June 5, 2025
We started off the day with breakfast at home and then home school so we could do what we wanted for the rest of the day. Lenny and I attempted to work on the balcony but he eventually complained that his toes were too cold so we moved inside.
When we came in Ollie and Kayleen decided to go finish their school at a cafe in the square by our apartment. Kayleen gave Ollie 5 EUR to walk across the square to a bakery with and pick out something he liked. He was delighted for the independence and came back with a handsome looking raspberry pastry. Then he finished his letter to Aley, his former classmate friend. His class wrote him back a few days ago and Aley had told his teacher, Mrs. Alyssa, that the class was boring without Ollie. He was so happy to hear this he had to write to her.
Kayleen and Ollie went grocery shopping after they finished at the cafe and returned just as Lenny and I where finishing up. They came home with a few beach toys in addition to the food. We planned to have lunch out today and wanted to try a little restaurant in the square that was recommended. The menu was all on a chalkboard in French, thank god for the Google Lens app that you can just take a picture and it translates things.
We played some Uno and enjoyed our lunch though it was long and the boys got restless at the end, mostly Lenny. The food was good and the restaurant had a nice simple vibe with a very small menu of the day.
We left to start our walk to the beach and Lenny was not his best self. He was just finding things to be upset about; which beach toy he got to carry, sharing or not sharing a lick of his lollipop, being tired of walking, or sand in his sandal.
We eventually made it to the beach after having a few talks with Lenny. Sometimes it’s hard to remember he is only four, we treat him much more like Ollie at seven and it backfires from time to time.
Biarritz is filled with bikes, and more specifically e-bikes like ours at home. We have seen multiple models that look just like ours and one that was actually the same brand but orange. Makes us miss the ease of zipping around a city with the boys on the back.
Once we made it to the beach we setup our towels and started to play in the sand. We used the bucket and shovel to make castles and dig a moat while the boys ran down to the water to fill the bucket. The swimming area was small, seemingly due to a small lifeguard staff. The lifeguards would frequently run down to the water with flippers and go out to tell someone to come closer to shore or yell at a surfer to get out of the swimming area.
Kayleen found a stick and tried to make it a flag on top of one of Lenny’s castles which partially collapsed it. A few minutes later he noticed and accused Ollie of destroying it. Then seeking revenge he kept running across Ollie’s island and took out one of his castles. This lead to Ollie taking him down a few times. Kayleen and Ollie rebuilt while I carried Lenny to the water to cool him off. Once free from the ocean he sprinted back to destroy their rebuild but Kayleen saw him coming and took him out! Ollie loved it.
From there Lenny was running wild. He started to spit and throw sand so I took him to the ocean to hopefully direct his aggression at the waves. Ollie followed to play in the waves as well and eventually Kayleen retreated to her book. Lenny kept needing to be told to stop throwing sand and the ocean reminded him once as well. As he was winding up to throw a handful he got absolutely destroyed by a wave. So much so that strangers who had been watching were visibly laughing. We played for a while more in the ocean as Lenny calmed down and the boys took turns getting rolled by waves.
We headed back home to get ready for the much awaited surfing lessons. There were a few minutes of quite time before we headed out to the lesson. We drove to the beach where the lesson was, Marbella, since the lesson was so late we figured the boys would be tired. The lesson started at 6PM, it’s based around when low tide is for the beginner lessons.
The boys squeezed into their wetsuits, took two adults to get Lenny into his. They were thrilled to get started and Kayleen and I were thrilled there was a little beach bar overlooking the surfing beach. The boys started their walk down to the beach while Kayleen and I got a glass of wine at the bar and watched from a distance. We finally got a photo of a French lizard while we were sitting their enjoying our drink.
We headed down to the beach to get a closer look at the boys in the water. They were taking turns and Ollie was out in the water when we arrived. Lenny was playing on the beach and in the water.
The water was very shallow for a long way out but the current was still strong. Lenny was getting pulled down the beach as he rolled around in the shallow water so I went in to yell at him to get back to the beach and come back by the surfing area.
Both boys were able to stand up and ride a wave for a few seconds before falling in. Lenny would lean back to far and fall in on his back while Ollie would stand too far back on the board and tip backwards. They both had fun and asked to do it again as soon as it was over and we started to walk back. That request was quickly changed to complaining about their hunger and the sand in their wetsuits. It was incredible how much sand they got in there given how tight the suits where.
Once back up to the surfing tent and beach bar area the boys rinsed off. Kayleen grabbed them a big bag of potato chips from the beach bar and they munched on them while befriending a local dog who was interested in their chips. Ollie has been more interested in dogs then ever before in his life, we think he misses Opie.
We headed home and Kayleen made french bread pizza while I showered piles of sand off the boys. They ate quickly and watched an Ultimate Beastmaster show on Netflix, think American Ninja Warrior. Then for desert we had some chocolate covered raspberries that the boys made with Kayleen in the afternoon. Lenny had suggested to make them after he saw Kayleen make chocolate covered strawberries. He kept asking “how good are these” and looking for thank yous as we ate them. The more positive reinforcement the better with Lenny! Then off to bed.
