Yes, Justin got a Seat By Himself!

We also took along both car seats for the first time and our new double Phil and Ted stroller… to say we had way more gear than luggage would be an understatement.  But, it wasn’t that bad at the end of the day and I think made the children more comfortable during all of the riding around we had to do by having their own familiar car seats.

We headed to San Diego in search of a house to possibly relocate to.  We recently sold our home in Vancouver and due to the exorbitant prices here and an interest in trying something new we decided to check out the San Diego market.  Most of our US friends couldn’t believe that we were choosing to move to San Diego to save money…it’s one of the most expensive areas to buy real estate in the US.  But compared to Vancouver, it looks affordable.  Not to mention that for the first time since I left the US I saw a pound of fruit priced at under 50 cents…

We spent 6 days in San Diego.  We had 32 houses to look at…no easy task with 2 small children but it went really well all things considering.

Sunset

We stayed at the Sheraton downtown and again were impressed with the niceness of the staff (similar to our experience last year in Atlanta).  We chose the Sheraton because it was an all suite hotel and with 2 babies needing naps and not sleeping thru the night always it’s nice to have an extra room.  Because we also have membership in the Starwood Preferred program we were upgraded to their club level which meant, free breakfast, free internet and 2 free drink tickets per day and water.  All said and done this probably saved us a good $60/day.  Worth the membership in our American Express Platinum program.  For anyone who travels often and does not have the card…do yourself a favor and get one.

We also get Gold Membership in Hertz with this card.  Again, no waits and great service.  However you do pay a bit more for Hertz but the cars are clean and there are never any issues.  We also obviously got the “Never Lost” system given all the driving we were going to do.

If you’ve never been to San Diego and you have children I HIGHLY recommend it.  VERY family friendly and not only were the people we met some of the nicest I’ve come across in a long time but most were genuinely helpful.

Yummy Chicken during our Room Picnic

There is a ton to do in San Diego.  Beaches of course, the best zoo in the world (or so they say), Sea World, LegoLand, Wild Safari park, outlet shopping, casinos, etc.  And I had no idea how much American history there was in San Diego.  Not to mention a TON of museums.  If you haven’t been, put it on your list.

We hit the beaches in N. County which were beautiful.  We also went to the Zoo which was very impressive though I still think I have issues with animals behind bars…  If you are there on a Wednesday the Farmer’s Market in Ocean Beach is pretty lively and fun.  Versus the Pacific Beach Farmer’s Market on Saturday which was pretty beat.

So how was it traveling with 2 babies?  Not as hard as I thought but obviously not as easy as one.  Obviously being organized and taking advantage of memberships in travel programs, etc. helps.

How did the house hunting go?  Not as well as we had hoped.  In all honesty I went down there not very optimistic.  I really enjoy living in Vancouver and all that it has to offer.  We also have a pretty good support network here.  A great nanny, Ciska, who helps me out occasionally and Justin’s Dad is close by (though he was planning ot move to San Diego with us).  I also have some great friends here now and a pretty good routine of things we like to do, etc.

But I also didn’t want to sit back and say, “what if,” one day.  So we went.  The first few days I was pretty sure it wasn’t for us.  Then we started exploring the North County and the beach towns.  That’s when I was hooked.  We found a cute house in a town called Cardiff by the Sea.  It wasn’t our dream home but it was very nice and we could walk to the beach.  It was in a cute village within a bigger town (Encinitas) with just about anything we would want within walking distance and everything else a mere 5 miles away.

We had also found a house in Mission Hills that we were considering as well.  It is an urban neighborhood in San Diego.

Who would have thought however that our luck would fail us.  By the time we got to San Diego with our list of 32 houses to look at 6 had gotten contracts or been pulled off the market before we could even look at them.  And wouldn’t you know it… the 2 houses we were about to write an offer on got offers literally the day/evening before we were to write ours.

Father/Son Moment Watching Football at What Would Have Been Our Local

We did end up putting in a back-up offer on the beach house.  It is a short sale (when the bank decides to take less than what is owed on the property to avoid a foreclosure—good for the bank, good for the homeowner and good for the buyer) so there is a chance we could possibly get the house.  But we aren’t very hopeful.

