Naxos

The first island we visited was Naxos. We enjoyed our lazy beach days in Naxos. We stayed in a little apartment about a 10-minute walk from the Agios Prokopios beach. Our first day there we all crashed and took naps after being on the ferry all morning long. We had a rough night's sleep, an early morning, and a 4 1/2 hour ferry ride. After naps we did some grocery shopping, had some dinner, and then headed down to the beach. I was somewhat disappointed at the temperature of the water. I was hoping for warmer water. Here's Audrey dipping her toes in the ocean for the first time: The next two days were spent at the beach. You could rent 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella all day for 6 euros. So, we did that to keep Audrey in the shade. Here's Rachel all ready to go on our first beach day:This really was Rachel's first time going into the ocean and she enjoyed it. Andy and her were even able to spot some fish a few times. Audrey enjoyed chill time and play time with me. Audrey played in the sand for the first time and she never once tried to shove it in her mouth. It was nice being so close to the beach, because we could walk back for naps and then come back after everyone was rested. Here's a bunch of cute pictures of Audrey:

And then of course a bunch of cute pictures of Rachel as well... And of course we couldn't pass up getting some ice cream on our last beach day! :)

One night for dinner we went into the town of Naxos. The island of Naxos had a great bus system. It was easy to catch the bus and get where we wanted to go. Here are a few pictures we took while in the town of Naxos:

The next day we rented a car to explore the island of Naxos a bit more. We thought it was a pretty good deal - we paid 25 euros to have the car for the day and car seats were included. So, we loaded up in the car and drove around most of the day. Our first stop was at the ruins of the Temple of Demeter which was built in the 6th century BC.

We of course had to make a few stops along the way to feed Audrey. I believe this was the first stop we took. We just pulled out at a view area and after Audrey ate she took a picture with her daddy.

We made it clear to the other side of the island, but the beaches weren't as good there and the water wasn't any warmer, so I guess we were staying on the right side of the island!

It took awhile to drive anywhere because of all the windy roads. As we drove along we saw a ton of these churches up on hilltops. So, we decided to pull off at the side of one and Andy hiked up to it.

We had an early dinner in the little town of Filoti. The girls were ready for a break from the car. After Rachel finished eating she enjoyed climbing the marble steps right near the cafe. Here she is pouting when we told her it was time to go:After eating we headed to the Panagia Drossiani church, which was built between the 6th and 7th century. It it still used as a church today.

We then winded our way back to our place. As we were driving we ended up on the other side of a mountain where they must get their marble. The picture doesn't exactly do it justice.

Since we had a car that day we spent a little bit of time that evening at the Plaka beach. Rachel loved climbing up and running down this dune:

The girls had fun playing in the sand and we left our footprints on Naxos island (okay, so they were probably washed away 5 minutes after taking the picture).

Rachel didn't like her hands being all sandy, so Andy helped her dip them in the ocean. :)
Our final morning in Naxos we headed down to the port. Our ferry wasn't boarding until 12:45, so we had some time to explore that morning.
We went to check out the Apollon temple that was never completed. The only thing that remains is the frontal gate, which is called the Portara.
We walked through more of the town of Naxos and enjoyed some lunch at a cafe. We discovered gyros in Naxos and enjoyed them whenever we got the chance. There was a little playground right by the port. We let Rachel play there for the last 20 minutes before we had to get on the ferryboat. I guess she got bored of being pushed in the swing, because she thought it was great to push her daddy.

We enjoyed our time in Naxos. It was nice to have some lazy beach days and not be in a rush from one thing to the next. The next island we visited was Santorini...

Forgot One

I didn't notice this video the other day, so I figured I would include it as well. It's another one of Rachel enjoying the animals at the National Garden in Athens.

