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.

The Good Times in May

I know I keep saying that Liam is at the best age and I just don't want him to get bigger/older, but really there is so much fun to be had with him these days!  I wish I'd been more on top of taking videos of all his talking and funniness, but hopefully I'll have enough written down to remember it.  

 Hanging out downtown and thrilled about the balloon!

 Unfortunately he let go of it shortly after and it was lost for good!

It is amazing how immediately after our return from the USA he decided he'd like to use the spoon or fork himself.  Now, just 2 or 3 weeks later he is becoming quite skilled at eating without making a big mess, but if he does have any spills he will let me know right away by saying "ohoh", or "oh no!" "mess!" It's quite handy in general because I always know that something's dropped!  

Besides the new utensil skills he has also become really interested in people.  The biggest change since spring break is that he has finally stopped - for the most part - calling James "Mama".  He now asks for "Daddy" pretty regularly and seems to understand the difference.  He will also call out for him and if I say daddy's at work he'll say "no daddy", which is a bit sad, but also very sweet. One of the best things to see is how much he loves seeing his friends.  In particular he has become quite close with Drake and Stirling (who he calls Deetch and Durling).  He asks for them every day without prompting, and any time I say we're going to see them he does his little happy feet dance.  They interact really well for the most part, and for some reason he and Stirling tend to get along like a house on fire.  

Here's a photo of me and Liam on mother's day.  James made a lovely breakfast and we got to eat out on the patio.  

We have spent a lot of time outside in the past few weeks, with normally a trip to a playground or some other outdoor activity at least once a day.  He loves the freedom of running around, and likes the slides, sandpits and a short visit on the swings.  He also loves to play with rocks, picking them up and collecting them, or throwing them in something, and even trying to slot them through bench holes.  His vocabulary keeps growing and we amusing ourselves at night recounting his pronunciation of certain things.  He has expanded his love for cars to include words like digger (deedger), truck (cruck), plane (baine), bike (bite) and more.  He recognizes many objects in books and will point to them when prompted with the word.  He also has more sounds now, including choo choo, beebah, eeawh (donkey), moo, and bee beep. 

Recently one of our friends turned 1, and we went to a lovely party for her.  It is great to see all the little ones getting bigger, and for all the adults to spend some time together.  The party was at UBS sports complex, which is a lovely outdoors complex that we can use as residents of the collina d'oro.

Kat, Drake and Eric at Isla's birthday party

 James, Liam and I

 Courtenay, Robb and Isla - the birthday girl!

 Liam, Sam and Jake playing with a trough of water

 Currently the youngest baby of the group - Michael, Carolyn and Cassidy

 Beril, Christina and Leigh

 Liam and Stirling with Leigh and me wearing funny headbands!

Spring Break in New York and Boston

I know this post is late in coming, but it has been full speed ahead since we returned, so late is better than never!
The trip was an overall success, and though I wouldn't say the flights were easy, they certainly could have been a whole lot worse.  Jet lag seemed to affect him somewhat while we were in the USA, but we had no real issues transitioning him back to Swiss time.  Sometimes sheer exhaustion is the best antidote to a bit of jetlag!  We flew from Milan to London and then on to NYC and it actually was in some ways easier to handle as there was a break in the flying time for him to run a bit more freely.  On the way there he took a couple of 45 min naps but was otherwise awake the whole way, marching up and down isles greeting people with ciaos and big smiles.  The last 2 hours got a bit hairy as we entered exhaustion state for him (11pm his time!) and he was still awake.  After about a half hour crying he fell asleep on me for the last hour.  Still, he just took that as a nap, and we put him to bed closer to 8:30pm US time.  Sleeping wasn't all that bad except for early wake ups around 4am.  We did insist he stay in bed (or our bed) though, so we only actually got up around 6am.  Needless to say we had a lot of time in the mornings!

Staying with Matt and Karen was really great.  We were able to have our own space with little disruption to their routine.  I likened it to a homey bed and breakfast when we barely saw either of them for the first 5 days! Karen was studying for her final exam and Matt was working like a madman on a crazy case.  We had much to do with James' family though, so it worked out that we were able to spend time with them and catch up with people.  Of course the big event was Anna's wedding the day after we arrived.  We managed to be at all but the cocktail hour, and Liam attended the ceremony.  we put him to bed at Karen's during the cocktail hour and went back for the reception when he was asleep.  Karen says he didn't wake up!  We managed to have dinner out a number of times thanks to others willing to babysit - Kevin, Grandma Cathy and Grandpa, and Karen.  It was actually really nice.

 Liam running down the church isle at Anna's wedding

 Anna's wedding - at the ceremony

 Family photo - Anna and Sean's wedding

 Our little family dressed up for Anna's wedding

 Playing with cousins - Liam, Michael and Samantha

 Three cousins, one piano!

 Getting some Uncle Mike Love

 Meeting up with Ben from Bennington days

 More cousins - Liam hanging out with Isabelle and Connor

 Getting some Aunt Christy love!

In the midst of New York madness we made it up to Boston for a long (Easter) weekend, and got to hang out with Shirin, Mims and Nana.  It was a pretty smooth trip with record time drives, and despite some rain we had some fun times outside as well as in!  It is always so fun to get to see Liam interacting with family as he is more and more a little mr.  I even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Dr. Choi for some acupuncture!

