We gave Jane the option of a trail ride in Ronda or a morning sitting on the cliff-side just listening to the sounds again and watching the shadow of Ronda retreat quickly across the valley below. She weighed her options and decided that the horse ride would be too slow (now that she always cantors) and possibly too hot. So she opted for morning listening with Zeke and Dad. Again things didn’t go as planned (notice a theme here?), as we’d locked the kids in their room for safety, but I was unable to wake them when I woke up at 6:30. And couldn’t get their attention until around 8. We decided to go anyway, and had fun despite our late start.
Hearing many of the same sounds we’d heard the day before but also a few new ones, including the loud sound of the bells on a herd of sheep as they were led by a farmer and his dogs across the field. Janie also seems to have hit her zone as she claimed that she heard the sound of dandelion fluff floating by and a dung beetle walking on a pile of poop. Zeke protested Jane’s claim, but I helped guide him to just appreciate the humor of her claim and give the birthday girl some leeway.
After 3 rounds of listening, we headed back up the hill. Jane and Zeke were back on their man-goat kick. Zeke was awarding Jane a new goat rank. I just enjoyed them pretending with each other. We made it back to the hotel before Kate, Theo and Maeve awoke. We waited a bit then woke them to head for breakfast, stuffed a little extra food in our to-go bag and went upstairs to pack for the birthday girl’s wish of going to a pool on her birthday. Yes, that very same pool that wasn’t exactly on site. The walk over was hot but only took 30 minutes. When we arrived Kate navigated the front window leaving us with only 4 Euros to our name. The pool was cold. But we quickly acclimated and had mucho fun. We were playing monkey in the middle with a ball we’d bought at the airport, when I noticed a girl about Janie’s age watching us. I asked Zeke to ask her if she wanted to play. She blew a bunch of quickly spoken Spanish back at us, and I was left only to grin and mime my conversations. With Zeke’s help, she quickly got the idea and spent the rest of the day hanging out with Jane and mostly Zeke as he could speak Spanish. At one point she threw our frisbee over the wall and Zeke said no problem I’ll get it (in Spanish). She quickly added in that she would go along to get it. They ran out together and were out of sight for 3 or 4 minutes… long enough for both sets of parents to start getting nervous. Later she kept asking Zeke for help getting out of the pool, then once he gave a hand, would pull him into the pool. He’d pop out, and she’d ask for help again. I couldn’t understand a single word she was saying, but I know she was promising that she wouldn’t trick him again. But sure enough, in he’d go. He finally said he would not help her and made me help her out instead. It was a fun afternoon and great to cross the boundaries of language, especially for Zeke. I can see his Spanish jumping ahead at light speed. We finished the afternoon with some light sunburns on Theo and I, but others seemed to have gotten through unscathed. It was a delightful afternoon of fun and downtime. Maeve, throughout the entire day, kept singing Feliz Cumpleanos a si (happy birthday to you). Think she may be progressing with her Spanish too!
After our picnic and more water fun we packed up our things and headed back to the hotel. Maeve was singing ‘Is she really going out with him’, the song we’d all had stuck in our head since the street performer at the Palace in Madrid, and we sung what we remembered of it the whole way home. Back at home we had some healthy food, then Kate pulled out Janie’s authentic Spanish birthday cake and Maeve lead off more Feliz Cumpleanos.
Then once again in English. Some neat Spanish presents (thanks mom),
a little movie time and off to bed for an early start heading out of town to Gibraltar on a 10 am train.
Happy Birthday Jane!
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