Zoo Keeper's Log- The kids are all right

It is Friday, the end of our first week. I noticed I hadn't written much about the kids and how they are doing this past week. Seeing as how some of you, particularly family, may only be interested in this blog to get updates about the family and see cute pictures I figured I should do that more often.

My mom has an awesome blog: karlenepetitt@blogspot.com (check it out!). Every Friday she does a post called Friday's Fabulous Flyer, where she features and individual connected to flying. I've decided I should take a page from her book and every Friday feature my fabulous flyers. Keeping up with the theme of the blog, and the them of our lives, every Friday you can expect to find the "Zoo keeper's log". I will obviously continue to talk about the kids throughout the week, but every Friday will be dedicated to a more detailed update about them in general, not really Cyprus related. So, if you're not a fan of the parent blogs feel free to ignore the zookeeper's log :) So here it is, the first log with cute photos and all:


I guess we'll start with Mr. Miles because, well, he came first? As good of a reason as any... First order of business at the house was to 'beep beep' his cars around the table. (Yes, we brought almost an entire suitcase of cars and have bought three more since arriving. Sad.) He had a rough transition. Kept waking up around 2a (local time) ready to party. Would keep Ryan up for a good hour or two before finally being coaxed back to sleep. The past two nights he's slept all the way through so with any luck he's officially adjusted to the time zone. What he's not adjusted to is mama working at home and not being able to play with him. In Seattle, every time I worked from home I would be in the back, out of sight out of mind. Our biggest obstacle so far has been his tantrums over wanting mama to play with him. Mama is also having a tough time not stepping in when things get messy and trying to 'help'. Its really not good for anyone. So, starting next week I will be working at the museum 3-4 days/week instead. It makes me really sad because working here I at least get to hear the adorable things he says and its almost like I'm with him. Anyways, it will be better for everyone if I work away from home... sigh.

Other than that he is being his adorable self. He gets funnier and funnier by the day. Today he was really big on "exercising like papa". This meant going up and down the stairs and running laps around the pool. He seriously got a workout in. He love the house here and 'his pool' although he will never go in it. I got him in once (see picture), and now he always talks about wanting to swim 'later'. When later will ever get here I will never know...

My favorite 'Milesism' of the day was when Ryan took Ellis out of the bath (him and I were still in playing) and Ellis started throwing a fit. Miles just says "I know, sissy, it's tough. It's real tough, sissy. You'll be ok." Love him.

Some of you know I had this grand plan of coming to Cyprus and saying "no more diapers, they don't make them your size here" (turns out they make them way bigger than in the states and we actually have to move down a size for both kids... do they keep them in diapers longer here?). Well, perhaps not surprising but that didn't last. We've done a mix of diapers, underwear and just plain nakey. I'm not confident we are making any progress... It doesn't help that all of the bathrooms here are a little 'scary' even for an adult. Very different, echo and the toilet seats are way different. I'm hoping he will come around. But since he didn't take to it too well I'm going to give it a rest and try again in a few weeks. He still may be potty trained by the time we get home. He may not. We shall see. I'm fairly certain he won't go to high school in diapers...




Other than that, Miles is a great helper of my work. When he's in a good mood he loves to hang out with me and 'draw bones' too. He thinks its pretty exciting to have so many "doggy and kitty bones" laying around. Those in front of him he has designated for Bjax and MJ. He says "we take them home, Bjax eat them all up, MJ eat them all up. Yummy in their tummy". Those are some lucky pups :)



Now onto our little Elephant... Happy 7 months to you, Ellis! I cannot believe she is so old already. She isn't crawling yet, but loves to pop from the push up position to her crawl stance. At that point she'll either scoot backwards or pick up her arm to crawl which sends her rolling onto her back. She does great rolling around to get where she wants to go though. I'm sure she'll be crawling within the week at the rate she is moving. It makes me crazy nervous having her so unsteady around this place as the entire thing is tile. I'm use to carpet where the kids can take huge bonks and its not an issue. I've spent many stressful play sessions catching her falling noggin before it cracks against the ground. Today we had our first actual head meet tile experience. I knew it would happen eventually, and she recovered in less than 10sec, but the thud gives me chills :(

 Ms. Ellis, after doing fantastic on the trip over, has been in a downward spiral since. Poor girl was first plagued with jet lag and then two teeth decided to try to come in (I think actually four are working their way out, but two for sure). This little girl is in serious discomfort... can you tell? This was taken at 4a (local time) and she had still not slept for over 30mins at a time. No matter how angry this little bug is you can always get her to crack a smile! Mama, on the other hand, does not feel like smiling much at night. Or in the mornings... it is pretty difficult being productive on little to no sleep, but hey, thats been the past three years so nothing new there!

