We Made It!

Our big boy is at kindergarten as we speak! He woke up this morning saying that he felt mostly scared. He was nervous about the bus more than anything. To be honest, I was, too! I tried not to let it show, but this bus business is still pretty foreign to me. I just wanted everything to go well!

We started out our morning by meeting up with Caryn and her kids for breakfast. Evan also has afternoon kindergarten (in the next town over), so it seemed like a good way to kill time this morning. And even so, the day just DRAGGED on (much as it's doing right now!). Niko kept saying, "I'm just gonna go out and wait for the bus, okay?" No, not okay! But he was antsy, and so was I. I did kill some time by taking some portraits. I am in love with these!!

Finally, it was time to wait for the bus. The paper we had gave us a specific time, but said the bus could be up to 10 minutes early or late. It was almost 20 minutes late! I was panicking, but trying not to let Niko see. But it turns out that there is only one afternoon kindergarten class, and they all ride the same bus, so really-- class can't start until the get there. And it was so late today because everyone was taking pictures and talking to the driver. She finally arrived, and he hopped right on!

As soon as he was on, I jumped in the car with Maya and we drove over to the school. The bus stopped at another house along the way, so we beat it (whew!). We parked and waited with the other parents outside the classroom who were doing the exact same thing. When they showed up, Niko was looking all over for me and had a HUGE look of relief when we saw me. I gave him a huge hug and a kiss, and off he went with his teacher!

Then I went to take care of some paperwork stuff in the office, and came home. Now we're just waiting... Two more hours until I get the full report! I hope he had an amazing day!!!

Tomorrow is the Day!!

Our boy starts kindergarten tomorrow! Also, my aunt Dana leaves her firstborn at college for the first time. Too many firsts! But the upshot is that my cousin will be going to college just an hour away from us, and my aunt will be spending the night here tomorrow! So that will be fun!

I just really hope Niko has an amazing day. He is a great kid. I know that he will do wonderfully when it comes to academics. I just really hope the other kids are kind to him, and that he makes new friends. It's so nerve-wracking to be the parent in this situation! He is super excited, though. Ack! Full report to come tomorrow...

Meet The Teacher Day!

So, we had our Meet the Teacher event at school yesterday morning. Niko's teacher seems very nice, and the classroom looks great! Niko was feeling very shy, though, and didn't say much. We were relieved to find out that he already knows three other little boys in his class! Two of the boys went to preschool with him and have been on his t-ball team for the past two years (including his coach's son... that was the first person we saw when we walked in!). The third boy was on his t-ball team this past year. So he will have some familiar faces to help ease him into this kindergarten business. We also saw his new acquaintance, Daryl, who we meet at the "picnic in the gym" the other night. By the time we were ready to go, they were giving each other hard high-fives! I actually think that Daryl and Niko could be good buddies, so we shall see if they become friends. Daryl's mom is a former teacher and is super nice, too!

Anyway... I wanted to take a picture of Niko with his teacher, but he wasn't having it. I'll try again another day. I did get a picture of him coloring some paper apples. We sat in the room for a while, just so he could feel comfortable with it.

Then we rode on the school bus. They had said they would be discussing the rules for the bus, but the driver didn't say one word! So the ride itself was kind of pointless. Even Niko was like, "Can we get off now? I'm tired of the bus." ha!! I did stay behind afterward and ask her some things, and that was the most useful part!

After that, we went outside the classroom to the coatroom. I had walked right through it the first time without noticing it. But the kindergarten coatroom is like a foyer outside the classroom door, and it's huge!! Makes sense, since this is New England and all. The kids need to have room for all their winter gear. Niko was very pleased when he found his cubby, all on his own!

So... Niko has 18 kiddos in his class, which I was pleased with. We also walked around the school, just because I wanted to. Niko really likes the school library. And I finally found out what's in the middle of the school, haha! The whole thing is laid out like a large rectangle, but you can't get through the middle. That's because there's a GARDEN out there! I had no idea! There were a bunch of mature apple trees that were absolutely covered with apples, along with lots of other plants. And there is a GREENHOUSE at one end, meant for the kids to use! I guess I shouldn't be that surprised-- this is a farm town, after all! But how cool! I felt like I found a secret garden. It's completely surrounded by the school. Awesome!

