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Relax, we're on holiday!

And, relax...  We are in Crete for a week of (fingers crossed) early summer sun and so far the weather has been reasonably kind to us. There have been a few hiccups; me thinking I'd booked a villa with a heated pool (nope), no hot water on day one (not our fault and quickly rectified) and there bring probably less than more open at this time in the year, but all in all none of that is insurmountable.

This is the first time we have flown with both girls so it was a proper adventure for them to get here. It felt less like an adventure for us when we realised that the 7am flight on the day the clocks go forward meant us getting up at what would normally be 3:45am, but both girls coped brilliantly. Even Izzy , normally such a sleep monster, was up and smiling at the due hour.  Easyjet had managed to miscalculate by some magnitude the number of staff they would need on the first major travel day of the Easter holidays, so we entered Gatwick to an enormous queue of grumpy travellers. Once it got moving it wasn't so bad and we made the plane with a few minutes to grab a sandwich to take onboard.  The flight itself was very smooth and despite a bit of "when will we be there?" We were both very proud of how they behaved.

It's clear that out of the 4 of us Izzy is the only one with an ear for foreign languages. She picks up Greek words easily and then patiently spends the next 24 hours coaching the rest of us to say them. The locals here love to see her saying please and thank you with ease and so she is the darling of all the restaurants we have been too so far. Neither Glenn or I had realised quite how big Crete is (having left both our guide book at home and incidentally the washing on the line...!). It's over 1000km from end to end and so our idea that we would probably explore most of the island has quickly gone out of the window. Instead we are making the most of local beaches and towns for sightseeing and wave jumping.

Abi and Izzy are loving the pool (now that we've paid a small fortune to have it heated up) and Abi in particular is making the most of being able to run her imaginary swimming classes (normally held in the bath at home) with a real pool! Mind you she surprised both herself and me earlier today when she walked round the edge of the pool and somehow slipped and fell in. Luckily there was no harm done but it shows how easily it can happen. Both are keeping a diary and so we get to smile at what they've written. For Abi the highlight has been the turtle she saw on a rock and running in the waves. For Izzy it's the wild goats on the hillside opposite our villa. No mention of the copious amounts of pasta and ice-cream both have consumed - that constitutes a balanced diet for a week on holiday doesn't it?!?


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