We decided to have dinner early and then walk up to the Portara for some pictures at dusk. Our dinner went a little something like this.

The pictures stop at this point for your own benefit.  Malcolm finished eating and proceeded to throw up all over himself.  Randy went to the car to get his change of clothes and Adam turned around from this chair he was leaning on and had had a big number two potty accident.  I waited for Randy to get back to help me change our two very dirty babies.  We lugged them into the bathroom and wiped them down and put on the clean clothes I thankfully had.

At this point we were all pretty wiped out.  We decided to treat ourselves to some ice-cream and settle for some pictures on the bottom of the hill.

I love how in Greece they put churches way up on top of hills.  See the little white one way up there?

We were driving around looking for the best place to park when we saw this.  No zoom needed, this beautiful white horse was really this close.  Adam, who LOVES horsies as he calls them was still asleep. We eventually found where to park and decided to go back and wake Adam up to see the horse but it was gone.  After the fact I realized I should have woken him up the first time….but as anyone with a toddler can attest, waking them up can be a potential minefield of screams and cries. Nothing is worse than a sleepy toddler! Oh well, maybe next time Adam  🙂

We had been in the car for a while at this point with all our meandering so we headed right in to find a taverna. We picked the last one on the row of tavernas and we weren’t disappointed. Locally made cheese for our Greek salad, delicious spinach pies and cheese pies.  Our waitress was amazing and even went next door to get Adam a lollipop.

After a yummy meal, we walked around the town.  They had a little natural history museum that Adam loved. There were little animals and bones that reminded Adam of his Curious George find Dinosaur Bones book.

After walking around so much we were tired and needed to refuel. So we stopped in for some yummy orange cake.  Adam was STILL eating his lollipop so more cake for us.

Another great little Greek town full of little shops and amazing views. Greece, you are pretty amazing.

Just in case you were wondering we were actually there!

But let’s not get crazy, we headed to the beach in the morning and once again Greece delivered.

Then it was home for some naps… except Adam decided all of a sudden that he was not interested in a nap, to quote ‘I no like, maybe next time’.  So eventually we gave up and headed to Halki. It’s about a thirty minute drive from where we were staying in Agia Anna and of course by the time we arrived this had happened.  Thankfully we had the stroller so we were able to walk around and shop and Adam got his nap in.

 
Halki consisted of just one main road, but what a road.  On this road were a couple stores but each one contained something wonderful.  When I stopped to nurse Malcolm under a beautiful tree with bright pink flowers that had carpeted the ground Randy looked at me and said how crazy is it that this is real? Agreed Randy, it looked like someone had set it up for a magazine shoot. Has there ever been a more beautiful bench to nurse your baby on?  I think not.

There was a wonderful little gift shop, an art gallery, an amazing cheese shop where we bought some locally made cheese, a pottery store and my favorite a jam shop.  We walked into this jam shop and you smelled fresh lemon.  I peeked in the back and there was a mound of lemons peeled ready to be made into jam. This store makes these jams using nothing but the fruit, nothing else is added.  And the fruit is so fresh and delicious that the jam is perfection. Every flavor we tried was delicious so we bought a whole bunch to bring back with us.  We narrowed it down to banana and kiwi, peach and strawberry. I can’t wait to get some crusty bread this weekend and try.

Adam finally woke up and we went to eat dinner at the only taverna in town.  The food was delicious, yummiest fried zucchini and a souvlaki the size of Malcolm!

After 11 days in Serifos we took a ferry to Naxos.  We were sad to see Naxos go but excited to see another island.

It’s funny how I vaguely remember discussing our travel plans oh so many months ago with Randy.  For example we discussed for a while way back when how to get to Naxos.  There are no direct ferries from Serifos so we need to transfer in Paros, easy peasy right? Except the ferry for Paros sleave from Serifos at 7 and gets into Naxos at 11.  We figured we would just go for it and hopefully both boys would sleep on the boat. It seemed easier than lugging all our stuff to a hotel to lug it back to the ferry the next morning.

After a twenty minute conversation with Randy asking why on earth he would book such a late ferry and trying to remember where I had signed up for this we packed up out stuff and headed down to the pier.  We sat down for a coffee and a snack. Halfway through Adam’s jell-o (slim pickings at the pier cafe) we heard that the ferry would be two hours delayed and wouldn’t even leave Serifos until nine. After walking around the pier for two hours (thank you for dredging the pier Serifos, you made one toddler very happy) our boat arrived.

Here’s where things took a turn for the worse.  When we boarded this slow, hot ferry that smelled like gasoline there were without exaggeration 400 boys ranging in age from 7 up to 11 who were returning home after a soccer tournament and were super duper excited and seemingly all hopped up on Caprice cookies and Frappes. It was a long three hours but once again both boys handled it amazing.  Never underestimate the power of the Ipad and the ergo.  After an hour we ventured outside and found a quiet little corner on the deck where some nice old couple squeezed over to make room for us to sit. It was heaven after being inside.

What made this boat even harder was just a couple hours before we were here.  We had an hour before our ferry and we decided to just go to the beach and sit there and it was well worth it.

15 minutes before the boat docked they let us all head down below deck to gather our luggage and wait.  It was super hot down there, I had Malcolm was in the ergo asleep but very sweaty and was pushing the stroller which had Adam who was hot and tired inside and whatever bags we could pile on top.  Randy had the rest of our luggage, which was…alot.  Even though I tried my hardest to pack light halfway through our first ferry trip I realized I should have packed even lighter.  Lugging two small children, a stroller, big backpack, and way too many clothes around the islands was hard.  Next time Randy, I PROMISE I will pack lighter.   This was the low point of our ferry trip, waiting down there in the hull in the heat and gasoline smell. Malcolm starting to cry and Adam telling us he needed to go to the bathroom and wanting to get out of the stroller.  But eventually they opened the hull and we all ran off as fast as we can. Nel Ferry lines, I promise I will never ever ever take you again.