After we decided we were done, we headed over to Caryn's house to pick up Maya. We ended up going out to lunch together, too. We can't believe that our big boys start school in only a few days!!

Chickens!!!!!

So... Gus has been pestering me to get chickens for well over a year now. Pretty much since we moved here. I have said NO repeatedly. We already have a parrot that I am not a huge fan of (she bites). And Gus doesn't clean her cage very often. I just knew I was going to get stuck taking care of the darn chickens, despite Gus' many promises to the contrary. Because I am home during the day, and he's not. It's just how it works. And I didn't want MORE things to take care of! Plus, chickens scare me. I've been bitten by the parrot enough times to be leery of anything with a beak!

Then we went to Greece. Papou gave the kids the grand tour of his childhood home, and started talking about how they had chickens. Gus said that he wanted chickens, but I wouldn't let him. And pretty soon I was outnumbered by adults telling me how great/easy/wonderful chickens are, how we need fresh eggs, etc. And the kids wanted chickens. And... I caved.

Anyway, we have chickens now. Gus did tons of research while we were on vacation, and ordered things (like the coop) so they'd arrive right when we got back. He spent a lot of time this past weekend getting the coop all ready, and picked up the chickens (four of them) yesterday. They are young, but still old enough to go straight out into the coop. Which is a good thing, because I don't want them in my bathtub! Here are the ladies, moments after they were put into their new home for the first time:

And the proud papa. hehe! Really, he was SO HAPPY! Farmer Gus!

This morning, the kids wanted to hold them. So I overcame my fears and grabbed some chickens. They were a little skittish, but didn't peck or anything! This first one is the most outgoing of the group, by far. She's an 8-week-old Buff Orpington chicken, and Maya has named her "Hanky."

This next one is the most shy of the group... I haven't been able to hold her, because she doesn't want to come out of the run at all. But I have named her Princess Leia (think about it... it's sort of funny!). She's an Easter Egg chicken, which means she might lay some interesting eggs (blue? green? we won't know for a while!). She's six weeks old.

Next up is our other six-week-old Easter Egg chicken, who has been named Extra Crispy by Gus. I call her Crispy. She seems pretty social, but she is also FAST. I did lots of laps around the outside of the coop to finally pick her up! The kids were laughing at me...

Last but not least, our black Australorp chicken. She's eight weeks old, and Niko has named her Nugget. He also says that's she is a boy. Poor Nugget!

And so we begin our farming career... haha! Lord help us...

Chowdah and Chili!

Our small town has this big festival every year-- restaurants from all over Central Mass come to compete for the title of Best Chili or Best Chowder. That part is fun in and of itself, but there is so much for the kids to do, and it's cheap! Last year was our first time experiencing it, and it was while Grant, Melissa, and Colton were visiting. Well, technically Riley was along for the ride, too, as an embryo... haha! :) Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and the kiddos were very excited to go back again (though they wanted to know if their aunt, uncle, and cousins would be there, too... haha!).

At any rate... yesterday was busy. I spent most of the morning working on remodeling the pantry, while Gus worked on his chicken coop. Yes, chicken coop. We're getting chickens, probably tomorrow. But I'll explain about all that later! Anyway, we were both pretty busy. But after lunch, we took a break and went over to check out the festival. We headed straight to the back this time, since we knew that's where all the farm animals would be. We were not disappointed! We first hit up the tent for the agricultural council, where we saw day-old calves (SO cute!), sheep, and pigs. And both kids insisted on milking the wooden cow:

Niko had also spotted the dunk tank, and was petitioning to go there. He was convinced his throw had improved enough to hit the target. And he did get really close! The firefighters were nice and encouraged him to "test" the target by hitting it. Maya got to "test" it, too. And both kids ended up getting soaked from when the firefighter fell in, haha!

