Aleko's Weekend in KL

With Aleko in Singapore for a few days on business, he decided to pop up to KL for the weekend and see his brother, sister-in-law and, of course, his niece. As soon as he arrived he was the favorite, opening his luggage and giving her six presents, each neatly wrapped for added sense of anticipation. Irini was completely delighted with five wonderful toy animals (a dog, a sheep, a horse, a pig and a cow) and a recording device with songs in English and Spanish. Happy as can be, but she was happier still to just hang out with Aleko, who came for some down time, and got it. Among what seemed like a great mix of "siestas" and going out (from the Tandoori Chicken Guy to the Mandarin Oriental brunch to what Aleko described as "half Disneyland, half Hollywood", there was a good number of things to do, usually revolving around food of some sort.

On Saturday Aleko was also able to pop over to the ISKL gym and watch his little brother in action, coaching the varsity girls team to a close victory (47-43) in the local league. It was great looking over and seeing a familiar face looking over, even if Aleko didn't take his shirt off and dawn a bare chest with ISKL written across it as any self-respecting die-hard fan would have done. Perhaps next time. :-)

As we write this post, Aleko's flight is just about heading northward toward Bangkok. From there it's another flight to Vienna and then back to Copenhagen. We hope that the three power naps (one on the couch, one on the matress on the livingroom floor and one on the marble floor - just like the old days in Greece) that he managed to partake in are enough to get him going when he returns to a week of meetings. As the taxi (with Mr. Yee at the helm, for those who know him) pulled away Irini wept and wimpered briefly before we got her mind on other things (namely dinner) and the evening moved on.

We sure hope that someone of the Scan Clan (Aleko and Anna perhaps?) might come and visit us in the summer to welcome the newest member of the family and, of course, to spend some quality time with Irini as well! Bravo adelfouli! Have a good and safe trip home.

A New Myers-Giraldo!

For those who already know it won't come as a surprise. Natalia is pregnant with our newest family member! No, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl. No Irini doesn't quite know yet that she will have to fight a little more for attention in a short while. But she happily puts her hand on Natalia's tummy as we tell her that there is a little brother or sister in there. We are delighted, of course. The official due date is May 5th, to coincide with our wedding anniversary (#8) and Irini's name day in Greece. The stars are all aligned. We are happy as can be.

Eating at Sundown.

The time was right. Irini insistent on eating by herself. Any attempts to help by mom or dad were met by assertive "no, no, no, no, no" until both mother and father got the message and allowed her some freedom to develop her dinner eating skills. So what if the fork was four inches longer than the width of her mouth? Rice was smeared and scattered all over the left side of her face and hair. Details. She ate happily. In the end, daddy asked for her to smile, and mommy whispered it in her ear. She lifted her head, looked over: "cheese". In the background, the sun quietly went on it's way, heading westward to share it's warmth to our families and friends.

Weekend Away!

It's been a very very long time since we've had time to ourselves. Between Laurence's last-minute trip to Thailand for school and basketball and all that routine "stuff" it was hard to find some time to enjoy the little things. So, this weekend we decided to just pick up some stuff, jump in the car and head to Port Dickson (about an hour and a half away) to enjoy some time on the beach (and the pool). We stayed for just one night, having snuck out of KL after a double-header basketball schedule with the girls basketball team. We got there at around 6 pm, and left by the next day at 1 pm, but in between there was time to enjoy a lazy sunset, to reintroduce Irini to to the wonders of waves and sand and just deurbanize our life for a while.

Irini's open demeanor also made us short-term friends with a local family that was, like us, out and about moseying the sands of Port Dickson. As we walked on the beach a rather large air-filled ball came rolling along, being taken by a gust of wind. We stopped it and Irini walked it back toward where it came. For a moment or two we thought no one would take responsibility for it until, out of the water, a woman and three children walked out of the water. Irini marched over and handed her the ball, which she appreciatively accepted, and then they offered for her to play with their set of spades and buckets and the like. She did, happily, for over half hour. In all our time in Malaysia we have never had such an impromptu get-togethere but, if there's someone who can open doors beyond culture and tradition, it's Irini!