Current destination: Sunny (but today was partly cloudy) Malaga
I believe some of the group (Gage, Jen, and Matt) got up early and went on a walk to watch the sunrise because I was sent this photo today (parent note: this was a sunset walk, not sunrise!😊) but the real party started when Kayla woke up at around 10:00 AM (Spain time). Griffin did wake up today before noon (even before Kayla and Connor) however, he was the LAST person to be ready for the day so Kayla and Connor set out to the market while everyone else waited for Griffin to be ready.
At the market (Mercado Central de Atarazanas), Kayla and Connor tried this very delicious fruit juice (so good that they don't even have a picture to share with you because we drank it all). Once Kayla and Connor were half way through the fruit juice, they ran into Jen, Matt, and Griffin at the market and Gage waited outside because he prefers looking at food that is cooked and is not starring at you (understandable honestly). Upon seeing our scrumptious juice, Griffin decides to get one of his own (which must have been good because again no photo). So sorry about that one folks :(.
After getting to the market, Connor and Griffin decided that they found a few must have items: Octopus, Clams, (mainly Connor and Griffin) and of course Oranges. Because we were more familiar with Oranges we started with buying those first. Luckily, Connor took charge and spoke some spanish (which a french accent) and was able to buy our group 6 oranges. After meeting Gage outside, Jen, Matt, and Kayla decided they would be willing to try a bit of the Octopus and clams but were not as excited about the purchase as Griffin and Connor.
In order to get them we sent Griffin and Jen in to get the two items because Griffins spanish was a little bit better than Connor french-spanish when he tried buying oranges earlier.
After the market, we went back to the apartment and had some pre-lunch snacks and one of those snacks included Kayla eating a caesar salad (without the dressing because at the store she could not understand which of the salad dressings were caesar and she doesn't mind salad without dressing). Jen had noticed Kayla eating some very good parmesana on her salad and it reminded her of the Parmesana song which she then played for us (click the link if you would also like to hear it).
After a short snack break, Jen and Matt went out with their favorite Child (Kayla). the three of them set out on another adventure to a world renowned supermarket that was only partially open because it was closing at 2:00 PM (Spain time) and at the time it was almost 2:00 PM. Luckily it was attached to a grocery store so every though they did get one free sample of cheese, they still got to go and explore all the cool brands and different flavors that await them at the supermarket.
While Kayla, Matt, and Jen were out on a walk and exploring new supermarkets, the boys (and Kayla) were in charge of finding the group a place to eat pizza at for lunch. About 20 minutes after being left alone, Kayla decided to call the boys and tell them her top three choices and asked them to pick one and call her back. Well surprise they did not call her back (however, using content clues from the call, Kayla though they were in favor of the one pizza place called Ciao). So, Matt, Jen, and Kayla set off to Ciao for lunch having no idea if the boys would be joining us or not.
Upon arriving at the Ciao restaurant, Jen and Matt order a drink and Kayla was looking at the menu and thought Matt had made a wonderful choice and ordered some red wine and so she told the waiter that she would have what Matt ordered. It wasn't until they brought out the drinks that she had realized that Matt had in fact ordered beer and not wine. However, all three drinks were still delicious and managed to go down quite smoothly.
Surprisingly, Gage, Connor, and Griffin managed to find Ciao (especially because there were two Ciaos near our apartment and they just happen to go to the right one).
Upon arriving, Gage fell in love (Don't worry Nolyn it was just with breadsticks). Also, while we were ordering our food and some of us were ordering drinks, there was this super cool street dance performancing happening. While its hard to beat Matt's singature dance move, this group of dancers may have just done it.
After the show, our food came out in stages. for the next photo, be prepared to see Gage in the happiest state of his life.
However, it was not just Gage that enjoyed the meal because as you can see from the next picture, the food was amazing. This was a much needed use of the budget and has pushed off another 2024 sandwich rebellion.
After dinner, we split up. Connor, Kayla, and Griffin went on a walk and Gage, Matt, and Jen went back to the apartment. Jen, Matt, (and maybe Gage) went to check out the train station (Parent note: part of the pre-planning for tomorrow's adventure - stay tuned!) and went to another market (because they are just a good time and because we need provisions for tomorrow's outgoing).
For the other group (Kayla, Connor, and Griffin), they walked past some ancient ruins of a theatre, the city building of Malaga, and the University of Malaga.
After that, they went on a walk to the ocean where they saw this old temple which was meant for the wives of saliers. The wives would come to this temple and wish for their husbands safe return form see (at least thats what Kayla thought the translated the information on the sign said).
Also, Connor really wanted an Orange and there are Orange trees everywhere in Spain. However, it is illegal to pick Oranges by the tree but Connor still wanted to take a picture of him pretending to pick an Orange (again don't worry he got some oranges earlier at the market and its illegal so we didn't actually pick one).
After the walk, Kayla and Connor got ready for the boat cruise they had planned for the night. Look in the next picture and see if you can tell which boat they were going on.
Sadly, it was not the giant Yacht in the harbor but it was on a very cool catamaran boat. They were able to sit on these nets over the water the whole time. Also, they had prepared and brought wine in their water bottle so it was a cruise with refreshments. Enjoy some super cute pictures of the newly engaged couple on a romantic sunset cruise.
We even got to see the cool yacht (maybe Matt and Jens plan for retirement) and a view of the city at night on the way back into the harbor.
After getting back form the cruise, Kayla and Connor went to relax on the beach and watch the waves come crashing in. While doing this, they saw Griffin out on a run (connor didn't think it was him because he didn't think that Griffin could run that fast).
Upon getting back to the apartment, we tried some Octopus and Clams while relaxing to some music. (Parent note: when we decided to buy some octopus and clams, I figured it would be fairly simple to steam the clams and saute the octopus and then add them to last night's paella leftovers. After returning frim our sunset walk (see photo above), I started researching how to cook octopus. It turns out you have to boil it for an hour first! Yep, an hour - even just one measly tentacle! Fortunately the clams only required 10 minutes to cook, so that was easy - and way less gross!)
(Parent note continued: I was not confident about my octopus or clam- cooking skills, but when Griff came back from his very long run, he devoured his half of the clams along with the leftover paella.
When Connor and Kayla returned, most of the rest of the clams got eaten, so apparently Connor approved as well. I suggested we follow the recipe and refrigerate the cooked octopus for a bit, and then save it and sauté it into some future paella, but Connor has been talking about octpus since the trip started, so he jumped right in and tried the freshly-boiled tentacle. Kayla and Griffin then tried it as well, and all agreed it tastes like chicken. In this case, recently boiled chicken with no seasoning. So they wisely decided to save the rest and sauté it into some future paella.)
Overall, it was a great day and we all look forward to what tomorrow brings. Stay tuned.
Signing off
Kayla Daniel
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