Based on my co-worker Sarah!
Figure I’d do cats because that’s all they do, right?
Gian wanted one to have a betafish tail
For my mom gramma and aunt
Mermay part 2
MerMay
This week I decided to do things a little differently. I haven’t had time to type of one of our recent travels, but I have been participating in MerMay, a month-long celebration of creativity, community and above all…MERMAIDS.
Now, I must admit, I haven’t drawn in quite some time. What used to be something I did every day slowly became something I’d occasionally do when I’m bored in the office. This is a nice little challenge to get my hand in motion again, whether it’s on paper or digitally.
I’ve been super self-conscious about the pictures because honestly I know they aren’t that great, but as the days go on I’ve started to build up some confidence. At least enough to share what I’ve done. I hope you guys enjoy #Mermay as much as I am.
I think day 1’s theme was a little hard for the first attempt! 
Cute mermaid that’s acting like she’s up to no good 
Not sure what “rockability” is, but I thought rock! 
I forgot that they were separate and just did one pic… 
Kid ready to play ball 
Our Godnephew? in squid form! 
Maybe he should have been the rascal the way he’s thieving!
Animal Crackers – Intro.
Times like this she wished she had a box full of animal crackers and not just the broken pieces. Maybe if she had a kangaroo or a gorilla she could make it out of the 9-foot crater she was stuck in, but unfortunately, she had neither.
Maybe we should start from the beginning.
Melanie was in kindergarten sitting with five other classmates at their assigned table. Every day, a different student brought in a snack for the class that their parent had packed. It was Mel’s favorite part of the day because it was her chance to try all kinds of different foods. Some kids brought in sandwiches, others pastries, but her absolute favorite snacks were cookies. She was extra giddy today because the assigned student, the bubble kid, told her that his mom packed cookies. They called him the bubble kid because whenever he sneezed, bubbles the size of pool balls shot out of his nose and ears.
The teacher, Ms. Bender, and bubble kid began to pass out the treats, table by table, saving Melanie’s for last. Once Ms. Bender reached her desk, she placed 12 “cookies” in front of her on a napkin. She cleared her throat and said, “Attention class, Jeremy brought in animal crackers for today’s snack time.” Mel picked up the animal cracker with a face of disgust and began to study it.
She rose to her feet and shouted “Hey, Jeremy! I thought you said you were bringing in cookies!” The students all turned towards her and erupted into laughter. A smiling Ms. Bender quieted down the class and made her way towards Mel. “Melanie, these are cookies. Well, I guess it depends on where you’re from! It can be a cookie, a cracker, or whatever you’d like it to be.” She squeezed Mel’s shoulders and told her to try one. Melanie looked at the different animal shapes. A lion, tiger, kangaroo, sheep, and seal all laid on the napkin in front of her. She made the lion gallop across the napkin and had it roar every other step. Mel had the kangaroo jump many feet as she lifted her hands up into the air. Without playing with the next cookie, she popped it into her mouth. She felt a little strange as she chewed the cracker, but maybe it had some ingredient in it she wasn’t familiar with. She swallowed the snack and sucked her teeth to get the rest of the cracker. She looked for the next cookie, but she was no longer sitting at the table. As a matter of fact, the chair she was sitting on had broken and there appeared to be wool everywhere. The kid sitting next to Melanie screamed.
“Where’d Melanie go?” Jeremy yelled across the room. By this time, all the kids in the classroom realized that a sheep was now inhabiting their space. Several of the students ran towards the sheep in amazement grabbing its soft and curly wool. The sheep looked puzzled, as if it had no clue what was going on. It started to panic and baa, and began to run around. Ms. Bender, who was also perplexed, chased after the sheep. It zigzagged between the tables, tumbled onto the reading mat, and screamed to the top of its lungs. Everyone in the classroom covered their ears and closed their eyes when suddenly there was no more noise – just a scared crying Melanie sitting on the reading mat. Ms. Bender ran over to Melanie and embraced her. Tears dripped onto her jacket as Melanie continued to sob. “It’s okay, I’m right here,” Ms. Bender said. She got Melanie to her feet and carefully walked her back to the seat next to hers. The rest of the class stared in awe, confused at what had happened moments before. “It’s okay, let’s get you a glass of water.” Ms. Bender walked over to the water fountain to grab a cup. While the teacher’s back was turned towards Melanie, she picked up another cookie and ate it.
