The month started with a weekend all-in in the south of the island. It was mothers-day so we booked a nice hotel with a couple of friends. Ana got a really nice tide clock and a couple of smaller heartfelt gifts. We only spend one night but it was a very enjoyable stay.

As easy as it gets… Well, I do think there are a few aspects that can and should be made even easier. My passport will stop being valid in a couple of months, so I needed to get a new version. For this I needed to travel to Madrid, and make an appointment with the Dutch embassy. After creating a new account on their website I could print a form, which I needed together with a couple certificates and some photos. With all the paperwork I can travel to Madrid, and ask it they can send the passport to my home. That will save me from taking another day off and buying another ticket to Madrid. Then after going home I will need to send in my old passport and then wait nearly two months for my new document to arrive.

Combining tedious/mandatory tasks with a bit of fun is one of the enjoyable things in life. Simply ‘making the best of any situation’ is a very important ability. Once mastered it allows you to greatly enhance the feeling of happiness in your live. This trip is a perfect example. Instead of thinking about wasted holidays, wasted money for tickets, and wasted time I will spend the weekend with Miguel, my kids godfather, pan-godfather and a very good friend. This is bound to be a happy weekend.

It was probably not the smartest impulse I have ever had, but I did it anyway and signed myself up for the Bestial Race. I am going to try and finish the ‘6KM – Hell’ category. I am grateful that I have until December to prepare myself.

In April I had to flame. At a business run I ran 10K with some colleagues through Las Palmas. I had been training for the last couple of months, so the actual running went very well. I was aiming at finishing in less than an hour, hopefully close to the 50 minutes mark, but that depended a bit on the traffic at the start of the race. Sometimes it takes a while for the masses to disperse, which makes it hard to run the first few kilometers. In the end I was very happy with my time. I finished in 45:39 (in part because the distance was a bit less than the advertised 10K, according to my own measurements the track was almost half a kilometer to short) :D.

Our friend Begonia and her partner were visiting Gran Canaria with their boat. They were docked in the harbor, so we had a perfect reason to visit. The kids loved the ship and all the stories of adventure. Later at home we watched the documentary that was made about their previous ship, the ‘Gandul’, and the adventure that lead to it sinking in the middle of the ocean.

Grandma Nel is visiting us for nearly two weeks. We played a few colonist games. Ate delicious paling, and lots of different Dutch treats. We visited the cave of Guayadeque. Observed Alan’s football match, observed Alex’ tennis training. We had fun with a balloon. We relaxed and enjoyed the Doramas park. A couple of days we had drinks at the windy park (parque del viento), we visited la Laja beach, sadly suffering a bit of damage, but even considering the damage we had a good time.

In Spain we celebrate fathers day the 19th of March. Sadly, it was not a good day for me. I did not get an ashtray, nor a macaroni necklace… nothing. I got nothing and that hurt. They used to make something at school, but this was stopped because some kids have two mothers, or only one parent, and to avoid confusion I got nothing on my day. Luckily I still had some beer bonbons from Grandma Nel to make me feel better.

This month we finished our first series of the year. Since January we have been watching all the Orville‘s. We had some great times relaxing on the couch with some popcorn, watching all the adventures. There was only one episode that was maybe a bit to scary for the kids, the rest was great. In our home we now frequently hear phrases like “Can you open that jar of pickels” and “You! Be silent!”.

After grandma’s visit we had another visitor. The kids godfather and pan-godfather, Miguel. With Miguel we visited the Aldea, the ‘barranco de las Vacas’, the dunes in the south, the natural reserve Azuaje, and we had a fantastic experience at a teppan-jaki restaurant. We also watched all the Kung Fu panda movies, because the forth movie was just release and we went to watch it in the theater.

Alex likes working with his tablet to make things. It gets even more attractive when various pieces of equipment are involved. This time he has produced a timelapse. A small Lego car (his brothers) was disassembled and rebuild, but now while making a picture every couple of seconds. This way the construction goes really fast. Alex did the building and the post production editing on his tablet. Add the intro, add a couple of images, fix the sound, and some music, Alex knows what to do and how to do it really well. This is the result.

I like eating my daily dose of vitamin C. I trust in the positive health effects even though I have absolutely no proof that the vitamin is actually a benefit to my health. Still, my mind clearly tells me that taking vitamins is a good thing, and it makes me happy.

In Spain it is very hard to get vitamin C pills that you can take without first diluting them in water. I want something that will dilute in my stomach, because it is much easier. In holland this used to be my normal routine. Take a pill with some liquid, and done. One day, one pill, healthy me. It cannot be more simple.

In Spain the routine would be: Get a glass of water. Get a vitamin C pill. Put the pill in the water, and stir. Keep stirring, because in cold water it does not dilute very well. Keep stirring. The vitamin pill is now like a small pile of dust on the bottom of the glass. Either keep stirring, or drink it all and hope that you get all the vitamins from the bottom. Add more water to the glass to get everything. Stir again, and try again. You don’t want more water, but you force yourself to drink it to avoid throwing away the vitamins. The same thing happens! Give up, put the glass with the traces of vitamin still on the bottom and on the sides of the glass in the dishwasher. A terribly frustating way to start the day healthy.

Luckily I go to Holland every now and then, and now I found a great solution. At the kruidvat they sell huge pots with 500(!) vitamin C pills. Each pill has one gram of vitamin C, which is more than enough for me.

Today I got my first shot! For my next appointment I got a handy document.

When the covid pandemic started we searched long and hard for things to do at home. In the end we did a lot of different things and one of these was exercise in the living room with youtube. We had various exercise programs which we tried out, and it was all good fun. Now, with covid still around, but with less restrictions we dont exercise at home anymore. We simply go to the park, or go out to visit the maintain, or the beach, or whatever park we feel like visiting.

We don’t exercise at home anymore with one exception. Tanju! Tanju is a trainer that has somehow captured our attention. He was one of our favorite trainers during the lockdown, and even now we still follow his programs. His first video we came across by coincidence on the first day it was posted on his channel. After a few days it was gone, and we were all very sad. Then later we found he has moved to another channel and we could enjoy his workouts again.

The Tanju workouts are a mix between workout and dance and although Tanju does not talk much he radiates an incredible amount of energy and happyness. He is one of the few persons who made a youtube video and achieved adding value to the world. The workout itself is quite easy to follow but every now and then Tanju picks up the pace and ‘goes wild’. These are moment of pure joy as we try and keep up.