2 Weeks in Heaven - part 2

From Koufonissi we went to Antiparos, an island we'd gone to a few years ago and loved for it's small quaint feel and easy laid back atmosphere.  It's very baby friendly, and though some of the best beaches are a few kilometers out of town you certainly don't feel like you need to rent a car to get around.  We had a wonderful 5 nights in a perfect 3 bedroom house across the bay from the port.  It felt great to have a bit more space so Liam was in his own room and we could hang out comfortably, and the owner who lived next door was so helpful, including lending us his stroller with bigger wheels so we could negotiate the potholed road into town!  (just 10mins walk).  Along the way into town was what is known as "baby beach".  The water is super shallow - you can walk out a 100 meters and still only be up to your knees! - and it's absolutely calm.  In a way it feels more like a lake than the sea, but for Liam it was great because he felt really safe.

Liam and James at baby beach with boats in the port in the background

 

Liam pointing out the little fish he sees

Our fantastic kitchen and Liam and James getting breakfast ready

 

 

 

Liam on Nudey Beach!

 On one particular morning our adventurous walk brought us to a nude beach.  As they say:  When in Rome...!  Our stay was short-lived as there was no shade to be found and it really wasn't that nice of a beach.

Perhaps this is not a parenting moment to make mention of, except we had so much fun and nothing bad happened.  We decided to rent a quad (later known only as "tractor") for a couple of days so that we could get to some of the other beaches on the island.  The farthest we drove was 10km, and the fastest was probably about 40km/hr.  Of course we all had helmets on, and Liam was firmly attached in the middle of us by way of the ergo carrier.

No, we didn't ride like this, but it's just for the sake of a photo!

St George is the lower end of the island - there's a lovely quiet beach there that we spent the morning at

A little closer to town is Soros Beach, probably my personal favorite of the island.  The rock face provides great afternoon shade in the cove, and the tiny pebbles leave you sand free!

Liam talked incessantly about the "tractor" - he couldn't wait to spot one on the road or see ours!

For some unfortunate reason Liam decided it was fun to rub sand onto our skin.  OUCH! 

Some of the tastiest grilled squid we had all vacation!

Liam thought the squid was fine but the lemon, that was something special

 I love the town of Antiparos, with it's great tavernas, lively bars and cafes and multitude of little stores.  The best part is that they aren't all tacky touristy places.  But our favorite haunt remains from our first visit 3 years ago.  Stones Pub serves the most delicious loukomades I have ever had.  So delicious that we were there for dessert EVERY night but one!  Don't worry, we shared a plate of them - and always you have to have the honey, cinnamon and sesame seeds with the vanilla ice cream on top!

Liam and James at Stones - this trip we couldn't get a full game of backgammon in because Liam always wanted in!

Me with the highly acclaimed, but never exaggerated delicious loukomades!

After 5 fantastic nights in Antiparos we were off again to Mykonos for a final 5 nights.  We had booked a suite through homeaway that looked lovely but perhaps a bit tight for the 3 of us.  When we arrived the owner said she had a cancellation in the bigger villa next door, and offered it to us for only 30 Euro more a night!  So instead of having just one space we suddenly had a full kitchen with dishwasher and washing machine, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with juccuzzi tub and a living and dining room as well as 2 outdoor dining areas.  Good gracious we luck out sometimes!  The place is gorgeous - all marble and fine finishes.  We also had direct access to the lovely swimming pool.  

We weren't certain that Mykonos was going to be a good choice with a baby, but with the great place to stay and a rental car to get around we had a fantastic time.  We checked out two beaches a day almost - one in the morning and one after nap.  And we made it into town 4 out of 5 evenings for some wandering around and dinner.  (we did cook dinner at home twice since we had such a great space).

The pool as seen from our dining room patio

 Though our villa was close to a beach (ftelia bay), it wasn't the nicest and was pretty windy, so we didn't ever go there.  We discovered some new spots that worked out really well for us.  One was this very quite cove with calm gorgeous water.  It was just above Kalo Livadi, another favorite beach on our trip.  We also went to Agrari beach (nice but nothing special), Agia Anna (another favorite - it's an organized beach with umbrellas etc but great for kids and also quite sheltered from wind), Agios Sostis (a lovely isolated non organized beach), Lia (not my favorite but just fine), and finally Kalo Livadi, which I already said we loved.

Small cove we discovered and walked down to with gorgeous water!

Liam loves wearing our shoes - here he is playing in daddy's shoes!

Agia Anna - one of our favorite beaches - 12Euro is the common cost for an umbrella and 2 chairs, and this beach was worth it to us

Liam's foot prints on Agios Sostis beach

Early evening downtown - we stayed out till 9 or 9:30pm every night and Liam was pretty awesome, besides running people down with the stroller here and there!

Our final beach - Kalo Livadi - the awesome cushioned lounge chairs made us think it was possible for Liam to nap out of bed!  And sure enough, he took a 40min nap right under the umbrella!

View from our loungers - kalo livadi beach

Enjoying the jacuzzi bubble bath after a great day in the sun!

Liam in Mykonos town on our final night!

All in all this was one of my favorite trips.  It felt like the perfect speed, perfect location and perfect timing with Liam's age.  I think we all really did have a great time, and somehow I wish we were still living the carefree, computer and tv free life!  Next time perhaps we can convince others to join us!

