It’s Wednesday night and I should be at our family Bible study group, but I’m home because Camille won’t stop peeing in her pants. You would think she’d be over it by now, but no. She’s what I call a “functional pee-er.” I don’t think she has accidents, like she can’t hold it in and the pee goes everywhere, like my poor friend Mary-Lou in first grade, but she wets enough so that she doesn’t have to go to the bathroom and then continues along with life in damp clothes. So gross.
I’d already changed her out of wet clothes right before we left to go to our friends’ house. And yesterday was at least twice. It usually only happens at home and barely happened at all on vacation, but this week has been extra awful. So when I noticed she was wet during singing tonight, I figured, “Hey, logical consequences,” and told her we had to go home and change and go to bed. I know everyone says kids “won’t go to kindergarten in diapers,” but I’m seriously doubting it with this one. (Or maybe the saying is they “won’t go to college in diapers,” but how is that encouraging?!)
She was upset about leaving, so maybe that will give her the incentive she needs to get up and go next time. I’ve already had her checked out for a UTI or any other possible medical issue that might be causing this . . . Nope. It’s just the way she is. The more kids I have, the more firmly I fall in the nature over nurture camp. Or maybe I’ve lost my touch the 4th time around . . . I’m waiting for my mom to post how I used to pee while watching Sesame Street because I didn’t want to miss anything. But I don’t think I was still doing that at 4 and a 1/2 mom, huh?
On to times in my life I will want to remember 20 years from now: Beach days on Crete.
I had read about a shack on a beach that was off the beaten path that served incredible home cooked food so we set out to find it. We were in an area called Stavros, a series of beaches which is famous not just for its beauty, but because the end of the movie Zorba the Greek was filmed there. (Since it takes place in Crete, I’ve added it to my list of movies to see eventually.)
Based on a few landmarks and a couple of painted wooden signs we made our way past the main beach and found this secluded cove and the “restaurant.” Tables in the sand, palm frond umbrellas for shade and a camper that serves as the kitchen. I wasn’t sure that good food could come out of a travel trailer, but Trip Advisor rarely fails me so I was game.
It’s a beautiful beach with a rocky, tide pool edge.
The famous Zorba cliff — the beach at the base of it is where all the tourists go
The kids looked for sea creatures and hopped from rock to rock while we settled in and ordered lunch.
House wine on the beach. This one was so good that Josh asked where it was from. The owner gets it from someone who makes wine privately, but they found an empty water bottle and poured Josh some to take home with us. We found this kind of hospitality all over Crete.
I didn’t take photos of the food, but again, I should have. Cretan salad, meatballs with tomato sauce and polenta, a baked spicy feta dip (that Carter kept hoarding), grilled local fish (anchovy type, grilled whole) . . . magic came out of that metal box on the beach. It’s still mystifying how everything we ate was the best thing we ever had. You’ll see that I repeat this theme at every meal. Best ever. All of it.
Then we grabbed chairs down by the water and watched the kids and read books.
No waves, but the kids still had fun paddling around
The water looked like diamonds and glass
We walked down the beach and out onto the point (well the boys did and then they ran back to get us) where there was a lagoon on the edge of the ocean, completely walled in by rock.
2 feet deep — a private bathtub on the Mediterranean
Then the boys swam back across the bay and Camille and I walked
These two strays followed the kids up and down the beach. They were both so sweet and loved being petted. Look at the clouds moving in — they stayed away while we were at the beach, but moved in later that night.
Another satisfying day — restful, beautiful, adventurous, and unexpected.
We ate at home this evening with groceries from the store up the street. While Josh was cooking (I think he did scrambled eggs with feta, sausage and Greek seasoning with a side of yogurt and fruit for dessert) the wind started picking up and we began to see flashes of lightning in the sky. We ate outside under a canopy as the rain started to fall and the lighting and thunder were all the dinner theater we could have asked for.
The kids were as excited about the rain (or more so) than anything they’d seen or done on our vacation so far. When we only see it twice a year, any rain is special. This rain was spectacular.
Meele’s take on the storm
view of our night sky
