March roundup

(ok, I am frankly publishing this a bit late seeing as it's aIready mid-April!!! (already!!! School is over in 2 months and then 3 months of no school!!!!! agh!!!! ) but well, um, better late than never, right?)

So what were we up to in March?
I attended 2 cooking classes: a beginners wholefoods/RAW cooking class were I discovered some new ingredients, learned about soaking nuts and quinoa, why probiotics found in Kombucha and kimchi are good for you (I hated kimchi when I tried it in Korea years ago), about using coconut water in smoothies and how to make the most delicious salads and raw chocolate...

It was really fun to meet some new people and do something outside of the school/usual mums context! And I am making a lot of raw cacao chocolates which we love!

I also attended a Greek cooking class were I learned how to make my favorite zucchini balls

and of course we made Greek Moussaka!

We enjoyed the visit of Tata-yéyé and Greg (her new honey) and so we actually went into the centre of Athens which we rarely do otherwise... 

Unfortunately, on the day we wanted to visit the Acropolis all cultural sites and museums were on strike

Spring arrived in Athens with blue skies and budding flowers...

 Soon we will be sneezing!

William began climbing the climbing frame really high

all by himself!

Emma was sick twice - which is VERY unusual - but she liked spending time alone with Mummy and enjoyed taking the syrup which, of late, has been Will's prerogative...

 

We of course had lots of fun during Carnival week.
(oh and I know I look horrid in the below pic -too much salt the previous night and not enough coffee before the pic was taken? nah, just a bad face day...)

 

  

Emma and Steph look great though don't ya think?


and visited Nafplio for the first time.

Welcome April!!!

New Greek resident

We have a new resident, and he is Greek.
No, not a pet...

 A beautiful oil painting by Christoforos Asimis of a Santorini traditional house.

Sigh.
I can't wait until we visit the island of Santorini in June.

Happy Easter Monday

Happy Easter!

And here is the latest of Emma's drawings.

William on the mend

On Thursday afternoon William started a sudden fever and so yesterday he stayed "home" with me. I mean, he was actually in good spirits comparing to the previous evening and so after playing inside for a while, we went to the dry cleaners (he loves watching the clothes move along the mechanical rail), the green grocers where he paid for the apples, bananas and avocados, and then to Marks and Spencers where we got him some shorts and t-shirts for the season as well as some new swimming trunks. We also had a fresh orange juice and chocolate croissant at the local café.
Yesterday he kept repeating "my like stay with my Mummy!"  I guess it's not very motivating for getting him back to school... but hey, being sick is miserable enough, don't you think?

Our weekend in Nafplion

We went to Nafplion for the weekend. While there, we road on a train, took a boat to the Bourtzi, pedalled a bike for four, walked up nearly a thousand steps, and really enjoyed the beauty of it.
Here are some pics.
 

 the colours were spectacular!

 buildings venetian

the beach deserted

the views breathtaking

beautiful sunsets and lots of boats which William loved!

the fortress of Bourtzi

lots of legwork!

prickly cacti

colourful walls,

ochre and olive

green and purple

and lots and lots of blue 

999 steps to get up to the top of Palamidi castle and 999 steps to get down. I can't tell you how wobbly our legs felt as we reached the bottom!

Nafplion is the warmest place on mainland Greece and barely 90 minutes from home!

Emma's olive tree

Another one of Emma's Friday art class paintings.

Carnival week fun

Last week was Carnival week and so as well as Carnival Sunday and all kinds of arts and crafts at school, the kids had :

Funny hat day on Monday (home-made hats using paper plates and baloons)

Rainbow day on Tuesday when they could dress in as many colours as they wished and were dispensed of wearing uniforms followed by Pajama day on Wednesday-  sorry no pic of those ones

Crazy hair day on Thursday - required a bit of preparation the night before...

Ta-da! Emma's hair was all frizzy for Crazy Hair day

and we sprayed it red, purple and green.
William had crazy polka-dot hair.

and Carnival dress up day again on Friday with Emma the princess and William the mouse.

The kids definitely had a fun week!

Happy Carnival!

Happy Carnival from Capitaine Crochet (Hook) & Wendy Fairy!

First apero alfresco of the year

After all that rain we are really enjoying a little sunshine! Cheers!

Jumping in muddy puddles!

So after all the rain, this afternoon when it finally stopped, I we decided we definitely needed to get out and indulge in some fresh air puddle jumping.

And the kids LOVED it of course!

 Until William fell head first into a muddy puddle.

Seriously, I know he looks very distraught, but it was REALLY hard not to laugh - even for Emma.

There were brown puddles at their feet as we took their boots and clothes off when we got home but after a warm bath they were happily playing lego in their pajamas, the cold and dirt completely forgotten.