First pitfall of the trip...

 It was all going so well...

Last Friday night we had our first big organized social event, a wine tasting event for the parents and a movie/pizza night for the kiddos.  It was great, we got to try great wine while learning more about the history of Portugal while making connections and new friends with other parents in our cohort.  After reconvening with our kids we even hung out til midnight with a couple other families, drinking more wine and eating more pizza...things are really starting to feel like home.

The next morning, a little hungover, we took the morning nice and slow.  Then out of absolute nowhere, Bud threw up.  Within minutes both kids were super sick, and we have 1 toilet to share.  The apartment never felt smaller.  To rub salt in the wound, it was the first warm and sunny day in a long time, and we had a free Saturday with plans to get out and explore.  But alas, it turned into a day of sleep, disinfecting, laundry, sleep, emergency response, disinfecting, laundry, sleep, ad nauseam (literally).

Sunday morning, the kids woke up feeling like a million bucks!  Figuring it was something the kids ate and grateful that all was not lost and it was another beautiful sunny day, we hit the road to Cascais (pronounced kash-kise) a vibrant beach town not far from Sintra.  We loved it, the architecture, shops, beachs, boats, marina, everything was so charming and lively.  At the beach we made friends with the funniest little dogs running in the waves, it was Evie's dream morning. Quite a few people were in the water despite it topping out at around 60 degrees. 

The marina area had clearly been recently upgraded and was full of all of these posh outdoor eateries, so we grabbed a table and decided to just sort of dine out for a while, European style.  The menu had an odd assortment of things, mostly Italian but then also sushi and the like.  It was great, albeit kind of all over the place.


We capped off our time in Cascais by riding this adorable Ferris Wheel right on the beach front.  The views were great, and we all laughed and joked and took pictures.  The kids kept insisting the Erin and I have "romantic kisses" and it was all very cute.

Our last jaunt was to a secluded beach (Praia de Crismina) on the western coast to catch the sunset.  It was a bit of a long Uber ride to get there, but well worth it as the cliffs, beach, waves and sunset were all beautiful.  It felt like we were at the end of the earth, especially since we were almost at the most western tip of continental Europe.  But while we were there, I felt that awful feeling of impending doom.  I had caught it too, we weren't in the clear, and were a million miles from home.  

My phone died and Erin didn't have Uber fully installed on hers (weird right?) and I couldn't figure out how to bypass the authentication texts to our US number. The kids were wet and it was getting cold fast as the sun had set. It was the most stressful 10 minutes of phone ninja followed by the most stressful uber ride I've ever had as I counted the seconds until we got home.  And as the kids put it, once we finally got in, I sounded like a dying walrus.  As I got wrung out like a dishrag, I rewound the past few hours of sushi, creamy pasta, sangria, more sangria, long uber rides, and aggressive kissing; I was filled with so much regret.

The true MVPs of the weekend...they did a lot of heavy lifting

But, if you come to Portugal, visit Cascais.  It's lovely!

Added to note: Erin had a milder version of the virus the next day (I'm admittedly jealous but happy for her), but we are all on the up and up now. The weather is sunny and nearly 70 and we are enjoying every second!