Another night out at Bouzoukia please

 In Greece every summer, Husband and I have always made a point of herding together our friends and heading into Athens for a night out at Bouzoukia (Greek music/cabaret/show with a big name star of the moment). This year we went with 5 other couples and checked out Panos Kiamos... Mr.Hotstuff this summer!
It's always a crazy night out (the show doesn't start until 11:00pm, the main act starts at 1:00am and the show ends at 6:00am (home by 7:30am!!!)  With table bottle service and good friends together it takes about 10 minutes to get tipsy. Never mind that I don't understand all of what's being sung, my Greek is far from perfect, but a party is a party in any language. They don't call it Booze-oukia for nothing!

The women are sexy, the men are hot and entertainment is amazing...

{Apparently the shorter the skirt the better!}

{1:00am, Panos was ready to rock}

{Kid #1's Godmother, our "Koubara" Maria}

{Mama's new boyfriend, Panos Kaimos}

{That waitress is holding trays of Carnation flowers to be thrown at the singer (20 Euros per tray). People buy dozens of trays to throw flowers at their friends and at the performers. Safer than throwing plates?!  Only in Greece!}

{Panos and me go wayyy back}

{Husband and his brother enjoying just a bit of Grey Goose}

{Mama dancing on the stage...}

{My bro-in-law always adds something special to pics...}

The show was crazy and was even better because we were there with amazing friends. It's so much more than just going to a club, great food, service, drinks and dancing on tables. The Greeks know how to party like it's 1999, even on a Tuesday! 
Economic crisis?..what economic crisis?!! Bouzoukia makes them forget all their troubles...for one night only.

I'm not that hungry...for now.

So I posted some of our holiday pics on Facebook the other day and got a lot of great comments from friends and family about how enjoyable our holiday looked. True enough. But then I also got a few comments about how much food/eating/drinking there was in our pics. I guess I hadn't really realized it but it looks like our entire vacation revolved around food and eating. Pictures don't lie. Apparently we spent the whole 5 weeks chowing down in restaruants, tavernas, at our home or at friends homes.  Is that so bad?...only for those who don't enjoy gaining massive amounts of weight I suppose.....

{Out for dinner with the family at a Taverna, that's my Mama beside me}

{Husband and his brother}

{ With sister-in-law out for dinner with the whole family at another Taverna}

{Cousins from Canada enjoying the wine a bit too much!}

{Another day another dinner out}

{Eating at my Mother-in-law's village. Rustic setting but some seriously tasty food!}

{Seafood pasta with Lobster and Octopus}

{At Husbands mom's village, Petravouni}

{Another Taverna with friends from Canada}

{ Husband, a cousin and Kid #2's second birthday party bonanza at our house}

{ 40 people anxious for cake-time}

{My mother in law would kill me if we didn't feed our guests "properly"}

{Cake time!  2 cakes to celebrate 3 birthdays. Apparently you can get a birthday cake with your fave soccer team's logo, and fake leaves, and ribbons, and soccer trophies?! Only in Greece...}

{Out for drinks with my sister-in-laws BFF's}

{Friends over for coffee on the patio}

{My SIL cooks up a mean Octopus (well he's not mean anymore...)}

{Our last dinner at our house, BBQ for 15 people}

 Needless to say that the diet is back on like Donkey Kong. I honestly didn't gain that much weight due to running around after the kids, housework, and sweating profusely in 40 degree celcius weather.
The food in Greece is fabulous and when my mother-in-law is cooking if you don't eat everything on your plate she'll give you the guilt/stink-eye combo. Reason enough to eat up! And honestly, it's not really that hard...

...and we're back!

The wait is over kids, Mama and the crew are back from the sunny hot beaches of broke-ass Greece!!  We had a fabulous time (as always) but of course I'm so so soooooo glad to be back! Five weeks away from home is always a long time, no matter how great the place you go to is....

Don't be fooled by this pic of calm family togetherness. This has NOT been an easy trip. Traveling with a 2 and 5 year old (boys) is almost like asking for a big plate of "pain" with a side of "why did I ever leave my house in the first place?"

We loved the trip overall but I'll be sure to fill you all in on our ups (great nightlife) and downs (2 year old waking up everyday at 5 am).

Let's begin with our fresh hell plane ride over the 'pond'..

Kid #2 started the traveling day with his first, official, all out, no holds barred TANTRUM of the century while we were waiting to board the plane. Never mind that I'm trying to juggle passports, sippy cups and stollers, he decides this is a great time to go ape-shit and try and take us all down with him.  It was not a good omen for the rest of the flight.  He then proceeds to "unload some of his own baggage" just as we're about to take our seats. Why why WHY do kids insist of pooping at the most inconvenient times??

I deserve a prize for changing the nasty diaper in the tiniest airplane bathroom on earth. Just saying. 

We then had the pleasure of having our seats directly above the wings of the plane. The low, loud, vibrations from the engines did NOT act to sooth us to sleep but instead drove us close insanity because I could feel the rattling right through to my teeth.  Must be similar to living above a subway line??!

Kid #2 went on to yell/hit/cry for most of the flight (10 1/2 hours thanks to a mechanical delay) and decided that one and half hours of sleep (waking up 4 times to wail) is more than enough "sleep" during the whole flight. Guaranteed the people sitting around us wanted Kid #2 dead. 

All the while Mama is having kittens because I was fairly positive we would miss our connecting flight to Athens thanks to the delay. Once we touched ground in Frankfurt I literally whipped and dragged the kids (and Husband) through security, passport control and finally made it to our gate....and by the Grace of God we were on time for our next 3 hour flight. 

 

{Note Kid #2's pained expression. This was his look while on the plane for 10 1/2 hours. The ENTIRE time}

When we arrived at our home outside of Athens we were greeted by 22 people over for dinner at OUR house. YES, 22 people. No I didn't have to cook, and as much as I loved seeing many of our relatives as soon as we arrived, after over 15 hours of travel time I was not in the mood to entertain and do dishes. But that's what we got...  This was the beginning of many huge family dinners at our house.

Last night here at home I cooked dinner for (only) 4 people. It was awesome.