Collectively, the students all screamed to the top of their lungs causing Ms. Bender to quickly turn around. Now she had to deal with two broken chairs and a lion.
Windowpane
Leaning on a windowpane to make it through the day,
Feeling all this window pain as the sky turns to grey.
You walk down the road and I’ll never catch your gaze,
I scream for your attention, but the window just won’t raise.
Hands pressed firmly and my breath against the glass,
Fingertips looming as your touch begins to pass.
The sun in your eye, yet you see me very clearly,
You can feel me watching you ever so sincerely.
A thud in my chest as it lightly starts to rain,
And now I’m trapped again with this giant windowpane.
Tenerife Part 2
Here’s part 2 to the Tenerife trip! There are tons of pictures, so I hope you enjoy.
Monday – Island Tour
On Monday we decided to take the Mt. Teide and Masca Valley Tour in Tenerife, which was my favorite part of the trip. It was just over 30 pounds and the tour lasted about 9 hours. If you’re going to Tenerife, staying in the south, and have a day available, I highly recommend you take a tour to see the entire island. The south looks kind of like the planet Mars, but the more north you go, the greener it gets.
Pool created from molten 
view of the city 
rainbow 
houses in trees 
beautiful view 
tight traffic 
Rainbow over city
The tour started pretty early in the morning. We were the first stop, so we were on the bus before the sun was even up. After everyone loaded up, we hit the road to go to Mount Teide (an active volcano!). On the way to Mt. Teide, we stopped at this little hole in the wall restaurant so everyone could use the bathroom. The tour guide mentioned this drink that’s, for the most part, only served in Tenerife. It’s called Barraquito, and is a liqueur coffee that uses Licor 43. We continued our travels to the volcano and made it past the clouds. We were literally above the clouds! When we finally made it to the volcano, we got out and took plenty of pictures. The tour gives you a little while at each section, so you don’t get to do too much. If you want to do any of these places for long periods of time, I’d suggest renting a car or something. It was really cool being next to it and I kept thinking to myself, if this thing were to erupt right now, we’d be goners. Luckily for us, it hasn’t erupted since 1909.
landscape above the clouds 
next to the volcano 
Shaun and Gian 
view of the covered city 
beautiful landscape
We then went to a town called Garachico. This town was hit badly by an eruption hundreds of years ago, but that created a whole new culture for it. Everything looks like volcanic debris, so it’s a charcoal-like colored area. The eruption created some really cool natural rock pools that people swim in. We didn’t get to dive in because the tour was short, and because it was raining. Not like we would have anyways – no one wants to be wet on a bus.
The bus stopped at a little restaurant where we had lunch for pretty cheap. I want to say we ordered beef or something, but I can’t remember. The island is also known for its bananas, so they passed them out for dessert. I would have preferred them a little riper, but hey, it was an experience. Also, we got extra food thanks to Gian and Davoo speaking Spanish! The tour guide was extremely happy to hear they were from Puerto Rico and wanted them to have a good impression of Spain. It stuck!
Masca 
#selfie 
winding road 
greenery at the volcano 
us a little scared
We briefly stopped at Vilaflor, a small little town, but only to go to a souvenir shop. We didn’t buy anything there, but they did have tons of samples that we tried. All kinds of salsa made from exotic fruit. Afterwards, we went to El Drago (the Dragon Tree), a really..really old tree (looked more like a bush). Apparently it’s somewhere between 650-3000 years old. That’s a really big difference though ha. It was raining and I think we were behind on time, so we only saw it from the road. We got out and took pictures though (yes, on the road while cars were in motion.)
