Our Vacation To Tenerife

This is all of us at the end of the trip.  This is at the hotel.  We had a great time.  It was sunny every day which is nice since we came back to Norway and it has rained almost every day since we have been back.

While we were there, we did many new things and some things that we do here in Norway a lot.

We hiked Masca which are the second highest cliffs in the world.  The highest is of course the Grand Canyon.  The hike took most of the day and when we got to the beach the only way back to the car was to hike back up or to take a boat.  We took a boat.

 This is the view from the boat as we leave the beach.

The picture below is a picture of the the cliffs from the boat as we head back to the car.







We went on a boat ride to see whales. We also, or some of us, got to jump off the boat into the beautiful water.  It was very clear.  As you can see did not jump off into the water.  I let the kids and hubby do that.

Sperm whale

N swinging off the boat.

A1 swinging off the boat.

A2 swinging off the boat.

Hubby and A1 in the beautiful water.

We visited the Loro Parque zoo.  It is one of the most visited places in Tenerife.  We saw lots of birds which was the start of the park.  We also saw dolphin, killer whale and sea lion shows.

The hotel had a special thing each night.  One night it was a bird show another an eagle show.  As you can see from the picture one night was a snake show and A2 was the star of the show.  She held all the snakes and even got a picture with all three of them one her.  She is not like me.  I don't really like snakes.

We went to the beach one day.  The sand is black.  It was very pretty and different.  We could not get in the water because as you can see from the picture the water was very rough.  It was amazing to see the waves come in.

We went to a water park while we were there as well.  I have no pictures of us in the park.  The name of the park is Siam Water Park.  It was great fun to play in the water in the middle of December.

It is a great treat to visit these places while we are here.  These are wonderful memories for my family.  God has been so gracious to us to allow us to see and visit all of these places.  That being said i have many places in the U.S. that I still want to see.  When you see the wonder a beauty of the world how can you not see that there is a God and He is amazing.  

May you see God in all you do.  I know that I need to remember to see Him and give thanks to Him in all that I see and do.

Melanie

December 2013

Well this is a picture of El Tiede, the volcano in Tenerife.
I did not post anything in December.  I have been sick almost all of December.
I have decided that I will choose a word for the year.
I hope to post about our vacation to Tenerife and my word choice over the next few days.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful new year.

Melanie

Finishing Germany

Finishing Germany

So you are all probably tired of the the trip to Germany so for those today is it.  We had such a good time and made lots of new memories, but new topics need to be written about.

This is Hubby and A1 and A2 sledding on a glacier in Germany.

Hubby, Me and the little girls at the "Top Of Germany"

It was very interesting to be sledding in the middle of July.  It was not a s cold as I thought it would be, but if you go bring sunscreen.  We did not and we got burned.

Our next to last stop before leaving Germany, was Berlin.  We visited the Berlin Wall (well the last whole piece), Check Point Charlie, and the Holocaust Memorial.  That will be one of the only pictures you will see of T.  She loves to take pictures, but not be in them.  She is sitting the memorial.

The last place we stopped before Denmark and the ferry ride back to Norway was Wittenburg.  This is the place where Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church door.  It was a great town to visit.  They are getting ready for the 500 year anniversary of the posting of the theses.  They have a park dedicated to this celebration and people and churches from all over the world have donated trees fro the park.  It is a great way to see history, especially the history of your faith.

I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving and that you have a great holiday.  May God give you grace and peace during the holiday season.

Melanie

Alpine Zoo and Innsbruck

The Alpine Zoo

This was a very interesting zoo.  They only had animals that you could fine the Alps.  Now you have to realize that the alps covers many countries.  This bear just walked right out on this log and laid down.  It was great to see.  We were there right as they opened so the animals were just coming out.
To get to the zoo you can drive up the mountain or take a train up.  We took the train up to the zoo.  The zoo climbs up the mountain.  They built the habitats right into the mountain.

This is the petting zoo.  The girls really like to get up close to the animals.

When we left the zoo, we got back on the train and continued up the mountain.  The train only goes about halfway up, then you get on a sky car to get to the top.

Once you get to the top you guessed it more hiking, but the view is breathtaking.

You can see those paths in this picture so yes some people do walk up or down.  There are some crazy people who bike down.  It is insane.  They ride bikes that have no brakes, because they won't help you.  You can go to the website and see videos of people biking down.  And yes we are high enough up that there is still snow on the ground.

This is a picture of a biker going down.  It was fascinating to watch and a little scary.

Along with the biking down the mountain, some people decide to jump off the mountain.  They were fun to watch.  there are times when i think that looks like fun, but then I decide no I think I will pass.

 A1 and A2 in the snow.

 Me and the girls at the top.

 Hubby and A1 climbed across the snow to a different peak.

That is them at the top, but you see what they had to climb.

Everywhere there are these beer gardens and this is throne at the top.

 The city of Innsbruck.  It is very pretty.

This the the ski jump in Innsbruck.  It was amazing to see one up close.  You see them on the olympics and what I saw here looked nothing like what you see on TV.  Maybe it need some snow.

We had a wonderful day in Innsbruck.  We went there to drop the two oldest off to go to a youth camp in Switzerland.  They had a great time at the camp.  Maybe I will share some of T's pictures from camp.

Have a great day.

Melanie

Hiking In Oberammergau

Hiking In Oberammergau

Yes just like in Norway hiking is one of the hobbies that people in Germany have.  We hiked not to the top which you will see later in the post, but we did hike quite a ways up.  Later on during our stay the kids and I took the tram up to the top.

N and Me 

 A1 striking a pose

 This is the top.  Do you see the cross?  There were crosses everywhere.

 Dad and the kids

Do we look german?  Maybe except for the Jeff Gordan t-shirt.

 This is A1.  She is our athletic one and I had to get the picture of the fall.

 The view from about halfway up.  Oberammergau is a beautiful city.  You can see the ski slopes for the winter tourist season.

 A2 striking a pose by the stream that went through town.

Again she just can't help herself.  The stream was perfectly clear.  Just wonderful to be there during the summer.  We fell in love with Germany when we lived there about 20 years ago.  It was wonderful to be there again.

As you can see the oldest opted not to go.  You will see that she is not in a lot of pictures.  She like to take pictures, but not to be in them.  I can't wait to post the picture of her that we do have.  Keep coming back to see what else we did while were in Germany.

See you soon,

Melanie

Munich Part 3

Part 3 of Munich is pretty simple.  AY, AN and I went to the zoo.

It was a fun time.  The zoo is very pretty and has lots of animals.  Some of the animals were not there and since out German is not that good i could not understand all of the reason why.

One of the highlights was seeing the polar bears.

The polar bear was looking at AN in this picture.

Being the mom that I am I had to have a picture with her and the polar bear since he had been interacting with her.

They had a petting area and the girls loved feeding the goats and petting them.

This is peacock with its babies.

It was a great day.  Just a relaxing day and we love to visit zoos in all the cities we live and visit.  I think it may be one of the nicest zoos we have been to.  There is lots of trees and it is an easy place to walk around.  The girls had lots of fun and it was great to ride the train in again.

Have a great day.

Melanie