Tuesday we started the day with our walk up to La Atalaya.  Becky and Joel joined me while Elder Buhler was with Elder Blanchard while he waited for the zone leader to get to our island from Tenerife (another island).  Here we are in La Atalaya, which is another pueblo up the road from us.   The walk is a beautiful walk with many views of the valleys and the ocean.

We then headed to the sand dunes on the south end of the island and rode camels.  Here is my favorite camel lounging in the sun.

Lauren and Tyler enjoying the ride!  We are glad to see Lauren smiling here because the next morning she woke up with her whole face swollen and she only had one eye that we could see.  Then on Thursday she woke up with no eyes visible, so we took her to the doctor and found out that she is allergic to camels!!  Who knew?  She received a cortazone shot and seemed to be doing better by the time she left to go home.  She loves camels but sadly we think this is here last camel ride!!

Becky, Joel and Carson trecking through the sand dunes on their camel, who seemed to really love me.  Can you see him "snuggle" up to me (I am right in front of his nose, out of the picture)!

Here is Logan and Jordan on their camel who I think was named Ivan.

Here we are in our "mini sahara desert" trecking along too.  Our camel was the roughest ride because he rocked us up and down more than any other camel.

Joel and Becky and their camel!  The camels were so cute and very friendly!!  I have to think that maybe they have had problems with camels biting because check out the muzzles that they are all wearing!  Our camel even foamed at the mouth and seemed to really like Lauren!

We visited the "Mommy and baby camel" pen.  Obviously one of the baby camels loved Logan.  Yes, that is me with my camel purse (it's one of Cecelia's b-day presents) taking the picture with my camera.

The parting shot of our camel ride is of Lauren loving life!  She was such a trooper and never complained when her face swelled up from the camels.

Oops, this is our parting shot of the camels with us in front of the baby camel pen.  A great day riding camels!!

After camels we went go-karting!  Here are Logan and Tyler getting ready to roll!!  They had to wear these hair nets underneath their helmets.

Go Lauren Go!!  They all went pretty fast, but Tyler posted the fastest time over all.

I think that is Jordan drifting through the turns!

Carson ripped up the track with his fast performance!!  This was Carson's favorite thing we did!  Go Carson!!

Reed was a blur because he was so fast but. .  . . .

Becky was fast too but . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Joel was the fastest!!!  He was a maniac and loved every minute of it!!  We were happy that he didn't get kicked off the track!!

We also stopped at Playa de Ingles and Carson was able to buy his beloved "pirate swords"!  He chose these type of swords because they were lighter and he can fight with them better!  Isn't it great that simple things in life can make one so happy!!

Walking along Playa de Ingles enjoying life!

This picture is to show Reed's beach "sock and sandals" attire.  We stopped on this ledge that is on the boardwalk above the beach by many restaurants and souvenir shops.

Wednesday was sailing day!!  We sailed on a yacht with two profesional sailors.  We sailed the waters along the coast of Las Palmas.  It was so much fun!!  Here we are about to set sail!!

Here we are loving life!  The winds were pretty strong that day and so we clipped along pretty fast.  I know it is hard to tell in this picture but the sail boat is up on one side because the wind was so strong.  Everyone loved it!!

This is looking across the boat from where we were sitting.  We were pretty vertical but I know that the picture doesn't show it very well.

As you can tell it got pretty cold because of the wind.  We really had fun though!

When the winds were calm, Reed and Joel were the captains!

Loving sailing with our two captains!

Joel and Reed "riding the tilt" in the strong winds!

We stopped and anchored for lunch.  They fed us some great "Canarian" food.

Back in port, great day of sailing!!

Thanks Captains, it was a great day sailing!!

THE BRIANS' ARRIVED!!!!

They all arrived safely on saturday, the 30th of April.  Here they are sunday morning ready for their Easter egg hunt.  HAPPY EASTER!!

Logan and Jordan hunting for candy on our balcony.

Still hunting for candy in our living room.

Lauren finds her "special Buhler egg"!  We had to explain to Carson when he received his special egg that it would buy 5 pirate swords, because he didn't know what euros were, and then he became excited!

That night at Noche de Hogar (FHE) Logan and Jordan showed off their yoyoing skills to our young adults.  They were a huge hit!  They are so good and everyone loved them!