We figure “guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

All was not lost though as we had a nice getaway as a family and some much needed QT together.  We also got to see our colleague, Colin Egbert and meet his beautiful girlfriend and daughter.  Justin was also able to catch up with some other business contacts.

We are headed to Seattle next week to look at houses.  We have a lot of friends there and do business in WA state already so it would be an easy transition.

Not sure what life will bring in the next few months.  We have to be out of our house on October 30.  Part of me and Justin are sad to be leaving this house.  We love it, but it’s just not conducive to 4 people living here anymore.

We definitely have mixed emotions about our next move.  One day excited, next day down, another day confused.  But as things always do, it will all work out.

So we decided to take our first trip now that we are now 4…

Top of Whistler Mountain

We started with something easy.  A 2 – 2 1/2 hour drive up to Whistler, a place we know well.  We headed up on a Friday (3 weeks ago mind you) and made our usual stop in West Van at the Whole Foods for lunch.  The one thing I miss — well used to miss about living in the US–we have 2 now here in Vancouver.

Stella and Sebby slept for a good portion of the ride up there which was nice.  We hit the pool and then went for burgers that night and then came back to the hotel for dessert and a drink. Stella was wired until about 11 pm after a very large scoop of ice cream and fudge brownie…she rarely gets sweets/sugar and usually never at night…it was actually quite funny as it was like she was on drugs!

We had upgraded to a one-bedroom suite in hopes that we all got some sleep.  It was likely a wise choice but I’m thinking we might have been able to do it the old fashioned way with us all piled into one room.

Saturday we hit some open houses to check out what we could afford in Whistler as we always have this little dream when we are there that maybe we could live in Whistler some day.  It’s just so nice up there and the children would really have a nice life being outdoors all the time.  We hit a BBQ festival and had dinner with some friends who were also up in Whistler that evening.

Sunday we went up Whistler mountain and checked out the new Peak to Peak chair lift over to Blackcomb; hit the weekly farmer’s market (if you are in Whistler in the summer I highly recommend it, it’s huge and very good…but pricey); the BBQ festival again and then a late lunch and patio drinks…after that we were off for a long nap followed by a dip in the pool and pizza in our rooms.

Hanging out on Our Porch

Justin headed out to hear a Led Zeppelin cover band with a friend…

On Monday we took a nice long walk around Lost Lake and drove up the Callaghan Valley to see the site of the Nordic events for the 2010 Olympics.  Very cool!

Overall a nice first get away.

Some hotel reviews:

We stayed at the Westin Whistler.  It was a nice property (although the room keys KEPT getting erased and we had to have them re-keyed at least 4 times…a pain with 2 children and a stroller).  It is a great location but there seemed to be too many “rules” for the “deal” we got for staying there. 

On to some other updates…we have our house on the market and hopefully will get an offer soon.  Plans are TBD but a lot of options at this point…could be another “skidaddle” coming up soon if we can muster the courage to do it with 2 now.

It’s been 5 long days of non-stop information overload and learning at the Dan Kennedy Information Summit.  A room full of 900+ information marketers.  We learned a ton but now to really try to find the time to do something with it.

I continue to struggle to be a good mom, wife and entrepreneur… times like these (that is, incredible learning and networking opportunities) I realize how hard it really is to balance it all and do them all well.

Thankfully, my ever social husband, handled all of the networking for us.  Being pregnant did not really allow me much energy for socializing after the events ended each night around 8/9 pm.  And, Stella needed a little mommy time (and mommy needed a little Stella time) each night.

Granddad and Stella

We were blessed to have Justin’s Dad here to help us out.  His girlfriend Teresa also came for a few days and helped spoil Stella rotten.  They made her fresh hand squeezed orange juice each day…need I say more.

I have been to St. Louis several times when I worked for Senator Bond from Missouri but this time I actually got to see the Arch, it was beautiful and we were lucky to have gorgeous and warm weather the day we checked it out.  The downtown area continues to be a ghost town which is quite sad considering that it seems to hold a lot of potential.

