A Fall Long Weekend in Barcelona

Despite a wee bit of last minute scrambling we managed to get away from the long weekend break last weekend, and boy am I glad we did!  Knowing that our traveling days are numbered and limited, especially with a new one coming in just a few months, it felt good to take advantage of our relative freedom having just Liam to worry about. 

We were invited to spend the weekend with my clients and friends of ours who have a gorgeous, newly fixed up house in Sitges, just 40 mins train from downtown Barcelona.  The house sits on a cliff overlooking the gorgeous blue sea, and has an almost completely glass front to take advantage of the views.  There is also a lovely infinity pool in front looking over the same view.  We ended up coordinating travel with our friends so that we could travel to and from airports with them, which certainly made our lives easy.  Even with a 3 hour delay on the flight's departure (which meant that we arrived around 10:30pm instead of 7:30pm) we still weren't stressed out or tired out by the trip.  Liam somehow always rallies through those late nights.  In fact everyone on the plane was amazed by how cheerful and good-natured and chatty he remained throughout the delay and flight.  He only got a bit overtired and cried when we finally got to the house and tried to put him in a new bed, but even then he settled relatively quickly.

View of the main floor from 2nd floor

Living area

James and Liam watch an intense foosball game - Alessandra and Johannes against their friends (Mar and Lara)

Our ensuite bedroom came along with 3 giant bears - Liam called all of them "Mr Bear"

Despite it being October it was warm enough to take a dip - though not quite warm enough for me to go all the way in!

Liam being a ham

We were really spoiled rotten without having to lift a finger cleaning, cooking, planning meals, making beds, arranging cars etc.  It was so relaxing to just hang out at the house that we actually spent most of our time there, talking, playing ping pong and Foosball, hanging out by the pool and such, that we only went into Barcelona for part of Saturday.  The rest of the time was just at their house.  I managed to have a pedicure at the house as they have a lady come and do everyone, and we had some lovely dinner parties with a few family members and friends of theirs as well.  Liam was spoiled by the attention of so many people and all the fabulous car toys that the son Johannes had.  Not only that, but they also bought him a couple of matchbox cars and a larger remote controlled bull-dozer.  You can imagine his excitement. 

Our day trip into Barcelona

James and Liam watching the pigeons

Pigeon chasing in the main square

After a brief nap in the stroller Liam was eager to get out!

I indulged in a truly decadent waffle with gelato and chocolate sauce

Back at their house - Liam having fun by the pool

Sunset reflected in the front of the house

Liam getting ready for dinner, and a really great dinner being prepared in the background for the rest of us!

We arrived home after a painless travel experience, even though it was 10pm by the time we got in.  Everything was smooth and easy and made it possible to start the week off ok.

Kids say the Darndest things

Since we got back from Sweden I've been terrible about videoing and photographing Liam, which is particularly sad since he has taken this opportunity to really start to talk.  It started with a large increase in the words he'd say, and has quickly been progressing into an attempt at sentences or at least parts of one, really regularly.  Not only will he say just about anything you ask him to say (or at least the last word in the sentence you said), but he recalls things that might have been talked about the previous day or even earlier.  And sometimes it appears that he just knows a word without us having "taught" it to him.

A few weeks ago I started writing down a list of newer things I heard him say and here's some of it:
Ooshy - horsey
Fwog - frog
wed boon - red spoon
kayak, row boat, mota boat
wee walk - side walk
One morning he sat eating breakfast and pointed to the counter saying: "choffee maker"
When reading a book when he is finished with it he says: "ee end!"
He calls the bathroom the "bumroom" (quite appropriate) and the vacuum a "backhume".
When we are out walking he periodically says: "leee-dards!"  like he's calling the lizards!
When he's feeling cheerful in the morning he might be heard saying: "moh-ning!"
A favorite word that comes up way more than you can imagine is "weedwacker".  We hear alot of them around here so I guess he identifies the sound a lot
He asks for specific books now, like "Jambry" (Jamberry), "woom broom" (room on a broom), "been one" (richard scarry's word book), "Bunyad dance" (barnyard dance).
A t-shirt is a "dee showt" and a butter fly is a "buttfly".
"mumroom" is mushroom and we often have him help with the "wandree" (laundry)
He asks for "pen and papor" and has become much more interested in drawing than he's ever been. 
He also loves playing "cacatcheee" (can't catch me) with James in the evening, where you'll here him yelling cacacheeee! at the top of his lungs.  Also included in that game is the "weady!  Steady! GO!!!"
When you wants us to come he grabs a hand or finger and says: "tum!"
When someone sneezes we get "a Bless you!"  And if it's him, he'll say "Liam" at the end!
He also says " oh, Ducck!" when he's stuck somewhere. 

