loving the lake...

We are just home from a wonderful, recharging weekend at the lake with my family.  Every time I am fortunate enough to take a trip upstate to my aunt and uncle's lake house, I'm transported back to happy childhood moments, full of laughter, imagination and nature.  It is a blessing to share that with Mr. Boom and George.

My favorite shot of G:

Sharing an apple with Baba in the pop-up toddler tent:

On this trip, we were able to meet the newest member of the family - Baby L (with his mama, my cousin Jules).  So, adorable!  It is amazing how short memory is at times.  Though over 14 pounds and closing in on 3 months, he looked impossibly tiny to me and I kept thinking, "How was G ever that small?"

(as always, click on any photo for a larger, better quality image)

greece: proof positive...

Lest anyone wonder if our vacation actually happened, I managed to borrow a computer in order to share a few photos of the last two days of our trip off of the third and final memory card.  While the best of the photos and stories will need to wait a bit longer, this is a good mini-snapshot...

G loving "our beach" and the billions of pebbles.  We call this our beach as it is the closest to our house, about a three block walk. See the little brown dots in the surf (click photo to enlarge)?  We are calling that The Great Jellyfish Invasion of 2011.  Not stingers but, annoyingly slippery slimy little guys.  By the end of the trip, we decided to just ignore them and have our fill of the beach regardless:

Our house, looking up from Mr. Boom's grandmother's patio.  The glass doors open to the living room (left) and dining room (right). This main veranda was G's favorite playspace.  Though it doesn't look deep at this angle, it is a large expanse that is basically an outdoor room off the living area that then wraps around the dining room and kitchen:

Dinner out at a pig roast restaurant - traditional Greek country salad, saganaki (fried cheese), potatoes (order "potatoes" in Greece and you'll get what we call fries) and, of course, the roast pork:

G checking out the pig illustrations on the package of wet naps after dinner:

View from one end of our house to the other on the verandas (from the end of the master bedroom in the back of the house, down to the dining area in the front) .  G loved running up and down the length, running his hand along the rails:

Three generations - Yia Yia (grandma), Mr. Boom and George:

Mousmoula!  G ate dozens of these during our trip, right off the tree.  After some research by Mr. Boom, we believe here they are known as loquats. This particular tree overhangs the veranda of the master bedroom:

G spending time with his cousin Katarina. Look at that face!!!

The view from the master bedroom veranda. The forefront is a lemon and orange grove:

tuesday randoms...

* Greece was fabulous.  Oh, I mentioned that already? Well, it was!

* The process of traveling home from Greece?  Not so fabulous.  We were up at 5:30 am to get ready, toss last minute things in suitcases, get G breakfast and close up our house.  By 8:45 am we had arrived at the airport - right on schedule to check in for our 12 noon flight.  The only problem? Our flight was delayed and had been pushed back 4.5 hours to 4:30 pm.  Seven and a half hours. In an airport.  With a toddler. We were a bit panicked but, G was amazing.  We could not have asked for a better traveler.  He people watched, ate, ran around a bit, napped and played for a few hours in the incredible playroom at the airport run by Greek NGO The Smile of the Child.  If I ever win the big lottery, I will give back to this organization and open more in airports around the US.  What a blessing it was to have a safe, clean, entertaining place for G to play during the long wait. We waited (and waited, and waited) until it was time to board. G settled in to the plane, played with toys, ate a few snacks then fell asleep for almost the entire flight.  Rock star baby traveler. Seriously.

* After downloading two of three memory cards to our home computer, following our return from Greece, I diligently started editing, then...disaster.  Our laptop was infected with a trojan virus that started hiding all of our files and wouldn't allow us to use the computer.  Mr. Boom was able to rescue all of the photos and move them to our external drive but, the computer is not useable quite yet.  Hence the lack of blogging. 

* Smiling boy on our early morning walk last Friday.  With the scorching hot forecast, I got him out early for some playtime at the park.  I got some shots that I just love but, can't share them because, well, see above.

* On Saturday night, G woke up in the middle of the night.  When I checked on him, I found that he was burning with fever.  104.4 to be exact.  We got him in a cool bath immediately and called our pediatric nurse line for support and guidance.  A trip to the doctor Sunday morning gave us a diagnosis of the Coxackie virus.  Poor little guy slept on me most of Sunday, felt a bit better yesterday and, thankfully, seems to be back to himself today.

