February 2018 in pictures

Vienna's next round of baby bunnies!

Vienna with her two best friends at school.

I don't know if I mentioned it on my blog, but my sister and her family had to suddenly leave Turkey last summer. It has been really hard not having them right next door anymore and we all miss them terribly. But what fun it was to have Melanie and our sis-in-law, Rachael, here to stay with us for a week in February! So good to be back together again!!

Sisters!

Meg joined in on the fun too and spent the night! Yay for adult sleepovers!! We had so much fun staying up late, eating popcorn and talking till the wee hours of the night!

These boys really missed their "Aunt Tia"

Rachael gave us all haircuts while she was here.

Last picture before their early morning departure! So sad to see them go!

I had to document this moment, it's not every day that you find these 3 boys sitting still and playing a game together quietly. It didn't last long though!

Poor Brooks got the chicken pox. It was fun spoiling our sick baby with breakfast on the couch and his favorite shows pretty much all day long.

The guys celebrated Etienne's birthday with meat and MORE meat! What a manly lunch!

Vienna and Isaiah modeling their knitted gifts from my sweet friend!

We had a great time with Ramazan and Seyda who came to visit us for a few days. Brooks absolutely LOVED Seyda!

View from the balcony of the shepherd with his sheep

A perfect evening in the backyard with Idris and Cevriye, who were some of our first friends here in Turkey. We have so many special memories with these guys!

"Stick dough", roasted chestnuts, tea by the fire and fun with the bunnies!

Visiting with some friends.

Gozleme at the bazaar! I love our Tuesday morning tradition.

This boy was so brave when he had to get a tooth pulled at the dentist. He is definitely our toughest kid!

Tea and Okey before bed with the bigs!

Love this crazy kid!

Cheering on daddy at his volleyball game!

Stop growing up!

These two!

Vienna's such a daddy's girl!

Antalya

Over the kids' school semester break we were able to get away for a little and explore Antalya, a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast (about 5.5 hours away from our city of Izmir on the Aegean coast). Enjoy the pictures!

Driving through some snowy mountains on our way there.

At the harbor in the old town.

Family selfie!

Exploring Kaleiçi, the old town.

Antalya - where the mountains meet the sea. So beautiful!

Having fun at the guesthouse.

We did so much walking during our time in Antalya. The best way to explore any city is on foot (ideally without small children who tire of walking easily - haha)

My Nenna!

I can't get over how grown up Colson looks in this picture!

Clock tower in the old town.

Loved all the old doors!

I loved wandering the streets in the old town.

Sunrise from the guesthouse balcony.

LOVE!

Can you find Joel and 5 kids?!?

At the Duden waterfalls.

Konyaalti beach

And of course Brooks and Isaiah were in the water up to their necks in no time!!

Fun at the park!

Riding the cable car to Tunektepe!

Views from the top.

A very special family Starbucks date.

Fun at the aquarium with good friends . . .

Feeding the Koi fish.

The biggest tunnel aquarium in the world is in Antalya. It was amazing!

SNOW WORLD!!! The kids had a blast tubing until their fingers were frozen. They definitely aren't used to the cold. 

Ice cream cones!!

We taught our lovely guest house hosts how to play Okey one evening.

My handsome boys.

Last time at the Konyaalti beach and this time all the kids went swimming!