The coolest part of the trip was going to Masca Valley. It’s by far the most beautiful part of the island with stunning sceneries, rainbows everywhere, and one heck of a drive to get there. There is one road up and down, and typically, the locals go up one way and down another. When you have tourist that aren’t familiar, they go the wrong way causing messy traffic. There were plenty of people who couldn’t maneuver their cars, so they had to get out and let the bus drive move the car out of the way for them. It was a lot of work!
megs trying to not fall 
linds posing 
volcano baby 
group photo! 
street pic 
covered city
Anyways, we made it to the top and it was gorgeous. You can see out to the ocean from certain angles and the sun shines so brightly up there. We went to a gift shop at the top which wasn’t too ridiculously priced, so I was happy about that. Check out the photos because they were awesome.
Tuesday – Check out
By Tuesday we were worn out. We really took the time to relax, catch up on sleep, and stuff our faces with the remaining food we had left over. We really lucked out because the Airbnb host was super nice. She allowed us to keep our stuff at the place after checkout while we searched for a printer. There were no stores that could print our boarding passes and the local library had closed down. Fortunately for us the host offered to take Gian and Davoo to a store that printed. It wasn’t walking distance, so we were grateful.
#Lessonslearned – If the country is safe, try not to stay in the touristy areas. Vacation spots aren’t as authentic, and you may not get the full experience and culture of the country.
Tenerife Part 1
I decided to split this into two separate posts because it ended up being longer than expected!
Our second trip outside of the United Kingdom was to Tenerife over U.S. Veterans Day weekend (10 – 13 Nov). Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands and the most populated. We flew into the Tenerife South Airport because it was cheaper and touristy. The original flight was from 0640 to 1120 but we had a schedule change to 0830 instead. We then had another schedule change which ended up being 0930-1410. I’m glad that we had the change because no one wants to be at the airport at 0400 in the morning. I heard that RyanAir does this often, so be aware if you book with them.
View of Tenerife from the plane 
Food from the restaurant 
Red Mountain
Saturday – Touchdown
When we landed, we headed straight to the Airbnb which was in El Medano, about 10-15 minutes from the airport. It was beautiful and spacious: right outside of the beach, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and not too far from the center of town. We were starving so we walked down the street to this restaurant called “The Metro King” that sold these humongous burgers! I wish I had a picture of it because they were gigantic.
After eating, we roamed the town to find some things to do later on. It was getting kind of late so we picked up some food from a local grocery store and headed back to the Airbnb. We sat on the patio, had a few drinks and laughed, and enjoyed the warm weather. We played some games (in Spanish!) that the Airbnb host had around the house (Pictionary, taboo, etc.). Surprisingly we did better than expected. During Pictionary we ended up in a heated discussion about some of the verbs which was hilarious because the arguers were on the same team. We lost.
Sunday – Nature
We were outside for the majority of Sunday – hence the subtitle. We hit the beach for a few hours which was amazing, but let me tell you, that water was FREEZING. Anyone who knows me knows I hate the cold and I don’t really like water, so cold water just doesn’t do. I got in to about my ankles and gave up. Instead, I bathed in the sun while everyone else bobbed up and down in the water like ice cubes. While they froze their booties off, I just did what I do best and people watched. There was a topless lady not far from me, an older gentleman dating someone way younger than he was, and a family that let their kids run across the beach naked.
After everyone decided that the water was finally cold enough, they joined me on the beach and we started to play random beach games. Tons of sand pictures were drawn and cartwheels were flipped. Davoo and I got into some Olympic challenge (as usual) where we crab walked, handstood, and other simple things. Somehow Gian and Davoo got to wresting on a beach and Megs drew a circle around them as a ring. Gian should have easily defeated him but I think he was just scared to try. I wrestled Davoo and was also scared, but only because I almost body slammed him to the ground which would have basically ended his life. I played gently instead. I won, of course.
Flavored Icees! 