* Getting some fresh air before the heat set in on Memorial Day Monday, we walked past our local grocery to find it in full bloom with new cafe tables set along the sidewalk.  All those flowers = happiness.

oh, hello u.s.a...

We are home. 

How we got here is a bit of a story but, we are safely back on US soil after a fantastic family vacation in Greece. 

We relaxed.

We ate.

And ate.

And ate.

And walked even more than we ate.

And played even more than we walked.

We watched our toddler grow, flourish, laugh, bond, enjoy and learn.

We were sad to leave.

We are happy to be home.

I have so much to share.  In photos, in stories, in anecdotes. 

It's all coming.

But, first, I need to get some sleep.  While our toddler was the best international traveler we could have ever dreamed (seriously, he was a rock star), re-adjusting him to the seven hour time difference is the most challenging part.

be back in {two weeks}...

Our little family of three is flying out this evening for a blissful, much needed and long awaited (though quickly planned) vacation to Greece!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing moms out there, including my own.  Love you, Mom!

xoxo,
Jen

a slice of insanity pie...

Sort of how I am feeling right now. 

As if I ate a large portion of that pie.

Do you know that mixed feeling after consuming a large, sweet, rich dessert? A little satisfied, a little bit on a sugar-high, a little grateful such delicious things exist, a little bit of, "Uh-oh, I can't believe I just ate the WHOLE thing."

That's where I am today.

One day ago we booked three plane tickets to fly to Greece for a two week vacation.  We have no passports.  We have made no advanced preparations to fly internationally with our toddler.  The ground transportation is far from sewn up.  And, we leave in...

10 days.

TEN DAYS!

Color me crazy.

How did this madness come about?  We have been talking about this trip since last summer.  About the timing with both of our work schedules, when the right time would be for George, planning for the rising costs of airfare.  I arranged my entire May work schedule to accommodate a vacation.  Mr. Boom figured out his project schedule and figured mid-May to be the ideal time, right before his busy season begins.  We had the dates ready.  We were looking at airfares. 

And then we opened the mailbox. 

Inside, the Federal Jury Duty notice addressed to Mr. Boom with a notice to appear in mid-April. Not exactly stellar timing for civic duty.  Postpone, you say?  Not an option.  He had already needed  to postpone twice and a third postponement would have called him back in the late summer, at the height of his busy work season when he absolutely, no way, cannot leave his job site.  Nothing left to do but put off buying tickets, report to the call and hope for a dismissal.  Which would leave us mere days to know would we or wouldn't we be going on this trip.  Just days to buy international airfare and figure out logistics.  Days to pack and prepare while still maintaining our normal work and home schedules. 

And that brings me to crazy-town.  He was not, thankfully, selected for a jury and his job cleared the vacation time.  Our appointment to get three expedited passports is tomorrow morning.  So, here were are with TEN DAYS to prepare for our big, fat Greek vacation. 

Oh, and just a little bit of a (fantastically cool) wrench in the already short timeline.  Mr. Boom and I are leaving George, to spend his very first night away from us, just two days before our trip for a Bon Jovi concert!  Friday night concert, stay over and return home on Saturday, fly out of the country on Sunday.

Grateful and excited? YES.

Crazy as a loon?  Check!

Wish us luck...

weekend at the lake...

Last Friday, George and I traveled upstate to the lake for some family time. We had some cooler but beautiful weather and it was incredible to see how much more George enjoyed himself from our last visit two weeks before now that he is so much more mobile. My aunt and uncle have a gorgeous collie named Murphy and G was completely enamoured with his new found furry friend.

My camera was, as usual, close at hand and I finally swapped lenses and decided to give my 50mm 1.4 prime a workout. Love! Begged the question - why haven't I been using this much more all along? Lesson learned.

George exploring the dock:

Kisses from Yia Yia:
Good morning Sunshine! Not quite awake but quite a happy boy:

Quality time with great Uncle Dick who was in from CA:

Playing on the deck:

A guiding hand from Pop: