2016?!?!?! Oops!

Ohh goodness.  I sat down for a few minutes and quickly realized I was planning our next trips but have completely forgotten to post in months!  I have some serious catching up to do.  

Ok, so looks like I need to start way back from the end of November!

A few months in and the kids seem to be completely settled.  Donuts while waiting for haircuts for the boys.

Bryce has been thriving in school.  He comes home everyday with a different book assigned and his reading is coming along so well!

Charlotte still loves the playground and the swing especially.  

For once she actually let me get a picture of the two of us together!

Since we are so far away from family during Thanksgiving everyone went a little crazy with celebrating.  We ended up having 4 Thanksgiving dinners!  Here is what was left of the food from Sean's office Thanksgiving lunch.

Thanksgiving Dinner number 3 was on the actually day.  We went over to a friends house who has a huge outside space for the kids to play.  I was asked to bring rolls.  :)  I do love to make bread.

Charlotte loved her silly Turkey hair bow!

Soccer field full of American kids!  It was so great to let them just run and play.

Our host Steve with one GIANT bottle of wine.  

Lots of food, kids, friends, made for a very fun evening!

Sean and I found it very amusing to see all the signs for Black Friday!  Since he had the day off from work we went to the Mall to buy the boys their Christmas gifts.

As you can see, even though there were sales, the Greeks have not gotten the memo to shop that day.  It made for some very fast and easy gift buying.

 I wish I would have remembered to get more pictures, but here are the only two I got of Thanksgiving dinner number 4.  We hosted the two Greek families that work for Sean and our neighbors.  Did all our traditional foods. It was fun to show them a little bit of our American culture after spending the last few months of them showing us theirs.  

A beautiful week in November.

I finally got a chance to visit the boys school for Parent/Teacher conferences.  It was fun to see their classes and what they were up to.  Here is Bryce's class, a whopping 14 kids.  ;)  

Here is a picture of all the kids in Bryce's class the first week of school on a dress up afternoon.

First day of winter uniforms.  Its like school at Hogwarts.  

Ryan lost another tooth and now looks like a little Jack-O-Lantern.

To make sure Nanie got a chance to see some of the amazing history in Athens, we did a walking tour.  Toddler on back and ready to go.

Amazing artifacts, jars for holding wine/food, and this is just at the subway.

 Parliament House.

 We were able to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.  

 The beautiful neoclassical Zappeion Hall.

 The National Gardens.

 Temple of Zeus, it was built in 550 BC, it was originally 104 columns.  Sadly only 15 are still standing.  Regardless, its still an amazing site.

 Off to climb up the Acropolis.  Its actually just the rocky outcrop above the city. All the buildings are in different stages of repair and renovation.

 This amazing 2,000 year old stone theater still hosts concerts all summer long.

 The views from the top near the Parthenon overlooking the city is breathtaking.  Being able to see all the way to the sea is even more amazing.

Beautiful November day with my girl and Nanie!

We took Nanie to the delicious Cap Cap Cake with friends.  This is Charlie's sweet friend Gracie.  The girls loved the hot chocolate that was as big as their heads.  ;)

Sean and I had plans at the Marine Corp Ball so thankfully Nanie offered to go with the kids to their school's annual Harvest Party.  Its like of like Halloween and a fall party combined.  

Sean and I got all Ball ready.  

Here are the guys in Sean's office all dressed up.

The lovely spouses of Sean's office.

 

Some of my sweet friends here.

Charlotte got really excited that I had my nails done for the Ball, so I gave her, her first mani and pedi.

Can you tell she loves it?  

Here she is now pretending to be a silly kitty.

Here is Nanie's last night in Athens.  We went out to a South African restaurant that is known for its beef and steak dishes.  Greeks generally don't eat much beef so finding good steaks is hard.  This place was amazing! 

Of course after dinner we had to stop for ice cream!

We sure miss Nanie.......come back soon!