Pulling Up

Stazy is growing up too fast! She's been crawling for nearly a month now, and she's now pulling up on things. Problem--how to get down? So far, she hasn't enjoyed falling and hitting her head... She'll figure it out, I guess.

Mona Lisa Smile

Did she like the water or not?
What is she thinking???

Thanks to Brittany Smith for taking these pictures. Our camera decided it wanted to stay home...

Stazy's First Adventure in the Sea

We went to the Black Sea for an outing with our English club June 12. It was Stazy's first venture out to the sea. She had mixed feelings about it.

At first, she was really not a fan as she really didn't like the cold water. Being in the car by herself wasn't her favorite, as evidenced by the look on her face; however, she enjoyed it when we held her next to us. Of course, everything tasted better when it had a little salt water.

BTW: they only sell 2 piece bathing suits for babies here. We've gotten a couple from the states now, so hopefully those will be easy enough to keep on.

Ali

Anastasia enjoyed her outing to Belgrade Forest with Ali Amca (Uncle Ali).

Ajlan

This is one of our new friends, Ajlan. We've gotten to hang out with him a few times. Great English! See you soon, man!

Flowers of the countryside

Hard workers

It was fun to go to the village where everyone was our friend. This guy (Mr. Sans-shirt) came up to Kevin, Luke's friend on the trip, and pulled his face down to his level so he could give him a proper greeting. (Double kisses on the cheeks--no worries--this is a normal greeting given in an unorthodox way due to a significant height differential.)

Nevertheless, the whole family was together and working hard!

Village life

Luke got to get out of the city for a bit to explore some greener climes. The fresh air was great, as was seeing a horse herd a bunch of cows!

Kahvaltı (Turkish breakfast)

After hearing about American breakfasts an getting his fill of waffles on Tuesday, Luke's tutor, Mehmet, helped Luke prepare a Turkish breakfast. Prepare is really the best word, as nothing but the hard-boiled egg was cooked.

A typical breakfast includes: tomatoes (domates), cucumbers (salatalık), olives (zeytin), feta cheese (beyaz peynir), kashar cheese (kaşar peynir), bread (ekmek), and hard-boiled eggs (yumurta). Eggs and sausage (sucuklu yumurta) are also optional. As always, we add a steaming hot cup of çay (tea) to finish everything off.

I love you this much!

We love this child!

Mother's Day

BTW--Stazy is not a fan of cats. This one was really nice, but the moment Stazy touched it, she screamed. The cat didn't do a thing--before or after the sudden outburst. Our good friend, Sherri, aka fauxma, was pleased.