My Big Fat Greek Adventure, Part 1: Thessaloniki, Mt. Olympus, & Meteora

We weren't planning on traveling for Spring Break, afterall, it feels like we just arrived to Kyiv! But then there was a crazy deal on airfare and a bit of research showed that spring in Greece is the best time to visit (if you want to avoid the heat and crowds), not to mention that Funny Guy is a walking encyclopedia of Greek mythology (thanks Rick Riordan), so we decided, why not?!

Athens is less than 3 hours from Kyiv, but it took us a bit longer to fly up to Thessaloniki where we rented a car to drive down to our Airbnb rental in Leptokarya, at the base of Mount Olympus.

We stopped for dinner on the beach before heading to the house for bed.  That was when we discovered that Darling Daughter had forgotten to bring her sweatshirt.  And I had grossly underestimated how cold the wind chill would be.  Still, it was beautiful and we soaked in the waves, the castle up on the hill, the sunset.  We were really in Greece!

The next morning, we split up.  We dropped My Man off to meet a group of paragliders, then the kids and I drove up into Mt. Olympus National Park to hike part of the Mt. Olympus summit trail.

 The weather was cool and threatening rain, but we set off anyway, undeterred.

Originally I'd hoped to hike from the trailhead in Prionia down to Litochoro, but realized that might be too ambitious for the younger kids.

Instead, we opted to hike from Prionia on the E4 trail to the old Monastery and then back.  It was perfect and allowed plenty of time for stopping to climb rocks, look at bugs, and take pictures.  (For someone with even smaller hikers and two adults, it would be possible to drop off hikers at Prionia, then drive back down to the monastery and leave the car there, hiking up to meet the rest of the group to make the hike even shorter.)

The trail was gorgeous, along a raging creek, through forest, with lots of rocks to climb and flowers to admire and interesting terrain.

By the time we got to the monastery, sadly ruined by Nazis in WWII, but undergoing some renovations now, Funny Guy was starting to tire and the rain that had been threatening all day began to fall more seriously.

Cold, wet, and a little tired, we opted to head back on the road for a shorter trip and were rewarded by seeing several dramatically colored newts (which Young Man gallantly scooped from the road to save from unhappy martyrdom by the cars).  One was so grateful for the help that he climbed right up Young Man's leg.

The kids were real troopers and didn't complain at all in spite of the cold rain.  I guess it was a small price to pay to hike on Zeus' mountain.  It may have helped that we played one million games of I Spy and Contact and laughed and laughed and laughed.  I may also have resorted to a super secret stash of Cadbury chocolate eggs, AKA energy capsules, to help ward off melt-downs.  By the time we got back to the car, this was our view:

Still, when asked if they would do it again, all three kids gave a resounding "YES!" and so would I.  In fact, I hope I have the chance to go back some day and hike the full trail, hopefully not in the rain.  

Meanwhile, the weather hadn't cooperated for My Man either.  He and the other paragliders had a chance to check out the launch and got one quick flight but then the rain interrupted any plans to fly more so My Man was forced to enjoy a delicious lunch with a gorgeous ocean view.

By the time we got back home, though, the sky was starting to clear, so we joined My Man to head back up to the local paragliding launch.  At the top of the hill there is an old church, more than 600 years old actually.  "That's older than the United States!" My Man exclaimed.  His instructor laughed and said, "Everything in Greece is older than the United States!"  As if to prove the point, My Man ran off the mountain, then flew off toward the beach, circling around a beautiful old castle along the way.

That evening, Funny Guy and I took a walk to the beach, where we spent the rest of the evening watching the sun set and practicing skipping rocks into the calm water.  It was beautiful.

The next morning, the kids and I had to leave before the crack of dawn to drive inland to Meteora, a collection of old monasteries perched dramatically and sometimes precipitously on giant rock outcrops.

After some interesting GPS instructions, we managed to arrive just in time to join our hiking tour.  It was fantastic.

The guide had grown up in the area and knew every legend, story, and trail.

He pointed out interested old trees, told stories about the wild boars in the area, and pointed out good photo ops.

He put up with the sibling squabbling that accompanied our three kiddos and told so many good stories that Funny Guy forget to get tired until the 5-hour tour was finished.

We saw several of the old monasteries and went inside the Great Meteoron Monastery.

Although I probably would have explored more extensively if I'd been there on my own, the kids were ready to head home after our tour, understandably tired out after two days of hiking.  It was a great outing, though, and we all highly recommend the Visit Meteora tours.  The day was beautiful, warm and sunny, no evidence of the previous day's rain, so after we got home, we prepared an early picnic dinner to eat outside.  After a few minutes, we heard My Man.  What?  The kids started looking around to see where he was.  I looked up.

Sure enough, there he was soaring high above our picnic on his way to a beach landing.  Funny Guy and I hopped in the car to go pick him up.  Incredibly, he was finishing an epic cross-country flight from the other side of Mt. Olympus!

