Las Palmas to Black Mountain

---

It has been a while since my last post, SORRY, I will do my best to remember our journey since last.

Another week just filled with work, sun and play. My coworking space is great, Rafael (the owner) has been very helpful and given me a space in the office area with him (I think he likes to have company). He has 2 kids, 15 & 18 (the oldest is in London at College) He has tried to help me find things for Sarah to do. Not much luck, but the fact he tried was so nice. He knows a lot of English and likes to speak to me in English. I try to speak in Spanish, but usually, make a ton of mistakes. He would like to come to Canada some day, but needs to wait for his kids to be out of the house- I said WHAT that is crazy, just take him with you...he also wants Hayden to teach his son English, so I said they could just speak back and forth English to Spanish and they could teach each other!



Hayden, Sarah and I decided to do a movie this week. They typically have 2 or 3 movies in English (with Spanish subtitles) so this week they had Creed showing. Our movie time was 9:30 pm. LATE.....we arrived early so that Sarah could check out the arcade again. And low and behold they had Galaga..go figure! Played a couple of games and then we headed to the show. It was pretty empty and so we ordered our popcorn and drinks and headed to the theater. We were the ONLY people in the show (until 1 guy showed up and sat right in front of us..DUH). The show was great ad we headed back at midnight to the apartment. Now Hayden and Sarah are back on the boxing kick, so maybe we can finally get them into a class this week. A new kickboxing studio just opened up so we may give it a try next week.

On my way home from the Mercador (grocery store), I stopped by a restaurant and glanced in (It looked new- it was Korean) THey quickly tried to give me a menu and started asking questions in Spanish. I said, No hablo Spanish and so then the younger girl started speaking English. The mom (the chef) asked her to translate a bunch of questions to me- where I live, how long I stay, kids etc? She then proceeded to tell me her daughter (the one translating) was 18 and I should come back tomorrow with Hayden. So friendly and in need of business was my first impression. So sure enough, Hayden and I went back the next day. Kim (the mom) was so excited to see us and her first words to Hayden after kissing him and holding his cheeks were Guapo, Guapo, Guapo. If you can imagine, that means Handsome! She kept saying it over and over and then introduced him to Strella her daughter! We order some yummy food - we had looked it up the night before- I had HongKsu ( deep-fried pork ) and Hayden Beef with rice. They gave us free dumplings and dessert. We chatted some more and the mom (Kim) gave me her phone number and wants to call me in Canada when she visits. lol The daughter connected on Instagram with Hayden too (the mom's request). She was so excited to talk to us and yet disappointed we didn't speak Spanish, but her daughter and the waitress both managed to translate everything for her. I think they were a bit embarrassed by her questions, but we thought it was sweet. She kept telling me how young I looked and what beautiful son I had. We left (finally) and promised to bring Sarah and Sean back the next week.

I worked all week trying to catch up before Sean arrived, met with Mel for coffee after her trip to London. Sarah and Hayden continue to do their Spanish lessons, but yet to find an activity to do outside of Video games and homework. Sarah takes an hour each night to write at the pier for Sunset. Hayden and I try to do our tennis on the beach and then dinner, tv, and bed. So much like home just no snow!

Hottest day yet on Sunday (Sean was to arrive on Sunday, we had planned to rent a car and pick him up and then head south to Maspalomas and see the dunes for the day. However, as you probably already know, his flight got canceled due to Portugal weather. So instead Hayden, Sarah and I headed to the beach. Nice sunny day, so we had a drink and snack and Hayden and I took a long walk on the beach while Sarah suntanned. Then we headed to Santa Catalina to check out Carnaval. Lots of people dressed up and vendors selling candy, food, and beer of course. Had a quick snack and headed to Fat Franks for lunch - burgers, and Beer!

One more day and Sean will arrive- we hope! But the start of a long journey was about to unfold fo Sean it would seem.

After arriving at the airport for his 8:50pm flight on Saturday, he was told on arrival it was canceled and to come back tomorrow (Sunday for a 1:30pm flight). So back to Stouffville they went. He arrived early on Sunday as Julia had to work and waited in a huge line up looking for more information on his flight. Finally, they told him they had a plane arriving for them at 1pm but they would not be direct and, in fact, he would be taking 3 flights and have astay over in Portugal. So off to Ponte Delgada on flight#1, arriving at 11:30pm (my time). He was shuffled off to a hotel for the night and to be ready for an early trip back to the airport the next day. His breakfast was meat and cheese and cucumbers (YUM) around 6 am and taxi back to the airport for his next flight to Lisbon, Portugal leaving at 8:30 am. But once again the flight was delayed due to maintenance issues. So 2.5 hours later he was finally off. Good thing he had a 4-hour layover, so was still able to make his flight from Lisbon, to Madrid. Next flight was 2 hours to Madrid, with another quick stop over and then departing to Las Palmas. He was scheduled to arrive at 8 pm in Las Palmas, so we arranged him a taxi and hoped his luggage would show. AND HE DID and his luggage. Everyone was happy to finally see Dad, and I am sure he was happiest to be on land finally!

Sean settled back in ( feeling like he never left, his words). House is a little more crowded now with 3 computers on the dining room table, so my coworking place is much needed. We showed Sean all our usual places and some new ones we have found and settled into our routines.

We have plans to take Hayden away for his birthday on Friday to a cabin in the mountain, to live off the land- Hayden's favourite thing to d0 (ok maybe not off the land, but remote area, lots of hikes and a dog we understand) Weather is much colder so he will definitely be happy! Me and Sarah, not so much.

First we must take Sean to the Korean restaurant to introduce him to the family...........and then we leave our apartment and head to Black Mountain!

---