We made an offer on a house today and it was accepted! Fingers crossed, everything will go through without a hitch. It's in a GREAT neighborhood (and great school district) with children living on both sides of us. It looks smallish from the outside, but is actually four bedrooms plus an office, with a family room, formal dining room and living room and three bathrooms! Just look past the purple paint and see the potential.
Look what Unca Stu gave me while we were in Greece. I cried when I opened it. It's easily the most precious and touching gift I have ever received. His endless love for us and the girls continues to amaze me.
He carefully formatted each page 
With this gift comes a promise to make one each year.
As I don't scrapbook, this gift is priceless.
Athena loves to flip through the pages and have me read the stories to her.
And actually anyone can buy one! So if you would like a copy you should be able to just click on the link below. I think Baba already ordered his.
Unca Stu you are such a rock star.
We've been back only 24 hours and already the days of our trip are blending together. We had a great time and I can't be more proud of how adaptable and resourceful the girls were on the trip - eating strange new foods and sleeping on the floors of airplanes - they took everything in stride.
Before the memories fade, let me share our days with you all. We spent our mornings bumping around the house, munching on Greek Cheerios (no they are not the same) and waiting for Baba to get back from town with donuts fresh from the Greek bakery.
After breakfast, someone inevitable would say "Who wants to go for a swim!" Athena was always the first to reply "I do! I do!" In the beach by our house, you can see the main city of Parokia in the distance.
Although we tried, Zoe did not find any love for the water. She will happily swim in a pool but the ocean just frightened her. She also didn't really like to touch sand.
She did however LOVE the plethora of marblized rocks from our beach. She gathered quite a collection and even managed to sneak some into her luggage and take home. Athena tried to sell Zoe's rocks to Daddy and Baba for one Euro each.
Around lunchtime, we would gather the troops and head off to a calm beach for swimming and sand castles. Many beaches in Paros have tavernas right on the beach, so it's easy to grab some tzasiki and Greek salad while still in your wet bathing suit. This was the first year I actually got sick of tzasiki.
In the afternoons everyone (parents as well as children) would take a siesta. Athena loved her "princess bed" (aka mosquito netting) it was her favorite thing about Greece.
Our evenings were typically spent walking into town for a yummy dinner, and then perhaps relaxing with Nana's wee dog while watching a Max and Ruby DVD.
With heavy hearts and lumps in our throats we left all too soon (ten days is NOT enough) with a promise to ourselves that we will be back no matter how difficult it is to travel with three children.
Goodbye Greece! Be back soon!
The reason for our trip, besides a vacation of sand, sea and sun, was to celebrate Baba's 70th birthday with a great, continental bash. We had friends and family from Quebec, Vancouver, Sweden, London, Paris, Crete, Kentucky, New York, California and Paros all celebrating our Dad.
Chris was in charge of the souvlaki.
Stu kept the wine flowing.
Athena enjoyed her first taste of souvlaki.
And the chocolate birthday cake. Yum.
Zoe liked the cake too,
but Athena really, really liked it.
The girls were not in a party mood, however,
They're still a little jet lagged and totally off schedule.
hanging out at the beach,
...and, uh, pole dancing.
We love you Baba!
