Hydra

Our getaway to the isle of Hydra was just too relaxing, too peaceful, too perfect to describe in sentences.  So for you, my people, I give you:

 - 10 reasons to LOVE hydra - 

#1 - There are no motor vehicles allowed on the island - no cars, no scooters, only DONKEYS

# 2 - A charming little town - quaint harbor, winding walkways, whitewashed houses with blue trim

#3 - Cute chapels - white and blue, of course

#4 - Empty beaches (except that 2nd beach, that one might have had some aging euro-women who opted not to wear their bikini tops -gag- but in the interest of keeping these memories positive, we'll pretend that didn't happen).

#5 - Lazy kitties lying around (now we all know that I have NO love for cats, but here on this isle of perfection, they didn't bother me...they were merely decorative)

# 6 - Jackie Kennedy Onasis has been here (this photo of the queen of style hangs proudly at the local pharmacy)

#7 - Authentic food

#8 - Just the right amount of hiking between beaches

#9 - Situated along the Saronic Gulf, Hydra is surround by really salty water, the kind that's fun to float in

#10 - Crystal clear water

love, Love, LOVE Hydra!

Athens

So many things to blog about…spring in the Netherlands, tulips, Queen's Day, a 2 week visit from Ry's mom, and much much more.  But it can all wait - because we went to GREECE and I can't stop thinking about it.  This was my most anticipated trip yet for a few reasons: 1. We made the plans months ago that we would go to Greece to celebrate my 30th - MONTHS to wait for it.  2. We planned to leave the kids behind for a whole week - that's nerve-wracking and oh so exciting all rolled into one.  So with all those months to wait and plan, I read and researched and also watched the following movies: My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Life in Ruins, Mamma Mia!, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1&2 obviously), one of the Tomb Raiders (the one that's filmed in Santorini), and Grease.  Just kidding about the last one.  The point is, we were SO READY.  After all that researching, I decided we should break our trip into 3 parts: Athens, Hydra (a nearby island), and Santorini (a far away island).  So, here are all the juicy details about the Athens leg of our trip:

We hit the ground running - as soon as we got off the metro, we headed over to see the changing of the guard at the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" which commemorates the lives lost in war.  Of course, all I could think about was the fact that those guys are wearing skirts...

 Can we talk about the FOOD?  The food was amazing.  Just SO good.  Ry thinks he gained 10 lbs. during this trip.  I refuse to step on a scale for at least 2 weeks.  Here's a look at our gyros...

 day 1 balcony pic...

 One of many Greek Orthodox Churches we visited.  We discovered that the orthodox church has even more similarities to our church than the catholic church does...

 Shopping at The Plaka…everything in Greece was super cheap.  I surprisingly resisted the many Greek sandal shops we passed...

 I did not resist the Greek pottery.  I bought a turquoise/cobalt blue salad bowl.  It is divine and practically free compared to the cost of Delft pottery...

 The Acropolis Museum is uber modern, yet built on top of Ancient ruins.  You can peak through the glass floors to see an ancient neighborhood...

 But back to the food, we had a greek salad with every meal.  The Greeks consume more cheese per year than any other nation, my kind of place.

 This was actually our best meal on the trip.  A Rick Steves recommendation, of course...

 day 2 balcony pic...

 Heading up to the Acropolis...

 Looking down on Athens...

 There she is, The Parthenon.  The highlight of the Acropolis for sure...

 That porch held up by the lovely ladies on the left is 'the porch of caryatids' attached to the Erechthion.  My fav site at the Acropolis...

 This ancient pottery from 3200 BC was in a little museum in the Agora.  This is the oldest thing we had ever seen, so as I am posing for a pic with a shocked look on my face due to the oldness of this pottery, the museum lady yells "NO POSING!"  Uh, ok.

 The Temple of Hephaistos, one of the most well preserved...

Mars Hill, where the apostle Paul preached...

 We tried some of the fresh coconut from a street vendor and it was pretty good...

