Conference in Switzerland!

This was a "milestone" week for us and for Ellie because it was the first time we ever left her alone with a non-family member or someone she did not know really well.  Steffie and the others who looked after her for several hours each day of the conference in Switzerland said she did really well, and seemed to really enjoy herself. 

We are grateful for this for many reasons, but most importantly because it gives us more hope that she will cope well starting in kindergarten next month.

She is also an EXCELLENT traveler, and even slept well ALMOST every night of the conference.  The last night she woke up at 3 AM and, except for one hour in the car on the way to the airport, she didn't sleep again until 1 AM the next night!

Switzerland was heavenly (the picture of the mountains and the moon, and the one of Vicki at the bottom of the page were both taken from the balcony of our room), and the only bad thing that happened on the trip is that the Swiss Air people broke Ellie's wheelchair.

If you are interested to see more pics of where we stayed (facilities and village) you can go to:  

http://www.gaestehaus.ch/ENGLISH/Pictures

Family Vacation Summer 2011

We had the joy of vacationing together with the Sirinides family when Kendra and Steve visited from Scotland.  We went to a wonderful villa in a small village about 4 hours away.  It was near the beach, had a nice swimming pool, the weather was perfect, the food prepared mostly by Donna, Themis, and Steve was excellent, we played games, Ellie got her toenails painted for the first time (by Becky), and we generally really enjoyed each other's company.