Ellis is not much of a fan of the pool either (notice the death grip), but boy does that girl have some adorable swim wear :) I don't know what is wrong with my kids, but they will learn to be little fish whether they like it or not! Actually, when its not too cold Ellis loved sitting in her little floating and splashing. This girl loves to splash water... in the pool, in the tub, on her high chair tray after dumping some out. She always looks so proud after 'figuring it out'. (Speaking of figuring it out, Miles' new favorite thing is to ask me a question that he already knows the answer to, when I say "I don't know Miles, what do you think?" He replies "Figure it out mama").

Ellis is also starting to experiment with some words. She officially says "mama" but only when she's really pissed and crying/screaming for me. So nice that I'm her first word, but she has to be po'd to use it. I've also heard her repeat things I say to her a lot like "papa" and "all done" but I'm not convinced she knows what she's saying (especially with 'all done'). Either way, she is way more talkative than Miles ever was at this age. I can't wait to hear the two of them have conversations!

I think that is all for now in the zookeeper's log. Here are a few more adorable Ellis pics to even out the animal picture count :) Enjoy!

Celebrating our independence from the British with the Brits?

Most of you are just beginning your fourth of July festivities... drinking, eating and of course fireworks. I have to say I'm pretty excited that my sleeping children won't be woken up from fireworks at midnight (yes, I'm that lame old lady now... those damn kids and their ruckus!), but it is a very strange thing to be 'celebrating' a national holiday internationally. More importantly, very odd to be celebrating our independence from the British in a largely British tourist spot.

I was curious as to how things would 'go down'. Would there be some unspoken hostility? Complete indifference? Well, no. Not either of those things. Instead there is some mild celebration. Apparently fireworks do happen somewhere on the island (the museum director Antonias was talking about them but between his thick accent and my poor geography knowledge I have no idea where). Even more strange, all morning they were lighting off fireworks right next to the museum... at the Royal Airforce Base. Yes, there are a few US troops stationed there, but it still struck me as strange. Here is the British military celebrating America's independence from them. Maybe they are thankful we're out of their hair? With all of the political craziness going on back home I can't say that I blame them (don't worry, I won't turn this into a politically inclined blog... I don't have the energy).

So, to all of those back home, enjoy your holiday, your beer, your food and your freedom from the British. Rest assured they are enjoying their freedom from us as well :)





Ryan decided to enjoy his holiday break by tagging along to work with me. Don't worry, I took him to a nice 'work lunch' at the beach.

Don't Drink the Water...Drink the Beer

It's no surprise that in a lot of foreign countries its probably not a good idea to drink the tap water. So, as a traveler, you get used to buying bottled water and making certain you have it with you all the time. Here are some examples of when not to drink the water:

1. On the street in China

2. In a small village in Chile

3. In a small village in Rajasthan when offered it to wash down Opium an old man offers you

4. And so on....

Above are only some of my experiences where, luckily for my health, I didn't drink the local water. As for the Opium, I didn't try it, but that was for other reasons of judgement and could be considered a subjective matter.

As for Cyprus, the water is fine so its not really an issue, but it does bring up a good point. Other than water, what else is there to drink? Well, beer, naturally!

Beer has been considered the great social lubricant. Monks have brewed it for centuries and throughout that time the beverage has spread around the world in one form or another. Local beer, among other drinks like coffee, liquor, and so on are just a part of the cultural experience of traveling to a new place. Here in Cyprus, the locally brewed beer is Keo. It comes in a can or a bottle and fits in nicely at the beach or pool and is suitable for every hot day. It will not discriminate against morning or afternoon, Monday or Saturday (or any other day of the week) and at only 4.5% alcohol by volume, it could be considered a session beer (i.e. you can drink it all day long). Ok, let's be serious, I'm getting carried away here. Besides, I have to work remotely while I'm here. Not just relax by the pool and drink Keo. At any rate, however, it's better than Carlsberg or Heineken. And to commemorate my first local beer, I had a photoshoot. So please enjoy.

To Shift or Not to Shift

Oh hello, how did all of you get into my blog!? Well, while you're here, let me introduce myself. I'm Ryan and this is my first post and this actually isn't my blog. It's our family's blog, of which my wife (Kayla) will be the first author. I will be the much less frequent, so much more mysterious almost like a ghost, second author. At any rate, my two cents will get dropped in the bucket o' blogosphere every so often....so here I go.

