Car Baby Family Hit the Mountain

Artemis was geared up and waited patiently in the new car.  she got rid of her infant padding in her car seat; she felt that she was too old and mature for that baby stuff.

 when do we leave?

 it was a beautiful day on the mountain; though at times rainy.

 artemis loves the wrap.  she snuggled in and stayed nice an warm for our hike.

 flowers are in bloom.

 super cool cave tunnel underground secret thing.  cool!

 i wasn't allowed to go any further with the baby strapped to my chest.  i'll have to wait for next time.

 full symbiotic baby mode.  it is a funny look, but she is happy so.

 the car has made family time super awesome

 the long and winding road.

 sleeping in the car.  personally one of my top 3 favourite places to sleep.

 the face smile.  wow . . . i mean really

a quick change of clothes and she is ready for coffee with mom in the centre.

the ability to go where you want, when you want, with whomever you want; that is the grand success of the personal car.  it is more money that we can really afford, but when it can give you a day like today, nothing else really matters.  

Getting Older, Adding Debt, Carrying More

my first mode of transport.  now missing wheels, no break pads, and needs more work than i originally paid for it.

my second mode of transport.  leaking fuel pump, melted radiator, and desperately needing break pads.  

our new ride.  2012 Skoda Fabia Diesel.  we all fit.  no problems

ACMUN 2014

 so, for the past 5 years, i have made a deal with my students that i will shave my beard and moustache completely if they get a best delegate award at ACMUN. this year:

• 3x best delegates
• 2x chairs (these are individuals that lead an individual committee. they are selected through an interview and tryout procedure)
• 1x PGA (this is the president of the general assembly. s/he is the person that runs and organises the conference, and chairs the largest committee, the general assembly)

overall our most successful year ever.

yes, i cut myself. yes, i have serious razor burn, yes it is the first time a razor has touch my face for a year, yes i do know how to shave.

Congratulations Pinewood MUN!

My 3 Month Old Sleeps All Night, Does Yours?

blue cute

ducks cute

flower cute

like mother like daughter cute

frogs cute

white cute

blue cute

getting to big for my bed cute

this is one of our favourite lullabies.  very dark and sad, but so many are; have you ever listened to the entire 'My Darlin' Clementine'?

so, i have begun taking pictures every morning as i leave for work.  i tried to only post a couple, but,  as you can see, they're all cute so. . . there you go.  

Saturday Out

look at those cheeks. 

 Just trying to rub it in.

 rollin' in style getting our vitamin d.

 we are getting really good at changing and feeding outside (by we i mean eleftheria mostly).  the stroller

  in the evening in thessaloniki.

i told you that we were getting good this is post feeding and baby change in the center of town, in the shadow of the white tower.

Holy Happy Merry silly Holiday Daily Working Weekend Fun Time

So, let's expense with the pleasantries.  "Hi. How are you?"

Good, now on with what you are all here for.  These pictures represent the craziness that has been the last three weeks. From just before mom and dad left, until now.  Basically they are in order . . . I think. 

this first grouping of pictures comes from when our friend Xaroula and Marcos came to visit with their new baby boy Vassilis. he came about 2 weeks before he was due; otherwise he and Artemis would share even more of a connection.

they are however, best friends already.

this was just a fun gift artemis got, a cake/tower of babel made of diapers and sundry other items. it was put together by hand, every diaper was individually rolled and tied, wow.  

believe it or not, artemis turned 40 days a couple of weeks ago, currently, as of today, she is celebrating 54 days of not dieing, perfect.  so, as is custom we took her to the local holy spot, and had her first blessing to keep her safe from all the sins that she'll surly be committing in her bible-bending life until we can get her cleansed of all those ones that she inherited from the first two sinners.  as i did with carnival, i am not trying to make fun, it is just really strange stuff we believe in when you really think of it.

anyways, it was fun. there was another little boy their getting his wishes as well, he could go in the priestly room because he was a boy, Artemis could not because she was not a boy, but, that's ok, she was bigger than he was and could have taken him if necessary. 

Xaroula then brought over our best wishes 40 days good life package (i am not really sure what it is called). It contains, cotton for long life (hair as whit as cotton), a coin (wealth), an egg (ever multiplying success), and sugar (a sweet life). it was so wonderfully packaged and thoughtful. really touching.

so, the 40 day blessing was done out in silata, and while there i took to cleaning my climbing gear which had been plagued by an on-slot of mold and mildew that occurred in the closet of our guest bedroom soon to be nursery.  it was an epic mess, but dad in all his glory took it on with all of his home ownering know-how.  THANK YOU.  my gear looks good though i did pitch a few things. 

the positive is that my gear had a much needed overhaul and the baby had her first climbing lesson, cams no less. 

i always did love gear. i will go climbing for the first time since june tomorrow. 

she has so many awesome (i no longer accept cute) outfits.  thank you everyone.

ready for her walk. 

 an especially impressive olympus on our day out.

3 generations.  crazy.

i have no pictures of myself this period; however, needless to say i was up for 36 hours straight working.  my girls did a valiant job of trying to stay up with me, and eleftheria even worked for me for a bit.  thank you ladies. 

the past weekend was my first weekend under my new self imposed family laws, no work on saturdays, only master's on sunday. so, on saturday we went for car shopping (becoming a serious process and pain in my butt). we then went out to eat at habenera, a great cuban restaurant and capped it off with a wonderful walk back to the center.  artemis was an angel the whole day, just awesome, and really impressed by all the colors of the latin artwork. 

it is really weird to see this kind of thing in pictures.  i still have a hard time understanding/comprehending what is going on, but it is wonderful.  eleftheria and i are still struggling with what is normal, but we are getting there. artemis is just awesome, no other words, well . . .
nicknames thus far:
terrataki- little monster
skouliki- little catipillar

so, no story here, just pure sweetness. this is an outfit that one of the teachers from school got for us (with the help of her daughter who is in the 7th grade class). it is sully from monster's inc.  it is super fleecy and she spent the whole day in it.  mind you, it is for a 6th month old and while it does not 'fit' it is pretty good for our 2 month old.  she is up to 58 cm. and about 6 kg.  Terrataki