Friday (February 19?) 11 pm we left the comfort of our week long villa to begin the journey home. We spent the day basking in the sun, teaching Rawly to float in the heated pool, (Ken) catching a few waves in the chilly Mediterranean, and eating our fill of good, good food (Rawly ate his first kid's meal of chicken nuggets at a place called Tea for Two--I'm still bummed that I was too full for the mando sized lemon meringue pie.)
The highlights were many, but one of my favorite memories is of our friends helping us sing 31 rounds of "Down by the Bay" to ease dear Rawly into slumber-land. Our morning had started out simple enough, go bathing in some pool of a goddess, but not wanting to spend nine Euro to freeze off our tails and potentially see people in the nude, our second option was to head for the mountains. Being a relatively small island, one couldn't imagine the climate change that can take place in an hour's drive...being the stellar mom that I am, I didn't bring myself or Rawly a jacket--but by golly, I had baby swimmers. Rookie mistake number two was putting him in the swimmers before we left...coupled with a couple hours in the car...and you have yourself a little accident. Next stop was going to eat lunch with pant less baby in hopes of finding some good hike nearby. Luckily we were able to find both, but a place to buy sweats was a task we could not fulfill. So--we improvised. We adorned Rawly's backpack and practically mummified him with towels, and off we went! As usual, he was a happy camper. Here's a video of our jaunt (please excuse my huffing and puffing voice!)
We also took a journey to the illegally inhabited "Turkish" third of the island. Apparently they invaded and took dominion in '74, but after countless promises made to the UN, they remain. It was pretty interesting seeing Catholic cathedrals turned into mosques. Hearing three of the five daily prayer calls, Ken felt like we were in the movie Syriana. We ate a great meal at a little mom and pop hummus place. We watched three generations of their friendly family come and go about their daily life. I thought it was hilarious when one of the women scolded a boy of about three for taking something off of one of our plates in route to our table!
Here are a couple of shots of Rawly in Momma's boots and tennis shoes