The St. Louis Arch

The travel is beginning to wear on us a bit but we were lucky and had a suite for the week here in St. Louis – which is one of my baby travel tips I’ll share with all you families out there.  When you check into your hotel, ALWAYS ask if they have a bigger room.  Quite often you will get a free upgrade.  We actually didn’t even ask in England and got a bigger room as they said we’d be more comfortable with the crib if we had a bigger room.  It never hurts to ask.

If I’ve learned one thing while traveling, overall, you get a lot of free upgrades, pass the line, etc. when you have a baby.  It’s a nice perk given how exhausting travel can be sometimes, especially with children.

Another tip is during cold weather months, is to be sure to bring a large carry-on bag to put all your coats in.  On our flight over from England, the bag I had only had room enough for Justin’s light coat and Stella’s so I just put mine in the overhead.  Well, 8 hours later and exhausted, I left mine on the plane…never to be seen again.  And it was new…nothing special but a bit chilly without it.  I’d actually recommend tucking a lightweight collapsible bag inside of your carry on that you can pull out after you get through security, etc. to store all the coats.

We are off to Pittsburgh in the morning to visit Seth and Jen Holst and their 2 little boys as well as Chris and Stacy Dee and their 2 boys.  We haven’t seen them in ages and we are looking forward to our visit!

The Free Press - the Pub I worked at

We went to visit Cambridge on Saturday as I lived there twelve years ago.  It was really nice to go back and visit a place that really impacted my life quite a bit.  It wasn’t really the place but the experiences I had when I went abroad that first time, and on my own.  I told Justin as we were walking around Cambridge how lonely I was on that trip but what a great experience it was.  I also had many visitors, Lee Ann Daly McCoy, Tara O’Kelley Friedman and Mandy Bean.  I also visited Mandy and Tara in Paris (where they were living at the time) and then traveled all over Europe with Tara and some on my own.  My mother also got to come out and visit with me which was great.

It was funny how I felt like the pub I worked in was much smaller than I remembered and the city of Cambridge was much bigger!

Monika and Vik with Stella

On Sunday we had a nice long lunch at our friends Vik and Monika’s house.  Justin and I met Vik when we were traveling in SE Asia in 2002.  They cooked us a fabulous Indian meal and it was really nice to catch up.

On to our Big Announcement.  The Lee family of three will soon be four!  As of tomorrow I am three months pregnant!  The baby is due on May 19.  Yes, a major suprise as we had not planned for me to be pregnant while traveling.  It has been an adjustment and a bit of rearraging and figuring out but we continue to believe that things happen for a reason.

I had not seen a Dr. during the entire first 3 months but finally got in to have all the routine blood work and some very high end ultrasound work done on Friday in London. I had a new test that just came out called a nuchal fold test that checks for genetic disorders.  It’s now becoming the second test after blood tests for genetic testing before an amnio is given.

Baby Lee #2 is doing well.  Results were good for low risk of genetic disorders.  No orders for a amnio but would be our choice for further testing.  We are declining any further tests.  Size and everything on target.

There was a red flag raised for a heart leakage (tricuspid regurgitation) but the Dr. said to just have it checked at 20 weeks with a full echocardiaography.  My report says that it “could be related to a chromosomal abnormaility, cardia or other structural defects or it may remain unexplained.”

She said in her opinion the baby was healthy.

The test and ultrasound were the most extensive around.  They don’t even test for the heart leakage issue anywhere else in all of Europe (East and West).  I know they just started the nuchal fold test in Canada and the US in the past few years and my guess is that only at high research institutes in the US/Canada would you get anything this extensive.  So as we learned from our last attempt at both getting pregnant and having Stella, the more you look for something to be wrong, the higher likelihood that you will find something that “might” be of concern.

Apparently the baby has a big nose (good indicator of no Down’s Syndrome) and I was there for a very long time and had to jump up and down, move my legs, shake my bum…etc., to try to get the little “very difficult baby” (as the Dr. put it) to move in the right position.  Hmm…is this what we have to look forward to, “a difficult baby.”

The tests I had were done in an amazing facility (very high end modern furnishing – Eames chairs, designer hand soaps and lotions, hand towels…art work, floating glass staircase…you name it and quite a “ladies that lunch” clientele, very “Posh” indeed).

