Monkey Bean-Sprouts: Antiparos, Greece

After much deliberation on what to do for a beach vacation this summer we decided on Antiparos once again. It seemed like going to a place we knew well might actually be more restful than exploring something new, and so that's the route we took. I'm glad we flew directly to Mykonos again so that the flight was just about 2.5 hours and then from there it's a 45 min ferry ride to Paros. Given my motion sickness this is always a relief and certainly in the case of this trip, on the way back. We had a very bumpy ride and I was as green as can be!

All went really smoothly with flights and ferries and we met up with Karen, Matt and Juniper on the ferry from Mykonos. They were coming from Athens and we organized it so we would be on the same boat over. Arriving around 7pm we settled in at the same house we rented last summer (with it's 3 bedrooms it was perfect for all of us), and then headed to town for dinner. Besides the first night, the babies and Liam did really well with evenings out. We managed to get through dinner every night and often even had time for a little walk in town to browse the shops or have dessert. There were certainly challenging patches where one or the other would be crying or trying to sleep and having a challenging time, but we managed really well through it all and got into a fairly good rhythm. Mornings were some what leisurely and we'd head to town to pick up lunch from the bakery before a visit to a beach. After an hour or two we'd come back to the house for lunch and naps. Best part was that James and I were often able to take a nap or rest when both our babies went down. WOOT WOOT!

Most days we went out again in the afternoon to another beach for another hour or two. It would be later around 5pm so a bit cooler and just a beautiful time of day to be out. From there we'd go to town for dinner and get home between 10 and 10:30pm at which point all kids were exhausted and ready for bed, as were we!

We rented a car early from the second evening on so that we could get to various further out beaches, and to cut down on the time it took getting to and from town with small ones. It made a lot of sense, and allowed us to explore the island even more. This time around we discovered you can drive to this cove we had gone to by boat the first time James, Sonja and I went to the island. It's really deserted and had beautiful water and sand (and some sea weed!) We also got to the cave that's fairly famous on the island. We spent many afternoons at Soros beach (my favorite), and discovered a new beach just past the 2 main ones from town which was lovely too. So glad for the week we had there and for time with friends!