Un gros merci à mes parents!!! (by Bear)

Tout le long de ce voyage’ je pensais comment j’étais vraiment et vraiment chanceux d’aller sur un voyage tout seule avec mes parents

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Ce voyage a été une expérience inoubliable que je vais me rappeler toute ma vie.

Ma meilleure journée dans notre séjour était quand nous sommes allés à Mykonos .Pourquoi car nous sommes allés à la plage et parce que je me suis presque fait mordu par un pélican.

Quand nous sommes retournés à Venise nous sommes allés sur une gondole. J’ai vraiment aimé car nous nous sommes promenés dans tous les petits passages.

Pendant ce voyage, comme je le disais dans l’autre blog, j’ai dû coller des collants à des places originales pour gagner un certificat cadeau pour un magasin. J’ai collé les collants dans des places historiques autour du monde. Une des places ou je l’ais collés  est sur un canon à Athènes. J’espère bien gagner ce concours car le magasin qui nous donne le certificat est un magasin que moi et mon frère aimons  beaucoup.

En ce moment, je suis sur l’avion pour rentrer chez moi L

Aussi, ma mère a pris beaucoup et beaucoup de photos pendant notre séjour, elle a probablement pris près de 700 photos!!!! Moi j’étais dans au moins 600 photos. Près de la fin du voyage je me tannais de toujours être dans les photos donc j’ai décidé de dire à mes parents je ne veux plus de photos de moi!! Finalement ma mère m’a dit qu’elle allait plus prendre de photos de moi. Mais l’avant dernière et dernière journée elle me voulait dans cses photos. Donc je lui ai dit ok parce que c’est la fête des mères.

J’aime ma mère et mon père, il sont les meilleurs au monde.

Mother's Day in Venice

Mother’s Day in Venice  ( by my Protector, My guy, my Hubby-all the same wonderful man of mine:)

Travelling is quite an experience for the mind and the body. For the mind because of all the beauty, sights, culture, smells, tastes, languages and sounds  and generally the whole experience of absorbing so much information in so little time.


For the body because it is exhausting to be on the move continuously, not wanting to miss any of these precious moments.


I remember my first experience of travelling to Europe. I was 20 years old (that’s a little while ago!) and went touring in France from Paris, to Normandy, then making my way down to Toulouse and passing through Champagne, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and then Provence. It was my first contact with such a different world than our North American culture. I was impressed by the castles, the museums, the history behind all of it, the sights, the food, the culture everything that makes Europe what it is. Different.  Since then, on numerous occasions, I have travelled back to Europe to relive this first experience feeling.


But the journey this time was much more special because I could relive Europe through the eyes of Bear: HIS first experience of Europe.  Venice, Bari and Polignano in Italy, Corfou, Mykonos and Athens in Greece and  Dubrovnik in Croatia, finally ending it all back in Venice. That’s a lot of beautiful sights for 10 days.  Every stop had its special moment, its special experience. Bear almost even got eaten by a huge pelican roaming the streets in Mykonos. He looked friendly but don’t get too close we learned!


I am sure Bear will remember this vacation all of his life. It will stay printed in his mind forever.


It was all perfect. We enjoyed every moment to the brim.  I can’t even express how wonderful this vacation was. There are just too many memories in my mind but one really will stick with me forever.


This morning we woke up in Venice where we spent our last night after the cruise before coming home, sharing a room the 3 of us. Today is Mother’s Day. When Bear woke up, he crawled into bed with his Mom, hugged and kissed her and wished her a Happy Mother’s day. Even far from home, across the world, his bond to his mother is so strong. He just loves her so much and she loves her little Bear with such passion. What a beautiful sight!


If we are in Venice with Bear, it is because of her, of her purposeful parenting. Wanting to have something special for each of our children, memories that will last a lifetime, bonding us in a different way that we could at home, because of the craziness of our lives, always running around.

Happy Mother’s Day from Venice.

