Camel Park

Our destination yesterday was the Camel Park, located just outside of Larnaca.  As soon as we walked through the entrance and spotted some camels, Sofia decided she did not want to be there.  We convinced her to stay and in the beginning she kept a safe distance from the camels, meaning about ten feet away.  The park sold bags of food for the camels so you can feed them yourself.  Alex really wanted to, but was a bit nervous about it at first and ended up throwing it over the fence instead of feeding them from his hand.  I don't really blame him.  They are pretty large animals and their head and necks could reach pretty far outside of the fence.  He grew braver as the day went on and was letting them take the food from his hand by the end of the day.  Sofia also grew more accustomed to them, and agreed to get within a couple of feet of them without freaking out.  She loved a pony that was there and wanted to spend most of her time there feeding it some barley.  Alex also enjoyed the pony, as well as the donkeys who were in the same pen.  Besides the animals, there was a bounce house and some small rides for the kids.  Alex was excited to drive a Batman motorcycle and a police car.  Sofia loved the bounce house.  We had a nice picnic lunch there and ended up staying longer than expected.  The weather was beautiful so once we left the camel park, we took a short drive to a local off the beaten path type of beach.  The sand there reminded us of Hilton Head, very compact.  There were also many rocks and we added to our ever growing rock collection as we took a nice, long walk.  Of all the millions of rocks there, Sofia can walk along and find the exact one she was looking for.  Alex prefers the orange colored rocks.  Bags of rocks get heavy after a bit.  Glad to have Demetris along to help out.  (He's good for other reasons, too.)

Reluctant at first to feed the camel

Scared of camels, but happy to dance to Gangnam Style

Checking each other out.  These camels are about one year old.

A three week old baby

Typical goofy camel

Now he's got the hang of it.

Sofia is pulling me back trying to make sure we don't go too close.

Not taking any chances.  He made the camel stretch as far as possible for the food.

I should get one of these for home.

Sofia's favorite pony

Alex was fierce on his Batman motorcylce

Collecting rocks at the beach

Beautiful afternoon at the beach in Larnaca

Some Big News

We are excited to announce that I am pregnant!  We are eagerly awaiting the birth of our baby girl whose due date is July 8.  Sofia and Alex have been helping us with baby names and so far the lead contenders are Barbie, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Rihanna.  Good thing Demetris and I have veto power.  The kids seem excited to be having a baby sister.  Alex has been telling us everything that he plans on teaching her and Sofia is more concerned about things like buying diapers and what towel she will use.  The baby will be born in Cyprus and we will return to Boston shortly thereafter.

Showing the baby bump

Some Little News

This past weekend we paid a second visit to the Melios Zoo located just outside of Nicosia.  The majority of animals are different variety of birds but they also have farm animals, kangaroos, and some deer.  We had let the kids pick the activity for the day and this is what they chose.  Last spring when we were there the kids spent a long time at the playground, but it had some major safety issues in my opinion.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that a brand new playground is now there and it seems perfectly safe.
In local news, Cyprus is currently in the process of electing a new president.  With the current financial crisis, Cypriots are just happy to have someone new coming in.  The current president did not bother to run for reelection.  He is hugely unpopular at this point.  Last Sunday was election day.  Since there is more than two dominant parties here (there were five candidates, three with a significant number of votes), there is a law that says a candidate must receive 50% plus one vote to be elected president.  Since that did not happen on Sunday, part two of the election will be held this weekend with the top two candidates being the only ones on the ballot.  They have a great voter turnout here, around 86%.
The weather here has continued to be very mild.  During the day the temperatures are in the 60's and it gets down into the 40's at night.  We arrived in Cyprus in the middle of last winter, and when we got here all the locals kept telling us what a harsh winter it was.  To us it didn't seem bad, but now I know what they meant.  Last year daytime temps were closer to 40-50 degrees and there was quite a bit of rain.  Still not that bad.  On most days I am fine with just a light jacket (and I am always cold) and when in the car we usually have the windows partially down.  All the plants are green right now and there are many flowers blooming.  Not too bad for February, but I still missed not being around for the big blizzard in Boston!

Alex with his buddy the ostrich

Shetland ponies

Teeny tiny baby goats

Sofia liked the deer

Sofia and her yiayia

She is very serious about her coloring

Alex and yiayia

My handsome boy