We hope the world is ready for one more Lee.

Little Man-U Fan

Stella keeps looking at the ultrasound pictures and pointing.  We’ll see how she reacts when the little one arrives.

Off to St. Louis for a very big and long week of conferences.

Special thanks to Na-na for letting us use her place in Marlow.  It truely was a home away from home.

To those I have not been able to talk to and tell you the news personally, my apologies!

It’s funny as one of the reasons I was looking forward to this trip was an escape from the routine.  But now I’ve found myself happy to just have a weekly and daily routine here in Marlow.  Maybe it’s a routine in a new place that makes it enjoyable.  Who knows.  I’m a restless soul I guess.  Always up for something new.

Onto our favorite things.  Ducks, Geese and Swans oh my…they are everywhere right on our doorstep on the Thames.  It’s been wonderful to wake up and look out the window onto the Thames and the beautiful bridge.  And ofcourse our regular trips to feed all the ducks, geese, swans, birds and just about anything else that is swarming on the docks.  Stella has gotten quite brave and goes pretty close and has even learned to throw the bread since we’ve been here.

Feeding the Duckies

Higginson Park.  We go there at least once a day, assuming it isn’t raining, and sometimes twice.  It’s right out the backdoor and it’s the best playground I’ve ever been on.  Very nice and all this great Swedish equipment.  Stella loves going to the park and we can’t walk by without her pointing and wanting to go.   They also have a merry-go-round on nice sunny days and weekends.  Stella loves it, mommy, not so much, I get a bit sick going in continuous circles…I know, I’m pathetic!

Merry-Go-Round in Higginson Park

Walks on the toe path have been really nice and especially this time around as the fall leaves are beautiful.

We have also found a local farm we can walk to that is open on Friday’s and Saturday’s so you can buy their local meat and eggs.  Stella has been able to explore all the farm animals she reads about and we even fed the pigs last weekend.  As a former vegetarian, I have to say I did find it a bit nauseating to see the creatures I was about to cook…but by the same token, as a cook and lover of all things natural, it was nice to see a working farm and know my meat and VERY fresh eggs didn’t travel far to my plate.

Feeding the piggies

My grandfather (my Mom’s Dad) had a great farm and I grew up eating wonderful produce, eggs and meats that were fresh and wholesome.  It’s nice to get some of the things you grew up with even when you are in another country.

And we can’t forget the library.  Weekly reading groups have really been nice and being able to get some new books out for Stella was great.  We even found a few English books that Stella really liked and picked up a few for her to have.  If you haven’t read the “Bing” series, I recommend it, but beware, your child will become addicted.

This is our last weekend here in England.  We are going to Cambridge on Saturday as I lived there for 5 months almost twelve years ago.  We are going to hit the pub I worked in, the Free Press, for lunch and then walk around the High Street and “Backs” of the colleges.  I’m really looking forward to going back there and hope that the owners of the pub are still there.

We are having dinner at our friend Vik’s house on Sunday.  He and his wife Monika are cooking us a nice Indian meal.  We met Vik when Justin and I were on our last adventure in S. E. Asia.

We are getting excited about heading back to N. America.  While we have had an enjoyable time in Europe we are looking forward to getting back to our American conveniences and being closer to friends and family and in a better time zone for work.

We have exciting plans for the next month and are really looking forward to the weeeks ahead.

This week has been spent visiting Justin’s family and hitting Manchester so Justin could see a Manchester United game (a missing item on his “resume of sports events” that can now be “ticked”).  While the week had its challenges with poor little Stella having a pretty bad cold, it was a nice trip.

Francesca and Stella

We started out at Eden and Janine’s house in Stratford Upon Avon.  Wellington, Justin’s Dad, had arrived there for a visit so we met him for dinner with Eden, Janine and Francesca (Justin’s cousin).  It was a nice visit and good to catch up.  We had not seen them since 2005 when we were over for a visit.

We then headed up to Manchester so Justin and his Dad could go the match.  We stayed in a really nice hotel, Yang Sing Oriental Hotel.  I highly recommend it if you are going to Manchester.  Free breakfast, mini-bar and very nice/ornate rooms.  There’s also a great Chinese restaurant attached where we had a nice dim sum.

