The Adventure continues!!.... :) From AGM, we spent a few days hanging out with the Steven's family! We rented two apartments, one on top of the other, so we could cook our meals and so that we adults could hang out after the kids went to bed! :) With our crew especially, food can be SO expensive on vacations and with Carolina's intolerances/allergies, it's always easier to have a kitchen to make our own food.
The first thing that Jen and I did was to walk to the grocery store to get some basics. We were SO thrilled to find little treats here and there!...(Jen more than me... I don't think they can get anything in Serbia! Poor things. :) ) The picture above is Jen just after she discovered grape juice!!!!! I think we bought them out, between the two of us.
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| Here is Kyleigh with her vegetarian meal... love it! :) |
We did get a recommendation of a restaurant nearby, so we decided to try it out... and WOW is about all we could say! It was amazing! The gyros were unforgettable... I think the guys couldn't stop talking about them. They were chuck full of a ton of meat, so of course they were a big hit with the guys... and cheap. hehe... you can't be that. :)
For ME... I think this salad changed my life. HA! :) Seriously. No one in my family likes raw tomatoes. I buy a ton of them because I cook with them, but we never ever eat them raw. When we ordered this salad... a Greek salad... we expected lettuce or greens as the base. But, no. It was ALL tomatoes. Well, you know how, when you are traveling, you just sometimes crave something healthy? That was me, on this particular day, so I decided I would try the tomatoes. I mean, I was in Greece... I HAD to try the Greek salad. Oh. my. goodness. The tomatoes were scrumptious! Now, I'm enjoying tomatoes in my salad for the first time in my life! Crazy, isn't it? ... although, our tomatoes aren't as yummy as these were, but still... I think this salad opened up my taste for tomatoes! :)
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| The Steven's Family! |
Our first full day on "vacation" in Greece, we all decided to head to the Acropolis. We left first thing in the morning, knowing that it would get hot and busy. Our family itself required two taxis wherever we went... so, Carolina got her fill of taxis during these two days! The Acropolis was amazing... hot, but amazing.
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| Carolina fits right in with the Steven's girls! :) She really, really enjoyed playing with them! Seriously, doesn't she looke like she belongs in this family? :) |
The kids were such troopers... especially Nathan. This type of stuff is never easy for him, walking and climbing stairs like that. But they all did so great. After our trip to the top, so the adults could take in all the sights, we decided the kids deserved a fun treat.
YUM! Frozen lemonade! It was the perfect treat on a hot, hot day.
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| Ok, the treat was for moms, too. :) |
After our little treat, the kids were ready to conquer Mars Hill. :) ... actually, half of them stayed at the bottom while the rest of us hiked up.
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| This is Jonathan on top of Mars Hill... he's always ready to conquer SOMETHING!... or maybe 'anything' is a better word. :) |
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| This is the view of the Acropolis from Mars Hill |
After we played tourists for a little while, our friends who live in Athens took us to a little restaurant nearby. It was SO fun to have all our families together!!... in the same place at the same time, laughing, eating, and spilling water, and looking for cold milk.... all together! :) Precious times.
Even though there were so many more things we adults wanted to see and do in Athens, we also realized that this was vacation for the kids, too. So, we opted for the beach our last day (we only had 2 days there), knowing they would enjoy it so much more than touring historical sites. It was a tough decision, but we know it was the right choice! The kids had a blast, and it was so fun to see them all playing together. These are two of the families that we met at the beginning of our process of going overseas. We all walked together through the whole process and all the different transitions that go along with it. We all were going through the same transitions and difficulties. Somehow, that has knitted our hearts together, and God has given us the gift of this "family" away from family.
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| Jonathan |
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| Weston |
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| Carolina |
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| Nathan |
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| The end result of a hard day's work! :) |
We got a recommendation from the lady that we rented the apartments from, and we decided to go to a private beach. We ended up paying to get on the beach, but it was so worth it! The beach was gorgeous, and we had umbrellas and chairs ... lots of coolers, lots of food... and lots of friends.
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| On the way home! |
