I need addresses!

So, here it is 3 days after Christmas, and I'm finally sending out cards.  In all fairness, I ordered them at the beginning of November, they were picked up by a sister, mailed out a couple weeks later, and arrived here December 23rd.  I was trying really hard to be all cool and organized, but it just didn't happen this year.  In addition to the slowness of the Postal Service, I went to print out labels, and realized they didn't transfer from our old computer to our new.  Can't figure out why.  The file is there, but refuses to open.  So, this is a great time for all of you that are DYING to receive a Christmas card from us!  With any luck, I'll manage to actually keep the addresses safe, and you'll continue to receive a card as long as we send them.  You can e-mail me your address at jeanae78@yahoo.com, or put it in the comments, and after I transfer it over, I'll delete it.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a day full of joy, wonder, and the light of Christ!

NOT on the agenda over break...

HAIRCUTS!  Chris was getting shaggy, but I figured I could put it off for a while.  Monday night, the kids were playing a board game.  He started crying because he landed on lose a turn, and he was SUPER tired.  I looked at him and asked, "Where did you cut your hair?"  "In the basement," was his reply.  Oh.  Joy.  I was laughing (it was NOT funny), because it was that or crying.  He seemed to think I was laughing because it WAS funny, and started laughing, too.  Aubree was hysterical.  I told them it really wasn't funny, and now I had to shave his head.  That turned the laughter to tears REAL quick!  As it was already past bedtime, I told him we'd deal with it in the morning, and off to bed he went.
Morning arrives, and everyone is feeling much better.  I told Nick that I had to cut it short, but he wouldn't be bald.  That appeased him.  I did a #3 on top, but it still isn't quite short enough.  Hopefully his hair will grow quickly during break so I can cut it again right before school and it will just look like a short haircut on purpose.


Before - doesn't look too bad, does it?  Oh, trust me - it's shorter underneath.



After - grow hair, grow as fast as you can!

Guess what will now have to be postponed until Nick has halfway decent hair?  Family pictures!  Since I had out the haircutting stuff, Chris got one, too.  He's been wanting to grow his hair out, but it's way too fluffy and crazy, so he got a long 8 on top, and he looks human again!

Santa Claus!

Saturday was the Embassy Christmas party, and Santa Claus came!!!  My children, however, didn't want to sit on his lap, because they had seen him the day before at school.  Well, too bad!  I don't have a single picture of all three with Santa, and I figured this would probably be the last year I could pull it off.  I was nice and didn't make Aubree stand in line the whole time - she was able to join us at the very end.
 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Yum-a-licious Food Blog

My little sister Allie has a food blog.  It's a way for us to share favorite family recipes, and new dishes that we try.  I think the best part about it is the pictures!  I am a very visual person, and like to know what the finished product will look like before I even start.  So, she made a rule that all recipes must be accompanied by a picture.  She and I are slowly adding recipes from our grandmother and mother that are holiday standards.  If you need a few new ideas to spice up dinner, or are looking for a new cookie to try (I highly recommend the Honey Cookies), pop on over here and check it out!  If you'd like to share a recipe, send it to me with a picture, and I'll be glad to post it for you!  Happy cooking!

We have our stuff!!!

Our final HHE shipment was delivered last night!!! I only have a few more boxes to unpack, but still several stacks of items that have no home. We need to request a wardrobe for the linens and a bookshelf for the games, and try to figure out what to do with all the kids' knickknacks. We all slept on our OWN sheets, and I am spending today washing the Embassy stuff to finally return to them! Last night Mike and I set up the tv and assorted equipment related to it. Today after school we are headed to the Embassy to make ornaments, then after dinner we are decorating for Christmas!!! I am SOOOOO excited!

Snow!!!

We actually got snow last night!  The weather sites told us it was supposed to, but I didn't really believe them.  I told the kids to check as soon as they got up, and sure enough!  Nick woke us up saying that it snowed!!!  To say I have happy children is a gross understatement.  They hurried to get ready so that they could play in the snow before the bus came.  I think we only really got just over an inch (you can see it didn't even stick to the bricks), but to them snow is snow, and a reason to celebrate!

Snowball fight!!!



Our backyard.  Aren't the trees beautiful?



The Grand Bazaar!