Ping-Pong Fini

Friday :

So tonight is our last day time at Sea. We disembark in Venice early Saturday morning. There we booked a hotel for Saturday night since flight is Sunday. We are all thrilled to tour Venice for another complete day. We thought it may have been too much to do 1.5 days at beginning of trip and a full day at the end…but there was a lot we did not have a chance to do –including a gondola ride-so we are happy to go back as the finale of the vacation.

Dubrovnik today was soooooo incredibly beautiful. What I love about these European cities is how within 30 minutes you can walk from incredible architecture, to amazing food, to breathtaking beaches…and it’s all by foot. Our kind of place. We walked around the old city, took a cable car ride of the sites with an incredible lookout point where we enjoyed bitter lemonade and beer, did a little shopping and went to explore the ocean for a good 30 minutes surrounded by amazing monuments.

Bad part was that we had to get up at 6am and the shipped docked from 7am -12pm so again way to short. Very depressing to return back to a cruise ship after seeing such beauty so early in the day.

Bear is a trooper-he is still really fun to be with and hardly asks or wants for anything at all. Never an ice-cream-never a drink-never a souvenir. Nada. But by this point in the trip his enthusiasm is wavering a bit too-he is tired and I think misses other kids(especially his kids aka brother and sister). Although most the time he is really happy to be with us..and passionate and excited about the trip-there are times I think he feels a bit lonely too.

None of our kids would make very good only children!  They seem to crave each other like oxygen.

But he has been amazing and a pleasure to be with just as we had expected. He comes down on us hard for a couple of things the main one is that he thinks we spend too much money frivolously (guess who just got named the executor of our Will)!  And we are not that lavish either..a beer here and there and a soda here and there..I mean we are on vacation . I bought a 12$ watch for myself today and he was not impressed at all.

Second thing is first three quarters of trip he was fine with all the pictures but now he is fed up! Maybe he is the one who threw my camera in the ocean?

Other than that he loves his Mommy and Daddy big time.

And he has become a Ping Pong fanatic. I mean 6 straight hours today at the table mostly by him!!! He has attracted Cliff the Chinese ping pong friend and an ex German Ping Pong all time tournament gold winner and he has learnt a lot this week. Each time we go and try to play with him he is usually found amongst his over 60 yr old buddies in a concentrated game.

And the pro told us he has “lots of potential and that we should send him to China to join the best table tennis club there is”. Ok mighty convenient that plan is!

So expect two blogs one more forced by Bear since he needs to meet the criteria of this all paid vacation with his parents alone and please my academic need of him writing this week. The second by my Protector, that he is anxious to do but literally has been no time to do as running one activity to another most days and he is a lot slower at writing than I am…although well worth the wait.

Just got back from one of our best evenings in the ship. A great circus show followed by an acrobat in the air show. Was really, really good. Followed by the best meal yet, so many good appetizers that we could not choose so ordered about 7 different ones as samplers. The actual main meals were equally as good. By the time the coveted key lime pie came around we were sad that we were too full to polish that off. I have to say we have eaten very well all around. We certainly did not lose weight on this vacation even if it seemed liked we walked endless miles. The food both in the countries and on the ship was yummy.

I am beginning to see the benefits of cruising in many ways; I could see us doing this again in the shorter term future. Takes us a while to get used to things but once we do we like them a lot. Some definite pros and other definite cons…but I liked it especially with a kid with us.

So all in all I sign off from this wonderful vacation with the following statements: Exhausting, breathtaking, bonding, beautiful, tours , I love  the sparkle of Latin people, I love the way blond young European men wear necklaces and smell good, I love the two amazing men travelling with me, I miss my two other kids at home a lot , I think my Mom is the sweetest lady on earth and an amazing and devoted Grandma, I love lemon anything, I am proud of myself for loving all the touring and never complaining  much about the guided tours, I can’t wait to travel all over the world after the kids are in university, I love being with Bear, being with Bear is so quiet compared to my three kids, I am happy to have turned my brain off for a week, I am scared to go back to the pile of work that awaits me, I feel more middle aged every year, I feelmore beautiful in Europe. I love my life.

I am a lucky girl.

