Saying good-bye is never easy.

We always love having visitors. We love to host people in our home and for them to experience a bit of our lives here in Turkey. I feel like it connects our hearts in such a powerful way. Having Gregg and Celesta here was no exception. They weren't afraid to try new things, experience a new culture and they jumped right into life here. Gregg helped Joel with projects (oh, you know there is always a project with Joel!), they washed our dishes, taught us new games that we stayed up waaay too late playing, they loved our kids oh so well and the house hasn't been quite the same since they've been gone! We miss you Gregg and Celesta - come back soon!

Arm wrestling. The funny part is I totally thought I could take her, but she took me DOWN! Celesta, you need to come back so we can have a rematch!

More of Cappadocia

During our short visit to Cappadocia we explored Derinkuyu, the deepest underground city in the region - it goes 8 levels deep, we visited Selime, which is the biggest rock-cut monastery in the area and we went on a 4 km walk through Ihlara canyon, which has thousands of caves that were carved by early Christians.

Drinking ayran, a salty yogurt drink that has become one of our favorites. We got Gregg to try it and even like it, but Celesta was unimpressed.

Derinkuyu underground city

Selime Monastery

On our walk through Ihlara Canyon

At the Göreme Open Air Museum on our last morning.

We also made a spontaneous stop at Devrent Valley right before we had to drive to the airport and it ended up being my favorite place. The landscape is amazing and the valley  has a bunch of animal shaped rocks. It was just such a fun place to wander through and let your imagination run wild! 

Joel ended up staying in the car for this and missing out on all the fun. He wasn't feeling great that morning and then he took some Dramamine a few hours before our flight home and, oh my goodness, it WIPED HIM OUT! I wasn't sure if we were going to have to sling him over our shoulders and carry him on the airplane, but he was hilarious! He was falling asleep EVERYWHERE! Good times!

Crazy!

Gregg climbed up to this cave and I figured Celesta and I could probably do it too, so after much convincing Celesta finally agreed to climb up with me. It was definitely a thrill!

Hot air balloon flight!

I have ALWAYS wanted to fly in a hot air balloon and there is no better place to do it than Cappadocia! Celesta was all over planning our time in Cappadocia, she organized the hot air balloon flight and a fun guided tour. We definitely made the most of our short time there and got to see and do much!

They land the balloons right on the trailer. It was pretty crazy!

Celebrating that we made it ;) But for real, the following week we learned that 40 tourists had been injured in a balloon crash.

Cappadocia

Adam and Melanie were so kind to watch our kids for a couple of days so that we could get away with just Gregg and Celesta. We got to visit Cappadocia, which is known for its cone-shaped rock formations called "fairy chimneys" and churches that were carved out of the rock. It's seriously such an otherworldly place and we were excited that we could explore it with Gregg and Celesta. Enjoy the pictures.

Of course I had to take a few door pictures :)

Stunning landscapes! What did I tell you? Magical!

Love this! I will always cherish the memories from our fun times in Cappadocia!

We even got to stay in a cave hotel. It was awesome, except for the part where bits of the ceiling kept falling on us all night long. Just part of the experience, I guess :)