Oceanarium & Guincho beach - Tribe holiday 2018 - Portugal

Leticia, Kirsten and I took all our kids to the Oceanarium in Lisbon. We took the coastal drive from Guincho. It's a stunning coastline. No photos sadly as I was driving, but it's beach after beach. Forts, old buildings, interesting architecture and all of it has a really good feel about it. 

When we got there, we saw sea otters... they are SO cute... 

There was one HUGE tank right in the centre of the Oceanarium... full of sharks and fish. There was one very gruesome looking great white, with huge teeth... also sun fish (called moon fish in Portuguese) and loads more...

The kids had fun... 

Penguins too.... leaving trails of illuminated bubbles in their wake. 

Leticia and her family 

There were flags from around the world outside the oceanarium so we tried to guess as many as we could.... luckily it told us the country underneath each flag. 

Then we took a walk to the beach with the kids to the bum slide. There are beautiful protected dunes here and we took the nature walk. 

It's a very beautiful coast line and there is hardly anyone here. 

The kids have been having a lot of fun! Luki loves it! 

Sleeping babies - it's lovely waking up and looking at their little faces while they sleep!

This sandy hill was the aptly named 'bum slide', there is a small channel of water that obviously leads to the ocean. It is all perfect for the children. 

A rare photograph with all seven of our children.

Leticia's three children, Alex, Ayla and Arthur. 

Miles plays in the hammock with Alex and a little Danish friend they both made. 

Caden is playing with the little kids again. He is a very good big brother. 

Transatlantic Cruise 2017 - Martinique Part 3 - Caden's Bapteme dive

We arrived in Martinique.. without much of a plan except to get the sea-bus from Fort-de-France to the other side of the island and find our air bnb house. When we got off the boat it was suddenly a little worrying, I couldn't see a taxi, we were tired and had no idea how far it would be to the place if we walked. I hate walking with suitcases. I then saw a guy in a taxi who rang the owner for me and took me to the house for five euros. It was right around the corner haha! Easy if you know how! ;) 

The weather was nice! Roasting hot at night! 

We had a hot tub at the house, the boys made a whirlpool and had fun!

I found a diving centre nearby that said they would take Caden to do his 'Bapteme' (Baptism). This is basically your first SCUBA dive. It's guided and in a beautiful location using proper SCUBA. 

Miles looks every inch the dude! 

Caden is very confident in the sea now. He got straight in there. 

Great! Mum in a wetsuit! 

Caden snorkelled off!

Miles jumped in with his snorkel and they both just flippered off and left me on the boat, I could see them clearly, it was safe, they are SO confident in the water. There was lots to see there, it's fairly deep, there were fish, corals, anemones, seaweeds and all sorts... 

Then, after all the other divers had done their thing. It was Caden's turn. He swam to the instructor who put on Caden's BCD and showed him how to use the regulator. Then they were off.... 

It was lovely getting this shot as they both swam under the boat, the instructor pointing out things for Caden to look at. 

Then they came up. Caden had done it! 

Yeah baby! 

A serene moment as we cruised back to shore, feeling accomplished! 

Miles had felt a bit left out as he was too young to do the Bapteme and he had a mini meltdown on the boat. He did do some lovely snorkelling though and he did enjoy the boat ride after he calmed down a bit! Miles will have his turn as soon as he is 9. 

It was Christmas and the boys were getting through their advent calendars which my good friend Sally had given them. They did one choc a day through the whole cruise and we were due to get back to France on Christmas Eve.... 

A high water lunch (you need lots of water in this climate).

We had three days on Martinique. The kids spent almost all the time at the beach, digging, swimming and playing. They were most unhappy that I gave the fishing nets to the local kids on the last day.

We flew from Martinique to Paris and Paris to Toulouse where Paul (the boy's Dad) was flying in to spend Christmas with us. Look at those faces....