The first time I drove a manual car in a foreign country was in Italy during our honeymoon. The first time I thought I might die in a car in a foreign country while not actually driving was in India (i.e. car off the road in a tree (someone else's car)!, a person on a bus sleeping got bounced completely off their chair and onto the ground!). Cyprus oddly falls somewhere between the two. To start, they drive on the wrong side of the road (a new experience for me) and they drive on the wrong side of the car (also a new experience for me) and our car for the first few days is stick (never owned a manual and haven't driven one since Italy). Between Kayla and I, I'm the only one that can drive a stick (thank you to all the friends who let me practice on their cars throughout the years). What I mean to say is that I know how to drive a stick, but it is by no means second nature and with all the other factors to consider in Cyprus I'm not sure what is actually natural about it. Nevertheless, off we go into the hills of Pissouri.

View from our temporary home!

Oh, there's hills, huh!? Yes, a most-of-the-time-one-lane-windy-road takes us from the coast to the villa we are staying at and then on to the town of Pissouri. Like India and Italy, people drive fast and crazy and, moreso like India, lane lines are merely a navigational suggestion and are purely there for reference, if you so choose. However, there are no lane lines on the windy roads I've been driving for the last few days, so what reference do I have again? Oh, the road; let's stay on that. But wait, do I dodge left or right to get out of someone's way? And does uphill or downhill have the right-of-way?

The answer to the first question is that you dodge left (your side of the road). It makes sense, huh, but in the heat of the moment (i.e. a large tractor is driving on the one lane road towards you) you rely on habit, which is to say that you dodge right. This is wrong and is punishable by a death stare by the man on the said tractor. The answer to the second question is that I still don't know. My more passive nature says that I always dodge going uphill or downhill, which when driving Kayla, our nanny and our two kids, is probably always the right answer. But wait, is it possibly the wrong answer?

Lastly, technology or at least my access to this technology has improved since I last drove stick. The toyota we're borrowing actually has an indicator light that tells you when to shift. I discovered this the second day of driving here. Thank you helping hand of technology that takes the uncertainty of thought and feel out of driving a manual. Normally I watch the RPMs and listen and feel the engine. Now I don't have to. And now I can focus more on staying on the right side of the road!

"the" exit

Ryan and I got a lesson in navigating around Cyprus today... We set out to find the Kourion Museum in Episkopi, where all of the materials I need are housed. Google maps gave us directions and told us it was approximately 25k away. This is the only time you will probably ever hear me say this, but thank goodness I took so much math in school. While there is no way I could ever pronounce the Greek words at least I could copy the letters down on paper. Here is just an excerpt from our 'trip'.

Me: "Go right on 'sum' 'pi' 'alpha' 'alpha' 'delta' squiggly line"
Ryan: silence
Me: "It should be the fifth right"
Ryan: "Here? There are no signs..."

(Turns out there are very few street signs in Cyprus, and even if there were, Cypriots don't know street names they only use landmarks/destinations eg. the road to the beach... not so helpful for non-locals)

At which point we turn and instead of the road we thought would take us 1k we end up in a dead end with a random horse. Yes, a horse.

Also, how do you know you missed a turn to stay 'on' a highway? Your road ends. Yup, that happened too...

Finally, and this is the best part, google maps gave us great directions with street names (which no one uses and aren't posted), distances etc. but our directions to get off of the freeway were "Take the exit". That is it. The exit. Ok. No problem. Guess we'll figure it out when we get there? Surprisingly enough, the one thing google did not label for us ended up being the most obvious and easy to follow direction.

Moral of the story, street names, directions etc are all just complicated details. Pick the right cardinal direction, take the exit and wing it.


*We did make it to the museum :)

Forgetful Me

Two things I conveniently forgot about Cyprus: 1) it is HOT and 2) the drivers are crazy.

Ok, so I remembered it was hot, in that people ask “what is the weather like there?” and I reply “it is really hot, like over 100 degrees”. That is all fine and good. What I forgot was what over 100 degrees feels like. And what dealing with that heat with jet lag feels like. It is not fun. The kids don’t seem as bothered by it, thankfully. Except the fact that Ellis is a little sweat bucket and holding her in this heat is miserable.