No Turning back 
Handsome fellas 
view climbing up
After going back to the house and probably eating, we decided to hike up Red Mountain. While on the way there, we stopped on the boardwalk and got some snacks (liquor icees) which were pretty good. Now, before I go on about this mountain, let me tell you that these pictures do not do it justice. We thought this was going to be a small little hike up and down a hill, but boy were we wrong.
When we were walking to Red Mountain, I thought it wouldn’t be that bad because there were people running the trail, breathing like it was no big deal. They clearly had been training for that mountain for months because we couldn’t walk it without gasping for breath every few minutes. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but there were definitely parts of the mountain that you basically had to climb up. Half of our party decided that they wouldn’t continue to the peak. It was absolutely beautiful at the top of the mountain though. It was surrounded by beaches, but we were so high up that the people on them looked like little specs. Gian, Davoo and I were chilling on the top (because after you climb a mountain for 45 minutes that’s what you do!) when then Megs and Linds joined us! I was happy that they continued because we were so close to the top and the view was spectacular.
I thought going up the mountain was bad, but going down was even worse! The path was nothing but rocks, dirt, and sand, so the slightest moves and you were sliding down the hill. There was a moment when I slid, and as I ungracefully glided down the mountain, runners continued to move like it was nothing! My pride was hurt.
view from up high 
Tripleta 
Paella
In total, from the Airbnb to the mountain and back, Google says it took a little over 3 hours. That was one heck of a hike.
I’d like to say we ended the day at a restaurant on the water where we ordered Paella. We were in Spain, so obviously we were going to have Paella. It was good, but it wasn’t as amazing as I wanted it to be. It was probably that the service sucked.
#Lessonslearned – If you’re traveling with a group and you see tickets are cheap, buy them. We paid nearly half for our tickets than some others on the trip.
Kiss and Tell – Intro.
It started when he was just a baby. Not a mainstream power, but one that a child could easily figure out. What child hasn’t kissed their parent? A grandparent? A friend? A stranger? One little kiss and Sebastian would know your power inside and out. One little kiss and Seb could make your world, or ruin it, whichever the case may be.
When it happened, it wasn’t a vision or anything like that, but it was something he could feel in his bones. Something that resonated with him, hummed throughout his body for as long as his lips were on theirs. A power he’d eventually call “kiss and tell.”
When people find out you have a sensory power, everyone wants to be your friend. Then all of a sudden they don’t want to be your friend anymore because you tell them that their power is essentially useless like turning green with envy or being able to make pie appear out of thin air. His whole life he was kind enough to kiss you and tell you what your power was, but it got old rather quickly. One day he decided that he’d start charging for his service. After all, who doesn’t want to know what their power is?
Seb sat at his chestnut dining table and scribbled in thick blue marker, “One Kiss is All it Takes!” onto a poster. He thought Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa must have had him in mind when they collaborated on that song. Eager to get started, he grabbed the sign and dashed out of his house. He swiftly jogged down the street in the direction of one of the local hospitals. He lived in the city, so he didn’t need a car to get around; he’d make it wherever in the city within twenty minutes. As he trotted down the street shadows flew past him. Mainstreamers. The power of flight was one of the easiest powers for a person to figure out, and it was actually quite common. One simple thought of lifting into the air and boom, you’re fighting to get out of a tree. Most people think that they just have the ability to fly, but it might be levitation, their bones are like birds, or they can run on air. Either way, flight is flight.
He arrived at the Rudding hospital which had one of the biggest birth centers in the town. The automatic doors slid open and the cool sterile air grazed his face. Seb marched right up to the desk, gracefully slammed his poster on the counter and smirked. Annoyed at his stunt, the receptionist drew a “U” in the air pointing back towards the entrance, and Sebastian instantly turned to face where her finger directed. He spun around, the receptionist repeated her gesture, and Seb turned right around. “Okay, I get it! I’m sorry,” he apologized. He glanced at the receptionist’s handwritten name tag and said, “Hey, Ms. Betty. I’m sorry I slammed my poster down, but I’m really excited.”
“About what? Actually, I’m not interested. You can go now,” Ms. Betty said as she shooed him away with her hand. He stumbled as his body was pushed back slightly.
