Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2013

The fireworks at the London Eye are amazing.  Last year we watched them from the viewpoint of lovely Primrose Hill.  This year was quite damp and we opted to stay in, having dinner at some friends nearby and then walking home about 11:45.  Imagine our delight when we realized that we can see about the top half of the London Eye from our 3rd floor windows.  So we were able to catch glimpses of the fireworks from afar through some trees but from the comfort of our own little toasty home in our PJs! 

New Year's Day and sun shining, we ventured for a walk to Picadilly Circus, a lovely route through Regent's Park, kids on the scooters ("too far to walk" they said; it's only about 2.5 miles), to get Dad his Christmas present which was new shirts and ties from his favorite London store. 

Regent's Park New Year's Day

Shopping between Oxford Circus and Picadilly Circus proved a fantastic time, lots of sales and we even accidentally ran into the London New Year's Day Parade making its way by Picadilly Circus.

Later we went to see Life of Pi in 3D.  Ally got to drag along 2 of her friends, one of whom is moving to China next week =(

Life of Pi in 3D

 Out with the old, in with the new....

Happy New Year 2013!!

My heart overflows with gratitude for my cherished family and friends, and for the wonderful experiences life delivers.  Satisfaction does not come from stuff, anything tangible, but from our closest relationships and the wonders of life adventures (the good, the bad, the simple and the grand - all of it).

Tenerife - Canary Islands

In this post...avoiding depression when you're missing out on all the family fun

No time zone change, a four hour flight and lots of sunshine helped us forget about all the family gatherings we were missing back in MN.
We stayed at a fantastic resort away from the beach with a heated pool, sauna, mini golf, ping pong and chess; very quiet and relaxing.
We picked up groceries and cooked all but 3 meals in our kitchenette.

Here's the lowdown:
Dec 23 Day 1 - travel & settle in

Dec 24 - relax, groecery run, watch our home church service via web & attempted to make my mom's famous stuffing for a proper Christmas Eve meal

mini golf and the pool were main sources of entertainment

we spent a lot of time in this water!

the temperature was even good for me and I'm a huge wimp!

Dec 25 - beautiful hike "Roque Del Conde"

Dec 26 - a round of golf (first time ever our entire family ALL played at once) visited Los Christianos, stores and beach. Ate a fantastic paella!

the boys play much better than the girls in our family!

the landscape in Tenerife is gorgeous

Dec 27 - visit to El Tiede National Park, the volcanoe (among the world's largest) and a nice hike. Only an hour by car.

kids commented that the drive up to the volcanoe felt like they were in Ely, MN!

THE Volcano El Tiede

safari type groups in the area

Dec 28 - Siam Water Park. Expensive but worth it, especially when some nice Brits had 2 tickets going to waste and just GAVE them to us (66€)!!  They wouldn't even take the money we offered them! The free-fall waterslide rocketing you through a tube which runs through a shark aquarium is completely stomach turning exhilirating!! They also have a massive manmade wave pool (world record for largest manmade waves) and beach.

this is the free fall water slide - super freaky!

lazy river and three river rats

one of Josh's favorite slides

Dec 29 - return home! it was raining, grey, dreary when we returned!  Oh the sun felt nice in Tenerife!

I would highly recommend it!!  There are not many historical sites, museums, cultural things (apparently an amazing carnival but we were not there for that) BUT actually that made it all the more relaxing, and the kids even commented it was nice that we were not doing tons of "visits" (which mom likes to plan wherever we go).

Where we stayed:
http://www.regencycountryclub.com/index.php?lang=en

Water park:
http://www.siampark.net/en/