Time Travelling

Thursday:

There are some people who don’t care about travelling too much and there are some people who live for it.  I would put Hubby and I in the category of almost near the people who live for it.

Our wanderlust levels are not at the highest peak there is-but our leisure levels are. And travelling if done well it is always accompanied by good food, lots of rest, memorable moments and lovely things to see. So I would say we live for our next trip.

My Sister Savvy understands what I mean..right Savvy?

For the 17 yrs we have known eachother we always talk about our lives in terms of the next vacation. I could name off her next 6 vacations much more easily than I could the name of her street, or neighbors or details of her job. So yes we live for it.

A few months ago my Mom asked me the question “what are some of the things between you and Savvy that are unique and special to your relationship?”. Talking about travel and trips is one of them for sure….right up there with talking about our daily lives. Which is interesting given that we live so far apart. We talk about the ins and outs of our daily lives and loves quite a bit and all the upcoming excursions. Whereas with most of my friends who live around the corner I focus on other things and less on my daily life and much less on my trips. It was a good question my Mom asked me. Made me realize how Savvy comes with me on all my trips and I come on hers with her too. We need each other on them.

What I realize each time I travel is how aware of time I become. I can’t believe that now I am already at that stage of my life where I am thinking “only 2 trips left as a family where Chase won’t be working part time..or only two trips left before all three are limited by the high school schedules”. I honestly can’t believe I’m already there.

Thank goodness I have used these years to travel with my family. Our best moments have been at the cottage and abroad. Our best memories come from experiencing things together outside of our daily life and routines.

I realize with each trip how precious these next few years are for me and we literally build our time around travel. When I write my boss and email requesting upcoming vacation it is never about the next season’s vacation it is about the next 3 yrs.vacation! We book our trips sometimes 1-2 yrs in advance! That is how important travel is to us…our lives are planned around it.

For us Europe and exciting places were key before we had kids. For the last 14 yrs however relaxing beach vacations and kids clubs have become paramount. Now that I have the taste of Europe back again on this trip(besides business travel which I have always done) it will be hard to keep me away. The next seven years will include Spain, Amalfi Coast and Capri Italy, a Greek Island Sail,some other type of boating or sailing trip abroad, Bali, California Coast and Costa Rica. Some with the kids and some without.

Now that the kids are older it’s easier to take them and easier to leave them too. Have I mentioned how great these years are in so many ways? Yes yes you get all the teen problems…but you get to travel too!!!! I can handle a few cigarettes and beers in exchange for that with a few broken curfews woven in…easy exchange.

My parents when I was young also took me travelling-and I loved it. We did not go as often or as far as we go with our kids…but they still always made it a priority and bless their hearts for that. They had limited budgets, but what they did have we always used for leisure and travel and family outings. They always made things interesting and lived life in a lot of ways to the fullest. They did not skimp when it came to fun and I always appreciated that knowing that financially things weren’t always smooth. I learnt to enjoy life because of my parents and the way I was raised. I learned to realize that the world was much bigger than the four walls of our home.

What’s interesting for me about travel is as much as I love it, I hate preparing and packing for it, and so does my Guy. We hate it. Thankfully that is where Savvy comes in (not to pack for us!) when it comes to planning. She picked and planned out this cruise for us-we just listened and booked it and paid for it. I am certain she will be picking out the next few too…..

So as I soak in the next and last two days of our trip with Bear, I remain grateful that we understand our priorities and act on them. Every moment of work I do is worth is for the luxury of travel and owning a cottage-I am serious when I say I would be in a huge depression if I lost my job for many reasons, but one of the main ones would be that it would seriously put my next trips and my cottage in some serious jeopardy.

So Savvy…goodnight. I know you are reading this because not only do you follow my blog always-as I follow yours-but I am on vacation so you may be opening that computer at the crack of dawn to live your wonderful wanderlust though me-just as I always seem to do when you are away. I appreciate that about us..and I treasure it. It occurred to me strongly on this trip that travelling is so very close to my heart and I am so blessed to have you share that portion of my heart so closely with me and understand how it beats so very well.

