I will start this entry by apologizing for it being so long since my last posting. Life seems to speed by faster and faster every day. So much has happened in the last few months, I am not even sure where to begin...I guess the beginning.
Well, the day after my last blog update, our family grew by one more. Jennifer and Dirk welcomed beautiful little Eden Indiana to the world. Thankfully, we live in a technologically advanced world and with the help of Skype, I was able to meet our new little niece just moments after her birth. As amazing as that was, it was also a very difficult day for me as well. It was very hard for me to see my sister’s family growing and knowing that I wouldn’t be able to be there to help her with the new adjustments or to go and get my aunty cuddles in whenever I wanted. Thankfully, I made sure to catch up on all of those cuddles over Christmas, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
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| Gorgeous little Eden Indianna. |
October was a very exciting month for me as it marked my Mom’s first visit to my new home. While there was some weather delays in Frankfurt that postponed her arrival by one day, we didn’t let that slow us down. As soon as she arrived in Athens we headed down to Glyfada with Kiki to do some shopping and have a ladies lunch. We arrived back to Kiki’s home in the early evening, had some dinner and all called it a night pretty early. Even Kiki and I were worn out, let alone poor Mom’s jet lag. The next day had the 3 of us along with Kiki’s brother Yiannis down in Plaka to hike up the acropolis and explore the old ruins. It was a beautiful October day and we all enjoyed the sites. The following day, Mom and I headed back to Santorini. While here, we did some sight seeing of what was left to see in Santorini. By this time it was nearing the end of October, so many shops & restaurants were closed and the weather was no longer really warm enough for lounging by the pool or beach. I had warned Mom that this would be the case, but we were just glad to be able to hang out together and catch up. It was nice for me, and I think even more so for Mom, to show her what my days looked like here and meet some of the people she would hear me talk about. We took her to Ammoudi, Kamari and Perissa and of course spent lots of time in Fira and here in Oia.
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| A picture Mom took of Kiki & I at the base of the Acropolis. |
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| Mom & I having a coffee in Fira. |
Mom was also here on the day our new big purchase had finally arrived...our 3D TV. It is so cool! We were able to watch a couple of 3D movies while she was here and all look goofy in the glasses. While Mom was here, I had also decided to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a couple of weeks later than Canadian Thanksgiving, but I didn’t think the Greeks would notice. Turkey can be a bit hard to come by and there was only going to be 5 of us for dinner, so I opted for roasted chickens, but kept everything else very traditional. It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself, although I think Ilias was shocked and maybe even slightly appalled at how long a festive meal can take to prepare.
Mom’s visit flew by much too quickly and saying goodbye in early November was not easy. Thankfully it was only going to be another month and a half before Ilias and I would be making our way to Calgary for Christmas.
November was a very busy month as well. Ilias and his friend/business partner Takhs had been keeping their eyes out for a space to rent for next season. They were interested in opening a new shop but were waiting for the right location. They had been looking in both Fira and Oia, and considering locations on the Caldera or in the square. Come mid November they finally found it. It is right in the main square of Fira and could not be a better location. As soon as the deal was done, the designers came from Athens to begin putting their ideas together and shortly there after the reno’s began. Come March our new frozen yogurt and souvlaki shop will be open. Takhs and I will be the ones running the shop on a day to day basis, so I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to be getting back to work shortly.
November also marked the arrival of a new member to a our family. Ilias’ new Porsche Cayenne. I have never in my life seen a man be so excited about a new car. Before the arrival he could barely sleep because he was so excited and then after it came, he could barely sleep because he was scared something or someone would damage it in the night. :) We are still a one car family for the time being as we sold the Mercedes, but at least we can now pick up our friends or family members at the airport with a little more ease.
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| My very happy husband with his new ride. |
The first few weeks of December were very busy. Ilias had been working like a dog all fall, but things really got crazy for him before our trip. Many people on Santorini leave for Athens over Christmas as well, so lots of his clients were trying to get things finalized before they left as well. Aside from that, the new shop was in full renovation craziness which unfortunately I couldn’t really help with. While my Greek is slowly coming along, I am no where close to being able to communicate with plumbers or electricians about what we need / I don’t really know anything about plumbing or electrical work. While Ilias was busy with the hard work, I kept busy preparing our things for our trip to Canada. I had lots of Christmas shopping to do and 2 new stockings to sew as our friend Takhs was also going to come for Christmas.
Finally on the 19th of December, Ilias, Belle and I boarded the ferry and began our journey. To say I was excited would be a huge understatement! 8 hours later we finally arrived in Athens and all got settled at Kiki’s house. Belle would be staying there with her Grandma & Uncle Yiannis over the holidays. We had a nice but very short visit with Kiki in Athens and then on the 21st in the very early hours of the morning started our trek. All of our flights were very smooth and I even got upgraded to first class on our way to Calgary. I had been hoping all 3 of us would be able to use my upgrade certificates (all that traveling last year really did pay off), but alas, there was only room for 1 of us. So I said adios to the boys and settled into my lovely pod for the last leg of our trip.