Athens

The first couple days of our Greek adventure were spent in Athens. It was pretty warm, but there was always a nice breeze. I enjoyed the warm weather even with carrying Audrey around in the baby carrier. We all had colds to start off the trip, so we tried to take it somewhat easy in Athens. We were still able to see quite a bit though and we enjoyed our time there. Our first stop was the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. You never know when it comes to museums how it will go over with the little ones, but Rachel quite enjoyed tromping around the museum and Audrey was a happy camper in the stroller. The next day Rachel kept on talking about going back to see the statues. :) We weren't able to use the flash on the camera in the museum, so unfortunately some of the pictures are a bit blurry, but here's a few photos we took:

We stayed right near Syntagma Square, so that afternoon we made a stop at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then we headed to the National Garden. After Rachel's great job in the museum we figured she deserved a chance to play at a park and get some wiggle time. Rachel really liked checking out the animals at the gardens (see video below). Once again, Audrey was a doll in the stroller.

We then went in search of somewhere to eat and came across a really cool bell tower: We went to the Plaka area and cafes just lined the streets. So, all the managers of the cafes were out trying to get people to come eat at their particular cafe. It was quite interesting. Another thing about Greece, they must have a law against robbing people blind. You know how bottles of water can be quite expensive (considering how much the water and the bottle actually cost)? Well, you can buy a bottle of water in Greece for 30-70 cents. The most expensive, 70 cents, was at the airport. Not bad! I wish all the places we traveled to had the same policy about water. After dinner we all enjoyed ice cream - we probably spent more money on ice cream during this trip than anything else! :) As we were making our way back to the hotel that evening we came across the Ancient Agora. We just viewed it through the fence and took a few photos, since we were ready to head to bed.

We got back to our hotel and let the girls chill for awhile before bathtime. Here's a cute picture of Audrey chilling with her daddy:

The next morning we headed to the Acropolis. And as you can see, Rachel was so cooperative and gave such wonderful smiles when we actually asked someone to take a picture of all of us together! :)

After the Acropolis we headed to an ancient town that had the Temple of Hephaistos, which is the best preserved ancient Greek temple. The construction of this temple started in 449 BC. It was so amazing to see so many things from thousands of years ago.We then headed back to the hotel for some much needed chill time and hopefully nap time, but the girls weren't cooperative in the nap department. Instead, they thought it was pretty cool to hang out in just their shirts! Well, Audrey had to have a change of pants and Rachel wanted to join in.
That night we went to a great restaurant. It was so good, that we went back to it a week later on Father's Day. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and ended the day with a few games of UNO. The next morning we were getting up at 5 AM to catch our ferry to Naxos. We enjoyed our few days in Athens and kept ourselves pretty busy.

We're off!

These two cute girls and their crazy parents are off to Greece! Rachel's looking forward to hotels and going swimming. Andy is looking forward to no work for 10 days. I'm looking forward to the possibility of actually breaking out in a sweat! :) Audrey, well hopefully she's looking forward to being dragged all over the place. We may be crazy to head off with a 6 month old and a 3 year old, but we're hoping for the best. So Greece, here we come! :)

6 Months Old

Audrey has reached her first half-birthday! She weighs 14.5 pounds and is 25.5 inches tall. We have started solids and so far she loves rice cereal and pears. She tolerates mangoes and does okay with sweet potatoes. She gags like crazy on banana baby food, but if I give her pieces of a banana she loves it. Yesterday I gave her some water in a sippy cup for the first time. She doesn't quite know what to do with the sippy cup, but with some help she drinks the water. We still have quite a bit to introduce, so hopefully she starts enjoying solids more. Audrey still loves to be outside and she of course loves it when Rachel entertains her. She's sitting up really well and loves to play with her toys. She is still taking three naps during the day, but I'm hoping to wean her down to two soon. Every night is a guessing game with her. Some nights she only gets up once, other nights she's up several times. We are still hoping she's going to surprise us one night by sleeping a straight 10 hours. Last night we decided she was trying to wave at us. It was very cute! Audrey loves to smile and it's so much fun to get her to laugh. We can't believe how fast the past six months have flown by. Before we know it we'll be celebrating her first birthday!

Growing up...

We went to a church barbecue on Saturday night and ever since then Rachel has been bothering me about painting her nails. One of her little friends must have had her nails painted. I haven't painted my nails since Rachel was born, so it wasn't my influence. So, this morning we went out and bought some fingernail polish and here is the result. Rachel is definitely excited about her painted nails and can't wait for her daddy to come home so she can show him.

