Fully here

Two weeks have gone by since my last post. It feels like every day has been filled to the brim, in a good but also exhausting way.  We are back on the house hunting trail, and there's still nothing about this process that is particularly easy. I wrote a post way back when we moved here ("City vs. Village") about the real estate market and the may ways in which it frustrates to no end to actually secure a (decent, fully legal, within-market-price) property in Lisbon. The search we're engaging in now is outside of Lisbon, but the system is all the same. The saving grace for us this time around is that we must have learned something--or else acclimated to BS--because we aren't hitting our heads against quite as many walls. Most of the real estate agents have actually responded to our inquiries (then again, we throw so many out into the wind that even a handful coming back feels like a victory!). Most of them have been at the properties on time for visits. Several have even given us the house address ahead of time so we can drive there or use the handy Google Map walking man tool to "see" the street and determine if we even like the area. I am definitely savoring all of these little wins. Our daytime hours while the kids are in school, however, have been filled with visits, touring neighborhoods, looking for hand-painted "Vende-se" signs, calling phone numbers, etc. We think (hope!) we may have found something with great potential, but I'll expound on that later when the deal is actually secured. If I've learned anything from the past real estate projects we've pursued here, perseverance and great intentions don't secure deals (psst, yes, it's this one below....!).

The real joy in these full days has been feeling entirely involved in our life here: present and engaged and taking advantage of everything.  This past weekend, we started our Saturday morning at the horse barn, as we do every Saturday. This time two other moms and their kids joined us, one of whom wanted to sign her daughter up for a riding evaluation. After my horse had ample time to jump and kick on the lunge line, all the kids got to ride him, and even Lucas got on the saddle with Léoni (something he has declined for months now). We joined the many other families at the barn for a lunch of fresh grilled fish and vegetables, fresh cheese and bread and chorizo and wine. And then we headed out to a birthday party for a friend of Léoni's from her school last year. This is the one family we have kept in touch with, albeit quite sporadically. Their daughter also loves horses, and so the party was at a farm with goats and sheep, rabbits and geese, ponies and donkeys...and even 2 camels. Then Junior and I joined another couple for dinner at a restaurant just on the other side of the basilica, and so we had a nice walk through our park there and back. On Sunday, I took the kids and Apollo out on a nature walk while Junior went to the beach to surf. He coordinated with another family whose two kids are in the same classes as our two kids--and we all met up on the beach. We ate sushi overlooking the water, and it was Lucas's first time having sashimi. And then Léoni and I went to the barn so that I could ride and exhaust my horse enough for her to ride him --and we practiced her steering and the very first dressage pattern she is learning! When we all finally reconvened at home on Sunday night, everyone was happy to eat (ahem, cod with cream and potatoes and spinach...Portuguese staples), take baths, and go to sleep.