                                                   Logan 





They taught many of the guys to yoyo.

          Jordan




Everyone tried but no one could yoyo as well as they could!

They even taught Elder Blanchard!  Yoyoing was quite the hit at Noche de Hogar!!

Everyone loved the Brians!!  Here Lauren is trying out her spanish and they are trying out their english!  It was a fun night!

Logan surprised us all with his spanish skills!!  He  had fun talking to everyone.

Joel and Carson loved Foosball!  They played with many of the guys.

Monday morning we all went deep sea fishing on the "White Marlin" boat from the city of Puerto Rico.  Here we are about to take off.

Tyler had the first catch of the day!!  Here he is with his tuna!  It was a beautiful day!

Reed catching his big tuna!!

Becky with her first catch of the day!!  She caught a total of 3 tunas and was quite the fisherwoman!

Carson is reeling in his big tuna with his Dad!  Joel and Carson really loved fishing!

Here I am pulling in my "big tuna"!  It was a lot harder to reel in this fish than I thought!

Joel's tuna was fighting hard!!  Joel and Reed caught the most fish of the day!  Due to sea-sickness the rest of the kids weren't able to fish very much.  We now know not to take people out fishing so soon after they arrive.  Jet lag can do bad things to the body!!

Here the Brians are with their "catches of the day"!  Everyone recovered from the jet lag and life was good!!  We took the fish to the restaurant behind them and they cooked them up for lunch for us!!  The tuna was fantastic!!

Here Reed and I are with our catches!  Pretty big fish, eh?

Who's fish is bigger?

Carson was pretty happy with his fish!  This is what our fish looked like when the restaurant cooked them up for us.  Nothing better than fresh tuna for lunch!! (and of course orange Fanta!)

Waiting for our fish to be cooked.  Life is good!

After fishing we walked from Puerto Rico to Amadores Beach.  It is a beautiful boardwalk along the cliffs overlooking the ocean.  At the end of the walk in Puerto Rico we climbed down to the ocean and took pictures along the rocky cliffs.

Not a bad place to be on a mission!!  Great P-day!

Where is Jordan's shoe?  We think that a shark snatched it?  Don't worry, Jordan was able to get a new cool pair of Adidas sandals later that day.

We stopped at Amadores Beach for a little while.  Jordan and Logan seem to be having fun!

Not a bad life lounging at Amadores Beach!

We couldn't show you our beach pictures without showing Joel's famous "socks with sandals" picture!  He swears that because of the socks, his feet are very soft!  Reed soon joined Joel's example.

Yes, that is Oregon Pipe Cactus!  Gran Canary has a lot of cactus too!  This was right by where we parked our car while we were fishing and on the beach!

Gran Canaria is called the "Island of the Dogs" so here the Brians' are on the dog statues in front of the main Cathedral.  This square was here when Christopher Columbus lived on this island.

Right next to the Cathedral is a street called "El Espiritu Santo" which means the Holy Ghost street.  I don't know how "holy" we were but we were sure having fun!

Here is Christopher Columbus's house.  It is right next to the Cathedral.  It is now a museum all about Christopher and the Canary Islands.  Christopher Columbus took off from Gran Canaria on his famous voyage to "find the Americas".

Christopher Columbus's door was pretty cool!

Beautiful Spanish balcony that is by the Cathedral and Columbus's house.  This is the old part of Las Palmas that is really beautiful!!

We took the Brians' to our fruteria by the JAS center.  We love the fruit here and go about every other day.

"And we are walking", the favorite phrase used by Reed, our unofficial tour guide!  He kept us walking and never let us lag behind.  Carson even had to get a lift from his Dad to keep up. This is a typical street in Las Palmas.

Of course the only time that Reed would let us take a break was when there was ice cream involved!  Here we are eating some great helado!

Coming home from our fun day!  This is the van that we went everywhere in.  This is in front of our house.  The house across the street was torn down and they are building a new one, so it is under construction.  This van held all 9 of us!

The boys were pretty tired after a fun day.  This is  the boys room.  This room actually has 6 beds but we only had to use 4 of them.  Good night boys!

More to come of the rest of the week, so check back soon!