my big fat greek vacation!

Who would have thought that Elias would be so lucky to have his first plane ride, first dip in the ocean and first swim in the pool at the ripe ol' age of three and a half months! Not me! But after some serious persuasion from my sister and mother I agreed that it was too good of a time to pass up - so us girls left Syracuse's weather behind (a shame I know) and headed for sunny Tampa. I was really worried about how the baby would behave on the flight, but as it turned out he's a real natural when it comes to travel. If he wasn't observing the people around us or watching TV on the headrests he was peacefully (and thankfully) sleeping. I was secretly worried about the recycled air and coughing passengers, however, everybody remained healthy and well both there and back. Although we were only gone for a weeks time, somehow Elias underwent a huge transformation hitting one milestone after another; halfway rolling over, teething and drooling, pulling his head up, standing for long periods of time and most notably advancement with this chatting including "ahh-goo" and other fun stuff. It must of been that hanging with the Greek ladies brought out the chatterbox in him. It was really amazing! I felt like I brought home a new baby boy. Mo was so excited with all his new tricks (no he's not a dog, but come on what else would you call them!?) that he brought down from the attic all these big boy toys and standing swings...totally cute.

Anyways....here's some pictures from our trip:

We had a little pizza party with everybody the first night. Here's my mom, myself and my sister and the ever pensive Elias

The Boca Grande Shaffer's came up to meet the baby!

...and our lovely hosts, Meghan and Josh!

We spent a few days at the pool performing the customary sun worshiping ritual in order to rejuvenate our cold winter spirits. And yes, that is greenery that you see. One day soon we'll be able to enjoy leaves on the trees and flowers budding...sigh...

Also, I was really excited because I've been dying to swim with Elias - having noticed that he's a true water baby! He instinctively started kicking and kicking away. It was fun!


I tried to teach Elias eye safety and purchased him some groovy shades from the local Target. Obviously he's cooler than school (according to his expression) unfortunately they were too big on his head!
I'm not going to lie and say the weather was a dream as it rained harder than I've ever seen for two of the days we were there! I have no pictures of those days, but if I did it would look like a bunch of girls in their PJ's, drinking coffee and goo-ing and gaa-ing at the baby. Thankfully though we did make it to the beach at St. Pete. I was really excited to "baptize" the baby in the sweet salty water...

Anyways here we are...the first ever dip in the ocean!

...the first footsies in the sand

who am I kidding - the first time without socks in months!!

Swimming with Maddie, my little cousin who was the best little baby helper!

And of course Elias with his yaya (grandma in Greek) I'm pretty sure you can see her beaming at her little grandson :)

and finally my little cabana boy getting his diaper changed. I couldn't help but notice his tired and grumpy little face...looks kinda like Mo here ;)

All in all it was a great time! We didn't do everything that we wanted to do - or see everybody that we had hoped to see, however we made the most of it and had great time together. The baby will probably never remember his first winter getaway to Florida - but his mama sure will :)