We took the kids to the beach today, and the sand is so crazy hot you cannot walk without shoes (again, forgot that part). Miles still had a great time. Poor little Ellis though, she was not happy. She was so overtired, and my plans to have her nap peacefully at the beach were just that, my plans. She, on the other hand, wasn’t feelin’ it. She was hot, I was hot, I could not get her to sleep. It didn’t help matters when, in the midst of our mutual misery, this family strolls up with their two older kids and toddler who is passed out in a stroller. They transfer him to a lounge chair, strip him down and he peacefully continues to sleep (until my screaming baby wakes him up, my bad!). Ellis was so good on the plane I figured I’d give her some credit and assume she could handle a beach nap. To be fair, she probably can, I think the combo of the jet lag, heat and all of the new sights and sounds were working against her. We will try again. Miles liked the beach though. He is nervous about going in the water, but I get that, it is totally new. He started having major meltdown towards the end of our trip. Again, I think it was the jet lag combined with the heat. It was one of those moments where I mentally store it away to remember that next time a see a kid melting down to not judge… they might not be a total brat. They could have traveled for 26hrs the day before. This is one thing I’m constantly trying to improve on… not judging other parents I see in public. I think we, as parents, judge ourselves enough.

Crazy driving. So they drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road here. Confusing, yes. Weird, yes. Dangerous? No. Cypriot driving regardless of ‘side of the road’, however, is flat out scary. I remember when I was out here last, the person driving was terrible. My friend Katie and I would always remark about how awful he was. I remember him making a comment that to drive here you needed to be crazy and aggressive to fit in and be safe. Katie and I thought he was just making excuses. Nope. He was right. You do have to be crazy and aggressive. I have a feeling Ryan might expand on this topic as the past two days he has been the driver (we don’t get an automatic until tomorrow and I can’t drive a stick). But the main idea is that we live on a hill that is very steep. This translates to switch backs all up and down, blind hairpin turns every 50 meters or so, and the fun part? The lane is not wide enough to fit two cars. Even more fun? People drive FAST. Like really fast. Like fast if you were on a straight road all alone fast. But our road is not straight, and only has room for one car. Yes. I think you get the point. I may have a heart attack… actually, more likely I’ll start driving like a crazy woman and be nuts when I come home. Consider yourself warned.

A very generous section of road (both in quality of pavement and width). There is another hairpin turn behind me.

Random Thoughts:

Everyone was pretty jet lagged today, so after a star viewing party at 2a local time, Miles and Ryan decided to sleep in until 9:30a local time. Here is what I found when I peeked in to wake them up:

Love it. Ryan is ‘camping’ in Miles’ room with him for a few days and Ellis is snuggling with me in the bed until they get used to the new rooms. With the way Ellis dominates the entire bed I’d say she’s adjusted just fine. If only pesky mom would move and let her have more room…

26 hours and 3 countries later...

We made it! All still alive, all (mostly) sane. I was more than a little dubious when at 7a, 15 minutes before scheduled departure of flight one, I hear “No go Cyprus, just want to go home.” Oy ve. Poor little guy. But he rallied and did fantastic the entire trip.

Our first flight to NY wasn’t too bad. At 5.5 hours it was Miles’ longest flight by three hours. He did absolutely amazing! After his rough start we were able to get Ellis asleep and Miles happily watching Jungle Junction right after take off. He stayed thoroughly entertained the entire time. Ellis is a total champ. She napped for a little bit, woke for a good two hours smiling the entire time, then napped again. Such a world of difference from Miles as a baby!

Our first layover in NY was a little rough. Miles had a ton of energy and was way overtired. It was now an hour past his normal nap time and we had woken him up at 4:30a (so I can’t really blame the guy). We were letting him run crazy, having a good time. I was starving, so we decided to try to eat at a restaurant… BIG mistake. Cue massive meltdown, followed by hitting head on table escalating us to majorly horrible meltdown, followed by hitting head again leading to catastrophic meltdown. The cause? I asked him if he wanted milk or water :/ Yup. We’ve hit a wall. In retrospect I realize it was all my fault. I have a two year old who was just amazingly patient and sitting still in a seat for 5.5hrs (on little sleep). We finally get off the plane and what do I do? Ask him to sit in a seat at a restaurant. Fail. I will remember that next time. Of course he wanted to just be up and running around. I totally get it, but the thought didn't even cross my mind. Regardless, we survived and surprisingly he was willing to get on the second airplane without much fuss.

Plane ride two was NY to London, 7hrs. It was an ‘overnight flight’ but being on Seattle time for us it was an early evening flight. Our typical ‘bedtime’ would hit about 2hrs before we land. Fortunately this happened:

Both kids were so exhausted they passed out even before we got into the air! Miles' nap only lasted about an hour. Ellis not much longer… I thought for sure she’d sleep longer considering she was awake our entire layover etc. This flight was a little tougher, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Ryan did an awesome job of entertaining Miles while I tried to kept the little miss in check. That part was pretty easy, because she did awesome, again. Amazing. I know what its like to have an infant scream inconsolably the entire flight (Miles, ahem), but even when she was awake and clearly overtired she would always give a smile. She is turning into quite the flirt as well. After a very overtired Miles had a few meltdowns, we were finally able to get him to go to sleep again. Unfortunately, we only had an hour left in the flight so I knew we had to wake him up again… poor guy.