Then it was over to the baby chicks, ducks, and bunnies. Maya wanted to hold and pet EVERYTHING. Niko wanted to, too, but was a little more skittish. He squeezed a baby chick a little too tightly (it was fine), it squawked, and he was done.

Then they jumped in the bounce houses for a bit. We visited the reptile exhibit. And Maya got her face painted...

After that, we watched a martial arts demonstration, and visited with some friends who were manning the Rec Department tent. We were there for just over an hour, and then it was home and back to our projects! Still, we packed a lot of fun into a short time. Totally worth it!

Back to Reality...

Ok, so now that I have finished my marathon blogging session, recounting our ENTIRE vacation, I can update on other things! When I told Gus I was blogging about every day of our trip, he said, "Why don't you just summarize?" I didn't want to, that's why! I turn this blog into a book every few years, and I wanted the story of our trip to be in there, in its entirety. So I did it! Woohoo!!

Anyway... About halfway through our trip, I logged onto Facebook and saw that some of my local mommy friends had gotten their kindergarten assignments (morning versus afternoon-- they still do half-day kindergarten here). Of course, I couldn't check my mail to find out-- it was being held at the post office! And I was DYING to know! Back when we registered him, the school secretary told me that she thought our address was typically morning kindergarten. So, official or not, that's what I had planned on. But I needed to know for sure. Another local mom suggested I email the school secretary to find out, and sent me her address. So that's what I did, and she replied pretty quickly: afternoon kindergarten. Afternoon?!? I don't know why that threw me for a loop, but it sort of did! I mean, Niko is actually a perfect candidate for afternoon kindergarten. He doesn't nap (ever), and afternoons are when he starts to get bored at home. And my schedule is flexible. He will be fine! It just surprised me. Now that I've had time to wrap my head around it, I am looking forward to leisurely mornings twice a week (the mornings that Maya doesn't have preschool). And I won't have to worry about snow delays!

Fast forward to yesterday... we got his teacher assignment in the mail! Another moment where my stomach was in knots. My friend had warned me about one of the kindergarten teachers, but I couldn't remember if this was the one. Or if it was the one she absolutely LOVED. As it turns out, Niko got the teacher that seems to be universally adored, haha! Not that it's any guarantee or anything, but it's a good sign, and it filled me with relief to hear people say such nice things about her. Plus, all his good t-ball buddies had this same teacher last year. I feel like, even though we ended up with afternoon kindergarten, it worked out-- because we got a great teacher. I look forward to meeting her on Friday, on kindergarten "Meet the Teacher" day! Pictures to come!

We also learned yesterday that his bus stop will, in fact, be our driveway. Perfect! I figured it would be, since it makes sense, but I am happy that it's a done deal. I wonder if other kids will have our driveway as their bus stop, too? I guess we will find out!

Anyway, we are in the final countdown before school starts. Everyone seems to finally be over the jet lag that followed us home. Today is the Chowder and Chili Challenge here in town, so we'll head over there after lunch. The kids are excited for the dunk tank, haha!

The Journey Home

Kiveri is a solid 2.5-hour drive from the airport in Athens, and our flight was at 2:50pm, so we needed to hit the road pretty early (by vacation standards!). We got up, got dressed, ate a quick breakfast, and packed up the last of our things. I was concerned we wouldn't be able to get our suitcases closed, but we did it! Yiayia and papou led the way to the airport. Once we checked our bags, we sat in the airport McDonald's for a while, trying to get the kids to eat a little something before the flight. Soon, it was time to say our goodbyes and make our way through border control, then security. Then we only had a little while to wait in the terminal before it was time to board our plane to London.

My seatmate quickly fell asleep. Typical Maya, haha!

And I just thought this picture was cool. As we flew over the English Channel, we could see two countries at once! The U.K. on the left, and France on the right. Whee!

We got to Heathrow, and made it through security pretty quickly. Both kids were itching to get back to the play area in terminal five! And it's a good thing we made it there quickly, because the kids only had a little less than an hour before the play area closed for the evening. They made the most of their time there, though, and loved it (again!). Seriously-- best play area ever!

