Park, Park, Park & Park

The Temple of Posiden sits atop the end of the Athens peninsula- a great view into the Med.

...And the Oracle says...

The kids have been keeping diaries and doing math practice everyday since the start of their school holiday. It's needed a bit of prodding at points, but overall has been a great success. In Greece, they get the opportunity to work outside and then dive right in the pool as a reward.

We crossed the Parnasas mountains yesterday and arrived in beautiful Galixidi in the middle of the afternoon. Here we are along the port in town while gathering provisions for the house.  Provisions included local wine, fresh veg, lots of Greek yogurt, tahini and ouzo.

The Chelsea is right around the corner from our apartment in a residential area of Athens. We show up in the mornings for iced sweet coffees, and then pre dinner drinks in the late evening.

We are in the Agora today, having visited the hilltop of Acropolis yesterday.

After early flights for ALL the Parks- some from Chicago, others from London- we managed to meet in Athens. The apartment we are all at is fantastic- near to the good stuff and very helpful owners. We took a stroll this eve and found ourselves involved in the elaborate changing of the guards in front of the parliament  building.

Upon our arrival back from Spain to Gatwick Airport, we joined Bella and D at a nearby hotel (the airport is very near to where the family reunion took place, so no point in going back to London late Friday and then coming back to East Sussex the next morning). The girls had their own special time- swimming in the pool, getting their nails done, etc. Many of the extended Van Maurik clan gathered in Colemans Hatch for a lunch and games (Bella is a cousin).  Part of the celebration was to welcome Louisa and Ed back from their 2 year stint in New York. And Gilly (from the VM side) brought out her original Winnie the Pooh- he's pushing 100 years old.

Christian, Marco and Carlos. They all got on beautifully. And each learned a bit of the others language.

After dinner, the boys and I took over the pool table for some impromptu lessons.  This was the first time any of them had played so we invented a modified 8 ball game. Bedtime finally came around midnight, so it was quite exciting.

C and I left Pirbright Road at 430 am today. And now we're enjoying the surf in Calella, North of Barcelona. Joined with C are his new friends Carlos and Marco.

C and I strapped my camera to his helmet for a bit of an experiment.  Here's the video from YouTube: And here is a sample of the GoPro original .

Up to the high street this evening for a bit of pizza, and we bumped into half of Shedingdale School. Talis, D, C and Taro Taro, C and Matilda The Three Monkeys- Taro, C and Tino

C is 54 inches (137 cm) tall and weighs 58 lbs. D is 45 inches (114 cm) tall and weighs 37 lbs. Here they both are before summer camp earlier this week.  D was off to ballet and C was learning to sail and row and kayak.  And jump off of boats into the water.  It was "epic!", he said afterwards.

I took C, D and Matilda- C's classmate from the school year just ended- out for an afternoon of fun at the park.