Out with Dad

Renee (my mother-in-law) always tells this story from when Dan and Fred (Dan's brother) were kids. Fred (my father-in-law) took them to a place to fish where you paid by the fish you caught. They spent the day there and came home with a lot of fish, basically the week's food budget. At first Renee was caught off guard and couldn't believe they had spent all that money on fish. But then Fred said, "It was worth every penny to have that memory with my sons."

Well, Thursday I had language class. The girls were taking a nap, so Dan took Zeke out while I was in class. What was supposed to be a 2 hour outing turned into a 7 hour geocaching trip. Each cache they went to find, the place was closed, or they couldn't find it. One of the spots was at this picnicking place, so Dan ordered a plate of kofte (meatballs . . . kind of). A plate of kofte typically costs $5.00 or so, but as they brought out bread and vegetables and raw meat with a grill for the guys to cook it themselves, Dan started thinking it would probably be a bit more than normal. And it was! A lot more! But when Dan got home and was telling me about their day, hunting for the caches together, singing, counting, talking . . . his eyes teared up with the memories and we both agreed, it was worth every penny!

Bosphorus Cruise

Thanks to my sweet friend watching the kids, Dan and I got to go on a much needed date this past week. We've lived here almost 4 years now, and have never taken a Bosphorus Cruise, so that's what we did. We took an hour and a half boat ride up the Bosphorus. We then had 3 hours in a little town to hike up to a "castle" and eat a delicious seafood lunch, followed by an hour and a half boat ride back home. We had a great day!

Slumber Party

The kids and I had a slumber party last night while daddy was away. They usually go to bed at 8 PM, but I let them stay up watching TV until about 8:45. Then I put the TV on the "home" channel, thinking I could be entertained, and they would fall asleep. Unfortunately, Zeke found it very entertaining, and wouldn't stop talking about how great the house was that they were showing! So, 9 PM and off went the television. But, the memory of falling asleep with my kiddos was something I didn't want to forget, so I'm writing it down here. I was laying there with my sweet one year old pressed up against my leg, sleeping peacefully. My precious 3 year old's hand was tucked gently into mine as she fell asleep. To top it all off, my sweet boy quietly sat up and covered me with the covers. My heart was full. But then, 12:50 AM rolls around and I'm wide awake. So, I've been watching my sweet kids sleeping, wanting to take a picture of them. Then I look over and the one year old and almost five year old were holding hands in their sleep. Okay, I couldn't resist anymore, so I got up to get the camera, but apparently our old camera isn't working right now. Alas. It's been a fun night, but I'm going to be tired in the morning :)

Our FIRST chapter book!

5 days ago Zeke and I started reading a chapter book. We had tried a different one a few months ago, and Zeke didn't get into it much, so I figured he just wasn't old enough yet. However, last week we decided to give The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton (one of my favorite authors as a child) a try and he LOVED it. 5 days later, we've read the entire 214 page book! As soon as it was over Zeke said, "Can we start over now?" I think not, we'll have to find a new book to read :)