google classroom. They had to complete all the work and upload it to the deadline given. This in itself was a full time job for me organising and ensuring all work was uploaded in time. I did help my Spanish though 
By the 1st of May we were all allowed 1 hour of freedom per day and it was warm enough to go in the pool!
The third week of May came and this meant that we could start socialising in small groups again, after 9 weeks this was so needed! By the end of May we could acutally go to a restaurant! And at the start of June our bars started opening in our village, hooray!
Once we were back using the pool fully it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the work that needed doing, ultimately it needed draining and regrouting and re filling. It became a race against time as once June begins the town hall ban all refilling of pools due to water shortages. The worst problem was how to empty it or more to the point where were we to put the water. Lets just say a garden nearby which was brown is now very green. Our great builder friend Nacho Martin carried out the work and once completed the pool looked wonderful, like new even! Consequently since then it was so much easier to clean and takes half the time. We were very pleased that we made the decision to get it done and got to enjoy the refreshing crystal clean water for the rest of the summer.