Opa!

Or the best summer vacation ever!  When husband dear and I had been newly married (before the plus 3 joined us) we dreamed about all the little vacations and big adventures we'd love to have, where we would go, what we would see (OK, for me, what we would eat--there's some fabulous food out in this great big world!).  And always on my list was the dream of a chance to visit the Greek islands.  It was one of those impossible dreams, especially when the plus 3 joined us so quickly, but still we held onto it.
And am I glad we did!  Many circumstances came together just perfectly, we took advantage of a couple of deals, broke several piggy banks--justifying that our tenth anniversary deserves to be celebrated memorably (and the plus 3 could come too) and we all had a magical adventure.

Words cannot describe how beautiful Greece is, and we loved the weather!  All the locals complained of how hot it was, but you know our perspectives are a little different. =)  It was also great to be out and about wearing short sleeves and shorts!

Stand really still like this soldier...eldest son invented a game to play after this experience where he stayed really still without moving or blinking to see if he could outlast the person he was playing against.  Only thing is he would just keep going after the other person invariably lost.  We informed him that it wasn't good for his eyes to start crying because he was refusing to blink them...strong willed that one.

This town was beautiful and we could have spent forever in it, but alas there were times when vacation was all a little too much for some of us...

 like this one.  Imp was probably the most ready to be done with vacation.

She did manage to hold it together for our trip to the Acropolis (she even took this picture =)).

 Athens was a whole other experience for us.  It was colored by inept (thankfully) pickpockets for husband dear, metros and walking, beautiful monuments and museums, fresh bakeries, Gyros (my mouth is watering thinking of it), cappuccinos worth every penny, and GELATO! I told you I'm all about the food! =)

 And some history.  The two go so well together!

 I love the mix, the building of the new right on/slap up against the old.  Husband dear at work...can you see the cafe tables running up the steps? This area was so neat.

And then there was our island adventure...Naxos.  We savored every minute of it, so beautiful!

In the end, we all kind of looked like this...but they've already asked, "When can we take our next trip?"
Look out world, I think our plus 3 are now bonafied adventurers in search of their next gelato fix!

There and back again

In August we made a return trip to see our friends who we stayed with on the island.  It was a fast and furious trip and we wished it could have been longer--how we've missed these friends! And these views as well...

This picture, I realize, requires a little explanation...what you can't see as well on this random-photo-of-washed-up fish is that this is one of these deep water lantern fish (you know that kind that almost chomps up Marlin and Dory in Nemo). We were really thrilled at our find! =)
It's the little things after all...

Our new place

 Welcome to our new place; we love it here!  The first thing Imp learned to do at our new place was ride her bike without training wheels!!

 This is the view from the front...when you stand on the steps and zoom really far in so you can see that deep patch of blue, which is the ocean my friends!  Yes, I've made it back near the ocean at last, but ironically we have yet to have time to visit it here!

 My kitchen, I love this kitchen with it's electric convection oven that cooks so beautifully, and husband dear really digs the dishwasher (!) that is on loan with the house for our year here.

 I think the girls room might be one of my favorite rooms...and I would just like to say that I helped put that bed together!  Oh Ikea, the bane and blessing of our existence!

Forgive the red eye in this shot--I wanted to make sure you got to see a picture of our classroom.  As an update, we are all having such fun and they we are learning so much!

 Smelling the roses and giving thanks.

For an actual yard, a sanctuary of our own and...

the little surprises we keep finding within it!

Crazy life, busy life

Or, you could title this "better than nothing, maybe"...
To recap: we've moved and love, love, love our new home; we've been super busy setting it up and trying to get ready for me to home school eldest son, daughter and Imp; we've been traveling across continents, work and vacation related, for the past two weeks; we've returned to take on the mountains of laundry we hauled back here with us (and to start home school).
I have promised you pictures, and I do intend to post them and, honestly you deserve much better posts about our adventures of late and I will try to deliver.  If anyone works out the technology for streaming thoughts and images directly to blog posts I so need to sign up for that.
Anyway, it's late and my battery (for the computer and for me really) is fading, but I wanted you to know that I do remember that we have a blog and hope to make amends soon for my absence(s).
Love you all!