The Babies' Second Birthday

Last Saturday, the babies celebrated their second birthday. We had a small get-together in the evening, with a BBQ, cake, and ice cream to celebrate. Above you can see the babies blowing out their candles. Well, actually here it seems that Paul is trying to help Benjamin blow out his.

Here they dig into their individual cakes/tarts after the singing of "Happy Birthday."

Benjamin's godparents, James and Ann, gave the babies squirt bottles, since they love going next door and playing with theirs. Naturally, a big squirt gun fight broke out. The babies went around spraying everyone. Here, our friend Justin is about to get his revenge on his son Michael, who is also two. The babies are playing with the water in the background.

The babies' main present was this disc swing from Ikea, which Pelagia hung on the balcony.

Our landlady, Kyria Maria, came down and brought homemade stuffed grape leaves (dolmadakia). Here she and Sophie watch as the babies play under the table.

On Sunday afternoon, we went on an outing with Michael Tishel and all his guests from Santa Rosa to Elder Paisios' tomb at the women's monastery in Souroti. Here is a photo of Paul and me sitting just outside the church. The elder's grave is in the background to the right.

Our friends George and Kalliopi from Panorama (who have 8 kids) were at the monastery for Vespers, so they helped out with the babies. Benjamin even sat with Kalliopi for all of Vespers. Afterwards, they stuffed themselves with Turkish delight and played in the water fountain.

On the way home, we stopped at the mall so that our guests could see what a mall looks like that is on land owned by the Ecumenical Patriarchate -- it has a functioning church right in the middle of its courtyard. Here the babies are playing on the ramp outside the church after we went in and lit candles.

For more photos from the weekend, click here.