Kinder frei in Ibiza!

In about 10 days it will be our 10 year anniversary! Time flies when you are moving 5 times, having 4 children (that are participating in 3 sports, and playing 2 instruments,) and trying to be one big happy family! So we thought it was about time we went on a little vacation without the Littles. Rob's mom agreed to come visit us and play the role of Super-Grandma for a few days so that we could go on a once in a decade holiday.

 

We chose to go to Ibiza, Spain.
Here we are after just checking into our hotel and putting our feet in the sand for the first time. Ibiza was close enough to be a short trip, but far enough to be exotic.  It is an island in the Mediterranean and is most known for its late night club scene and electronic music. And its beaches. Care to guess why we picked it as our kid free destination?

 

This was the seaside pool at our hotel on the night we arrived.  The weather was sunny and in the 80's the entire time we were there.

 

Rob on the rocks.  

As close as we got to partying hard.

 

This is the Dalt Vila- Old Town.

We really did not plan to do sightseeing on this trip, but spent a morning walking the walls and streets of this awesome old city.

Sooooo many stairs. You really don't get a feel for how hilly a place is by looking at a street map.
 

 

What do you do if you have a cafe on the stairs? Just throw down some cushions and little stools as tables and call it outdoor seating. There is an interesting mix on this island of young clubbers, old hippies, and locals trying to make a living. We tried some good Spanish food- melon with Iberian ham, and bread with olives and this garlic aioli that was so delicious.  We didn't find a good looking tapas place, so I guess we will have to go to another part of Spain one of these days to try that.

  

Next to the cathedral at the top part of the Dalt Vila.

 

  

Next to the cannons... checking out the cruise ships docked below.

 

  

On our walk we saw this- a real live banana tree!  I had never seen one before, so we had to take a picture for the kiddos. 

 

  

We spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach not far from our hotel, and it was nice, but ya know, nothing super special. ( The constant beat of electronic music in the air, drunk tourists, and bits of plastic bags found floating made me a little nostalgic for the Jersey shore.) So the next day we decided to take the ferry to Formentera.  This is a smaller island about a 45 minute boat ride away.

 

 

Once there, we rented these horrible bikes for very cheap.

Rob is a regular bike rider.  I am not. But I thought, it's pretty flat, shouldn't be too hard, I will be fine.  About 5 minutes into our ride, I knew I had been wrong.  I was working so hard. By the time we got to the beach we were aiming for, Playa de Ses Illetes, I was in tears and totally hot, dusty, and annoyed. The beach made it all worth it though.  When we got on the bikes to ride back, I was ready to grit my teeth and just do it, when Rob realized my back tire was completely flat. THAT is why it was so hard. Rob graciously offered to ride the broken bike back and I rode his. Which was so super easy! I felt much better about my bike riding skills then.

 

The most beautiful beach in Spain.

Seriously.  We just spent a lot of time staring at (and swimming in) the perfectly clear water and sitting on the white sand. It was awesome. There were actually plenty of other people there, but I tried to get a picture without people in it... because of, well, the nudity. It seemed the further out we walked on the beach, the less clothing our fellow sunbathers were wearing. But who cares. It is going to be pretty hard to find a beach to ever beat this one. 

After we rode the horrid bikes back to the ferry port, we had a gelato and did some shopping for souvenirs for the kids, and that was our short trip away.  I am so glad that we did this!  It was a lot of fun to hang out with my Rob and to know that the kids were safe and happy and we could just enjoy having an adventure together. Who would have thought after a whole month of dating, and three month engagement, we would make it so far? I took a book with me on this trip, and actually read it since there were no kids to count on the beach, and I bookmarked this...

...Don't blush, I am telling you some truths. That is just being "in love," which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. -Corelli's Mandolin