It's Been a Long Time

3 August 2014

I went on this thing called a Geisterbahn. I walked through a sort of a haunted house with someone I didn't know who was behind me in line. This was in La Linea near Gibraltar. We walked through and all these creepy things happened. At the beginning there was a guy locked up in sort of like a prison and shaking the bars and my partner behind me was the one who gave me the creeps because he was scared. Plus he was also pushing me. And then I saw a Pharoah's head and back there, in a coffin, there was this guy dressed as a mummy and he came out and started sort of chasing us. And then there was a woman who had a stick in her hand and she banged it down on the ground which made us jump. And she said, "No running" in Spanish. Then she asked if we wanted English and my partner said yes. And then there was this guy with a toy chain saw at the end and he sort of stabbed it at my partner, but it didn't touch him. Then we were sort of running down the stairs and that was the end of that.

We walked to a new country on foot. We walked to England (Gibraltar). We got to climb the Rock and a monkey attacked me. I got a little bruised but it wasn't bad. I wasn't scared but I was more surprised than anything.

Dad and I went on a scooter ride up through the mountains to Ronda, Spain. And we were trekking through quite a bit of places like Istan before we finally got there. The scooter was pretty fun but at the beginning I felt sort of scared because it was my first time but I knew Daddy wasn't going to let anything happen to me. Then I found it sort of fun but my arms got tired from having to hold onto Daddy all the time.

We are in Alalmar. It's been sunny and really windy. We saw whitecaps in the marina! The next big thing is that Belle is going to come on Thursday. It's going to be fun. Then we are going to go to Morrocco.

Here is a picture of what I've been doing lately. Roger cooked a really yummy meal. Plus it was really pretty. Mommy never makes pretty sculptures when she cooks. The next one is a video of a Steve Miller Band song that I like, but it took too long to load.

El Rompido

1 July 2014

Here we are in El Rompido, waiting to be able to leave. Today and yesterday I updated two novels (kids' novels), The Day Before the First Day and The Mystery of the Whining Lake. They are the shortest novels around here. Today the US plays Belgium, but I don't know if we will get to watch it because we want to leave in the morning. It depends on the sail, whether it's fixed or not and whether the wind dies down enough to put it up. I had a book that I gave to a little kid who was in line in front of us in the grocery store; it was called Touch and Feel Dinosaurs. I got it when I was about his age--2 or 3. I was going to put it in the book exchange in the marina office but the office was closed, so I gave it to him.

2 X 3

24 June 2014

We are on day 3 of sailing to Morocco, but we are still in the Algarve. It's a slow trip to Morocco! I'm still in my pyjamas at 9:00 in the morning. We a saw some dolphins today--not on day 2, on day 3, and not day 1.

We've anchored both nights that we've been out and we plan to anchor tonight too. Yesterday we went into town in the dinghy.

Today is fine. The ocean is a bit rolly, but it's not bad. We also have a good view of land.

I was feeling a little seasick, but now I'm much better.

We are motor sailing because there isn't much wind.

We have a guest named Rogger. He is a new crew member and is sailing with us to Gibraltar.

(Max)


28 June--Day 6

Day 6 out sailing with 15 knots of wind. Yesterday Dad and Rogger fixed the anchor and installed a crane so we can use the outboard. We couldn't sail yesterday because these things needed to be done. I cleaned my room for one of the first times ever [an exaggeration! hlss, ed.]. At night we went and saw the bull ring, but it's not used anymore.

We watched some soccer--Germany and Portugal won. The US and Ghana lost.

Mom and I trekked all over town (not really--hlss) looking for a giant grocery store. We found it, but it didn't have tofu. Mom called it the "super supermarket extravaganza." "Extravaganza" is my favourite word. Good luck, everybody!

(Max)