The "Pirate Ships" came sailing through town

We had church this morning at our house. I did the kids lesson and our Bible story was about Matthew the tax collector. Here are pics from our activity.
After church we ate a quick taco salad lunch and then headed to the seaside for the "Pirate Ship" Parade. They weren't really pirate ships, but old fashioned ships called tall boats. They were here for a few days on a layover for a race. So we took the 4 boys down to see the ships as they passed by and they played at the park while waiting. It was really cool. It reminded me of One-Eyed Willie's ship at the end of Goonies.
After seeing the ships we stopped at Burger King for a yummy ice cream treat.
These two are quite the characters.All in all, a great day!

EuroVision Music Contest 2010

Every year all of the European countries get together for a music contest. They each select one group/person to represent them in the contest. We watched it when we lived here several years ago, so we were excited to watch it again this year. While we both enjoy and appreciate great music, we actually watch this show more for it's comic relief. Let's just say that certain unnamed Eastern European countries are about 20 years behind in fashion, music and dance.

So we decided to have a watch party last night with our neighbors to laugh at and enjoy the show together. There were actually some really great groups including the 1st place winner from Germany, Lena, and the 2nd place winners from Turkey, maNga. Check them out!

You'll see that the TV was actually on the Turkey vs. USA soccer match in this picture. The guys were sneaking quick peeks at the score throughout the evening.

Breakfast

We had brunch with some new friends recently. We went to this great restaurant with a beautiful garden. The kids played and we ate delicious breakfast called kavalti. In this country, the verb to go along with breakfast is not EAT breakfast but rather DO breakfast. It is an appropriate verb since breakfast is often the largest and most important meal here and on the weekends takes 2 or more hours to eat. It's a yummy EVENT including cheese, eggs, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, pastries, meats and of course tea.

Like Father Like Son

Aunt Ta

Tara got here on Monday to stay with us for 2 months this summer. We are so excited to have her here with us. It's so special to have family here with us and I'm especially happy that Owen gets to spend such quality time with his Aunt Ta.

Aunt Ta brought Owen all kinds of surprises including a cup with his name on it and new summer shoes!!!

Cubbies

We are Awana Cubbies, we're happy all day long.
We know that Jesus loves us, that's why we sing this song.
We hop because we're happy and we jump and shout for joy!
Cause Jesus is a friend to us, he loves each girl and boy!

This is the song you hear sung in our house regularly these days. I started doing the Awana Cubbies program with Owen a few weeks ago and he is now a full fledged Cubbie! This program is near and dear to my heart. My brother and I started Awana when we were 3 years old and continued on for 12 years. The scripture that I memorized during those years I still remember today and gave me a solid foundation of biblical understanding and living. It is so precious for me to now hear Owen hiding God's word in His heart and I pray that he will mature in all knowledge and insight and that's God's word will be living and active in his life.

Here he is in his Cubbies vest. The first day we did Cubbies he kept the vest on for 3 hours and was so proud. He just got his first patch this week!

Owen is using playdoh to mold different things that God created. Here you can see he made a tree, a cat, not sure what the flat things are, and he's diligently working on rolling out a snake.
He also gets to save a coin each week to use for a special project from the things he's learned this year.

Strawberry Birthday Cake

Owen made my birthday cake for me this year. It was a delicious strawberry cake with strawberry icing. He loves to help in the kitchen and was especially excited to make mommy's birthday cake. I had a great birthday this year. Ryan took me shopping, my friend, Derya, and I went to get pedicures, and I got to go on a date with my hubby to a movie and Mexican food (which is not easy to find in this city). For anyone interested, El Ranchero on Bagdat is pretty good and satisfies the Mexican food craving.

As you can see in the picture, I used one of my precious box cake mixes for this special occasion!
I couldn't find birthday candles in my little local stores. But tea lights served the purpose just fine. 31 candles is a lot of candles anyway :)

This is what happens when...

you have your 2 1/2 year old help you cut vegetables for dinner (with his play knife of course).

Texas Friends

Ryan had some buddies visit from Texas this past week. They toured the city, tried all kinds of new foods, took a day trip to Ephesus, and spoiled us with lots of goodies from America. We had a great time with them. It really is so special to us to have people come see us and experience what our life is like here.

The ancient city walls with the new modern cityscape
Inside Kora Chapel
Jeremiah taking in the view from the top of Galata Tower
Inside the Hagia Sophia- Originally a church, then a mosque, now a museum. These are the original christian mosaics that had been plastered over
John chatting with our carpet salesmen friends at the Grand Bazaar
Sultan Chad- yes he bought this
Bartering
At least they are honest
The view of Ephesus
Taking a potty break at the ancient public latrines in Ephesus
Yummy! Kebap, lahmacun, patlacan, bulgur

Clash

I am by no means a fashion expert, but I'm pretty sure that there is not a single piece that matches in this entire ensemble. Matching must not be too important to these older women though, because this is a very common style throughout the city.

The Sahil

We go to the seaside pretty much every weekend. We just love the open green spaces, the fresh sea breeze and the amazing views. And this past weekend we found a new way to get there, by train! A short walk and 2 stops later, we are at the water. For Owen, the train ride just adds more fun to the day.

Waiting for the train
Owen is starting to enter the fascination with bugs and creatures phase of boyhood. Here he is holding a snail.Hanging on while riding the train- he thinks he is so big hanging on like Daddy
You can see the islands in the background of this photo. There are several islands that we can get to via a short boat ride. We can take a boat over in the morning, spend the day on the island picnicking, hiking and playing, and then take a boat back in the evening. Some of the islands have great beaches for swimming too!

New Haircut and New Balcony

Owen got a haircut last week. We decided to go short for the summer. The barber put gel in it and spiked it up. How cute is he! Too bad I haven't taken the time to do it again. But it's still cute for summer.
We have always had this little balcony off of our living room, but it wasn't until last week that we cleaned it and put some chairs out there so that we could enjoy it. It's not big, but it's perfect for sitting outside in the morning, reading, with a cup of tea. Owen likes to have lunch out there. Here is a picture of us eating PB&J and Owen sitting in his new frog chair.