Minion Madness

Garret decided that even though he wasn't having an actual birthday party this year he still wanted Minion cupcakes. He picked chocolate fudge cake with milk chocolate frosting and minions made out of Twinkies (half per cupcake) with Sweet Tarts for eyes. They turned out really cute and we still have 2 left (4 days later).

He also got all sorts of great presents and had a great time playing with them.

He also got some new clothes, which he ALMOST as excited about.

Thank you Gramma Connie and Papa Ray, and Gramma and Grampa Texas!!!

Back to School

Here I am...behind again. School started almost a month ago and I'm just now blogging about it.  I could blame it on computer issues, but we all know it's more than that. ;)

Lizzy and Alex started school on August 27th.  Lizzy is in 5th grade (when did she grow up?) and is enjoying it so far. She especially enjoys the fact that she HAS to read at least 20 minutes a night. She has turned into such a bookworm. It makes me proud!

Alex was placed in a combined 2nd/3rd grade class (he's in 2nd), which made me a little nervous at first. His teacher explained that they're not all being taught the same curriculum, though, so hopefully it'll be okay. She has asked me to come in for a conference already, though, to discuss his progress and behavior. (Keep us in your prayers.)  He meets one-on-one with a reading specialist for 30 minutes every day and loves it.

  Outside our house before the 1st day of school. Don't they look so loving?

 

 

Garret started kindergarten on September 4th and loves it. I love how enthusiastic he is about going.

 

 

 

Outside the school. He doesn't look very excited, but he was.

 

So, that leaves Keri and I home alone during the day.  She likes having Mom (and the TV and toys) to herself. She cracks me up every day. I had a picture of her playing that I was going to post, but apparently it got deleted. Bummer!

 

 







A Day at the Beach

A couple of Saturdays ago (yes, I'm slow to post) we took our first trip to the beach. We went down to Yumurtalik with just about everyone from church and I am glad we went...even if not everything was great.

We all met up at the BX parking lot to caravan down.  (I think there were seven vehicles.) Since Ben was out of town and I had never driven off base before, our friend Karen offered to drive Yoda (the Toyota) for me. She ended up riding shotgun, though, because I DROVE. Yay me! It was mostly on the autobaun so I did fine. The only issue I had was getting the machine to read my toll card at the first booth we came to.

The beach had quite a bit of trash on it, but most of it was up where we parked the vehicles. A couple people had brought canopies so we had a little bit of shade. I sprayed all the kids and myself with sunblock, and we were off. The kids borrowed boogy boards, toys and googles from our friends and had a great time.  The water was surprisingly warm and there were some nice waves.

 

I didn't get any pictures of Lizzy or Alex because they weren't out of the water much. :)  We swam and played, had a little BBQ, and then swam and played some more. Unfortunately, I didn't reapply our sunscreen after lunch so we all burned...except Keri, who just got darker.  She also didn't spend much time in the water. The waves were a bit much for her.  She enjoyed the sand much more.

 She had sand EVERYWHERE!

There was a stray dog that hung around for most of the afternoon. Luckily, my kids didn't bother with it...the strays here are usually pretty dirty and diseased. Shortly before we left some locals moved their livestock across the beach to a creek. The kids were all so excited to see the cattle, sheep, and even a donkey walking down the beach.

 I was taking a picture of Garret, not the stray...

When we went to leave the day took a bad turn. I hadn't locked the car and someone grabbed our emergency kit (mandatory here) and the diaper bag (probably bummed when the realized what it was) out of the back. I was kicking myself and thinking that Ben was going to be upset with me for not locking up when I realized one of our friends had been robbed as well. Unfortunately, their window had been busted out and they had a lot more important things taken. So I guess we actually got pretty lucky.

So...despite the break-ins and burns (my worst since high school), it was a good day.

We went back down this last Sunday for a baptism. I definitely think we'll be doing Alex's baptism down there in a couple months...How cool is it to get the opportunity to be baptized in the Mediterranean Sea???

Fathers' Day Surprise

For starters, the surprise was NOT a present.  I totally spaced and the kids and I didn't get Ben anything.  I know, I know, bad wife/mother!  I did make a nice brunch before church, though.  We had to go to church early for some meetings and this is where the surprise comes in...

