Day 2

Today after a lovely breakfast we went to grab our glass of orange juice, map of the island and price list for the excursions at the welcome meeting. One of the reps is called Babs. I love it.

It definitely feels like we're on holiday now. Ordinarily we would be up for renting a car and seeing more of the island/ visiting the volcano etc but with having Charlie with us we don't fancy it this time around. Robin's taking a little more dissuading but nothing mentioned in the itinerary has really grabbed him. As this is a relatively short holiday of a only a week, I think we'll take it easy.

After the meeting we took the short lift ride down to the beach exit of the hotel.

Our other amazing baby holiday survival purchase has to be the sun tent. We put Charlie in his SPF 40 swimsuit, smothered in his SPF 50 suncream and into his SPF 50 tent under our newly acquired beach umbrella and then didn't have to worry about him getting burnt. He loves the tent. It's large enough for him to be able roll around and play with his toys. I also got in there with him to feed him in privacy which worked really well. After he fed he fell asleep for a good hour. That, coupled with his quiet play time earlier, meant we actually got to read the books. We'd half-heatedly brought with us. Between today and parts of the flight yesterday I've already made quite a nice dent in the latest Dan Brown.

Excitingly, Charlie had his first dip in the sea. Robin carried him in and dunked him gradually. Then we swapped over and I did the same. Despite the heat the water was cold (Robin would say it wasn't, but it definitely was) however my little hard man Charlie didn't even flinch! He was just looking around taking it all in. He's such a good baby. I do count our blessings for that. He wasn't fazed by the sand at all. He just wanted to eat it- of course :)

At around 2pm we headed back to the hotel for a late lunch in the poolside cafe bar. I ate a whole pizza to myself despite my cooked breakfast, cereal and fruit breakfast! Why does not doing much make you hungry?? :) We grabbed a sun lounger after and took our first dip in the pool. It was heaven. I like the beach but hate sand getting everywhere so it was nice to shower and then swim to get it all off! Charlie went in with me and enjoyed it. We chilled on the sloping entrance paddling.

Too soon it was time to head in and get ready for another evening of food (again, yummy! The hotel chefs do amazing roasts each night. I'll be waddling home at the end of the week! After dinner we took a wander along the promenade following the 'Geranium way' coastal path towards del Duque. It's a lovely walk that follows the cove out to it's farthest point giving a fabulous view back over the resort. Then it was back to the room for Charlie's bedtime and another game of cards on the balcony, this time with a bottle of red. Rob is kicking my bum at Gin Rummy.