Cindy and I decided to take our first vacation away from the kids. We went for eleven days to Greece! At 4:00AM before we left Cindy and I got up and wrote each kid a note a day. So, on one day Mason had a note from me and Kenzie had a note from Cindy. The next day it was reversed. We tried to reference all the fun things that they were likely do, and counted down the days to our return. This did help appease our guilt just a bit.

It was a wonderful vacation and the kids did great in our absence. They had many play dates and kept very busy between friends and relatives. They did Salmon Days and only slept at home six of the nights. So nice for us that so many people stepped in to help make it easier for us to be on the other side of the globe!

This first picture was taken on the rooftop of our hotel overlooking the Parthenon. We spent that first night shopping in the Plaka district in Athens, waiting for our ferry the next morning.

These second and third pictures were taken from the ferry, leaving Athens, on our way to Mikonos. It was a five hour ferry ride that started with heavy rain and ended with the beautiful blue sky matching the Aegean sea.

We stayed at a friend’s house. Here is the view from his back porch looking over Panormos Bay. It was just gorgeous.

We spent the rest of the time sunbathing and discovering beaches, taste-testing all the local gyros and crepes stands, and learning how to drive like a madman. At least part of every day was spent in the main town, Mikonos.

These probably capture it best, ahh…

We made one friend that we briefly considered bringing home for the kids:

We called home a few times. Each time we felt like we were interrupting good fun! By the last day we were definitely ready to come home and see them, and I think the feeling was mutual.

# posted by Julie : 9:27 PM