I hate it when camp (or vacation) has to end

We've had a good vacation. It's been fun to be here with the Mobleys and their daughter. Sunday morning was overcast, so we hung around the hotel and the pool, but the sun came out around lunch time, so we headed down the road a bit to the public beach. We looked like something out a sit-com with all of our towels and beach pails and floaties. This was not the normal look for other people. Everyone else had a towel...period.

Monday, Skip and Maddie and I spent the morning in the mountain town of Valdemossa, about 25 minutes away. It's a beautiful little village who makes its way through agriculture and the fact that it is home to an old monastery that was privatized back in the 1830s. I didn't know this, but there was a time when something called "disentaillment" happened in Spain in 1835, and all the monks were expelled from the monasteries and the government seized the land and sold it to private interests. After this monastery was privatized, it was turned in to an artists colony and it is where Chopin and George Sand used to vacation together. Chopin wrote many of his pieces here and it is where Sand penned her account of "Winter in Majorca". Also, even after they expelled the monks they let the pharmacist remain along with the apothecary in order to serve the medicinal need of the village, and all the old jars and weights and counters are all still there. I have some great pics that I will post when I get home. The monastery, along with the unusual beauty of the village, have made Valdemossa quite a popular tourist stop, yet in spite of the many shops and restaurants, it doesn't seem tacky or over run. Apparently Michael Douglass has a house there, as well. But we didn't see him.

Another afternoon at the beach and this time we rented a paddle boat big enough for four with a slide attached. You could paddle out into the ocean and then slide off into the water, climb back in the boat and do it all again. The girls thought that was the best ever, and the grown-ups thought it was pretty fun, too.

Today we will stay around the hotel and enjoy the pools and the sun before we have to be off. Our flight isn't until 5 p.m., so we have some time. Then it's one day to do laundry and pack for the next week before the packers come on Thursday. Yikes. No easing back into life after this vacation!

My friend Katie (whose blog has a link on mine) is having surgery today. She's having her thyroid removed and will also be getting pathology results. Please keep her in your prayers. My mom is helping out with her kids today and the rest of the week. Everyone needs a Nancy Russ around!