It was the longest flight of his career, and arguably the coolest.  I couldn't believe that he managed to fly directly over our house from so far away!  And landing on the beach, with the beautiful red poppies waving in the breeze and the beautiful blue ocean behind was really the perfect ending.

My Man pointing to Mt. Olympus (where he started the flight) and then to the beach where he landed.

Sadly, it was the last paragliding day until the end of the trip, but it was a flight to remember.

That evening, My Man and I visited Platamon Castle, then ate out at a traditional Greek Taverna with the other paragliding pilots who were visiting from Switzerland.  Just bring us your very best, they told the restaurant owner when he came to get our orders.  What arrived was a sampling of mouth-watering salads, cheeses, and meats.  The five of us feasted and feasted and still couldn't finish it all.  It was the perfect ending to the first segment of our Greek vacation.  If we had had to leave Greece and go home right then, it would have been worth it.  Lucky for us, however, we still had almost a week left!

The next morning we drove up to Thessaloniki, traded our rental car for a spot on the train, and headed down to Athens for our Big Fat Greek Adventure, Part 2.  

Slices of Life in Paradise: April

By the time April rolled around, we were starting to feel settled in, more comfortable with the rhythms of life in a new place. We still did lots of fun things and got out to do touristy things, but we did a lot of normal things too--family games, neighborhood walks, lots and lots of swimming in the neighborhood pool, and school and church activities. Here are some highlights.

 

Young Man went on a campout with his scout trip to a mountain up north near the border of Burma. They enjoyed a great bon fire the first night, then went on a 10-mile hike the next day.

We are so grateful for such a great scout troop here.

 

Lots of evenings, as the sun is going down, we head to the neighborhood pool where My Man and I swim laps and the kids play. It's probably my favorite part of Thailand.

If I am lucky, as I'm handwashing the dishes, I will look out and see this cute little guy running up the tree outside. His bright blue head surprises me and makes me smile every time.

The consulate put on a party to celebrate Songkran (Chiang Mai's water celebration) a few days early. The kids had a blast waterfighting with everyone.

Even better, they had a watermelon eating contest. The kids all competed enthusiastically with Young Man beating even all the adults! Darling Daughter and Funny Guy were right behind him.

After the watermelon eating contest, there were other games including wet tug-o-war and lawn skiing (harder than it looks!).

Another Consulate activity was a behind-the-scenes trip to the Chiang Mai zoo for Wildlife Conservation month.

After a meeting with the zoo president and several scientists who shared information about the zoo's conservation efforts, we climbed on a zoo trolley to see the animals. We got to see the zoo's two pandas, some endangered chivets, and the sunbears.

We also stopped by the elephants on our way and got the kids got to feed and pet them.

On our way out we stopped to use the restroom where we found this gem. Funny Guy pointed and exclaimed, "They don't look like they are in a happy room!!"

The boys were excited to receive a few more birthday presents as the mail caught up to us over here. One of them was a solar robot they got to put together.

They enlisted My Man's help, which resulted in a side project of sorting through all his tools. How many screwdrivers does one man need?  Not this many!!!

I guess that's what happens when you move a lot and stuff keeps getting put in storage. But at least he had the tools he needed to successfully make an awesome solar robot.

Funny Guy was extremely excited!  And he also lost another tooth!

Another exciting thing that happened near the end of April is that My Man's foot stopped hurting so much. It's still not back to 100% but we started going on a few neighborhood walks. Perfect timing. The flowers are absolutely amazing. Here are just two examples.

Another project we finally had some time for was sewing. Darling Daughter has been wanting to get her sewing machine out since it arrive and finally talked me into it. She's a natural and is working on an apron for our housekeeper. It's almost done. 

And before we knew it, another month in paradise was over and a new one was ready to be filled with new adventures.

Slices of Life: Spring in Virginia

Just a few of the many day-to-day adventures we've been having the past few months:

 

One of the very best parts of apartment living here is the abundance of easy playdates.  I love how easy it is to invite kids over to play without too much planning.  The kids love it too.

These are just a few of Funny Guy's and Darling Daughter's many friends here.  Funny Guy and his friends had a great time with our left-over moving boxes.

One of my favorite pictures of My Man at work during A-100. 

For 100 Day at school, Funny Guy's class all dressed up as if they were 100 years old. 

Funny Guy made quite the adorable old grandpa.  He was very excited when his class picture made it in the school newsletter.

One of my favorite things is when My Man pulls out the guitar and starts playing.  All the kids are drawn to the music like bees to nectar and the pure joy and happiness that ensues as they sing and dance their hearts out to his tunes makes me give thanks for the blessing it is to be alive and to have such a beautiful family.  Thanks for playing, Love.

Although he started into his choir class mid-quarter, Young Man caught up quickly and by the time the choir concert came around he knew every song perfectly and sang with gusto and enthusiasm.  It was so fun to watch him sing (sadly the picture is terrible--it was so crowded!).

Young Man has a great scout troop here.  One of his last activities with the 11-year-old troop before his birthday was a long hike around Burke Lake, followed by a great game of Frisbee golf.  Most of his campouts here have been rained out so far, but we already signed him up for his first scout camp this summer!