Ben was called to be the 1st counselor (only counselor right now) in the branch presidency.  For those of you not familiar with our church, it means that he assists our "minister".  It means more meetings and responsibilities, but we feel confident that it will also bring our family more blessings.  It wasn't a total shock since our whole leadership has recently moved away, or are in the process of moving.  One thing that will take some getting used to is not having him sit with us during church. I think as long as I can keep Keri from charging up onto the stand we should be okay though. :)

After the meetings and our regular church service we had a "linger longer" (potluck). I love getting to visit with everyone. There are so few of us that it really does have a family feel to it.  I made deviled eggs and Mom's fruit salad. Both were big hits...no leftovers. I'm not even sure that Ben got an egg.

We came home and relaxed with the kids after that. All in all, a pretty good day.

Oh, and Ben picked up a gift for himself the other day so don't feel too sorry for him. ;)

Lizzy's 10!

That's right, I am the mother of a 10 year old. It doesn't seem possible....I don't feel any older (at least not most days).

For her birthday dinner she chose to go to The Moonlight. It's a little restaurant just off base and I should have brought the camera. The boys told the staff it was Lizzy's birthday and it paid off.  Her Fanta arrived in a glass with orange wedges, 2 umbrellas and a sparkler in it. Then, after dinner, they brought out a 3 layer dish (plates stacked on top of glasses, held together with what looked like molasses) with watermelon wedges and more sparklers on top. It was great!  Lizzy decided to try something new for dinner, but switched with me after taking a bite.  She had ordered the meat and cheese bread (pide) without realizing it came with diced tomatoes and parsley on top. I enjoyed it and she ate my Adana kebab. We both ended up happy.

After dinner we walked home and had some cake. Lizzy had chosen lemon cake with lemon frosting.  Her daddy wasn't thrilled, but managed to eat a small piece. The rest of us enjoyed it.  As you can see, I got very creative decorating it.

After cake came presents! She opened the ones from Gramma and Grampa Texas first. I'm only going to include a couple of pictures because some didn't come out very well, but she got 4 books, some magnetic bookmarks and an outfit from them.

They called us right after this so we took a break from opening presents to talk to them.  I'll have to take a picture of Lizzy in the outfit and post it some other time.  Next came the gifts from us. The boys gave her a new Nintendo DS game (actually 2 puzzle games in one) and Keri gave her an iCarly CD. Ben and I gave her an alarm clock with a CD player and an iPod dock (for use when she eventually gets an iPod).

She still has a present coming in the mail from Gramma Connie and Papa Ray, so it looks like her birthday is getting stretched out (the better to be enjoyed).  She says it was a good birthday.

Speaking of birthdays....Ben had one not too long ago too. Here's a picture of the cake I made for him.

Where's the Camera?

This is the question far too often. I really need to learn to carry it with me. So here is a rundown of some of the things we've done that I've failed to document properly with pictures.

The base had a Spring Fling in the park in April. There was food, games, and bouncy houses. It was a lot of fun.  Relay for Life was going at the same time. Ben participated. The girls had their hair spray painted pink and purple...I actually took a picture of that.

In May, there was a Sports Day that Ben participated in. His team (SFS team #3) won the Big Ball Soccer tournament....didn't do as well in the other events. Security Forces did get the Dirtiest Team award, though, after a strong showing in the tug-a-war. It took place on a Friday so the older two kids couldn't be there for most of it. The younger two and I spent the whole day with Ben, though, and it was nice. Even if they did get a little bored.

Lizzy took another field trip to visit a fossil field and gypsum mine. I can't remember where exactly they went, but she enjoyed it and brought back some souvenirs.

I chaperoned Alex's end-of-year field trip to the base theater to watch Rio. It wasn't long or exciting, but he was so excited that I went with him.

We went to one of the local malls. It's fairly new and 4 stories tall! The kids (and I) were a little in awe.

We tried to find the other mall with less than wonderful directions. We ended up just driving around. The kids got a nap out of it, though, so I guess it wasn't a total waste. Plus, driving here is an adventure in itself. Lane markings don't seem to have much meaning. I let Ben do all the driving when we're off base.

We've eaten at a couple of local restaurants with varying success. I love the food I've tried so far...especially the bread. The kids are not so sure.

I've gone to the market (outdoor) a few times. Ben went with me once. We can get great fresh produce for a great price. I've also bought farm-fresh eggs and fresh bread. It would be a little easier if I could learn some more Turkish. Since it's just off base most of them speak/understand enough English that we can get by, but I try to use my limited Turkish as a courtesy.

Lizzy made the A/B Honor Roll. Alex has shown progress in school and says that he likes school here "a lot, a lot" better than in Texas. Garret is registered for Kindergarten in the fall and is excited to start.

And, I think that is it for this post. We've had a number of everyday adventures, but this a pretty good overview.

