Back In Blue

"Yeah, we didn't need to do all that kvetching yesterday," Sennen volunteered this morning. He also recanted on his preference that next time we overnight in Athens. Waking up in Patmos is a lot better than another travel day.

Indeed, Sennen and Ailyn did well going to sleep around 11:30 pm and waking up at 7 and 9 respectively. That's a pretty typical Patmos schedule. Last night we arrived around 10:15pm and by the time we got home, they fed the cats, ate a gyro each themselves, showered, etc – it was 11:30 and they were ready to drop. Time zones are powerful – but so is the utter fatigue of a 33 hour trip which may have kicked us into gear for adjusting to the time.

The Aegean summer sun lends a hand as does the call of the beach. Both kids wanted Kampos for their first beach day – surprising to me because neither claims it as their favorite. Wide, shallow for a long way out and protected by tall hills and cliffs, Kampos is THE family beach. Because of its width, it has not one taverna like its cousin Agriolivadi, but four – including one that has some of my favorite food on the island. Only the star of the show is Atmos – a fancy cafe and restaurant on the beach where sunbeds cost 50 euros each and the menu has gourmet woodfired oven pizzas and overpriced salads fit for a cafe in Malibu. We kick it in the 10 euro sunbeds adjacent to Atmos which have no discernible qualitative difference other than a few more feet to reach a Cobb salad.

From mid-July onward, showing up to the beach too late means no sunbeds – as happened to Ziv and me at Kampos just last Saturday. Luckily, this year I'm prepared for crowded beaches – I have the phone numbers for Andreas at Agriolivadi and Alex at Petra so I can text them the night before and make a reservation. Moreover, we have new beach chairs with their own umbrella – which I plan to keep in the trunk of the car. So when all else fails – or we want a beach that isn't "organized" – we're equipped to enjoy a beach day at a standard I can live with.

On a tired, slow-to-get-going post-travel morning, I used Kampos as motivation to get us up and moving. Given their experience disembarking the ferry last night, I didn't have to reinforce why we might face sunbed competition.

"Why are there so many people coming to our island?!" Ailyn said as she looked at the line of people waiting to exit the ferry. I reminded them we know July and August are the tourist season and these people are how our friends and neighbors make a living – which was met with mild acceptance.

"I'm on Patmos! We're home!" Sennen said as he took the last step off the ferry ramp onto the dock last night. Only a minute later as we walked to the house, he sequeled with, "Cobblestone! We're back to cobblestone!" Apparently he's been withering in the asphalt of Westlake Village. 

This morning once the promise of Kampos motivated them, both kids developed a great attitude which seemed only furthered by giving them jobs and responsibilities. Sennen wanted "cheesy bread" for breakfast so I sent him to the bakery. Ailyn needed a hairbrush – so I gave her money for the cosmetics shop. I also gave Ailyn her birthday present of shopping money for the summer which she used some of to by her a fad toy from the bookstore. While I picked up our rental car, the kids took a shopping list and went to the nearby Proton supermarket where they successfully bought everything and received accolades from Theologia, the nice older Australian-Greek lady who owns the store. Proton is a small market where the staff knows the customers. The kids can ask questions, get help and make mistakes. I have no doubt that if the kids ever don't know what to do, Theologia will have them well trained to be model shoppers in no time.

"I'm very popular!" Ailyn told me. "Everyone knows us and they treat us really nicely – better than some average Greek kid." Certainly this was fed by all the hugs she got from friends and neighbors around town – and even how excited some of the shop owners are to see them. Eirini and Allessandro Hugged and kissed both kids. It was as if between 9 and 12, Sennen and Ailyn dove back into their Patmos life and after a quick squabble about drawers and closet space were ready to hit the beach.

"We're going from home to our home two," Ailyn said yesterday on the ferry. That's very much the attitude they seem to carry here.

Per usual, the kids hit the water at Kampos and made an afternoon of it. Their water and beach stamina not only impresses me, but many people who work at the beaches. I've had comments from beach chair operators and cafe servers about how impressive Sennen and Ailyn's ability self-entertain in the water is. They can do it for up to four consecutive days. This year, I'm encouraging them to talk to other English-speaking kids their age.

My friend George who manages luxury rentals on the island says the vast majority of his customer-base are repeat visitors – and most of his new customers are former guests or referrals from his repeat customers. Patmos is a place not a lot of people know – but when you know, you know and you come back.

So, a random English-speaking kids on Kampos could become a friend next year, the year after or even for life.

Either way, new friends, old friends, hugs from neighbors, cats excited for those kids who sneak them extra treats – second-half-of-summer life has begun. Some of my mild improvements the kids didn't care about are starting to matter – insulated thermoflask water bottles, big soft-cooler with blue ice and cushy mattress toppers for the kids' beds, a new living room air-conditioner … each year gets more comfortable and more functional. We're setup for success and I think these guys are going to capitalize on it. I mean, Sennen has already drained that 32 ounce thermoflask of ice water….