Before we moved to London, I had never even heard of Tenerife (pronounce Ten-a-reef). It's in the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain even though they are closer to Africa than Spain. Tenerife is home to the third largest volcano in the world, Mount Teide. It is the perfect place to go in February from London in my opinion!! The flight was about 4 hours (which to our kids is now short!!!), and it was in the 70s and sunny every day that we were there except the day we left to come home.
We left in the afternoon of Saturday, and we were arrived in our place around 10 PM. It was adequate, and in a great location.
Sunday, we headed to the water park, AquaLand, which was about a 10 minute walk from our flat. There is another water park, Siam Park, but it is too advanced for our kids. Maybe if we go back in about 4 years when the girls are up for big water slides. When we first walked in, they had birds that you could hold; Lauren completely shocked us by just taking the bird and holding it without even flinching. Drew and Alison on the other hand wouldn't even TOUCH it. AquaLand was absolutely perfect; we stayed there for about 4 hours and Drew was in one place pretty much the entire time. He even made friends with a little boy from Finland. It was pretty funny because they definitely did not speak the same language, but they still really enjoyed playing in the water and going down the slides. It was great!! The girls had a good time playing in the wave pool and they each did a couple of water slides with Brad. At the end of the day, we watched an amazing dolphin show. And on the way out, we purchased tickets to go back a second day.
Monday, Brad went out for a his long run, so the kids and I ventured to the market. It was quite an adventure, as each of them had their own basket and are not very good drivers! And thank you to the man who told me to weigh and get pricing on the produce before getting up to the counter because that saved me a lot of time!! Once Brad returned, we went to the pool in the complex for about an hour. We were the only ones there, but the water was pretty chilly so we didn't stay too long. We had a bite to eat and then we headed down to the beach, which was great. The kids played in the sand, and Brad and I just chatted and I read a book. After we played on the beach, we had the most peaceful dinner out we have had with the kids in 9 years! It was amazing!!! Everyone stayed in their seat the entire time, ate all their food and there was no arguing. What a great day.
Tuesday, we went back to AquaLand and had just a much fun the second time.
It was definitely more crowded, but it was a little warmer I think. I was able to do the water slides with the girls this time. Lauren was SO scared to do this big curvy water slide, but once it started she loved it. I attempted to do the one that Alison did the day before with Brad, but they said she was too short (like 1/2 cm!!). Drew did the same thing that he did the first time and had just as much fun this time. What a great place!!! It was totally worth the 9 euros per person we spent to return.
Wednesday, we went down to a different beach which was even better than the first one we tried. As we were walking down to the beach, we walked past this guy below. Lauren walked up to him and said "That's creep....." and then he started moving and she was REALLY surprised!! The guy was really funny about it. The beach was more of a cove, and the kids played on the beach for literally 3 hours!!
Drew was drawing a line in the sand for half the time, and the girls were building with some small plastic cups I brought. It was actually a little bit relaxing for Brad and I. We did some souvenir shopping after the beach, and we had a bit of words with one of the shop owners. Alison pulled a magnet off this magnet board, and it made the board fall over and a couple of the magnets broke; it was completely an accident. The guy who owned the shop totally went off on us about kids touching breakable things and breaking them and how people were so irresponsible. All of the kids had items in their hands to purchase, but we put them all down and walked out! He was so rude!!! She didn't touch something that was not intended for her. They were all able to find a good souvenir; the girls purchased wooden surfboards!
Thursday, we booked tickets to go up on the volcano.
We took a chance because the weather on the volcano was not that great, but I felt that we couldn't go to Tenerife and not at least see the volcano. WE took a coach up the volcano, and as we got closer to the top it started snowing!!! How crazy is it that one day we are on the beach and the next day we are all bundled up in our winter coats. We were unable to go up in the cable car to the top of the volcano, but we did get as close as we possible could.
It was a great trip, and the first trip we have taken with kids that I feel like I have actually been able to relax a little bit. We have turned that magical corner for a bit at least I think (touch wood!). And the good thing about living in a place where we do a lot of walking is that when we go on holiday to place where we do a lot of walking, there is not so much complaining!!!