Stella and I spent the evening shopping and then hanging out in our hotel room with room service and a movie.  It was very nice mommy/daughter time which was quite fun for me as she’s finally old enough to relate to  – well sort of – and “hang out” with.

I even picked up a pair of proper English riding boots!

Manchester is a great city, shopping, culture and a variety of ethnic cuisine.  And of course they have teh best footy team Man-United!

Helen and Stella

We then headed back to Liverpool to visit Justin’s Grandmother Alice and also see some close family friends (and Justin’s Mum’s long time childhood friend), Helen, Charles and their lovely three boys.

Charles and Samuel with Stella

It’s been nice to let Stella spend some time with family and experience the life and culture of her roots here in England.  We look forward to the next few months as well where we will be taking her to Pennsylvania, NYC and of course VA to visit and experience some of my roots and places where Justin and I both have many memories.

That is the one thing about travel.  Outside of experiencing new things (which we love to do), it’s also nice sometimes to go back to your roots and explore and remember who you are and where you came from.

Back to Marlow for 10 days and then off to St. Louis for work on November 5.

Some Baby Tips:

Make sure you travel equipped with a few relief medicines, balms, etc. for baby in case they get a cold and you find yourself unable to get to a market.  Stella unfortunately picked up a really bad cold last week at the little daycare/play time we took her to.  I had a few things that I knew helped relieve her cold with me and picked up a few other things here.  At her age there isn’t much you can do but Vicks balm and menthol vaporizers really help.  Unfortunately I was unable to find a cool mist vaporizer in England.  Apparently no one uses those here.

Another thing to think about if you are traveling in Europe.  Don’t run out of diapers on a Sunday (and in some places, any day for that matter).  We were rationing out our last diapers last Sunday as I didn’t realize I was out until 5 pm on Sunday and every shop was closed.  Thankfully we made it with the last 2 diapers until morning but we could have been in BIG trouble!

Stella and Mommy Having Some Fun

Clearly, Mommy must prepare for her little bird to take flight sooner than she had expected!

Train to London

Last weekend we went into London to visit with some friends, do some shopping and eat some yummy meals. We met up with Emma, Simon and Tiffin on Saturday at “Inn the Park” and had a nice long leisurely lunch in the park. Emma and Simon live in London and Tiffin was in town on his way home from work travel. They are friends from Vancouver and went to high school with Brandon (Justin’s brother).

Stella took some breaks and walked around the park carrying her new Louis Vuitton purse and was quite a hit. It’s her favorite thing to do, that is, walk around and carry her purse. And by the way, no, I’m not crazy, I did not buy her a real Louis Vuitton…she got a really nice fake while we were in Greece.

Lunch with Tiffin, Emma and Simon

Dinner at Aaya - yes, it was "HIP" and Stella loved it

Saturday Justin, Stella and I went to a very stylish and hip Japanese restaurant, “Aaya,” and all ate well. Stella even gobbled up her favorites: edamame, barbeque ribs and yam tempura. It was a great evening even with a small baby at a non-kid friendly restaurant. We had contemplated a babysitter but after finding out the prices (nearly $200 for 4 hours) we decided to risk it and take her with us. She was fantastic and it was an enjoyable meal. Don’t miss the lobster salad if you ever go! Yum.

After a very un-restful Saturday night…we were staying at the Le Meridian, Piccadilly, great location but incredibly loud and “wild” on the streets (and of course Justin had to stay up to watch the Penn State game and woke Stella and I up several times)…we were off for yet more great food at the very famous and old “Wolsley’s” for breakfast and then a bit of shopping at Selfridges and Zara (there was a line-up at noon to get in the door at Zara).

Tip: If you are in need of a stroller repair and are in a big city, hit some of the high end department stores. Selfridges had a bike shop and we think they “finally” fixed our tire issues on the Mountain Buggy.

We capped off the trip with an early dinner at a dim sum and tea house. We had some great dim sum and the place was just beautiful to look at.

