Celebrating 12 Years and a Trip to Bodrum

Last week we escaped for a long weekend and went to Bodrum, a city on the southwestern coast of the Aegean Sea. Bodrum is known for its beautiful beaches, and we were looking forward to a few days of relaxing and enjoying the beach. We left Ankara on Friday morning and had a quick one hour flight to the coast.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with this beautiful view.

Checking out the hotel and waiting patiently to go to the beach.

Such a beautiful view

The hotel had a private beach, and there was hardly anyone at the hotel. The weather was beautiful, it was sunny every day and in the mid-80’s. The sea was a little chilly, but it did not seem to bother the kids at all.

And when you needed a break, you could relax in the cabana.

We ate dinner at the hotel that evening and watched a pretty sunset.

Then caught the rest of it from our porch.

The next day we ate a delicious Turkish breakfast at the hotel.

The kids missed two days of school, and Caleb still had work some school work to do, so after breakfast he and I went back to the hotel to finish some work, while Nathan took Benjamin and Eliza to the pool and the beach.

The kids love the beach and it was nice to have a calm cove for the kids to easily play in the water.

What a great way to take a nap....

The second night we walked about a half mile to the closest and seemingly only restaurant near our hotel, for dinner, and we were the only people there. Turks generally eat late....dinner at the hotel started at 7:30pm, and we were usually close to falling asleep not much later than that, after a full beach day.

We all had full bellies and headed back to the hotel for sunset.

The walk aback to the hotel.

We made it back to hotel right as the sun was getting ready to set.

Enjoying a pretty sunset while the kids played on the beach.

On our last full day, we celebrated 12 years of marriage. It has been an exciting 12 years doing things I never would have never anticipated when we got married! After 3 international moves, 3 kids, overcoming challenges, and celebrating many achievements, I couldn’t be more thankful to have Nathan as my partner in life, and our children by our side. We didn’t go on a date or get any pictures, but we spent the day with our favorite people, and it was a great day!

This day, the boys (and Nathan) enjoyed jumping, diving, and flipping into the sea from one of the docks, while Eliza went ‘fishing’

Nathan is such a fun dad and always challenges the kids to try new things.

The enjoyed lots of dock jumping.

These two are such good buddies!

Pretty girl :)

View of the hotel from the dock

One last beautiful sunset.

After sunset, Benjamin accepted a challenge by Nathan to do a flip into the sea after dark. This kid is a dare devil, and he happily accepted the challenge.

The next morning we had a mid-morning flight back to Ankara. It was such a pleasurable and fun quick weekend get away, and we are excited to explore more of Turkey in the years to come.

Celebrating Nathan

 This special guy turned 41this year! Nathan is a loving and engaged husband and father. He shows us every day what it means to selflessly love, work hard, and care for others. His birthday fell the day before we left for our trip to the beach (see next blog post), so we had this celebration the day we returned.

Nathan loves watches, so when I asked the kids what kind of cake we should get daddy, the first thing they said was a watch cake, haha!

Nathan received some nice gifts and we had a good evening celebrating this special man.

Happy 41st birthday Nathan! Your clock may be ticking, but you get more and more refined with age. We love you very much!

Little Mommy

Eliza loves taking care of her baby dolls, and she is a good little mommy. Here are some pictures of her taking care of her babies. 

Taking her baby for a walk in the stroller.

Getting baby ready for bed.

All wrapped up

Night night baby.

Eliza likes to have a ‘snack’ before going to bed.

One of her favorite real snacks is eating pickles and olives in a bowl with a fork!

Swinging like a little monkey.

Eliza is a sweet girl and it is fun to spend time with her!

Lastly, Turkey has been trying to increase their vaccination rates, which is still less than 50 percent. This poster is on all the pharmacies and around town...don’t be afraid of the vaccination, be afraid of the virus!

Happy Wednesday!

Anıtkabir

Nathan and I had the day off for Labor Day, but the boys had school, so the three of us ventured downtown to the Anitkabir, which is the Masoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Modern Day Turkey. It is also the resting place for Ismet Inonu, the second president of Turkey. 