We had to switch boats in Paros and we were beyond lucky. We would have missed the connection by an hour but they held the ferry so the soccer kids could make the boat.  So I guess having every soccer player under 15 on our boat ended up working to our advantage.

Our second ferry was beyond amazing.  It was the complete opposite of the first and it came not a minute too soon.  had to take the elevator up because of the stroller and I think we inadvertently snuck into first class.  We had comfy cushioned seats, it was air conditioned and almost empty.  They were even playing the World Cup game- the one where Greece won! We all settled in and were comfy and happy for the last hour of our trip.

We finally arrived in Naxos at 1am and didn’t get to the house we had rented until 2am.  We were so happy to get to the house and into bed!

And when we woke up the next morning this was our view!  Hello Naxos!

I’m not allowed in the hammock. My nervous American parents think I’ll get hurt, so I’m forced to find other places to relax.

I sometimes help my parents get some fish for dinner.

I watch Malcolm.  Multitasking folks, snacks and babysitting at the same time.

I play with my toys….

And play with my toys.  It’s a hard life people.

Oh wait, did I mention I play with my toys?

Sometimes I show my new Greek friends the right way to build a sand house (my parents have told me it’s a castle, but I still call it a house).

And sometimes we have beach picnics.

And then there’s a whole lot of this.

Oh the Med, how are you always such the perfect shade of blue!

How does a toddler spend 40 minutes on a ferry, why opening and closing the tray of course.  Luckily there was no one sitting in front of us!

We all needed a bathroom break/coffee/icecream/milk after that walk so we stopped in a little coffee shop while we waited for our taxi.

 

 

Malcolm has clearly been partaking in some cheese pies and gyros here, look at those rolls!

After that we headed to Appolonia. Our taxi driver suggested leaving us at the top of the town and we could drive down which was a great idea.  Just to give you an idea of how small these Greek Islands are we had the same cab driver all three cab rides (randomly) and he was the nicest guy.  He told us all about the island and where to go on our drives and talked about his seven nephews the whole time.

It was yet another beautiful walk, full of pretty houses and pretty shades of blue and little boutiques.

Adam’s new favorite phrase-  I want to buy this. Wherever did he learn such consumerism 🙂  He really wanted to buy this boat which was not even for sale, a concept too advanced for a two and a half year old.

Not the best family selfie, Malcolm’s asleep under the Ergo (it is impossible for him to stay awake in there) and Adam is wearing Malcolm’s hat since we forgot his, but we’re all there!

Adam thinks he’s too old for a nap, meanwhile every day around 1 he turns into a gremlin.  So luckily we were ready to head down to the port town at 2.  What we have here is a grumpy tired little boy who was insisting on climbing these windy high steps into some strangers house. After some losing negotations on his parents part (guess law school didn’t teach us much) we had to break out my backup weapon of the trip, bribery in the form of gummy bears.  Just in case anyone thinks its all cheese pies and smiles over here, we for sure have our moments, but we keep on going and eventually with enough gummy bears and naps recover.

We had a half hour to wait for the ferry so we got some souvlakia.  With gummy bears still floating around we were able to sit and eat.

We were VERY tired, so in addition to the gummy bears we needed a donkey postcard to help us make it through.  Adam loves the donkeys we see on our ride into town so this was the perfect way to keep this little guy happy.  

This also helped.

And this.  

We made it home and both little peanuts fell asleep on the drive back to the house AND stayed asleep for the transition to the bed.  Which meant a couple hours of enjoying this. 

And this

Then we headed back to our favorite spot up to Hora for another yummy meal at Stratou.  If we lived here we would clearly live have a permanent table at this place. 

Adam was too busy watching Nemo to partake in a family picture. And so it begins.

Here we have a new take on the spinach pie, after all we did have a long hike earlier.  A flat cheese pie with honey on top. Delicious and the perfect reward for all our walks.

But we headed up there early one night and no restaurants were open. In Greece restaurants aren’t ready to serve you at 6:30, so we started walking and before we knew it we were almost to the top of the village. If you walk up a whole lot of stairs at the top is a little church with a beautiful view of the island.

Adam was having a toddler moment (or hour), what you’re surprised that we were surprised that dragging him across the world resulted in some toddler moments 🙂

Part of toddlerdom meant zero desire to pose for pictures. That’s fine buddy, you look pretty good on the floor in front of that blue door.

We snuck a couple pictures in before he resorted to his favorite phrase to be repeated in a high nasaly voice when he is most not in the mood.  ‘Maybe next time’ with the emphasis on the next.  Maybe neeeeext time.
His friend Shane taught him this in the playground.  Shane’s mom must have been trying to teach Shane how to nicely say no to sharing, so when Shane said no to sharing his dinosaur and told Adam maybe next time, it really stuck.  Now when we ask Adam to say sorry for hitting Malcolm, share some of his dessert, pick up his toys- his reply is No, maybe next time.  Thanks Shane.

We managed to sneak in a picture upon the condition that Adam’s shoes come off.  Smile not included in those negotiations.

In the meantime, we’ll wake up our other child so we have at least one child to pose with.

This has to be my favorite picture of all time.  Because as we all know, with children, half of your meal is spent like this. But in Greece at least you know the food is worth it!