oct, 27th - portugal: the beaches.....

day 1355 / 454:

i might feel differently if i visited Portugal in high season......but i loved the beaches in our area......they were wide and sandy (not always the case in Europe) and all seemed to have wonderful restaurants right on the sand......

on our very first, full day in Portugal, we went to the beach in the afternoon and then just wandered up the wooden walkway to sit on couches and beanbags, on the sand, for drinks and snacks....

such a great way to start a holiday with friends....

oct, 23rd - portugal.....

day 1351 / 450:

last month, we visited Portugal for the very first time......our destination was all about the house that we had hired. we went with two other families and all three of us had stumbled across the same property and fallen in love......

the place is called Casas Na Areia and is an hour and a half South of Lisbon.....it's in a rural spot near the beach and captivated us with its rustic and relaxed, yet chic, beauty. 

the land used to belong to fishermen and rice farmers and you are still surrounded by rice paddies and sand dunes......

the layout reminded me of going to game reserves in South Africa where there are individual sleeping huts and one main communal house for cooking and relaxing......

  

each family had there own thatch roofed hut, with a gigantic sandpit in the middle....the main hut, made of reeds and wood has a kitchen, large linen covered chairs for lounging in and a big communal table........the main feature of the main hut is that it has a fine sand floor table....made cosy with underfloor heating.....

in the sleeping huts, there are king size beds, slick bathrooms and cement floors.....this is rustic living with serious style.....

 

 the kids were obviously blown away with being able to play with buckets and spades in the living room and it has to be the first and only time that I will ever say.....'try and keep the sand inside girls'.....

i will share some more of our trip (and the area) over the next couple of days but we came for the house.....and certainly, it was a big part of what made our visit to Portugal so spectacular.

casas na areia

oct, 8th - park life.....

day 1336 / 435:

these pics are from a few weeks ago.....but it was such a beautiful day full of laughter, rolling down banks, birthday cake and tired, but such happy children by the end of it.....that i wanted to record it here on the blog......

 Limi's outfit: une belle époque playsuit and april showers top.

p.s. i know that i've been a bit slack on the blog lately but i do really love your comments.

aug, 5th - claya turns one - part II....

day 1303 / 402:

so, after the grand total of four kids' birthday parties so far, i've found that i only manage to take pics for the first fifteen minutes. after that, i'm scrambling around trying to do all the things that i should have done before the party started. next year, i'm definitely creating a photo booth!

so, here are some pics of mainly the first fifteen minutes.......

i love Claya's face in the one above. she can't quite believe that her 'lion tamer' won't pose next to her.

happy birthday Claya Clam! your first birthday was a blast to organise. {see part I here}

aug, 27th - licky chops....

day 1294 / 393:

we revisited quite a few of our old favourites over the weekend. after Mudchute Farm {see day 1290 / 391} a group of us descended onto Licky Chops a pop-up, Summer restaurant in the Climpson's Arch.

i spent my birthday here this year {see day 1228 /327}

the food was just as fantastic as the last time. i struggle to describe how much flavour is cooked into the simplest dishes here. the menu paid homage to Notting Hill Carnival and we had incredible jerk pork, beer-can chicken, salt cod curry and in fact one of the most delicious dishes was the rice with beans and peas......it was packed with warmth and reminded me of home (South Africa).

i could honestly come here again and again and again. the simple, yet interesting food and decor in a very industrial setting....and the bonus being that it's pretty kid friendly.

you can read more about Climpson's Arch and Licky Chops here and here.