Tenerife

As you can see, we're getting behind on posting lately.  Sorry about that.

Last week, Nick had a conference on the island of Tenerife which is part of the Canary Islands which is part of Spain.  I had no idea where it was at first and my impression is that most Americans would not know about the Canaries either.  However, it is a hot tourist destination for European travellers so a lot of my British friends/family knew exactly where it is or have been there.  Tenerife is a volcanic island, boasting the world's third largest volcano, El Teide.  So in other words, the island is REALLY hilly.

Calvin learning about hot sand

Anyway, like I said, Nick had to work all week while Cal and I enjoyed the sun and the beach.  Luckily, he was able to take off one afternoon and one morning to travel to beaches with us and we had another full day after the conference was over.  We spent most of the time at beaches but managed to get a half day at the volcano national park and experience the alien-like landscape that are old lava flows.

Parque Nacional del Teide

So, things we learned on this trip:
- The south part of Tenerife, where we stayed, feels like a little Britain
- Volcanos are cool (when they're not active)
- Cal really likes going into the ocean
- Cal really likes ice cream cones, not necessarily the ice cream
- Never, I repeat, never drive mountainous terrain with less than a 1/4 tank of gas
- Nick is amazing at running across motorways to get to gas stations

More pictures are here.

a visit to Cal's birthland

Last week the three of us drove up to Scotland for a visit.  It was a work trip for Nick but Calvin and I tagged along so we could visit friends in Dundee and St. Andrews.  This was our first long road trip with the toddler (he was an easy sleeping 6 month old on our last drive across the island) and he gave us quite a lot of screaming on Day 2 but overall, did pretty well.  We split the long drive up into two days, stopping in York for a few hours and then spending the night in Durham.  On the way back, we stopped and spent the night in the Lake District but unfortunately had terrible weather and couldn't fully enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  We treated it as a scouting trip and now know that we want to go back there.

Conquering the slide at a playground in St. Andrews (note the cathedral in the background)

One thing we learned on this trip is that Cal and sit-down restaurants do not mix.  If you were to happen upon us at a restaurant last week, you would have seen Nick or me eating our food as fast as we can while the other parent chased around the (sometimes screaming) boy.  Meals were a stressful time.

Cathedral running

Roman wall running

Lake watching

Ancient stone circle lounging

All in all, our time in Scotland was busy but it was wonderful to see all of our friends.  It is such a beautiful country and I hope we get to visit again soon (but not in the winter!).

Our adventure in pictures is mostly documented here but I failed to take photos of all the friends we saw.  I'm terrible at remembering that I have a camera sometimes.