Finally after many anxious hours we had arrived. I was a mess at the airport as I saw my Mom, Dad, Sister and 2 little nieces. I could not believe how big my Cedar Mae had gotten and I was instantly madly in love with our little Eden Indiana.
The first few days of our trip had us spending quite a few hours in the different malls that Calgary has to offer. There was Christmas shopping to be done and recognizance work for boxing day shopping. For those of you that don’t know, Ilias loves to shop (hooray!) and to my surprise I think Takhs may even have him beat. But shopping bags aside, we did fit in a few truly Canadian activities. First, it was down to the Saddledome for none other than a Calgary Flames vs. Detroit Red Wings hockey game. The boys had a great time and much to my Canuck’s heart dismay, they instantly became Flames fans. Well s&%t! Oh well, at least they were enjoying my favorite sport.
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| The boys first NHL game. |
A few days later, on Christmas Eve, it was out to the beautiful town of Canmore (the home of the Helmstaedts) to do some dog sledding with my Dad. I was particularly excited about this as it was an activity I had never experienced myself. To say it was spectacular feels like an enormous understatement. The chaos that we found ourselves in as they were hitching the dogs to the various sleds quickly turned to peaceful solitude as soon as those beautiful huskies were allowed to run. They truly were born to do this.
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| The boys getting ready for our dog sledding adventure. |
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| Hanging with our favorite pups. |
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| Ilias and I on Spray Lake. |
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| Ilias enjoying his first dog sled ride. |
How do you top such a splendid afternoon? Well you have dinner chez the Helmstaedt’s to feast on any of Jenny’s wonderful dishes. We gorged ourselves and then sat around the Christmas tree to watch little Cedar participate in the German tradition of opening gifts on Christmas eve. Cedar was beyond cute! She poured through her gifts with all kinds of adorable exclamations.
The following morning we had our own gifts to open as the boys experienced their first Canadian Christmas. The stockings were jammed and the food and drink flowed all day. Ilias was most pleased with his new gold “hands free” iPhone accessory, I on the other hand was thrilled with Ilias’ gift of the ‘Lindsay clutch’. My bestie Amie had been working as the accessories designer for John Fluevog until recently and had designed this clutch with me in mind. Love it!
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| Santa spoiled us all again this year! |
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| Ilias loving his new 'hands free' option. |
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| Even Cedar got into her Uncle's new accessory. :) |
Our days post Christmas had us finishing up some of that shopping we had started, but mostly visiting family and friends. The annual family bowling extravaganza had an added twist this year. Earlier in December, my Dad had turned 65, so of course we all had to celebrate. My Grandma & Aunty Bev and her husband Lawrence all came down from Edmonton to help celebrate and Jenn of course brought the cake. It was a delicious delight that had everyone baffled that the camera was actually edible too! She never ceases to amaze...
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| We may have been terrible bowlers, but at least we got the prize for coming the longest way to play! |
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| Jenn's amazing cake for Dad's 65th birthday. |
The next few days allowed us more time to visits with friends with drinks and lunches and loads of laughter. Being able to spend some time with some of my favorite girls and gays made me feel revived as making new friends in a country where I don’t really speak the language is a slow process.
New Years Eve morning Ilias, Takhs, my Mom, Dad and I all piled back into the car and drove out to the Banff Springs to meet Jenn, Dirk, Cedar and Eden for the famous Fairmont brunch. We once again ate our faces off and toasted to the new year. We took in more of the beautiful scenery that Banff has to offer and then headed back into the city.
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| Gingerbread version of the Banff Springs Hotel. Unbelievable! |
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| Trying to look warm on the patio outside the Banff Springs. |
That evening, Ilias, Takhs and I headed downtown to meet up with my dear girlfriend Ali, to bring in the New Year. We started at Craft and moved on to Cilantro just in time to countdown at midnight. We had just finished toasting one another and celebrating the new year, when everything was quickly put into perspective. Takhs had received a phone call from his family back in Greece, and found out that his father has suddenly passed away. Spending the last 2 weeks with Takhs has truly made him feel like a member of our family and our hearts all broke for him. What a way to start the year. The only positive I could pull from this experience was that it reminded me that life is short and to appreciate those around me every second you can.
We managed to get Takhs on a flight home the next day to go and be with his family, while Ilias and I spent the last few days of our trip with our Canadian family. The goodbyes were still very hard for me, but I do have to say that as the ferry sailed into Santorini I felt like I was home.
I will leave you all with wishes for a great year ahead, promises of more regular updates and of course with lots of love from Greece.
xo
