Chipiona

We spent the weekend at the beach in the city of Chipiona. John and Maria live there during the summer months so they can make tons of money selling their mini donuts on the boardwalk. Since there are relatively few entrepreneurs here in Spain they make a killing. While we definitely miss having them closer it's nice to be able to crash at their place in Chipiona which is only a few hundred yards from the beach. Jay was more than thrilled to see his idol Johnny again. He's really obsessed. Next time we go visit them I need to get his reaction to first seeing Johnny or knowing that he is close by on tape. It's so cute! He starts making squealing noises and jumping around in pure delight. Luckily they play really well together, although Jay tends to hog all the balls. He doesn't mind as much when Johnny takes one from him though - not like when anyone else tries to touch his most precious of possessions.
On Friday night Mike and John decided to go spear fishing. The coast of Chipiona is covered with Roman walls which were and still are used for fishing. The walls, made of stone, begin at the coast and become higher as they stretch out to sea. The fish are trapped here by the tide which makes for great fishing conditions. Our men went out to catch us some lunch for the next day and they came back with a squid. Apparently there were a ton of people out fishing and so the pickings were slim. The squid was a great catch though since they are harder to find. John cleaned it up for us and then fried it making some very tasty chocos. I've had chocos in restaurants before and these were by far the best I've tasted since they were made so fresh!

We of course spent plenty of time on the beach while we were there. Jay's getting used to the ocean water now and actually got mostly in - I'm pretty sure seeing Johnny's example helped a lot. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them playing since I was up on the beach relaxing and guarding our things. No worries, I know we'll be back for more.

Jay was pretty tuckered out from all the fun and would only let daddy hold him while he slept.

One of my favorite experiences being there was waking up early with Jay (I know - crazy, huh?) and sitting out on the porch overlooking the ocean while he played nearby. It was so peaceful and relaxing. We really enjoyed ourselves while everyone else slept away. Sometimes an early morning can be a good thing ;)