Overall, flight two was a success and the worst part about it was my own tantrum. I got all anxious and frustrated because I couldn’t get Ellis to sleep after she woke up early from her first nap, still tired. I was hot, she was hot, we were both not very happy. The kicker is, if I just let her sit and play she was happy and content. So why couldn’t I just let her be?! I don’t know what is wrong with me. I think it is left over from traveling with Miles as a baby, because whenever she is awake but ‘should’ be asleep I feel like that is my mission and I MUST make it happen. Then when I can’t I get super frustrated which only fuels the anxiety. With Miles he would hit a wall and then be inconsolable… I was terrified of hitting that wall with Ellis on one of these long flights, especially when Ellis crying means Miles crying. But apparently she doesn’t have that wall (at least not on this trip, I’m sure it exists). She would get tired, get fussy and I could rock her to sleep. Amazing. It took me a good 45 min of being hot, anxious and frustrated before giving up and letting her be though. Once I did, we were both a lot happier. Lesson learned.

Lay over two was in London, Heathrow airport. Miles, despite being hard to wake up was super adorable when he finally came to. We were able to get a new car (surprise surprise) some food and coffee. This was my first time to London, and I have to say that in all of my traveling over the years this was the one place where I felt the most culture shock. And I didn’t even leave the airport! Maybe it was the fact that I knew we spoke the same language, but we definitely were not speaking the same language. At least in other locations I expect different languages and communication difficulties, but after the porridge and the dummy and the ‘buby’ I was thrown.  Very odd indeed.

Miles wasn’t too excited to get on the third plane, but happy to hear it was our last one. His spirits improved with the gift of the car and when he found out we got to ride a bus to get to our plane… awesome! He was beyond grumpy and didn’t want to sleep, which is all he really needed. We finally convinced him to lay down and for the most part him and Ellis slept. Ryan got to sleep a bit too… I had finally shifted Ellis into a comfortable position and had just fallen asleep myself when BAM! drink cart to the shoulder. British Airways is awesome and has great service, but man do they man handle those drink carts. They are all business and just go for it. I saw many others get nailed as I was nursing my own injury. Needless to say, I didn’t fall back asleep L

Miles woke up an hour before we landed… this is when he really hit the wall. We had a lot of tears which made Ellis cry. A really rough hour. I got super frustrated but kept trying to remind myself that this wasn’t him and he was just really really tired. Afterall, he was functioning on less than 5hrs of sleep in 24hrs. This is a kid that usually sleeps 12hrs every night and a 1-3hr nap during the day. I can’t blame him. To be fair though, I was going on 30 min of sleep so my frustration was understandably hard to contain. We managed though, got him calm enough. Got off the plane. This is where we just started to have meltdown after meltdown. We made it though. Both kids got in a quick nap on the hour drive to our place and we were finally there. (more on the place in the next post)

Overall, I think the trip was a huge success. We ended up traveling with our nanny (more on that later) thinking that we needed the extra help, but we managed really well ‘on our own’. It was definitely nice to have someone to hold the baby for a few minutes while I went to the bathroom during our layovers, but on all of our flights she wasn’t even sitting with us and I’m quite proud of how well we all did. I am so proud of Miles and Ellis. This was no easy travel day, not even for veteran travelers. They were both little champs and far exceeded my expectations. One or two rough hours out of what ended up being a 26hr day is just plain amazing. It was just another reminder that I don’t give them enough credit, Miles especially. He was so difficult when he was little, but he really is such a good boy now. I am so lucky to have two perfect little animals.

Other observations from the trip:

I hate other kids on airplanes. Their crying/screaming/not as cute as my kids' conversations wake up my kids. I wish I could take my kids on a ‘no kids allowed’ flight… it would be so much easier.

The iPad and playdo are the greatest inventions ever.

British Airways is way more awesome than American Airlines.

One thing I did not anticipate is home sickness. Miles frequently said he just wanted to go home. M: “Go home now, please.” Me: “Don’t worry, baby, we’re going to a house and we can get some good sleeps” M: “I want to sleep in my fire truck bed. Play with my toys. No airplane, no like Cyprus, go home now, PLEASE!” He seems better now that he’s getting more rested, but it completely caught me off guard. Thinking about it, I guess I should be prepared for more of that in the coming weeks L

Chewed gum looks remarkably a lot like playdough...watch Miles more carefully next time.