So its been a couple of weeks which means its about time for our usual catch up post. Unfortunately, we do not any pictures to share because quite honestly, we haven't taken very many since we returned from Chicago. Here are just some of the highlights of the past weeks, mainly the past few days.

Caleb can say all sorts of things now. For a while now he's been able to put two words together (or attempt anyway). It seems he's been holding out on us. Whenver he sees pictures of people he knows, mostly Mommy and Daddy, he says each name separately. This morning while looking at the computer desktop we asked who he saw "Mommy and Daddy". It was so clear I was shocked.

We have also added singing a few songs as part of his nightly bedtime routine. This includes such hits as "This Little Light of Mine", "Jesus Loves Me", "Blue Skies and Rainbow", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", and "Alphabet Song"just to name a few. The first one is from the Veggies Tales played in his room basically everyday and he loves to hide the light "under a bushel. NO!" He will also sing a few words with us, "light" and "shine" primarily. Tonight while singing "Alphabet Song' with Mommy, Caleb just finished the last part "W, X, Y, and Z" with ease. Of course when she tried to get him to do it again he just had a big grin on his face.

Caleb has also completed 3 full days at his new daycare. He transitioned so well. I figured it would take about this whole week for him to get used to things, but he has done exceptionally well even since day 2.

I passed Part IV of my Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Exam. I know, could I be any cooler. Now I have to retake Part III which I did not pass the first time back in May. I will probably take the exam after Labor Day since we have birthdays coming up in late August.

Oh and Cheryl is going to Ecuador in exactly 3 weeks.

Later.

Labels: Caleb, Family, News, Tests, Trips

So the long awaited Greece trip summary or narrative or whatever you want to call it. Your regular trip blogger Cheryl is taking a small hiatus, but never fear she will return.

Well, our trip started out in Athens. After getting our bags and walking out to the main area, we immediately noticed the nice lady holding a piece of paper with "MCFADDIN" on it. No wasting looking at public transportation on this trip. We decided that with Caleb and all the transfers we would be having that booking all of those with an agency in advance would be well worth it and it was, except for that almost-disaster on our last day...but that is getting ahead of ourselves.

We arrived at out hotel in the afternoon and walked around the surrounding area, found some shops and a nice little place we warmly referred to as "restaurant row" for the next couple of days.

Being a small walk from the Acropolis we attempted to make it there, however there were a lot of steps and not so easy with Caleb in the stroller. Plus, Cheryl discovered that her contact had cracked and was scratching her eye. Not a good thing. As we walked around we stopped into a pharmacy to ask where we could find an eye doctor to figure out our options. Turns out he pharmacy could order Cheryl some soft contacts as temporary replacements for her hard contacts and they would be availble the next day or so. Not a bad deal for 18 euro.

We decided to eat at this little square/park near our hotel and have a light dinner. While we were eating some live jazz music began along with some strange street performers and some Greek chefs making samples for the public. This acutally went on each night in Athens.

Our first full day we set out on a half-day tour to hit the hot spots including the orignal Olympic stadium refurbished in 1896, start of the modern games. Its still used to small events and was the finish line for the marathon events in the summer games in 2004. Next was the Temple of Zeus. There was this extremely large field with the temple ruins in the middle. Apparently, the whole area we were at used to be all white marble instead of grass. Quite a amazing thought.

We then headed to the Acropolis. This is the main place for everyone to go in Athens. It was great. There is actually 2 temples on the top, but the Parthenon of Athena is the one we all know. They are in the process of refurbishing much of the Parthenon, which includes taking numerous pieces of the original temple on the ground and figuring out where it fits. A real life 3-D puzzle.

Sadly, Cheryl and I came to a realization on the Acropolis. We are kind of ruins snobs. After all the amazing places we visited in Egypt, and how well preserved some of them are, Athens seemed...average. I realize this sounds incredibly horrible, but I imagine if we had been to Athens first it would have seemed much more impressive. After the tour, we headed to pick up Cheryl's contacts so she could have non-impaired vision and wear sunglasses however they did not arrive and all pharmacies close at 2:30 on Wednesday for some reason.

Day 2 we decided to trek to Mars Hill where Paul first brought Christianity to Greece. This was a decent walk and even more difficult over less then smooth bricked roads and a less than helpful map. Eventually we managed to stumble upon Mars Hill. Its really cool to be at a place like that where someone in the Bible had been so long ago. We had been in a jail cell that held Paul and Peter in Rome a couple of years back as well. We also saw a group of young people and adults we couldn't help but wonder if they were the HUG group (doubtful, but we did sing devo songs in an old church with the HUF group in Florence 2 years ago. You never know).