Sadly, the camera stayed in its case for the remainder of our vacation.  I am, however, borrowing some pictures that our neighbors remembered to take and some that I found online.
We finished up at the rug shop, and we were all pretty hungry.  We knew it was only a short walk to the bazaar, so we decided to get something there.  Then the rain decided to POUR!  We tried to get a taxi, but the driver decided he could extort money from us in our desperate situation.  We knew he had a meter and it shouldn't cost THAT much, and decided we weren't that desperate.  We got our bearings, and started up the street.  The Old City in Istanbul is, well, old.  The streets and sidewalks are cobblestones, and it's on a hill.  Istanbul is the city of 7 hills, and the old city seems to be on one of them.  All the buildings have gutters and downspouts, but the water just runs down the sidewalks and streets.  We were going uphill.  We all had umbrellas, but our shoes and pants from the knees down were soaked in minutes.  Remember how I told you we were all hungry?  Well, add that to wet and cold, and you get cranky.  On we trudged, while everyone else hovered in doorways looking at us like we were insane.  We arrived at the bazaar after about 10 minutes.  The thing I love most about the Grand Bazaar is it's inside!  The thing I do not like about it is all the places to eat are outside.  I really need to remember to pack snacks next time.  Knowing that there are about 7 gates into the bazaar, we wisely looked to see which gate we came in.  Cikis (cheekish).  Got it.  Off we went.
Besides just being there, we wanted to get some specific things.  We knew from our friend how much they should cost, and we were ready to bargain.  There are SO many shops!!!  Rug shops!  Scarves!  Evil eye trinkets!  Shirts!  Jewelry!  If I ever thought it was important to own a purse or wallet that was name brand and VERY expensive, I could buy it at the Grand Bazaar.  It was fun looking at them and seeing them not SO expensive.  The only thing I really wanted was a scarf.  I've started wearing them here, and I like them.  Kendra told us to not spend more that 10 lira for one.  Only, those are for the cheapest, solid color ones.  Of course, I liked the ones that cost quite a bit more.  Mike was in his element, but nobody wanted to go as low as we wanted them to.  We finally found a guy that was willing to give us 3 for 50 lira!  Aubree and I each got one, and we picked one out for Mike's boss for her birthday.  They are 50/50 of silk and cashmere, and are so soft and keep my neck toasty.
After we got the scarves, we just kind of wandered and let the kids pick what they wanted as their souvenir.  Aubree found a bracelet and coin purse, Chris got an England scarf (it took him FOREVER to decide!), and Nick got 2 evil eye key chains.  By the time we were done, it had stopped raining!  And look at that - Cikis!  We must had done a loop.  We went outside and bought some bread (we were really starving by this point), but things didn't look quite right.  We started walking, but still couldn't find anything familiar.  We figured we hadn't been paying that much attention before, but the more we walked, the less familiar things were.  We asked a couple people how to get back to the Blue Mosque, and were pointed in the right direction.  We made it back to the car, cranked up the heat, and headed back to Kendra's.  Traffic was insane, but we made it in one piece (I love it when that happens!).  As we recounted our adventures of the day, we learned a new word - Cikis.  It means "exit"!!!  HAHAHA!!!
Later that evening, we went out to eat for Chris' birthday.  We went to Chili's!  It was SOOOOO yummy, and reminded us of home.  Sometimes it's nice to have those reminders.  Don't worry - we also ate locally, and it was all good.

The gate.  We might have actually come in this one.  Or come out of this one.  I guess this is the most famous gate, because there were tons of pictures of it online.

It really is a maze, and all the vendors have similar items.  It's fun trying to figure out who will give you the best price!



Every available space is utilized.

Scarf shop.  There are stacks and stacks of them.

Basilica Cistern

Remember how I told you I wish I had taken more pictures?  It applies to more than the Blue Mosque.  The rest of our day in the old part of Istanbul was spent in the Basilica Cistern, Elegance Rug Store, and the Grand Bazaar.  Our guide took us straight from the mosque to the cistern via a park area with really cool planters.  We got to the cistern just as it started to rain a little.  We paid our lira, and down we went.  Oh, WOW!!!  This place was SO cool!!!  The symmetry of the columns is incredible.  It's hard to believe that something this big (even though it is underground) was "lost" for a while.  A better explanation than Wikipedia is here.  After we finished in the cistern, we headed up the street to go to the rug shop.  There was a lady tying a silk on silk rug right there!  Unfortunately, the camera never made an appearance here.  Oops.  Mike reminded everyone that we weren't going to buy a rug, then we sat down and received our rug education.  Did you know that Turkish rugs are better than any other rugs made?  They are!  They use a double knotting system (as opposed to the single knot of Persia) that makes the threads tighter as they are walked on.  They explained how their shop only purchases rugs from families that have made them for their own use, because they are so much better and more natural than factory made rugs.  The families shear the sheep, spin the wool, dye the wool and let it sun for 2-3 summers to get the right color and sheen, then tie the rug and use it.  Rug after rug was unrolled in front of us to show us different techniques and patterns by region.  "Newer" rugs (15-25 years old), "older" rugs (85-90 years old).  Rugs that are over 100 years old are considered antique, and cannot be sold.  There was only one rug that we REALLY liked and would have even considered (even though I probably would have died if I knew the price) that was from a region where there were 5 different colors/shades of sheep.  The wool hadn't been dyed, but the shades and patterns of white to black were so awesome!  Again, sorry for the lack of pictures after the cistern.  More on the Grand Bazaar later.

Bear planter.  Chris wanted a picture with it, because just before our trip he finished his Wolf, and it was his birthday, so he was officially in the Bear den.

One of the 2 Medusa heads used to support pillars.  The other is sideways, but the picture came out blurry.  All the columns were scavenged, so the guess is that the Medusa heads were used to bring the columns to the correct height.