We were commenting that we only had another hour or so to fill before boarding the plane when, right at that moment, the sign changed to indicate our flight would be delayed an hour. Great. But it still went by pretty quickly. We walked around a bit, then found some comfy chairs. It wasn't too bad.

The flight from London to Boston was hard. I wanted to try and stay awake (to help me adjust to the time change more quickly), but just couldn't. Maya fell asleep pretty quickly, too. I dozed on and off the entire flight. Niko slept for a while, too, waking only to play video games on his in-seat TV (this was the best plane ever, if you ask him! It was the first one with free video games!). We landed in Boston just before 11pm, then waited in the long line to get through border control. That was the worst part of the entire travel experience. It was slow-going, and both kids were WIPED. They were both on the verge of tears, wanting me to carry them. I alternated kids, but they are just getting too big-- plus I was holding my backpack, my purse, and Maya's backpack. It was rough. But we made it through, and were rewarded with our luggage coming out onto the carousel almost immediately. We breezed through customs. And then we sat and waited for the bus to take us back to the bus depot.

The bus arrived after about half an hour, and we had another half-hour ride to get to the depot. And from there, it was another 45 minutes to get to our house. But 23.5 hours after leaving our apartment in Greece, at almost 2am local time, we made it home, safe and sound. Hallelujah!

Greece: Day 14

From the moment he first laid eyes on the castle looming over the town of Nafplio, Niko had been begging and pleading to go to Palamidi. And when he learned that you could either drive up or walk up (a steep staircase with 999 stairs), he HAD to walk. Nobody wanted to do it with him, haha! Gus and I walked DOWN the steps back in 2006, and I could barely move my legs for days. It was so painful! I figured going up wouldn't be quite so hard on my joints, though, and volunteered to climb up with him. We all got up super early to beat the heat. We were actually up early enough for Niko to cross another thing off of his "must do" list: watch the sun rise over the ocean!

We ate a light breakfast (we weren't particularly hungry that early), then headed around the bay to Nafplio. We took a quick picture at the bottom of the stairs before our ascent. Maya wanted to be in the picture, too. :)

Then Maya, Gus, yiayia and papou piled into their cars, waved goodbye to us, and we headed on up. I had to tell Niko to slow down, because there was no way I could keep up with him! And, while you probably can't see it in the picture, the steps are so weather-worn that they have sort of a polish to them-- they are slippery! Same with a lot of the cobblestone walkways in Nafplio. Walking on them can be brutal in flip-flops with no tread! Niko was wearing tennis shoes, but it was still important that he stay with me. Especially since there were some parts where he could have just walked right off a cliff, if he wasn't paying attention!

Anyway... we soon settled into a nice rhythm. Walk up a couple flights, rest, walk up a few more, and so on. Here are some pictures from our climb (and some of the views of Nafplio and Bourtzi):

After about half an hour, we rounded a corner and I saw a metal door swing open up ahead in an archway. That's when I had an "uh oh!" moment! We were at the top, and the castle had JUST opened (it opened at 8am). We had made it way too quickly! Everyone was planning on meeting us at the top, but they had to come in through a different gate at the other end of the castle-- so there was no way they could possibly be there waiting yet. I tried to stall. I took a picture:

My diversions worked for a few minutes, but Niko KNEW we were almost there and was losing patience with me. So, we went up. I bought my ticket (4 euros for adults; kids are free). And no sooner had we walked in than we ran into our welcoming party, headed straight for us!

Then, it was time to play tourist. First stop was the cell where Greek war hero Theodoros Kolokotronis was imprisoned for 11 months during the fight for independence from the Ottomans. Gus and I had been in there before. It's an absolutely awful place to be imprisoned... you have to climb through narrow passageways to get there, and it's like a box carved into the solid rock. No windows, NOTHING. It would have been pitch black without a candle or something for light. And the kids thought it was great fun!

After that, we walked around some more. It was starting to get warm. Here are some pics from our explorations:

We were also there early enough that they hadn't even raised the flag yet. So we watched the guy do it. :)

Then, I looked over a wall, and giggled because this funny little tree was still there. Check out my picture from 2006, and then my one from this trip. Yup-- same tree!