2 weeks in heaven - aka the Greek Islands Part 1

 It's been a week and a half since we got back from our vacation in Greece, and I'm missing it every day!  We have so many gorgeous photos to share I've decided to split them into two separate posts, so this first one is just photos of our first night in Mykonos, and then our 3 nights in Kouffonissi. 


We had a fantastic (though a little early) direct flight on easyjet from Milan to Mykonos.  2.5 hours later we were standing on a Greek island.  That's nice.  We stayed one night at the fancy-ish Myconian Imperial Resort and Spa because of an issue with ferry departures.  Though it wasn't what we first had planned, it worked out nicely so that we could have a relaxing day at the hotel, enjoying the pool, the private beach right on Elia beach, and adjusting to vacation time.  The only downside was that Liam was chewed up by mosquitoes that night. 

 Here's Liam and I hanging out

Liam with his mosquito-bitten cheeks, eating some cheese

The next morning after a huge buffet breakfast and a swim in the pool we were able to get to the port at a leisurely pace where we took an easy 1.5 hour ferry ride to the tiny island of Kouffonissi.  

Let me just say that the highlight of Koufonissi is the water.  It is incredibly clear, stunning shades of blue/turquoise, and the beaches are soft light sand or gorgeous round pebbles.  Because it's a small island everything is accessible by foot, and it feels really connected to nature.  We loved our days of walking to the beach in the morning, staying an hour or two, having some lunch, heading back to our studio for a nice long nap and then heading out again around 3 in the afternoon for more beach and sun and walking.  Dinner in the small port town was always good and very low key.  We were staying at the Dafnis Studios - very simple and totally adequate - so we had a little kitchenette to prepare food in for breakfast etc.  We were also just across the street from a sweet cafe/bar, so one night after putting Liam to bed, we hung out across the street for half an hour having some dessert.  (We could see our door and one of us checked in on him every 10 mins!)  

Basically one of the biggest excitements of our trip was how well Liam adapted to things.  By our second and third nights we were already able to stay out till 9pm so we could have dinner, walk around a bit and head back for bed.  And he even complied by sleeping in till 8am, and 9 on the odd morning.  So this became the routine of our trip, and worked out everywhere we were.  On top of that great success he also became a champion napper and took 2 hour naps most afternoons (a couple of 3 hours were thrown in for exceptional measure!)  The best part of it was that for the first time in his life Liam actually ASKED to go to bed "Nap!" is how he said it!

 Sunset on our first night on Koufonissi

 James and Liam throwing rocks into the water as the sun goes down

 Another incredible sunset over the island

 Liam became obsessed with his stroller this vacation - but not being in it - PUSHING it! He's unbelievably strong (physically and will power too!) and would push up hills, on rocky roads, in crowded towns...

 This phenomenal looking sky made us believe it might rain - hah! Never on a Greek Island vacation!

 Liam really started trusting us, especially James, to take him out into the water.  It was easy in such calm and clear water for him to relax a bit.

 James and I took turns climbing down rocks to get into this (one of many) secluded coves of gorgeous turquoise water

 James in the same cove (ps this is at like 6:30pm)

 Liam came up with a theme song for himself regarding playing in the water.  It did take a little time for him to warm up to it all, but then he would say "na na Na na" and grab one of our hands and he'd be ready to run in.  Mostly he loved to run on the hard sand right where the waves lapped in, but he would also occasionally run straight in till maybe his belly before getting nervous (still holding our hand).  To get him out properly we would just carry him out and then hold him in the deeper water.

James playing with Liam in the water

 Another private little beach we hung out at one afternoon - note the yogurt container works perfectly as a sand bucket!

Liam isn't afraid to eat crazy things - here he is gnawing on a squid tentacle.  YUMMY!

Early summer hot days

As usual I'm behind, but before I can share the excitement of our recent trip to Greece, I have a few other photos from before we left. 
It's been a crazy spring and summer in terms of temperatures.  We had weeks of gorgeous warm weather in the high 70's and low 80's and Liam has been able to spend so much time outside.  We head out probably once a day for a walk, a playground visit or a little adventure on campus or in the garden. 

 

Here's Liam with some of his first ever skinned knees thanks to warm weather and wearing shorts! 

Not a bad view from a playground, right?  This one of two that's about 5 mins walk from our house.

Since we are going to have the garden to ourselves as of the end of summer we've also been enjoying digging around a little out there, and we've experimented with a little plant growing.  We have 2 tomato plants, 6 pepper plants, a basil plant and chives.  Here's a photo of them a few weeks after planting.  Now they are quite a bit bigger and the tomatoes are green and getting ready to ripen.  We also had 3 peppers!

 This is how prolific our cherry tree in the backyard is!  We had fun going in the garden with Liam and picking and eating them right off the tree!

 Our modest herb/vegetable garden as seen from the upstairs balcony

Leigh's due date was June 16th, so right at the beginning of June we had a little baby shower for her at our house.  Here are a few photos.  I love how Stirling and Liam interact.  They play some game where each is sitting in the poang chair.  It's sweet to watch.

 I loved the lighting on this photo of Stirling and Liam sitting together

 Here are some poang chair photos

 

 A group photo of babies around a toy box

Courtenay, Stirling and Leigh at Leigh's baby shower.