 3 generations in Boston

 Walking in the Fels - Liam climbs a rock

 Taking a stroll with Aunt Shi!

Back in Brooklyn with some warmer weather we could spend more time outside.  We also had a chance to visit with friends we haven't seen in a while!

 Spending some time in prospect park on a sunny spring day

 Meeting up with Laura at Le Pain Quotidien

Hanging out at Bryant park

Finally we had an evening out with Karen and Matt at the Bedouin Tent in BK!

Coming back we had an evening flight leaving around 6pm.  It worked out pretty well in terms of Liam's bed time, but the bassinet was pretty small so he had to kind of crunch up to fit in it.  He also found it kind of amusing and was messing around a lot at the beginning, and only a couple of hours into the flight finally went to sleep.  He slept about 2 hours and was then awake, at first unhappily, but then alright.  So that's what I mean by just being exhausted!  He stayed awake for the rest of the flight and through our transfer in London, and then fell asleep on me on the flight over to Milan.  And that was that!  Back home he went to bed usual Swiss time and slept in till 9am because he was so exhausted!

Other Bits and Pieces from the Beginning of Spring

So in the past few weeks Liam is loving his time outside, and frequently (at least once a day) brings us his shoes to put on so we can go outside.  Alternatively, he'll try and wear James', which is always pretty funny to watch!

We go to the playgrounds around here a fair bit, and take walks around Montagnola.  Spring is gorgeous here!  He loves going down slides and is always enthusiastic about digging in the sand pit.

PLEASE DO NOT  COPY THIS!! He was too cute one evening before his bath dashing around with the spatula and no clothes on.  I just had to take a few pictures!

As Liam becomes more active and confident dashing around he also is adding onto his vocabulary.  In a new found obsession with blueberries he has worked hard to figure out how to say it so he can ask for them.  It comes out a bit like blue balls (which, fair enough, they are) but is a bit more garbled so it's more boobles.  Pretty funny.  He has also started to say thank you - Ta-tooo!  always said in the same intonation as one would say "thank you", and therefore easily understood.  Most of the time he says it as he hands you something, I guess because that's what I respond to him.  He still has trouble differentiating moving vehicles, and each time he hears a plane, he points to the sky and says "bussss".  Ok, we'll get there.  He said "hat" the other day so clearly James and I nearly fell over.  He is also big on asking for bread "bet", and points out birds "bert" if they fly by.  When he (or we) drop something he says: "Oh no!" and he can frequently be heard waxing on about how something or other is "dirt".  He says "keys", "cheese" but still no "please".

I've tried to post to videos to go along with this, but it isn't working out, so I'll leave it at that for now and hope that at some other point I can put them up!

Spring Visitors and a Cold That Won't Go Away

Liam has been sick since we left England.  It did clear up enough for us to think he was well, but there was still a lot of phlegm and a cough that wouldn't go away, as well as a runny nose.  Well I just found out yesterday that the poor guy has an ear and throat infection, which he's probably been harboring for over a month.  Luckily we caught it before we travel to NY this weekend, but I feel so bad for him suffering all this time.  Still, ever the trouper, most days you wouldn't even know that he wasn't feeling well.  He did his best to just get on with things.  We've also had two rounds of visitors, which was a lot of fun and a good distraction for him.

Char and Otto visited for a long weekend, and it was great fun to have the "birth friends" together again, as well as getting to see my friend too!  We had a lovely mom and tots get-together here so Char could see others in the group as well.

Leigh, Stirling and growing little bump!

 Drake and Otto together again, and of course Kat and Char

 Though Otto is not always the biggest fan of other babies there were some pretty funny and sweet moments in the weekend.  My favorite was him tackling Liam to the ground and pinning him down, and then giving him a quick pat to be nice!  We had some beautiful warm spring days and were able to walk downtown and in the park along the lake, as well as stop in to Al Porto for a chocolate densa.  We all went over to Kat and Eric's for a delicious mexican dinner with the three boys running around, and the last night of her visit we had some friends over for dinner and dessert and hung out  chatting a while.  All in all it was so lovely having them back in our world again!

Char and Otto at Al Porto, post chocolate densa

 Lunch downtown on the street corner - our favorite street pizza

 A fun dinner here - Kelly, Jen, Char, Courtney and Jay

 Just this past weekend we had a much anticipated visit from Julie, who managed to wangle a long weekend to nip down from work in Zurich, to see us in Lugano.  The weather has been ridiculous.  I mean summer time hot - 26ºC+.  We had a wonderful few days together and so nice for Liam and Julie to finally meet!  There was time for walks, gelato, letting Liam splash around in the water fountain at school, and a lovely lunch out in Morcote.  The time couldn't have been more perfect.

Julie reading Liam one of his favorite books - Room on a Broom

 Notice the shameless google plug!  Liam is, thanks to Julie, already indoctrinated into the world of google

   Ju basking in the aftermath of funghi risotto (the restaurant's speciality and certainly a heavy choice for a hot day in Morcote!

 Liam enjoyed sitting outside and eating from my pasta and Julie and James' risotto for quite a while

 Hiding in the shade before deciding on gelato - notice the new short do on me!  My hair hasn't been this short in probably 10 years.  And yes, at the moment I'm happy with it.  Ask me again in 3 weeks!

 I love this photo of James and Liam because you can see Liam's adorable outfit.  Dungaree shorts are so cute at this age!

 Post gelato walk along the water