Clearly the food was the draw for us to London and since we hadn’t had much Asian food in awhile we were all about getting our fill. (We eat Asian food at least 2-4 times per week in Vancouver so we were definitely missing it).

A few tips for traveling with a baby in a big city: As I’ve said before don’t over plan and wear very comfortable shoes. We failed on both regards. We had big plans to do a ton of stuff while we were in London but we only ended up doing about ¼ of the things we had planned. We both wore shoes that killed our feet and we even ended up buying Justin a new pair.

Plan for at least one nap in the hotel for your baby if they are still taking 2 a day. Stella only got 2 full naps the two days we were in London and both were in her stroller. It did not make for a very happy baby for much of the time we were gone but we still made the most of it.

Take cabs. While we tried to use the tube to be more environmental and save money (at the end of the day it was NOT much of a cost savings anyway) it was so much work with a stroller. There were few lifts/elevators and carrying bags and the stroller up stairs is not ideal, especially after being tired after walking and sightseeing, shopping, etc. all day. We finally just gave up and walked to most places and then cabbed back.

Be prepared for crowds. While we had just visited Munich and we live in Vancouver (both reasonably sized cities) I had forgot how crowded the streets are in London. I guess you also pay more attention to it as well when you are navigating with a stroller. Have patience and breathe…

We have a lot going on with our business right now but hope that the end of the week will bring some success and relief from a bit of stress.

The weather in England has actually been very nice and we’ve been enjoying walks along the Thames and exploring a bit. Stella still loves her daily trip to the park.

Outside the City Walls of Dubrovnik

Of everywhere we visited so far I’d say Durbrovnik was my favorite.  I highly recommend it to anyone who dreams of a Mediterranean get-a-way right out of Conde Nast.  Thanks to Craig we had a gorgeous villa with amazing views.  (Minus the 300+ steps from top to bottom—but we all have strong calves now).

Our Villa - A View From the Sea

There were kiwis, fresh herbs, lemons and limes growing right on the property and a lovely garden with roses and all sorts of trees and flowers.  This was amazing given that the villa was literally built into a cliff.  A lot of history in this house as well, it was used as a look out point during the war.  For more information check out this article that was featured in the Washington Post in 2002 where the writer stayed in our villa.  And yes, they left us homemade apple streudel as well.

The View From the Garden

Old town Dubrovnik is a beautiful walled city with red tiled roofs.  We did the walk around the entire wall and had some great views.  There’s also a monastery, one of the oldest operating pharmacies in Europe and many galleries.  I read that the City of Dubrovnik spends 22% of their budget on cultural projects – that’s a lot given the country is still recovering from war torn status.

View of Old Town Dubrovnik from Tower Lookout Window

There’s a lot of debate amongst the locals regarding how and if they want to become a big tourist destination.  Dubrovnik is already being called the Riviera of the Adriatic and there are 4-5 cruise ships docked their on any given day.  The locals didn’t seem to keen to have any of us tourists there either.  The friendliness of Greece was virtually non-existent here.

We also hit Korcula, an island about 100 KM from Dubrovnik.  We were lucky to have a very traditional and yummy meal at our friend Randy Farac’s family’s restaurant, “Mate” in Putnap on the island.

Lunch at Mate

Most of the trip was spent relaxing on our porch overlooking the Adriatic and cooking fantastic meals in.    While we had a pool and steps right into the sea it was too cold for swimming.  Justin and Craig did hit the sea twice just to say they had been swimming but Sanaz and I weren’t going to brave the cold.

The only complaint anyone had was that since the Dubrovnik area and Croatia for that matter isn’t very toursity, outside of the Old Town of Dubrovnik we were hardpressed to find many shops or restaurants in the little villages we went exploring in.  We did find a great roadside stand selling fresh oysters and mussels.  We got 2 kilos of mussels for 16 kuna…that’s about $3.50 US!

There is a lot to see in Croatia and it’s on my list for a repeat visit.  I think the best way to do it would be to do a sailing trip so that you can hit all the islands and coastal villages.  Maybe in a few years when Stella won’t be falling overboard!

We are back in Marlow now and back on line and contactable via phone easily.  So back to a normal life again.  We are here for a month so we hope to get caught up on work and with friends and family.