It's amazing that these have stood for so many years!

 

For some reason all the pictures the guide took of us are blurry.



Nick was captivated by the fish.  Mike took 3 pictures to make him happy.  Later we saw some REALLY fat carp, but Mike wouldn't take any other pictures of fish!



The Blue Mosque

I never want to live in Istanbul!!!  Our second day we drove into the old city to see the sights.  It took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to drive the 10 miles.  I can't count the number of times we were almost hit or side-swiped.  Luckily, we made it in one piece, with no extra marks on the car.  We were able to park at a pay lot that was across the street from our first stop - Sultan Ahmed Mosque.  It is also called the Blue Mosque because of the tiles on the inside.  While Mike and the kids were standing out in front of it, a guy approached and started asking talking with them.  It turns out his family has a rug shop (SHOCKING!) and if we come visit their shop later, he'll be our tour guide.  Mike made sure to tell he we were NOT going to be purchasing a rug, and off we went!  It was nice to have a free tour guide.  He knew exactly where we needed to go in, and as it was getting close to prayer time, we barely made it in before they closed the doors.  We all put our shoes in bags, Aubree and I covered our heads with scarves we borrowed from Kendra, and in we went.  WOW!!!  It is so beautiful inside!  The area we were able to walk around in is where the women pray.  The space in front of the railing where we weren't allowed is for the men.  I'm realizing now that I need more pictures!  The carpet has a pattern in it so everyone has a spot to pray, and they are packed tight!  There are also some galleries in the back that I missed.  Next time...
Here's the story we were told by our guide about the building of the mosque:  Sultan Ahmed wanted his mosque to be amazing, incredible, etc.  Normally, mosques have 4 minarets, because the mosque at Mecca had 6.  He told his architect he wanted "altin" minarets.  His architect heard "alti".  So, instead of getting gold minarets, he got six.  Once the mosque was finished, he had to pay to add another minaret to the mosque at Mecca. 



Nick took this picture.  We were in the courtyard where Muslim people would wash before prayers.  (I wish I would have taken a picture of the washing stations.)



Chris took this one.  We entered through this door to get into the inner courtyard.  The arch at the bottom right led to the washing stations.



This is the fountain inside that only the Sultan was allowed to use.

 

The inside of the dome - isn't it just fabulous?  That is why it is referred to as the Blue Mosque.



All the decoration on the wall is tile.



You can kind of see the pattern in the carpet here.  The box is one of 3 where an Imam sits and leads the worship service. 

 

Our family in the mosque.  It was neat for all of us to be able to go into a mosque, and explain to the children how another faith worships.  While we couldn't see them pray, we heard their call to prayer many times during the day.  While I am not publicly called to pray 5 times a day, it made me think how many times I kneel before my Heavenly Father each day.



All 6 (not gold) minarets visible.

The Haghia Sophia (or Aya Sophia) that we did not go to, but it's just across the street from the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, so I took a picture.  This WILL be visited on our next trip!

To be continued...

Rumeli Hisari

The kids had a week off of school for fall break, so we drove over to Istanbul. We have some friends that we met in our ward in Falls Church that live there, and we stayed with them. The first day we went to Rumeli Hisari. It is a fortress that was built at the narrowest part of the Bosphorus in 1452. The whole thing was completed in just over 4 months. The craziest part is that we were able to climb up onto the ramparts. They don't have guardrails anywhere! We had amazing views of the Bosphorus and Asia. You can read more about it here. After we finished up there, we walked along the sea wall to go to get hamburgers at a Turkish burger place. They were SO good!!! Along the way we saw a cemetery outside the fortress walls, and beautiful waterfront mansions on the Asian side.  It rained off and on in the afternoon, but it was a beautiful, FUN day!!!

The entrance.



Door at the gate we entered.



The open gate.



The outside of the tower.

The inside of the tower.



Stairs in the tower leading to floors that no longer exist.
(We couldn't go up there.)



Stairs in the tower headed down.
(We couldn't go there, either.)



Aubree on the rampart.



View across the inside.  We climbed all over!



The Bosphorus and Asia are behind us.



We showed the stairs who was boss!

 

Me and Aubree up on a wall.



Chis in the amphitheater.



This tunnel led to a big area under the amphitheater.



The cavern-y area under the amphitheater.

Mike and Nick up on a wall.



Now we're on the wall, and they are not.

Some of the stairs we climbed.



More stairs.



This is one of the treads on the stairs shown above.
(I thought it was pretty cool.)



Chris headed down these stairs.  It was a little scary at times, because some of the stairs were as tall as his knees, and most the time there was a drop of a couple stories on one side.



There were cannon everywhere!



More cannon!



A smaller gate, maybe for just people?

A much bigger gate is off to the right.



The bigger gate at the top of the fortress.



I'm thinking they used this as defense.  It was above the bigger gate.
(The stairs with the cool step led up to this.)



I liked this design on the outside of the tower.

Cemetery with Rumeli Hisari in the background.

Jellyfish in the Bosphorus!



Waterfront property on the Asian side!