It was all a surprise for the kids, which is great for some kids, and stressful for others, but I think they were all pretty excited when we woke them up early and drove to the airport in shorts and sandals. (It was a cold walk from our car to the terminal!) Unfortunately, all of our excitement waned a bit when we sat on the tarmac for almost an hour. It was a long flight too, much longer than the quick flight over to the European mainland that we were used to. The Canary Islands belong to Spain, but they are pretty far south, off the African coast of Western Sahara and Morocco.
By the time we arrived in the early afternoon we were all ravenous so we bought some quick snacks and then jumped on the bus that would take us from the airport south to Maspalomas. It was so warm, it felt sooo good.
We checked into our bungalow, which was was really great but I didn't get any pictures. It had three bedrooms, and a great patio, with lots of windows and skylights. Richard was getting lots of practice with his Espanol, and the kids were all really impressed.
After that we found an Italian restaurant just around the corner and we got the kids favorite, margherita pizza, and I had gnocchi which Eli tried and fell in love with. Then we went for a walk to explore.