Greece: Day 1

The first morning after our long day of travel, Gus and I woke up at 10am. Well, I was the one who woke up. And I was still exhausted, but I'd been having these dreams that we'd accidentally slept until 2pm, and they sort of startled me into looking at the clock. The room was really dark-- I was shocked that it was 10! And I freaked out a little. The room we were in was ours for only one night (long, boring story), and I didn't know what time we had to be out of it. Was it 10am? It's not like there were any signs or anything. And, as it turns out, most places like this will let you stay well into the afternoon-- there is no real check-out time. Oh well. We got up, showered, packed what little we had unpacked, and drove back down the hill to where yiayia and papou and the kiddos were staying.

Niko, in typical Niko fashion, and despite going to bed after midnight, had still woken up early at around 7am-- immediately wanting to walk around and explore. Maya was still asleep when we got there, and didn't even stir until after 11! You can probably guess who was in a better mood that day. :) Still, the kids were troopers! They hit the ground running. First, we walked over to the ocean so they could get a peek:

Then, we drove to the town of Tolo, which has great sandy beaches and super calm water (because it's sheltered from the open ocean). We claimed a few lounge chairs and umbrellas, and the kiddos got their first-ever taste of ocean swimming!

You'll notice that the kids are wearing their life jackets in these pictures. This was the first and last time they wore them. Niko's armpits got chafed, and poor Maya got a really painful owie at the top of her leg, where the strap literally rubbed her raw (bleeding!). Poor baby didn't swim for a few days because it hurt so badly! Both kids got arm floaties after this day. I had thought they wouldn't be safe enough for ocean swimming, but the water was VERY calm. Arm floaties were perfect! I had brought the jackets instead of their usual floaties, thinking that we might rent a motorboat one day (like Gus and I did in 2006), but we never did. It ended up being a total waste of suitcase space. Oh well, live and learn!

I don't remember what we did for dinner that night, but I did see this beautiful sunset over the hills behind yiayia and papou's third-story apartment. The hills on the outskirts of the ancient city of Argos!