“Now that’s an interesting power,” Seb grumbled. He set off to leave the hospital when he saw a mother and father walking with their newborn daughter. “Hi, I’m Seb, short for Sebastian, and I can tell you what your daughter’s power will be.” Curious, the mother slowed down to see what he was talking about.
“Really? How so?” she asked. The father glanced down at his poster and threw his hands into the air. “You’re kidding! Go find somewhere else to hustle, kid.” He started to walk past and Seb gently placed his hand on his shoulder.
“I’m not lying – that’s my gift in a nutshell. One kiss is all it takes. I can prove it to you free of charge, if you already know what your power is.” Fed up with the conversation, the father sighed. He turned and started towards the door when the mother said, “Yes, I know what I can do. I can…”
The next moment happened in a blur. Sebastian quickly ran over to the mother and kissed her before she could reveal her power. The fumes from the father were practically visible. He ran to Seb and grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him in the air. “Wait! Wait! She’s able to balance anything.” Sebastian huffed. Stunned, the father let go of him and Seb fell to the ground. Flustered, he got up and started dusting his clothes off. He let out a slight chuckle and said, “You’re able to balance anything on top of each other. I’d call that a ‘fine balancing act.’”
Amazed by his gift, the mother pulled the father to the side. She glanced over at Seb, clutched her purse tightly and swiftly walked over to him. “Name your price.”
Brussels, Belgium
This is a continuation of our first holiday to Belgium while living in the UK. This is all about Brussels!
It’s the last one in the Belgium series.
Before traveling to Ghent on Sunday (2 September), we had registered for a “make your own chocolate workshop” in Brussels. The meet up spot was in Town Hall, and it was crowded, as expected. Many of the buildings had trimmings of gold, and the sun hitting the building made it a lovely view. Our tour guide finally came for us and we began the class.
If you go to Brussels, this is definitely something I would recommend. It takes a few hours, but you get to learn how chocolate is made and actually make your own. It was so much fun, and we ate so much chocolate that we kind of got turned off of chocolate for the remainder of the trip! As you can see from the picture, we really had a blast. We made truffles, or chocolates that have a hard shell but a softer inside. We did have one scary moment when the wall started to fall apart, but I swear we had nothing to do with that haha.
We went back to Brussels on Monday (3 September), but by train this time! We traveled the city and tried to hit as many touristy spots as possible. We saw all three of the peeing statues: The Manneken Pis statue (the little boy), Jeanneke-Pis (the little girl), and the Zinneke Pis (the dog). I think I can speak for everyone when I say I was disappointed with the famous little boy. All the statues in the store and references made it seem like it was such a large statue! It was all of 1.5 feet tall, and it was dressed up in clothes for the weekend. What a drag.
We also took another class, the “Waffle Workshop”! Everyone knows that Belgium is known for waffles and chocolate, and we had a ton. We (Gian, Davoo, and I) ate like 6 waffles each. I even got the recipe for them, so I hope you guys enjoy it!
The last day we had some extra time, so we went to the Atomium which I wasn’t too impressed by. I will admit that we didn’t go inside, but it just didn’t seem too appealing. We took some photos outside of it and then walked a nearby trail. We got some cool pictures on the trail including me doing a handstand on some very wet grass on a timed camera.
Ghent, Belgium
This is a continuation of our first holiday to Belgium while living in the UK. This is all about Ghent!
Don’t worry, it’s only one more Belgium post (Brussels is up next!)
The plan for Sunday (2 September) was to drive into Brussels and enjoy a “make your own chocolate workshop,” then train to Ghent to check out the city. We were lucky because it turns out parking is free on Sundays, so that saved us from paying for parking! We took the train from Belgium to Ghent, which was a little over an hour, but it was a smooth fun ride. If you’re interested in the chocolate workshop, you’ll have to see my next post (Brussels baby!).