On one occasion about a month ago we were eating dinner and I went to feed Liam another spoonful only to have him shake his head and say: "no no, no more rice.  Bye bye dinum (dinner)".  At which point he pushed the whole bowl away from himself.

More recently he says phrases like these on a daily basis:
I get it
I got it
you do dis, or I do dis

Peekaboo mummy!
A new favorite is: "right der".  Just about any situation will find him pointing out something that's "right der"
He has also begun counting, forgetting to mention the lowly number 1 and heading right for two:
doo, three, (sometimes) four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine.  He never says 10 unless reminded of it, and very often we will hear him counting to himself and if he can't remember something he'll subsitute with "chicken".  Seven is a good candidate for a chicken substitution!
At bed time he asks for stories, and once even spontaneously asked for "pwayor" (prayer).  He will also demand that I sing once he's in the crib, and often specifies that it needs to be twinkle twinkle.
Last night at bath time I told him we don't have time for a story but I could sing to him instead and asked if he'd like me to sing a prayer.  Totally on his own he started with: oh God, guide me, protect (well the rest was a bit of a mumble), but I was totally shocked at his recollection of the prayer unguided!

Well I'll end this now as I could probably fill days trying to remember everything I've heard coming out of Liam's mouth.  This is really just so we have some memories of his early chatting!

Family Time in Sweden

Our week in the Swedish countryside outside of the town of Arvika was about as idyllic as one might imagine it to be.  Though again we arrived to rain and a very dreary day, the weather for the week ended up being much sunnier and warmer than the forecasts predicted.

The set-up of the main house with the little cottages surrounding it, allowed for 14 of us to all be together and still somehow not going insane with lack of privacy.  James, Liam and I shared an adorable little detached bedroom with a loft, Nassim, Erfan and the kids had a small 2 bedroom cottage for themselves, and Erica and her fiance Rafal (who were also visiting at that time) stayed in a third external room attached to the ping pong room.  Shirin, Sonja and Sham, Mims and Paul were all in the main house.  Somehow we managed to do many relay meals, spaced out shower times of 30 secs each! so that the one indoor shower would suffice, and mostly just spending a lot of time outside.

In true Swedish fashion that meant daily berry picking walks which were of course major highlights in the kids world.  How fun for them to be able to pick and eat blueberries from the bushes, grab a raspberry here and there and maybe find a few wild strawberries!  And it wasn't just berries that were found and eaten.  Some of the most delicious Chanterelle mushrooms happened to be in season during our time, which added a little bit of deliciousness to a salad, pasta or even sandwich.

Shirin shows off her berry loot!  She was certainly the most enthusiastic of berry pickers!

I love this sassy little pose from Lua, hanging out under the tree

Paul and Mims on the lake shore after a walk

Shirin insisted on reaching some unripe apples any way she could, including catching a lift on James' shoulders

Soaking up a little sun and fresh air - Shirin, Nass, Rafal, Erica, Erfan and Leo

The wee ones up to mischief.  Hey isn't that the knife drawer?

 Our first full day was the rainiest and so we picked it to be the day we made a trek into the town of Arvika.  It's a small town so a little lunch and a wander around filled a few hours of the day nicely.  Liam was pleased to see a train coming into town!