For Funny Guy's birthday, My Man and I were able to sneak over during our lunch break to take cupcakes to the class and celebrate with him.  It was fun to see him at school.

Funny Guy needed just a little persuasion to pull out his first tooth, which was loose for months before My Man helped him out!  Although he wasn't excited to pull it out, once the gory deed was done, he was very excited.  He was even more excited the next morning when he found that the tooth fairy brought him a silver dollar!

Ever since we got an ice-cream maker for Christmas, we've been experimenting with different ice-cream recipes.  The best ones are custard based, which is a lot of work.  Luckily the kids all have fun pitching in.  And it's worth it--the ice-cream is sooo good.

Young Man's first soccer game was ushered in with a great rain storm, but that didn't stop him from playing hard.  He's so fun to watch pour his whole soul into the game like that.

Funny Guy had almost as much fun, playing in the rain with his dad.

The next week, Young Man didn't have a soccer game because of spring break, but he had a scrimmage in the field near our apartment.  I decided to use the chance to walk to the library since we had books due and it was such a beautiful day.  When Funny Guy found out, he begged to join me.  I'd expected to have it be a quick walk, but it turned into a 4-hour adventure, stopping at every park along the way, drinking in the sunshine and spring flowers, and truly appreciating the beauty of spring.  I didn't mind a bit.

My last week of Thai classes felt like a big party.  We started off the week with a full-day Songkran celebration (the Thai New Year).  My Man and I were somehow roped into leading the Thai section in the sticky-rice dance (a semi-complicated dance depicting a sticky-rice eating ceremony).  The other language section had their own demonstrations (Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar).  We got to bring Darling Daughter and Young Man with us since they were on Spring Break (Funny Guy went to a fun spring break camp all week).  There was dancing and lots and lots of food and some interesting cultural explanations.  All in all it was a fun time.

Then on Wednesday, we got to go out to a Thai restaurant with our class and teachers.  The Thai teachers asked the restaurant staff to only speak Thai and then made us order everything and ask the waitress questions.  It was pretty fun and we got to sample lots of great food.  In addition to our usual fare of pad Thai and mango cashew chicken, they had us order them fried fish and seafood drunken noodles (we initially accidentally ordered a drunk man . . .).

As kind of a final project, My Man and I wrote our biographies all in Thai.  It's not much and we still have so much to learn, but it was pretty exciting to be able to write so much and to have something so completely foreign become a little less intimidating.

Spring took its time coming to Virginia, but when it did, it was beautiful.  We took advantage by taking as many walks as possible.  (It's still beautiful outside--I think I'm using the past tense because today has been cold and rainy and these pictures look as if they were taken in a golden age long ago . . .)

One day during spring break, I got out of Thai early so the older kids and I walked to pick up Funny Guy from his camp.  It's a few miles away but we enjoyed the walk, stopping to play at the playgrounds along the way.

 These are some of my favorite pictures of Darling Daughter.  She's growing up so beautifully!

One of the very best parts of being done with my Thai class is being able to chaperone the kids' field trips.  I had a blast taking Young Man and a few of his friends through the USA Science & Engineering Festival.  They had great time with the many hands-on demonstrations, experiments, projects, and freebies.

One of the other best parts of being done with Thai, is getting to take long walks and runs in the mornings.  Although this week has been cold and rainy, last week was full of sunshine and flowers.  Even better are the days when My Man can join me before class.  (The first week out of Thai class, I logged almost 50 miles--I was obviously exercise deprived!)

With soccer season in full swing, Young Man has a game every Saturday.  The last one was sunny and beautiful and Young Man played hard and well.  Watching his corner kicks is one of the highlights, especially remembering back to the drills My Man put him through when he was only 4 and 5 years old to learn them.  The lessons obviously stuck!

After the soccer game, we drove out to Sandy Point, a Maryland State Park along the Chesapeake Bay.  Some of our great friends here had invited us to spend the afternoon there with them and we were glad we did.  When we first got there, I thought all the people in bathing suits were crazy!  It was sunny but windy and the water was cold!  But it didn't take long for our kids to jump right in. 

They spent most of the time excavating a big "swimming pool" and filling it with water.  We enjoyed a picnic, Young Man had the brilliant idea of bringing his hammock and graciously shared it, and I read almost half a book sitting on the beach with my toes in the warm sand, watching the kids play and listening to the crashing waves.  It was wonderful.  The reason our friend had invited us to that particular beach was so he could practice kiting (he kite boards out there).  He let My Man try it.  It was easier than kiting a paraglider so he took to it easily and helped Darling Daughter and Young Man give it a go. 

Another day, we were able to make it out to the temple in Kensington, MD.  As I sat inside the celestial room, I just couldn't help but pour out my heart in thanks to our Father for all the blessings and direction our family has received over the past few months.  I still can hardly believe how well everything has fallen into place and how richly our faith has been rewarded.

It has been a wonderful start to the year.