On another note, Rachel has started to lay claim to things that she can have when she grows up. I often tell her when Audrey is wearing an outfit that she used to wear as a baby. Because of this, Rachel has drawn the conclusion that she is going to wear my outfits when she grows up. So, far she's laid claim to my pink kiwi chick sweatshirt and my pink capri pajamas. I laugh every time she says "When I grow up I can have....". The other day she surprised me when she laid claim to my wedding ring. Her taste is definitely getting more expensive. I guess she figures she better claim what she wants before Audrey can! :)

Update

Rachel just came downstairs 5 minutes ago. If I had to guess, she probably slept a good 2 hours on the floor. I had to step over her at 2:30 and that didn't wake her up, so she must have been sleeping pretty soundly. And then of course when I took her picture she didn't wake up either. I asked her why she slept on the floor in the hallway and she informed me that she was pretending to have a barbecue. Silly girl! :)

Our Little Toddler

Life with a toddler can be quite amusing and today was definitely one of those days. Rachel dined alone today during lunch because I was over on the couch feeding Audrey. Once I was done feeding Audrey I came over to check out Rachel's empty plate. She had informed me that she was done. Her plate was empty, but the edge of the table wasn't. It's kind of hard to tell but along the edge of the table are tiny pieces of cheese. I believe I gave her 2 slices of cheese and she proceeded to break them up into smaller pieces and decorate the table. No wonder I'm always attacking our lovely Ikea table (can you hear the sarcasm?) with glass cleaner to clean it up. After cleaning up the cheese we headed upstairs to take naps. Audrey was already asleep. She takes her afternoon nap in the pack 'n play in with me so Rachel can get a decent nap. Rachel knows that if she wakes up from her nap and the door to mommy's room is still closed, she's supposed to play out in the hallway until Audrey and I come out. Well, she is quite the obedient child when it comes to this. There have been several occasions when Audrey has woken up and we've discovered Rachel out in the hallway. However, today's discovery was worth taking a picture. Audrey woke up around 2:30 and that is how we found Rachel. It's now 3:30 and she's still sound asleep up there. Rachel really is a pretty obedient toddler. We can't claim good parenting skills, we just got lucky with her. It will be interesting to see what Audrey has in store for us....

A Nice Weekend

We had beautiful weather this past weekend and Andy had Monday off, so it was great. We started off the weekend a little lazy. Her are the little ones watching TV together. Audrey was quite engrossed with Teletubbies at the moment, but Rachel turned to me and smiled. I don't know if I have ever said this before, but I can't stand Teletubbies. Unfortunately it is one of the few English (if you can call Teletubbie language English, but maybe the Dutch aren't able to understand them so they can't translate it) programs for little ones, so every once in awhile we have the privilege of enjoying Teletubbies. Andy was sleeping in a little bit and the girls were happy to sit next to each other and watch TV.

We then put ourselves together and went to buy some flowers. That afternoon the girls spent time with Daddy planting the flowers while I got some much needed Primary stuff done. Rachel loved helping out and Audrey enjoyed supervising! :)

On Sunday evening we were able to get together with some friends and have dinner. A friend, who has since moved back to the States, was out on business. So, a bunch of us got together and had a great time - good company and excellent food! The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Rob had brought Amy along. Hopefully next time! :)

Monday morning I had to snap another picture of the girls in their cute matching pajamas - thanks Grandma Smith! It was finally warm enough for the girls to wear them. This is the best picture I got, even though Audrey was obviously kicking away! :)

And then we were off to the beach. We have learned to take advantage of good beach weather days, because they don't come around too often. It was Audrey's first time at the beach and she did pretty well. She did really well once she took a little snooze! :) Rachel of course had fun playing in the sand with her daddy. Andy was even able to talk her into putting her feet in the freezing cold ocean. She did it once and only once. I didn't even go near the frigid water! The beach was pretty busy, but we enjoyed quite a few hours in the sun.

June 1st was Andy's last holiday until Christmas, so we tried to make the most of it. It's always nice to have a relaxing weekend with beautiful weather.