We now resume our regularly scheduled program

Chris and April moved out on Saturday, so we're now back to where we were before we left for Greece. Of course that means we have a bunch of unpacking still left to do, but it's nice to feel like things are starting to settle back into a routine. Kai is acclimating nicely to Bright Star. It helps that they have a bunch of Thomas and Friends engines, although Kai has not yet learned to share his engines. And since Bright Star is right across the street from an elementary school playground, Kai likes to go to the playground when we pick him up; he's become quite adept at climbing the various play structures. :)

Birthday party at daycare

With Kai at daycare, we have more time to spend at home with Sora. She's getting pretty good at standing up and walking with assistance. She still hasn't figured out how to crawl, although she pushes herself up to crawling position on her hands and knees.

Future musician?

I made a paper bag puppet with Kai the other day, and now Kai requests to play with "alien" all the time. Although Kai's alien friend needs to be fixed regularly, since Kai doesn't know how to play gently with him.

At church this week, the kids were playing around on the luggage cart. Amusingly, Evelyn was trying to push while the boys just sat there.

"C'mon, Evelyn! You can do it!"

Viet, Dina and Kayla came over for dinner the other day. Kayla got so upset whenever Kai grabbed a toy she was playing with.. unlike Sora, who has (unfortunately) just gotten used to it. :P

Big Trip (Part 3): Rethymno, Crete

Fortunately for us, we flew out from Santorini at a reasonably sane time. We landed in Heraklion and picked up our rental car.. an exciting experience for us, since this was the first time Nik had driven in a foreign country! The kids even got car seats, since they literally had a pile of them for us to choose from. Driving in Crete was a bit challenging, the highway from Heraklion to Rethymno had one lane of traffic going either direction, and people would drive along the shoulder to let other drivers pass in the median. The drive along Crete's northern coast was beautiful, the sky and water were a deep, bright blue. Along the side of the road, we also noticed what looked like small church-shaped mailboxes.. turns out that they're roadside shrines called kandylakia.

Once in Rethymno, it took us a while to find our hotel.. the streets were difficult to navigate and we weren't quite sure where we were headed. After asking a number of locals for directions, we eventually found our way. Our hotel was tucked away in Rethymno's charming old town. Overshadowing the old town was the imposing Fortezza, a 16th century Venetian citadel which we unfortunately did not have time to visit. After checking into our hotel, we got a late lunch, along with a complimentary dessert of fruit and raki (which tasted like pure alchol).

The Fortezza of Rethymno

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

Then we wandered the meandering streets of Rethymo's old town. Kai loved splashing around the Rimondi Fountain, a fountain from the 16th century which is still operational, and even had a drink.. he insisted on drinking from all three spigots. We strolled along the broad walkway which encircled the Venetian Harbor and were accosted by hosts from trendy and family eateries along the way, and then walked up the stairs to the Egyptian lighthouse.

Loggerhead sea turtles nest on Crete, and an informational booth at the harbor detailed current conservation efforts. All I can say is:

Monkey see..

.. monkey do.

 
That evening, Nik and I decided to venture out into old town once we put the kids to sleep. Nik's mom stayed behind with the kids and we carried the baby monitor (which has a surprisingly long range) just in case. It felt liberating, yet odd to walk around at night without the kids. Knowing that our moment of freedom might not last very long, we walked out and quickly got gelato, a drink and dessert. Just in time too, because Sora started crying almost immediately once we got back.

Freedom!

The next morning, we got a yummy brunch in old town, while Sora charmed some fellow restaurant-goers and earned some beads for her cuteness. Invariably, we found the Greeks to be friendly people and we felt that they were even more gracious to us because we were traveling with young children. Everywhere we went, people commented on what beautiful children we had and strangers reached out to touch Sora's hands or feet.

After brunch, we drove out to find to Mili Gorge, the gorge was lush and verdant and it was a relatively easy walk down the stairs with the kids. There is an abandoned village with a working taverna, though we didn't stop to eat. Kai walked all by himself until the very end, when he requested, "Baba up."

Sora holding her hard-earned beads

After our little hike, we went out to the beach near Rethymno. The day was overcast, but the water was still nice and warm and Kai absolutely loved the waves. Kai got soaked, so we had to strip him down. When we tried to leave, he didn't want to go so we ended up taking him back sans clothing. Our little nudist would crouch down, wait for a wave to approach and then would run away excitedly as the water rushed up.

Soaked!

"I wanna go back, Baba!"

After a quick rinse, we headed out for an oceanside seafood dinner. Between hiking the gorge and playing in the waves, Kai must've worked up an appetite, because he literally demanded salmon for dinner.

"Pink meat!"

For dessert, we got gelato and Kai got his very own cup of strawberry gelato. A bit of a mess, but hey, we're on vacation. ;)

"I like vacation."

I don't want it!

The kids were horribly jet lagged when we first got home from our Big Trip and had both gotten used to sleeping with me and Nik while we were traveling, so sleep has been a struggle lately. I think both kids are finally back to normal. Sora may wake up once in the middle of the night, but that isn't too bad.

Last week, we went to Abby's birthday party at Pump It Up. The facility is very well-equipped and efficient at throwing birthday parties for kids. Kai had a blast running around although some of the slides were a bit high for him and he sometimes wanted Nik to accompany him.

Kai's always following Evelyn

Chris and his girlfriend, April, have been staying with us for the past week while they've been looking for an apartment. It seems that they've already found a place, so they'll be moving out soon, but it's been fun having a full house and having some extra hands to help out.

Perhaps now that Kai is almost 2 1/2, we're starting to hit the terrible two's. We hear a lot of "I don't want it," "I don't like it," and whining nowadays. Nik and I think it's funny that when he says he doesn't want something, he'll that he doesn't want it over and over, increasing his volume with every time he says it. Kai has more of an awareness of the world around him and for better or worse, he now understands the concept of something being scary. There are some books that we can't even get through because they're too "scary". Ever since we got back from Greece, I feel like he's been more vocal and you can have a (somewhat) intelligible conversation with him (usually about Thomas). Sadly (for me) a lot of his baby talk is fading away.. he used to call little things "baby" (i.e., baby chair, baby light etc.).. we don't really hear that much anymore.

My little climber

Sora's two front teeth came out while we were in Greece. I'm still getting used to seeing her with front teeth and I miss her gummy smile. She's also getting more mobile, she pushes up and you can tell that she wants to crawl, but she can't quite do it and she usually just ends up rolling towards whatever it is that she's interested in. She also still tries to stand up and walk.. not sure which will come first: crawling or walking. Kai likes bossing Sora around, saying, "Sora, look at me," (as if Kai is such a great example) or "No, Sora!" Not realizing that he (usually) doesn't know what he's talking about, Sora looks at Kai with wide-eyed adoration.

"Yum, yum toes."

Now that we're back home, we're trying to settle into a rhythm at Rock Canyon. There's still a lot of unpacking and organizing left to do. One helpful thing is that this week, Kai started attending a new daycare. His teacher, Miss Sun, says he's getting better and better every day, although he still cries when we drop him off. We do miss having him at home sometimes.. it's so quiet! But I think we need him in daycare for the sake of our sanity and so he can get some much-needed socialization outside of the house.

Back to our old routines, like doing chores..

.. hanging out at church..

.. or at Popo's house..

.. or playing with the uncles.