29 June 2008

5 month presents

New sippy cup that he really likes.
New mushroom pool that he really likes.
New walker that he really likes.



Nik is five months old today and he got a few presents this week to show what a big boy he is becoming. We bought a mushroom pool that he really enjoyed we also ate mushrooms that day (Arthur and I - mushroom ragu with polenta) and we got him a walker and his first ball. The ball he tries to cram into his mouth, but he also likes to chase it around with his new walker. We put him in it and he automatically seemed to know what to do with it, I think he will learn to walk before he learns to crawl or will only crawl for a little before going straight into walking. He also enjoyed his first taste of peach yesterday, he has been eating egg yolks for a few weeks now but we have decided to try a few more food items since he is really hungry all of the time.

28 June 2008

I think everyone should learn a little Greek

When you come out here for your trip you will be going on a Ταξιδι (sounds like tax-ithi, the th hard sounding like a d)

27 June 2008

Our Little Kitty had Kitties

Baby Nik & Katerina watching the baby kitties.
Our little kitty that we adopted last year had 3 kittens this summer about a month and half ago, we thought that a male cat had eaten them since we didn't see them and she was hanging out in front of the shop all of the time. But a few days ago a guest spotted them and we have been giving them some scraps, here the three of them are going to town on some leftover chicken bones. The gray and white one picked up a big leg bone and took it to his little spot, the one that looks like his mother just opted to stay right at the food bowl and eat as much as it could, the third one is all black with just a small spot of white under it's chin was enjoying the water.
The neighbor that brings us a fresh egg for Nik every day from his small farm would like to take two of them to be mousers on his farm since he doesn't have any cats, it might be a good life for them and would be less "mouths" to feed for us. I am still trying to convince Arthur that we need to get our cat fixed or she will continue to produce more litters, please help me by voting in my poll.

24 June 2008

Photos from Dad's Trip

Dad at the Friday Market


The Men in My Life


Drinking Coffee Before Long Flight Home

20 June 2008

My dad is here visiting, here is a picture of Arthur and Nik in new outfits from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson in Colorado.

14 June 2008

Sunday Concert

Daylight View of the Stage

Last Sunday we enjoyed a concert right next to our house, this was the music and singing that we heard on my birthday, they were practicing for the concert on Sunday. The film was taken from just outside of our house (the dark parts are when I was trying to get both Grandpa Nik and baby Nik on film, didn't turn out) and the picture is of Nik listening to the music. We didn't stay outside to long, to many people and it started at 9:30 at night and Nik was ready for bed at 10PM. The concert lasted until 12:30AM, I couldn't wait till it ended, Nik wasn't sleeping so well. Arthur also didn't have a very good night because the people that came for the concert wanted to have one beer and two glasses (our beer cost 1.50euro, it would have cost more to wash the glasses) so he sent people away and told them he couldn't serve them. Our beer price is probably the cheapest you will find in Greece, plus the bottle is huge, we only serve Amstel because the times we have tried a Greek beer it just doesn't sell and then when we don't have a Greek beer people keep asking for one.

11 June 2008

American Headlines

Yes, Greece has had some interesting things happen lately including a Greek actor being stabbed multiple times in the back. But how about the American headlines...

4 year old shoots herself with Grandma's gun
2 girls shot multiple times in head and chest in rural Oklahoma town
Obama praising Clinton, please!

I still think it is 100 times safer to raise a child here than in the States.

10 June 2008

Chocolate Milk

Arthur makes the best chocolate milk and this morning he made one for me and one for him. As we sat there sipping from our straws, Nik was transfixed watching us, so we put the straw in his mouth and next thing we know he sips up some chocolate milk. The surprise on his face when the milk went into his mouth was the funniest thing, but we were also surprised that he was even able to suck milk through a straw. I am really beginning to think we have one of the smartest babies out there, has anyone else had their baby sipping on straws at the young age of 4 and 1/2 months?

I made some Mexican burritos for lunch today, it was the first time I used this recipe from one of my cookbooks and it called for a whole lemon to be chopped and left in the meat while it was cooking, BIG MISTAKE. I don't know how to describe the taste but it was very astringent, I will definitely not be making that recipe again. It's a good thing that I went to the market on my new motor scooter just before lunch for some beers, because you really needed something to wash down the taste. We are pretty excited to let you know that we can now buy flour tortilla's at the supermarket.

05 June 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY .......

At the young age of 32 I got some really awesome presents. They all came a day early, but I really got to enjoy them on my birthday. I woke up at 6:30, baby wanted to play, I asked Arthur to play with him I wanted to sleep in for my birthday. Arthur was nice enough to get up and try to entertain Nik but he did the entertaining so loudly that I just had to get up and see what all of the excitement was about. I enjoyed some fresh strawberries that Arthur got for me from Trikala and then we went down to KokaRoka and I got to ride my present A BRAND NEW VESPA. Arthur and I left baby Nik with his mom and we went shopping around town, Arthur on his bike and me on mine. We then came back and enjoyed Dolmades (rice wrapped in grape leaves) a very delicious lunch. For dinner I made homemade pizza and we ate it on the veranda listening to live music and singing from the stage set up next door. I then had a very nice hot bath with water heated from our new solar water heater and I could even hear the music in the bathroom.

Solar Water Heater


We now have water heated by the sun, very eco-chic. Nik was the first one to enjoy our solar heated water with a bath, I think we were more excited than him although he does like bath time.

Vespa Invespament



We got our Vespa, yippie, it is the coolest thing in town. Now some of you are going "Vespa?", well our original motor scooter wasn't coming in. They had the scooter in 100cc but we wanted something a little larger, we test drove the 100cc with both of us heavyweights on it and it just didn't seem like it would make it up our hills, so we upgraded to a Vespa LX 150cc, in Red. Arthur went to pick it up on June 4th just in time for my birthday so we are calling it my birthday present, it is the most expensive present ($4,650.00) I have ever received. We are calling it our investment because not many people can afford a Vespa and in 30 years it will be worth the same amount of money we paid for it or possibly be worth even more.

02 June 2008

Pictures that shouldn't be taken

Naked pictures of Nik.
Arthur's watering the tree on our Sunday drive.
hey he took a picture of me peeing I should be able to do the same