The pictures uploaded in opposite order, so here you go backwards. After visiting the Masoleum, we went out for...you got it, Turkish breakfast at a new restaurant. As always, it was delicious and plenty filling for us all.

The entrance/exit for the Masoleum. Turkish pride is everywhere and is pretty amazing. You can see the flag made of flowers in the garden below.

Beautiful architecture and designs on the columns and ceiling.

In front of Atatürk’s memorial. I just wanted a picture of the memorial, but someone insisted they take my picture, so I didn’t want to be rude and turn it down.

View of the Masoleum from the other side of the compound. Nathan was here in 2014 when he came to Turkey for work, and said there was a lot more security here than he remembered previously (there are soldiers lined up along the shorter walls), and nobody was going up to the Masoleum. 

It turned out it was the Ankara University college graduation (or seemed like just a picture taking opportunity), so we got to watch the procession march out and up the stairs, back down, then up again for pictures. 

We had a pretty view of the city.

We had fun exploring and it was neat to see the graduation!

A different day, we went to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant we order from, called Quick China. We have only eaten there a couple of times, and the kids love the giant panda bear that sits in the booth with them. In general, things are beginning to feel more normal, and a good feeling!

 

Eliza Rose is 3 years old!

It’s hard to believe that last week Eliza turned three years old!  She has such a sweet personality, loves animals, especially cats and dogs, being read to, singing songs, dancing, all things pink, Paw Patrol, being with her brothers, playing outside, being a mommy to her baby dolls, and riding her scooter, to name of few of her favorite things. Despite her being so excited about her birthday that week, and every day she would say, “it’s my turn soon,” when she saw the decorations on her birthday morning, she cried and said she didn’t want a birthday anymore! She warmed up to her having birthday throughout the day, and by the time the cake arrived she was excited. Guess that is the life of a 3 year old girl!

Eliza has grown and developed so much this year. She talks so well and picks up new words and phrases all the time.  She knows her ABC’s, can count in English to 20 and in Turkish to 10, knows her colors, shapes, and is always surprising us with new things she learns about. Eliza wears size 3/4 clothes, size 8/9 toddler shoes, size 7 diapers. She will eat just about any food, and especially loves fruits and vegetables, eggs, cereal, and macaroni and cheese. She also has a good sweet tooth and loves candy and sweets. Eliza is still a great sleeper, sleeping about 11 hours a night and taking usually a 2 hour nap during the day.

Eliza adores her brothers, and she always wants to be with them.They are very sweet with her, and we love the bond they have.

Eliza was not a fan of the sparkler candles on her cake, and she kept a healthy distance while we sang Happy Birthday. Once the sparklers went out,  she came closer to the cake to blow out her candles.

Birthday girl excited to open her presents.

She received some nice gifts from family and says thank you!

Lots of Paw Patrol stuff, it’s her new favorite thing and she is obsessed with it. Her favorite pup is Skye.

She also go a new princess play tent that daddy put together.

A couple days later, we celebrated with Kadem, her husband Mustafa, and their daughter Ebru. Eliza took a few toppers off the cupcakes before the celebration.

Eliza and Mustafa. He adores her and always has a lollipop when he sees her.

Here is Eliza’s birthday questionnaire:

1. What is your name? Eliza Rose Purcell
2. How old are you? three
3. Who is your best friend? Brothers
4. What is your favorite thing to do? I don’t know
5. What is your favorite color? Pink
6. What is your favorite food? Fruit snacks
7. What do you like to do with your family? Eat
8. What is your favorite toy? Skye from Paw Patrol
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Doctor
10. What makes you happy? Going in the car
11. What makes you sad? I don’t know
12. What is your favorite TV show? Paw Patrol
13. What is your favorite book? ABC book
14. What do you love to learn about? I don’t know
15. What was the best part of your birthday? Cake
16. Where do you like to go? Park Gourmet (where Kadem takes her to get ice cream)
17. Who was your teacher? Mommy
18. What is your favorite treat? Lollipop
19. What do you think about before you fall asleep? 
20. If you could meet someone famous, who would it be? Daddy mommy
21. What was your favorite birthday present? Paw Patrol pups

Eliza Rose, you are such a blessing and joy, and you complete our family. Happy 3rd birthday baby girl, we love you so much!