Once the sun got high enough in the sky to really start baking us, it was time to go. We had a real breakfast down in Nafplio, then headed back to Kiveri. Gus and I spent most of the afternoon packing, since this was our last full day in Greece. Meanwhile, the kids spent most of their time swimming in the ocean with yiayia. Niko was never tired-- you would never have known that he climbed up a mountain that morning! Crazy kid!

Oh, and I forgot... on our way back from Palamidi, the kids rode with yiayia and papou so that Gus and I could stop at the market (Kritikos, which is attached to the toy store Jumbo, for whatever reason...) and get some snacks for our long trek back to the U.S. I finally took a picture of the craziness that is Greek parking. This parking lot has painted lines in it, like most parking lots do. They are faint, but they are there. Yet, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we went here, cars were parked all over. Greek drivers are seriously scary (yes, that's a generalization. I'm sure they aren't all bad. But lots of them were!!). And it's like it's their goal to park as crazy as possible. You wouldn't believe how many examples of awful parking we saw, haha!

Greece: Day 13

This was another quiet day. Yiayia and papou had to take Yiayia Maria and theio Leftheri back to Athens, and didn't return until late in the afternoon. As it was, they ended up missing the freeway exit, and found themselves driving all the way to Yiayia Aleka's mountain village. Definitely not a short detour, but they needed to get some things from the house, anyway, so it worked out. We didn't do much... went for a few swims, ate leftovers out of the fridge... that was about it! The only photo I have is from when the kids went swimming with yiayia in the late afternoon, after they finally returned!

Greece: Day 12

This morning, yiayia woke up bright and early to drive to Athens and pick up her mom and her brother for a visit (they don't have a car). Papou appeared on our doorstep shortly after we were up and dressed, and we walked down to get some coffee together.

Shortly after noon, yiayia returned with her family. We had a long, delicious lunch at one of the tavernas right there on the beach (between our two apartments). Then we went back to yiayia and papou's apartment to visit for a bit before yiayia took them over to her mom's summer home, where the two planned to spend the night. I took this right before they left:

Sadly, Yiayia Maria didn't recognize her summer home at all. :( It's been a few years since she's been there, and she's been having memory troubles, but yeah... she didn't remember it. And the place is in need of some serious TLC. The whole thing was very sad.

That evening, we swung by the summer house so that the kids could see it, then we picked them up and headed to dinner in Nafplio. Before we ate, papou insisted on buying the kids various light-up toys from the gypsies on the platia. I especially like these flying-disc things. They are so cool!

It was a later night for us, and the kids were falling asleep on the drive home-- the sign of another full day in Greece!

Greece: Day 11

We woke up this morning, ate some breakfast, and decided to make a quick trip over to the town of Bytina before leaving the area. We'd been to Bytina before. It's another mountain town, not too far away, and it's very cute! It's also known for its woodcarving, so it's always fun to look through the little shops. We had lunch and coffee at a little cafe on the platia (plaza/town square), then picked up a few little things. Gus has a collection of wooden motorcycles, and got a wooden scooter to add to it. Niko got a slingshot (I can't believe I actually said yes to that...), and Maya got a little wooden bead necklace and bracelet set. It was all very inexpensive, and everyone was happy. Then we took pictures, and headed back to Yiayia Aleka's house.

On a related note... the area is also known for bee-keeping and honey production. We passed tons and tons of beehive boxes on our way into town. And there were bees all over the platia! That was rather unpleasant. But we escaped unscathed, even with them trying to land on our food and drinks!

On the way back into the village, we caught a glimpse of Yiayia Aleka's mountain (and attached cave!). Yes, she owns a mountain. Niko was thoroughly impressed!

Once we got back, we spent some time at the house and then said our goodbyes. Both kids professed their love for the village and their desire to go back. It shall be so!

Back in Kiveri, we went for an evening swim to cool off. It felt fantastic!

And then I'm fairly certain we called it a night early, because we were so tired. It had been a long day!