We walked many miles to visit the City Center. I have never seen a town that had as many bikes as Ghent – it seemed like everyone had two bikes and just left them on the street for anyone to take. We went to Saint Nicholas Church, some other nearby buildings, and we also tried to go into this castle, but it closed early and we missed the entering time. It worked out because none of us were too thrilled about paying because it wasn’t the largest of castles.
One of my favorite parts of Ghent was Graffiti Street. Many urban towns have them and they are also so fascinating to see. It’s just something about local (and not local) artist tagging an alley with their own flare that’s amazing.
On the way back to the train station, we walked by some really creepy caves. We had an awesome photoshoot with Davoo looking like some kind of cave dweller, and Meggie and Gian resting under some vined columns.
Street Art 
Belgium Church 
Belgium Church 
Creepy Davoo 
Gian and Meggie
Bruges, Belgium
This is a continuation of our first holiday to Belgium while living in the UK (Check out the first blog post here). This one is all about Bruges!
On Saturday (1 September), we went to Bruges and what a beautiful city it was! It was nice and sunny out, so we really took advantage of walking around the town. We found parking, which was actually pretty cool because you could add money to your meter from any other meter in the city. You just had to enter your license plate number and boom – Paid! We first strolled through the Historic Centre of Bruges seeing different architectural buildings such as the Belfort, the Markt, and a church which I can’t remember the name of (but I have pictures!). We hopped on a cheap little touristy boat and cruised through the city while the guide informed us about the town in three languages: English, French, and I want to say the third was Dutch, but I’m not too sure. We saw some of the different structures in the town, but my favorite thing on the boat tour was the huge whale made of recycling material.
Gian enjoying the boat cruise 
Belgium beer taster 
Buildings on the tour 
church i don’t remember the name of 
Inside the church 
church 
structure in belgium 
recycled whale
We were quite hungry during this journey, but the food was so expensive! We ended up at Café Cambrinus (at least that’s what google tells me) where we got a meat sampler and tried out some Belgium Beer. I’d say 6/8 beers we had were amazing, which is pretty good because I don’t like many beers (Yes, you’ll see my drink beers quite often, but that doesn’t mean it’s my preferred drink!). After eating a little grub, we began our hunt for the best chocolate in town. We were super touristy and just followed google and trip advisor, so we ended up in this shop called “The Chocolate Line” which was good, but obviously expensive. We stopped by another shop around the corner which was smaller and cheaper, and honestly, I think their chocolate tasted much better. Unfortunately, I don’t have the name of the shop we went to. Either way, I loved the chocolate in Belgium…until we had too much chocolate which I’ll also cover later. We probably would have benefited from asking a local where we should get some really good chocolate. Lessons learned.
Davoo was interested in seeing the “Windmills of Bruges,” so we headed that way. We walked for quite some time, but as I mentioned earlier, the weather was beautiful, so it was a journey well spent. We traveled along a little stream (or river?) and took some cool pictures while there. We got to the windmills and had such a great time there. There was a family of five seeing the windmills as well who offered to take our picture. The parents were super laidback with their kids and let them run around and have the time of their lives. They jumped off the windmill and the parents strongly suggested “keeping their knees together” when they landed so they wouldn’t hurt themselves. The son decided he’d roll down the steep hill to have some fun and then busted his head on the street. He was so confused he practically had birds flying around his head, but he obviously knew he was being dumb because he didn’t complain or say anything. He just put his hand on his head and stopped playing. It was funny, but I know his head hurt the next day!
Selfie at the windmills 
Shaun sitting on the windmill 
Chocolate Horse 
butts and windmills 
group windmill photo 
More Chocolate!
It took us forever to walk back and by the time we got to the car we were starving. The restaurants weren’t really open because it was Sunday, and the places that were open were too expensive, so we decided to grab food on the way home. We went to this Asian buffet which was an experience itself. We were so thirsty the whole time we were out that we kept ordering waters. When the bill came, we quickly learned that in Europe, you are charged for water, even if it’s tap water. We all had like six glasses and they were like $2 each! Learned that lesson fast.
#Lessonslearned – Water in Europe is not free.