Liam waiting for the train to leave

There were a couple of bigger events during the week to bring our Swedish family together and to celebrate Mims' 60th Birthday.  On Wednesday we had a beautiful later afternoon party with probably about 30 of us including many of the swedish cousins on my mom's side.  We made a big chili dinner and of course had some fabulous desserts using the fresh berries picked that day.  Erica and Rafal were pretty amazing during the whole week, but especially on this day, helping in really big ways to get food made and everything set up.  

Preparations (and some tastings!) for a berry pie

This was Erica's dream child and boy was it tasty!  Add the vanilla cream on top of the crust and pile the berries it's all done!

A merry table of extended family enjoying the afternoon

The youngest group of extended cousins (4th cousins?)

We had another Swedish family event on Friday at Voula's house, and this time they prepared a spread of food and we ate the afternoon away.  

Besides those bigger events our days were wiled away enjoying nature and each other.  The guys became obsessed with the game of croquet, which many of us had to snicker about.  There were boat rides in the row boat and kayak, as well as a rather grand excursion in Paul's brother's motorboat to visit his house across the lake.  There we also had an afternoon of swimming and for the guys, more croquet playing.  Despite the moments of mayhem around meal times, and the odd cold shower, I think we all found it to be a relaxing, fun-filled week.

The boys showing off their croquet skills on Albert's fine pitch (Paul's brother's place) 

Here Liam shows everyone how it's really done

The two wee ones had such a fun time swimming and whooping in the lake with James.  Who cares how cold it was!

I even made it out on the row boat once.  In fact we had a lovely outing with the 4 our us sisters in the row boat with Leo, and Mims in the Kayak.  Shirin and Sonja were the designated rowers, but after discovering Shirin's unnaturally strong left arm, I had to sit in with Sonja just to compensate so we didn't end up going in circles!

Leo, Nass, Shirin and Mims

Sonja and I rowing us back safely!

The vacation ended perfectly with me breaking my pinky toe yet again.  Just half an hour before departure to the airport I walked into a chair in true Nura fashion and it's been a literal pain ever since!  Still, it didn't dampen our time there at least, and we are so grateful to have had so much family time with my side of the family this summer!

A visit to England for Sonja's Wedding

Though it was short and a bit hectic, we had a really nice visit to England for Sonja's wedding.  We arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed with Nass and co for the 3 nights till we all left for Sweden.  It was a full but cheerful house with the cousins together once again, and Ameh also staying so that for the first time in many years we had a little time with her.  Somewhere in between everything that was happening in preparation for the wedding Amu even managed to visit with us, which was quite special as James and him had not met.  I must acknowledge at this point that many photos used for this and the next post are not necessarily of my taking or even from my camera.  We did a huge photo share and I had to go with whoever had the better pictures!

A little family photo while at Nass's

The cousins, Nass, James and me (taken again by amu!)

   The wedding day itself started off gloomier and rainier than all the days before.  It was absolutely pouring so that our little group coming from Nassim's actually missed the registrar's wedding because of the long drive and the bad weather.  Thankfully Mims, Shirin and many others were all there, but we were sad to arrive just as it was over.  The rain continued right up until the start of the actual wedding, so it was a bit of a soggy start to what was supposed to be a beautiful garden wedding.  But moments after Sonja and Shamim arrived in the tent, the skies cleared and we were blessed with a gorgeous afternoon of sunshine and warm weather!  How fitting to have the break come just at the right time for people to mingle in and outside of the tent and enjoy the English countryside!

Bride and groom with sisters!

Sana and James meet for the first time!

Official proof that James has finally met my Uncle (and of course my lovely Aunt too!) 

A few of us make it for a group photo outside

Gorgeous bride and Groom and Mims!

Attempt at getting the expanding family together (Leo is missing)

Liam finds himself a car to play in!

After a lovely ceremony, many photos, a tasty buffet and a collapsing tent, we managed to gather the Madjzoub family plus additions and head to a nearby restaurant for dinner and a little longer altogether.  With the wedding and us flying out the next day it really felt like such a short time to catch up with Amu, Ameh, Parya, Sana and Auntie Fariba, but I'm so glad we had any time at all!

A lovely family dinner after the wedding to soak up a little more time with everyone

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!