As for the simple baby travel…we have to say that we are ready to not get on a plane or go anywhere for awhile.  With Stella walking she doesn’t want to sit still for long.  So perhaps the simpleness of baby travel may be coming to a close but stay tuned!

A tip on staying in a villa with children.  Check out how many stairs there are and if the place is child friendly.  We knew going in that our villa was not recommended for small children.  We figured that since she was just learning to walk it would be OK.  Carrying her up and down the stairs wasn’t so bad and she actually climbed a few herself.  However, the challenges of baby proofing were quite high this go around and she actually fell from the picnic table while Justin and I were sitting and standing right beside her.  But children will be children and they are going to fall!  Our villa did provide a pack and play and high chair again which was great.

We continue to be happy to have had these experiences traveling as a family and look forward to our future plans.

We’ve hit all our favorites the last few days and here’s a round up of the best of our family trip:

1.  Villages:

Lardhos Bakery - Stella got a free bread stick every time

Lardos:  Nicest people we met and a real local feel.  Don’t miss the bakery and butcher near the vegetable stand.  Stella got a free breadstick every time we saw the bakery lady and “Mr. Vancouver” aka Justin, got 2 free sausages from the butcher every time.  We shopped there often.  And of course Roula’s the restaurant which I blogged about before.

Mr. Vancouver and the Butcher of Lardhos

Gennadi:  Great restaurant called Mamma’s Kitchen and also a nice bakery and vegetable stand.  Very local and you get a great feel for the island life here.

2.  The Acropolis and village of Lindos.  Gorgeous and incredible that it’s still here after so many years (their are ruins in the acropolis dating back to 400 BC).

Acropolis of Lindos

3.  Old Town Rhodes.  Beautiful walled city and again, incredible that it has survived this long and after so many different occupiers of the island of Rhodes (Italians, Turks, to name a few).

4. The mountain drive from the airport to Embona (wine area).  Beautiful scenery and different from the rest of the island (plenty of trees).

5.  Restaurants:

Dionysius in Lindos:  great seafood (they tell you what is fresh) and nice atmosphere.

Roulas:  mentioned above.  Good Greek food.

Mamma’s Kitchen:  as mentioned in an earlier blog.  Fantastic homemade Greek food in a garden setting in the village of Gennadi.

Tsambika’s Taverna:  at the top of the hill at Tsambika’s beach and on the way to Rhodes Town from Lindos.  Great views and good seafood and grilled meat selections.  Definitely worth the stop.

Lee Beach Cafe at Lee’s Beach/Pefkos.  OK, we liked it for more than the name.  Fantastic gyros and again really nice people.  Great views.  We went there more times than we can count.

Jasmine in Pefkos.  Nothing to rave about their food but they have:  bar, big screen TVs with football/soccer, and a playground for Stella.  Great combo.  We also went there often for high speed wireless internet.

6.  Catamaran to Marmaris:  don’t go for shopping as advertised but for the boat ride over (beautiful) and a walk along the port and thru the village.  Both are very nice and you actually get a feel for Turkish life.

7.  Beaches:  St. Paul’s Bay (great view of the acropolis, quaint and nice beach shack for drinks) and Pefkos (sandy);

8. Hikes:  Hike up Navarone Bay cliffs (Where “The Guns of Navarone” was filmed) and the hike of the mountains and cliffs behind our villa in Navarone Bay/Saltos.

All in all it was a fantastic trip to Greece.  Would we do anything differently?  One suggestion would be not to rent a villa when it is brand new.  Wait until it has gone thru one season so that all the kinks and problems are worked out and all those things you wish you had brought but have to go buy are already there.

As for some baby tips.

I mentioned this before but call ahead to see if your villa or hotel has baby gear so you don’t have to bring it.  Our villa provided us with a pack and play and a high chair and our car rental company, M&S (great company by the way) provided us with a free car seat to use.

And drum roll please…Ms. Stella finally walked.  Check it out.  We had been betting on when she finally would.  She’s been crusing for months and taking 2-3 steps here and there for the past few weeks but yesterday she took off. 


We are off to Germany to Oktoberfest on Wed.  Should be a fun time.

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