To fully understand that a cancelled flight or trip…is disastrous as far as we are concerned and we totally get that about eachother.

To know that although we are lucky to travel, and even luckier that cancelled trips could be considered a disaster for us…we also create our own luck and pave these beautiful roads for ourselves and walk them, keenly aware that we have mapped out in many ways where they will take us. We carry a compass at all times and adjust based on the eventual goal of where we want to go-despite bumps and obstacles along the way..we get there. And most importantly indulge in every moment and make them the very finest they can be. No matter what.

15 Best Moments (so far) Spendour of the Sea Vacation

15 Best Moments (so far) Spendour of the Sea Vacation

1-Getting our luggage on the boat in our room and crying out of sheer relief on the bed with Bear

2-Falling into bed the first night in Venice and sleeping for hours and hours
3-Bear’s Italian chop chop. Love his new hair!!!

4-The pelican almost biting bear in Mykonos!

5-Bear screaming in the restaurant in Athens when a cat licked him

6-Well hello again…Angry Bird!!!!

7-Realizing I can survive very well without a proper camera

8-Being calm everyday

9-Not thinking about work or about anything all day and night for 10 days

10-Getting emails from home telling us to be careful and not get pickpocketed in Rome (even though we are not in Rome!)

11-Being together the 3 of us 24 hrs per day and loving it (right now all 3 squished together in our bed each doing our own thing).

12-Greek salads, grilled feta, lemone Fanta, lemone gelato, soft chocolate ice-cream on the boat, pasta, antipasto, tzicki, watching Bear order cheese  plate  after cheese plate, shrimp cocktail, seafood pastas, Caesar salads and Thai BBQ. No grill cheese pleeze!

13-May 8^th and the moon

14-Beaches of  Corfu

15-How lucky and fortunate and spoiled we are to be able to do this type of trip with each of our children. It is incredible bonding time to see the world together…..and I am grateful for every single minute

(16) Can’t resist…..the fact that Bear just wrote an email to his sister at home and it started with ….”Hi beautiful….” Awwww………how sweet is that??????

The Quest for Nakedness

Tuesday: 

Naked came to mind a few times today. For various reasons.

Firstly we went to try and visit a naked beach in Mykonos-Super Paradise and secondly I felt naked all day myself since my baby fell into the ocean (my camera) L((((

Other than that-our day was PERFECT. Probably my favorite day so far of the vacation. Slept in super late until 11am-crazy really. Then went to Mykonos and rented a car for the day which was amazing freedom. And we may not be good at pub crawling but we are super good at beach hopping. Went to two great beaches and swan in the clear water and tanned under the hot sun. Chatted and enjoyed each other’s company all day long. Bear was back to himself today after 13 hrs of sleep and in a great mood.

Then I dropped my camera in the sea. And we were all horrified. Thank goodness that all of our pictures have been downloaded to computer the night before. But without my camera I truly feel naked-I am totally addicted to my camera especially on vacation. So I cried..really I did. And we bought some rice to soak it in just in case….but I know it is hopeless. IPod pictures it will be for the next few days.

So I wallowed in self-pity for an hour and then woke up and realized that maybe this experience would make me live more in the present for the next part of our vacation instead of focusing on capturing for the future? Maybe I would use it as an opportunity? And so I did and like anything I put my mind too, I started immediately.

So I felt the ocean on my body. I felt the waves. I looked at my Hubby and my son walking along the sand chatting and laughing, and heard the roosters in the background. I soaked it all in..and it felt good.

Isn’t it incredible how we compensate when we lose something important to us? So as soon as I lost my camera I fell back onto other senses. I tried capturing my day in my mind planning my blog, other senses were heighted and it was the perfect day after all.

And the naked beach. We were told by our taxi driver in Corfu that there were two beaches we had to visit in Mykonos-Paradise and Super Paradise. Super however a nude beach . You should have seen Bear’s eyes!!!! So we decided to visit it for a couple of reasons; firstly because we thought it would be a great story for Bear to take home and tell his friends and secondly Mykonos is the gay capital of Greece. I thought this would be a good experience for Bear to see this (upfront and center) in case he ever comes across gay friends or people in his life that it would make him more comfortable with the notion..more accepting of it to see it (IN HIS FACE) like that. Weird I know-but that is how my brain works!