 Tired of walking, but still stuffed from breakfast, we sat for a bite to eat around lunchtime.  We ordered a blue cheese/tomato salad plate (thinking lite, right?) and baklava (which is usually cut into bite-sized pieces).  This is what we got…check out the size of that cheese!  And the baklava was HUGE!

 day 3 balcony pic...

 

 The Temple of Zeus the Olympian...

This stadium was the site of the first modern day Olympics...

 We decided to hit up yet another museum, since we rarely do that with the kids.  So here we are at the National Archeological Museum where I am trying my very hardest NOT to pose.

 These frescoes were extremely well preserved by a thick layer of ash when the volcano on Santorini blew her lid hundreds of years ago...

 And finally, a quick look at a Souvlaki stand just off of Monastiraki Square.  They souvlaki was amazing!

Believe it or not, Athens was the least exciting part of our trip (for me anyway).  We had 2 amazing getaways to the islands of Hydra and Santorini and while ancient ruins and museums are interesting, nothing says couples trip like laying on a beach and soaking up the sun.  Details to come.  For now, here is the slideshow of our adventures in Athens...

Twins & Tulips

Elsie & Ava are 4!  We were thinking of taking them to the castle in Utrecht for some birthday fun, but then we decided that we need to see Keukenhof as much as possible while we live here.  Keukenhof is the world famous spring garden here in Holland filled with 7 million tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths.  It's only open for a couple months each year and E & A's birthday was the perfect time to go.  I had been looking forward to this for awhile and I had the perfect spring outfits for the girlies to wear.  Too bad it was SO chilly!  Here they are before we left, not wanting to have their picture taken...

Everybody cries on their birthday around here…the bunch of bipolar babies!

And here they are at Keukenhof, just as cute as they can be...

They should be wearing winter coats, but the fashionista in me had them wear spring jackets and capri leggings.  And the mother of the year award goes to...

Elsie & Ava are loving living in Holland.  They love riding around in the bakfiets, going to parks, and trying to speak Dutch.

Elsie is our little drama queen.  When she is happy, so is SO sweet, but when she is cranky she is INTOLERABLE.  She's been that way since birth.  She loves: singing, playing dress-up, drawing, and taking baths.  She hates: sharing, being left out, and any type of insect.

Ava is our strong willed little cutie.  She is pretty even tempered, but nobody pushes her around.  K is always saying lately that she would much rather play with Elsie because "Ava's so sassy," but I translate that as "not easy to boss around."  Ava loves: helping cook dinner, playing outside, saying prayers, coloring, and being with the crowd.  She hates: being hungry (I know everyone hates that, but this chick is ALWAYS hungry) and going to bed.

Believe it or not, I was selective about which pictures to post.  It was just SO beautiful, there were photo ops at every turn.  Here is our day in photo form, because a picture is worth a thousand words (I'll probably add some words too though).

That's us on the left

Getting some play time in.  We went with our pals, the Shurtliff's.

Carver wanted to cross this bridge too, but I gave him a big fat NO.

Get used to those mint pants that I'm wearing, because they are my new fav and I wear them ALL the time. 

These tulips were HUGE…biggest I've ever seen.  

We pick-nicked under this pretty tree...

…and sang to E & A before they dove in to these mini cakes.  The rest of us had stroop waffles.

I rediscovered my love for tulips...

…and developed a new obsession with orchids!

'Mom, seriously - we couldn't care less about orchids'

Documenting some wedding decor inspiration…some day this will come in handy. 

The next day (Sunday) was the girls actual birthday.  As soon as they woke up, we gave them their presents...

They love pet shops!

This is too hilarious - K busted out a full dollhouse and paper doll family that she had been working on secretly for weeks for the girls's birthday.  She made it out of a shoebox, paper, crayons, and tape.  I think we have a future crafter on our hands...

Paper dollhouse - complete with bedrooms, backyard, trampoline, and paper doll family.

In 1 short week, Ry's mom will be here and we will be making the rounds to all the greats (kinderdijk, amsterdam, delft, etc.).  A trip to Keukenhof is definitely in the plans, and I can't wait to go back when even more flowers are in bloom.