June 4, 2025
Even with the earlier bedtime in Biarritz, the boys are sleeping past 7am and its been glorious to have some quiet morning time back in our lives. After they woke up and I fed them breakfast, I took off to head towards the beach for a yoga class. The class was taught in French, but it was vinyasa class so I was able to follow the flow repetitions (sun salutations) and listen for the Sanskrit words (asanas) out of strings of French.
After class, I went to a nearby cafe for a coffee and to meet the boys. We all decided on a mid-morning snack to fuel our exploration planned for the day. Ollie picked a Madeline, Lenny an egg and super cheesy sandwich and Kyle a fried chicken on a brioche hot dog bun sandwich. Len was enthralled with the stretchy cheese on his sandwich but in true 4 year old style, he ate it slowly over another 3 km of walking.
The boys discovered dandelions all along the sidewalks that were a point of conflict. “Thats MY flower!!” “The next one is MINE!” “I saw it first!!” After a string of increasingly violent fights over dandelions, Ollie yells at Lenny, “You are NOT my mon ami!” They loved to make wishes each time and Ollie sharing his first two wishes with me, “I wish for a vespa. And that all my wishes come true.” The dandelion hunting and fighting continued with Lenny calling them “cauliflowers” for most of the day.
We walked south to the surf school at Marbella to confirm the boys’ lesson tomorrow. Kyle purchased and scheduled the lesson online, but the confirmation only stated the day of the lesson and not the time. We eventually confirmed their lesson to be at 6pm tomorrow, close to low tide at 7pm.
We then walked north along the coastal overlook for a few miles up to the Biarritz lighthouse. There were multiple stops along the way including Plage du Port Vieux, Rocher de la Vierge and a stop for lunch– smoothies, a hot dog and a Croque monsieur. We then all shared a huge nutella donut for the remainder of the walk to the lighthouse. On the walk, we guessed how many steps to the top of the lighthouse and Len won with a guess of 255 (Vs an actual count of 248). Len was especially thrilled to “be inside a lighthouse” and kept asking if anyone can live in a lighthouse. We’re not sure how the lighthouse obsession originated. Both boys made it to the top without complaining but with the support of a Rascal bribe— sour candies like skittles from Zimbabwe that Kyle found buried in Ollie’s backpack.
The boys had been begging to have another rugby ball toss and opportunity to “advance a level.” They played rugby in the field by the lighthouse with Ollie advancing to the mythical level 8. Len’s exhaustion was showing and Kyle gave him a shoulder ride for a good potion of the remaining walk home. Ollie complained it wasn’t fair, but we reminded him that when he was 4, we still pushed him around on the back of the stroller. We had already clocked >15,000 steps so we understood why the boys were tired.
At home, we did a bit of homeschool and then me and Len headed out to the market to pick up ingredients for dinner. We went to the marché aux poissons (seafood store), marché aux légumes (vegetable store) and the bigger grocery store. Len was excited to pick up little pizza crackers with his budget.
Kyle took the kids to the park for more rugby tossing while I cooked dinner. Ollie caught a few with his face. Later on, Lenny walked directly into a wall corner face first. Hoping they don’t wake up with face bruises tomorrow!