So we went there-scared out of our minds-but no naked people or gay people that we noticed anyways!!! Just a beautiful beach. However when it came time to change we certainly did not bother using the dressing rooms that was for sure.

After our beach-hopping we drove through the winding roads and stopped at tiny chapels and said our prayers and lit candles. Then gave back car and walked through the Greek alleys into the shops, and treat stores. Bought little souvenirs, ate frozen yogurts, and asked all the locals where to eat the best pitas.

We did it all and loved every minute of our day. It was perfect. We got back to ship at 9:30pm at the very last tender and cherished the long and relaxed day.

Last reason naked came to mind today? My son is getting taller. And by next year I bet he will be taller than me. My older son will definitely be taller than me soon enough. I feel happy and sad at the same time. My kids have always been super mini-really tiny. And now they are growing up before my eyes. As I walk almost eye level with my middle son I feel naked without him looking as a child would. Naked as compared to my old life. I love the way both my sons still run to me, and open their arms to me, and throw themselves in mine. Will this change when they are taller than I am?

What will I possibly do?

So today the three of us are cuddling in bed, watching a movie, reading and blogging and we are happily spent, peaceful and happy.

I just wrote longer emails to my other two babies and my Mom and one of my sweetest friends. I miss them all, but am happy to have this time in Italy and Greece…living the way Europeans do. Slowly, indulgently and wonderfully. Appreciating every moment that has been given to me.

With or without my camera.

Cliffs and Sea

Monday :

Today was Corfu-it was way too beautiful and way too short of an excursion-we could have stayed there much longer.

And waking up this morning was definitely not the best part of my day (aka at 7am have your husband have one of his usual nightmares and scream that the top of his lungs like a 90yr old lady in his sleep). Not a great start to the morning I must say.

It got much better thankfully. Taxi into Corfu to a beautiful beach about 30 minutes form here. Went into the water and everything! Boat ride into the various caves and surrounding beach areas. Bear and I took a 30 minute nap while my Protector climbed up a huge hill to the monastery and took gorgeous pictures.

The water is the most beautiful color I have ever seen..a dark blue green and clear as glass. The mountains and cliffs surrounding make it completely stunning. I loved jumping into the water even though it was super cold-so refreshing.

Perfect lunch by the sea at a local Greek hangout. Greek salad with Feta, friend zucchini and tziki, shish kebabs with lemon, patates fritas and lemone Fanta. Really superbly delicious. Cold Beer.

Had to be back at boat by 2:00pm so that made for a very short day. Swam in the pool and read a bit. Hubby played golf with Bear and ping pong. Now Hubby taking a long nap and my turn to go play soon. I think Bear loves the touring part, but the cruising part is less fun for him. There are no kids his age here at all and think he is getting a bit fed up as only having Mom and Dad as company. He is not saying so but we can tell he misses his brother and sister. Parts of the cruise are great and other parts very restricting.

I am thinking a lot of home today…how is Chase? Didi? Beauty? Although we love being the three of us-we also miss them. There are so many things here that we see that I would love them to experience so part of me elated and the other part feels a little guilty.

I also feel sad I did not have a blog when Chase went to France with usL when I get home I am going to write a blog about that trip two years ago-it was also so special.

Most times perfect fun and great, but being on a boat if more confining than we are used to. Love this cruise to see Europe but not sure I would like it for the Caribbean.

Tonight is formal night..people in tuxes everywhere and evening gowns. I am sorry but “Give me a Break!” that is tacky no? So tonight is dress up I guess.

Excited for Mykonos tomorrow and Athens the next. Love the touring part.

Pray for us (and the 7^th level of the ship) that the little old lady I call my husband doesn’t dream of cops and robbers again tonight running after him….so that we will be in great spirits for our exciting day tomorrow-lol!!!!