Field Trip to Tarsus

Back on May 31st I was able to go with Lizzy's class to Tarsus. Tarsus is where the Apostle Paul was from, but that was not really addressed on the field trip. We did get to see some cool stuff though. And better than that, I was able to spend the day with Lizzy and her friends. This is actually the first field trip I've been able to chaperone. I feel a little sad about that...but I digress.

Each of the chaperones were given 5 kids to keep track of and then we loaded on the bus to head to downtown Adana to catch the train.  The kids were pretty excited. This was Lizzy's first train ride (and mine if you don't count the subway in DC).  We took pictures in front of this old steam engine at the Adana Station while we were waiting.

Our bus met us at the station in Tarsus and we rode up to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. I don't remember much of the legend (I was too busy making sure I didn't lose any kids), but it was about 7 people and a dog that went down into this system of caves and fell asleep for 300 years. All that is open to the public now is the main cavern. There were some pretty cool rock formations.

The funniest thing was that there was a group of Turkish school girls there who seemed to be more interested in taking pictures of Lizzy's teacher (he's a big guy) and a couple of the boys in her class than in looking at the cave.  After we got out of the cave, we let the kids check out the little market that was there. Lizzy bought herself a fan that ended up coming in handy.

Then, we drove back into Tarsus. We stopped and saw an old navy ship and a statue of a snakeman (half man, half snake) who's name I can't remember.  We also stopped to see Cleopatra's Gate. It was the sea gate of the ancient city of Tarsus, but now sits in the middle of the city. Apparently the sea has receded. They say that it was at the gate that Cleopatra first met Marc Antony.

Our next stop was to see a section of the old Roman road that was unearthed in the late 1990s (I think it was '96 or '97) when they were clearing the land to build a shopping center and parking garage.  They can't excavate any more of it because modern-day Tarsus surrounds the area. I wish we had been able to go down onto it, but they didn't let us.

Finally, we went to "the waterfall" (that's the only thing I heard it called) for lunch. It was beautiful! After lunch we looked around and took some pictures. It is said that Alexander the Great bathed/swam here and caught the illness that eventually killed him.

Our guide (Lizzy's Host Nation teacher) also said something about the waterfall being built over an old Roman necropolis. Seems to me that would affect the water, but some of the locals were still drinking it. Lizzy opted for an ice cream cone.  Turkish ice cream is a whole new experience. It's thick and kind of stretchy. I actually had to bite it to steal some off her cone. It was yummy though.

All in all, it was a great day and a nice little adventure. I want to go back and see St. Paul's house and some of the other things there, but for now I'm content.

Let's Play Catch Up

So, I'm finally starting the blog I've been talking about. Let's play catch up first. At the end of last summer I had an interesting Skype conversation with Ben where he informed me we had orders to Incirlik AB, Turkey. I was a little apprehensive at first. Turkey was not one of the bases that I had been hoping for. After a while I decided to look at it as an opportunity for a new adventure. Plus, it got us overseas where we hope to be able to stay for awhile. (My apologies to any family who were hoping we'd be coming back to the States when we're done here.)

Over the next couple of months we were busy doing everything we could to prepare for the move. Ben got home from Afghanistan the beginning of November and we got even busier since we now had only about 3 months to finish everything. Passports and visas for the kids and me ended up being the most troublesome. The time came for us to leave and we still hadn't gotten them back. Ben requested an extension on his "report no later than" date, but was denied. As a result, he had to leave me to finish up everything.  Through the help of some good friends (and a helpful neighbor) we passed the final housing inspection. Which only left the actual migration...

I was scared out of my mind at the thought of traveling halfway around the world with 4 kids by myself. We started by driving to Dallas and staying the night with our dear friend Miranda who surprised us with cupcakes for Keri's birthday. The next morning we found our way to the airport and turned the rental car in. I had more luggage (and a very tired baby girl) than I knew what to do with but we made it to the plane. Actually...I think they held the plane for us. It was such a welcome blessing and a little embarrassing at the same time. We had to stay the night (more moving of too much luggage) in Baltimore and then hung out at the airport the whole next day for our late flight. God bless the USO!!! Skimming over the rest of the particulars, the kids were very well behaved on all the flights and the other passengers were very helpful (especially on the AMC flight). We got to Turkey and Ben was able to bring us to our new house right away.

So far our experiences in Turkey have been pretty positive (I'll get into that more later). The locals are friendly and LOVE the kids (especially Keri).  It takes a little bit of self control not to react when strangers touch my babies, but we've done well so far.  Lizzy and Alex enjoyed school. The weather is hot already! I'll try to post on a regular basis...and include pictures.