Cheryl then navigated our way through the back roads back to the shops and restaurant row where we got some lunch (Cheryl - moussaka, Scott - roast pork, Caleb - a little bit of each) and were able to pick up her contacts. After our afternoon nap (yes, when Caleb naps we all at least attempt to follow suit) we walked around the National Gardens behind the Parliament building. Not very colorful, which is sad because its a very big space that could be very pretty if given a little more care. We did come across a random mini-zoo thing with chickens, peacocks, and goats. The goats came right up to the fence and Caleb was intrigued even if a little confused.

Our last day we went walking around through one of the markets, which reminded us of Camden market in London quite a bit. We looked in some of the shops, but a lot of the souvenirs just felts very cheesy and not so much "us". We typically look for items to add to our house like wall hangings or something. Prague for example we got a small clock like the Astronomical clock there. We had gyros for dinner which were cheap and extremely tasty. We recommended this place to some friends that were visiting Greece the same time we were. We got gyros for 1.60 euros each for take away, but the same meal sitting down costs about 5 or 6 euro more.

We had a great time in Athens, however were very excited for our ferry ride the next day to spend the remainder of our trip in Santorini.

Come back for that one tomorrow.
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I reserve the right for Cheryl to make any additions to this post as she sees fit. I am not used to being the trip blogger.

Labels: Trips

Okay, so there's lot to say about our trip, but I figure we'll start with the pictures (after all, don't "they" say that a picture is worth a thousand words?!). Besides, the uploading and processing of all these photos into a slideshow took quite a bit of time and now I'm too tired to consider adding a post of information about our trip with it. So for now, sit back and enjoy the show (it's a bit lengthy but I promise I cut A LOT of photos out) and I'll try to post about the trip tomorrow.

I apologise about the music. I didn't choose to add music with the slideshow in an attempt to make the process a bit faster so somewhere along the way one of the programs chose its own tune to add with the photos. If you don't like it, just mute your computer.

Labels: Trips

Well, my friends, we are off to Greece! We'll be in Athens until Friday morning, at which time we head off to the island of Santorini until Tuesday, 5 June. I can barely contain my excitement! The downside is that I've been sick all weekend and am continuing to fight a nasty cold (hence it is 2.45 in the morning and I am unable to sleep). Please pray that my head does not explode on the plane and that this sickness passes quickly so that I can enjoy what I suspect will be our the last of our travels while we live here (and that neither Caleb nor Scott come down with this nastiness either). I doubt we'll have e-mail access while we're gone, but we'll post an update when we return!

Labels: Trips

So we just returned from our overnight trip in Paris and it was oh so fun. We decided to ride on the Eurostar (the super fast train) for the adventure of it. The train proved to be a nice little mode of transportation to France and we were shocked at the fact that we were only actually in the Chunnel for 20 minutes! Caleb, of course, was a super trooper during the whole adventure, despite the fact that he was apparently teething and we didn't have any pain relief for him. (We discovered the teething when he was eating because every time he tried biting or chewing something he'd cry in pain. Poor baby!)

Our morning started early from London, we arrived at Gare du Nord by 11:30a.m. and began our journey to the hotel. On the way we saw our first major sight: The Statue of Liberty! It was like being in two places at the same time! (Now I don't need to go to New York!) We checked into our hotel at noon, and enjoyed a 15 minute walk by the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. The main purpose of our journey was to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. This proved to be the plan of every other tourist in Paris as well. The place was absolutely packed (and for all of you who think that it's the perfect place to propose, it's definitely not a place we would consider romantic). Still, it was fun to be up so high and be able to see all the major sights (ie: the Louvre, L'Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, etc...) from aerial perspective. Notice that Caleb decided to sleep during the adventure to the top. There's nothing like dead weight from a sleeping kid as you're winding yourself through crowds.

Of course, he woke up as soon as we got back to the ground, just in time to have his picture taken with the famous sight. (And it's an adorable picture, if I do say so myself!)
We spent the rest of the day, walking by the river, eating dinner at a cafe on the Champs-Elysees, and visiting L'Arc de Triumph. This morning we had tasty French pastries for breakfast before heading back to London. It was a whirlwind trip but made us feel (for the day) that we live somewhat glamorous lives because we can go to Paris just for a night. Really, our life over here isn't typically this exciting, but it does have its moments. :)

Labels: Caleb, Trips

That's right, I'm practicing my Greek (lol) because we're officially headed to Greece: 29 May - 5 June We will be spending 3 days in Athens (where I will spend my birthday), ferry over to the tropical island of Santorini for 4 days (where they have black sand), and then fly back to Athens before heading on to England.

Once again I'm super geeked!

