Well, we’ve tried but the lemons keep being too tart (or rotten), the sugar is infested with ants or the water is tainted.

The truth is, it’s been a rough road since we landed in England.

Justin and I finally had a moment of truth and confessed that this just hasn’t been the trip we had planned.

I could give you a run down of all the hurdles and issues we’ve had in the past month but you would not believe it.  We are pretty certain most people would have given up at this point.

And we can’t say we haven’t tried really hard to make the most of it.  Each day we wake up and think, “oh, this is going to be a better day,” but something inevitably happens…yesterday it was our kitchen sink overflowing, raw sewage in the backyard (we apparently aren’t supposed to put toilet paper in the toilet – or any toilet on the island for that matter…no one told us) and a hour drive to the airport to find out Justin’s brother (Brandon) missed his flight…it was an hour back at 11 PM as well.

We’ve also been trying to stay on top of work.  Using a dial-up connection and cell phones that don’t always work have made this rather difficult.  And also means we are working way more than we had planned.   Just more frustration that we don’t have any control over.

So this morning we decided let’s just try even harder to make the most of it.  We’ve put some limitations on ourselves with the email/interenet (only when Stella is asleep and we are also going to have one of us go to an Internet Cafe a few days a week to be more productive).  Visits to the beach are mandatory at least every other day (if you can believe it, we haven’t even spent more than 20 mins. on a beach yet…I had planned to go every day but with all the headaches we’ve had and running around it’s just not happened).  And not so concerned with trying to have meals in.  Stella has done really well going out for dinner and lunches (even a 9:30/10 pm dinner) that we can now pretty much go out anywhere and anytime (within reason).  It helps that she is on a later schedule and takes massive naps and that in Greece it is perfectly acceptable for your child to crawl all around the restaurant and half of the diners to pick her up and play with her.  (VERY CHILD FRIENDLY here)!

We went for a great long late lunch on the beach today and spent some time at the beach playing in the sea and sand (Stella the little prima dona did not like the sand at all and squealed everytime it got on her and refused to put her feet down…).

And I’ve tried running in the afternoons which has been great.  A little break for me away from it all and some great scenery.  I guess I’m getting used to the heat finally.

On a lighter note…we thought we’d give it a try at potty training Stella while we were here.  She seems to “get it” if she has her swimmer on that she has to go the bathroom now so we’ve been leaving her in that to get her used to knowing when she has to go.  Today we took her swimmer off for a bit and let her run around…well, actually, we did this twice…and both times we had quite a mess to clean up!  Not sure how much more we will try this tactic but she seems to be catching on a bit.

So on to happier days.  We have 3 1/2 weeks left here and we fully intend to enjoy them.

Enjoying the Pool in the Boat!

Baby Tips:

Bring something to the beach that keeps the sand off of baby for her/him to play in (we’ll be taking Stella’s inflatable boat next time).

Bring plenty of liquids (water!) to the beach for baby to drink.

Don’t forget to reapply sunblock and stay in the shade or under an umbrella as the suns rays are very hot and you’ll still get sun from the reflection of the water.