Costa del Sol

So, Spain. Again.

Southern Spain is gorgeous. I know, it's a shocker. You can find a few pictures here - especially of our nephew at the moment, though there are more pictures to come.

We first met up with Mark's sister, Melissa and her son, Griffin in Torremolinos. Very touristy, but frankly, who cares? We had fun just bumming with Melissa and Griffin. It gave us a great opportunity to bond with the little 2 year old, seeing as how he was born only shortly before we left for Israel. Apparently, Griffy is a bit of a masochist. The story:

The weather was nice in the Costa del Sol, but it was balmy. And with a little wind, it was chilly. So, at its warmest - after lunch I believe - we decided to go swimming. We went to the pool, figuring it would be warmer, and easier to control Griffin. Problem? The water was freezing. No one wanted to get in the water. Except Griffin. So, I bravely volunteered. Having grown up in Cleveland Ohio, I know full well that "if you just keep moving, the water will warm up after a few minutes". At first, Griffin was in a little boat-type floaty, so he wasn't wet, though he was very amused by me going under water repeatedly. So, eventually, I got him in the water - bobbing him up and down. I thought he was cold, since he was shivering, so I put him out on the edge of the pool. This turned into the very obvious game of "I jump in and you catch me". Repeatedly, of course. The thing is, the air was nippy, so this poor little boy was shaking and shivering. We couldn't stop laughing at the sight of our nephew, shaking and shivering, with arms outstretched, ready to jump back in. Eventually, my guilt got the best of me, and I had to stop the insanity and dry him off. So, I had a big towel wrapped around him, drying him off as quickly as I could as he was still shivering and he was begging to go back in. Finally, he stands up tall, looks as officious as he can, takes a deep breath and pleads, "PWEASE!!!" Well, who could resist that? So, we went back in. Eventually, he did have enough of that. So, he got out to play in the poolside shower - guess what? Even COLDER!! So, he again asked to go in repeatedly, and each time the water went off, he ran out and said, "HOT!" ?!?! Who knew he got sarcasm? Heheheheh, well, he kept us in stitches for the duration of the visit, for sure - not to mention everyone else at the pool!

So, from Torremolinos we headed out to Marbella to join up with the Fojas parents (they arrived 2 days after us, hence Torremolinos first). Quite the swanky place, but I was actually pretty surpised at the economic diversity of the people there. Anyway, what to say? It's swanky, right on the Mediterranean, we walked on the beach quite a bit. We also went up into the mountains and visited Ronda, one of the white villages - you'll recognize the pictures of Ronda by the gorges. It was beautiful.

Oh, and there was a pool where we were staying in Marbella, too. There, Griffin would stand at the edge of the kiddy pool (thankfully a few degrees warmer than the other pool), with his back to me, count "one, two, twee!" and just lean back for me to catch him as he fell into the pool! This boy will apparently have no trust issues when he gets older! There were also a few jet streams at the side of the pool, which he loved. He would position himself to jump into one of them, and then, instead of putting him right back on the edge of the pool, I'd let him hang there a bit - he loved sitting right on top of it and letting it go up his diaper, heeheehee. He'd also try to drink it like a water fountain - ewwww!!!

And, of course, Mark had the requisite conversation with his parents, mainly his father, about coming home, going to med school, etc.

And it's a go. Mark is really excited, actually, for those of you who may have had your doubts. The decision is a result of prayer, and he feels this is what he is meant to do at this time. Additionally, his father, bless him, made a point of telling Mark that he hoped he was doing this for himself, not them [his parents]. That was really important for me to hear - probably more so than for Mark.

So, expect us home by next summer so that Mark can start school in the fall.