Labels: Trips

Well, we are back from our extended weekend in Prague. Our trip started off with a somewhat interesting issue as we once again had too many people on board our plane. What are the chances?! Seriously, with all the checks that you have to go through at an airport, showing your passport and/or your ticket, you wouldn't think this would be possible. Thankfully, the issue was cleared up much more quickly than the previous time and we were off for Caleb's second international trip.

The flights went smoothly and it proved very easy (and cheap!) to get transport to our hotel. After being told that we would be in room 1000, we headed up to the fifth floor, as instructed, only to find that the fifth floor was home to rooms 500-530 (or something like that) and room 1000. Could it be?! That's right folks, they hooked us up with the "penthouse!" Okay, so it was the penthouse of a 3.5 star hotel and nothing like the penthouse in Pretty Woman, but it was still stinkin' awesome! This picture only shows a portion of the room. We had a queen bed and two twin beds, a flat sceen/flat panel tv, a few desks, and a ginormous bathtub (which Caleb loved!). It was so exciting!

Friday, the weather was perfect for being out and about. After breakfast, we spent a good portion of the day exploring the castle and all the surrounding pieces that go with it (ie: cathedrals, shopping areas, etc...). My accomplishment for the day was climbing 287 steps up a narrow twisty staircase (that made me dizzy), and other subsequent staircases, with Caleb strapped to the front of me! That's right, I'm a beast! We quickly learned that travelling with an infant is very different because we had to stop every 2-3 hours so Caleb could eat. This definitely slowed down our pace of day, but also offered nice breaks to my shoulders and back from carting Caleb around in the sling. It turns out, however, that Prague is not a particularly child-friendly city, in that there are no baby changing facilities anywhere and highchairs are hard to come by. Good thing Caleb is flexible and easy going!

Caleb also thoroughly enjoyed riding on Daddy's shoulders during the day. It was so cute because he would squeal, laugh, and try talking to everybody that we passed. He definitely loved being the centre of attention and everybody around us gave him the attention that he wanted. It was absolutely adorable.

After the castle area, we headed down by the river and thought about doing a boat ride because it was so beautiful. However, we decided to do the boat ride on Saturday and head up to Charles Bridge toward the Old Town instead. Sadly, Saturday proved to have miserable cold, rainy weather, thus not conducive for boat rides or being outside at all. This put a huge damper on our last full day, as we sought to be inside as much as possible. Sadly, this meant that we did not get to check out the supposedly awesome graveyards in Prague. (I HATE graveyards but had been told by so many people that they were worth seeing that I had resigned myself to visiting them.) Instead, we spent the day exploring some of the old towers and doing souvenir shopping. One of the funniest things we saw was that apparently "Fruit of the Loom" is a souvenir of Prague (we even saw some people carrying Fruit of the Loom bags! We were highly amused by this.) If I posted everything about our trip, this post would be impossibly long. So I will leave you with a few other highlights from the weekend:
1. Scott has NO sense of direction. Zero. Basically, if he suggests that we should go one way, you can safely assume that we should probably go the opposite way.
2. There was a group of former Navy Seals staying at our hotel. They were in Prague doing security work for somebody who needed protection from the Russian mob (which apparently is a big problem in Prague)!
3. Saturday night as we were packing, Caleb grabbed the remote control and somehow turned on the tv to "Deutschland Super Star," Germany's version of American Idol. They had the same theme music, same red room for the contestants to sit in and be interviewed, and everything was in German except the songs. It was really funny and, yes, we watched it while we packed.
4. Czech food is different but tasty. We did our best to eat local food since we can get Italian, Spanish, American, etc... anywhere.
5. There are a bazillion tourists in Prague, even in off season. If you go, don't plan on going during their most touristy time! I can't even imagine how crazy it would be!

All in all, it was a great trip, though we wish Saturday's weather had been a bit more pleasant. Caleb did amasingly well on all of the flights, bus rides, and being carted around everywhere. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself during our trip and made it that much more fun for us. We did learn, however, that it's about time to invest in a smaller umbrella stroller for these trips. After four days of carrying Caleb in the sling, my back was nothing but knots because he is getting so heavy.

-------Scott's note:
I feel in response to #1 above I need to share a story about our trip as well.

Before we left, Cheryl made a wise decision and suggested we bring Caleb's music machine along to help him sleep in a strange bed in a strange place. This turned out to be one of the best ideas ever. Ever. As Caleb slept very well,, Cheryl needed to share with me that she was "glad that I'm glad that we brought his music machine." Not just she was glad we brought it or that she was glad that Caleb slept well, but "glad" that she was "glad" about bringing it.

I just wanted to share that story.

Labels: Trips