Meeting the Skaliotis Clan from Melbourne

We had only been back from Greece for a day and a half, but yesterday morning we wandered over to Temple Meads Station to take the train to Bath Spa. We met my lovely cousin Maryanne, her amusing husband Greg, their boys Ealef and Conor and Greg's parents for lunch at Giraffe.

After quite a few years of emails bouncing back and forth, it was so nice to finally meet them during their trip to England. We spent a couple of hours chatting and discussing the Boutsiavaras, Fergusson and Skaliotis families whilst we ate. Eve is a very lucky girl and was given some beautiful gifts.

Maryanne's (Marianthi) younger brother George (Yiorgis) has lived in England for about fifteen years. I met him first around the year 2000. He is a total legend and lives with his wife Maxine and their two girls Erin and Ava in Kent. I speak to him quite often, though the last time we saw them was at our wedding three years ago. 

It was so good to meet Maryanne, she's just as lovely as George, so exuberant and easy to get on with.  I wish that we could have spent longer with them - and sunk a few glasses of wine!

Sam enjoyed speaking Greek with Greg's parents and made both the boys laugh at some of the sentences he was coming out with!

Minnie Mouse, Eve's new friend

What an incredible month July has been. In the past week I've met two more of my Greek cousin's, Ilias in Greece and Maryanne from Melbourne. Maryanne's father Con is the younger brother of my father Babis. There is a big Greek community in Melbourne. Con and a few of his brothers (my Greek grandparents had nine children) moved there about 50 years ago in search of a better life.

The two cousins

I love the fact that Eve has such a large family spread around the world. She is a sociable baby and enjoys meeting new people. However we have noticed in the past week that she is changing slightly and looks a bit concerned when she is passed to new people. We will continue to make sure that she is constantly out and about socialising so that she doesn't get to clingy. Though of course me and Daddy both adore the fact that she loves us so much and feels safe and secure with us.

Sam has family in Australia too and of course we've got some great friends living over there now too - Desson, Fash and Jamie. We're hoping to make it over there in the next few years!