Summer in a Nutshell

June

We were able to visit Antioch (Antakya) with our branch. We visited an archaeological museum full of ancient Roman mosaics and artifacts. It is amazing how preserved some of these are.

A well preserved sarcophagus 

This is one of the mosaics at the museum. There were hundreds of preserved mosaics at this museum 

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/antioch-archaeological-museum

Joe and I found some old friends!

                         

Lauren in Nolan in a sarcophagus at the Antakya (Antioch) Archaeological Museum

St Peter's Church in Antakya (Antioch)
This church is thought to be the church that St. Peter dug himself to attract early followers of Jesus to worship in. Antioch is where followers of Jesus were first called "Christians." Acts 11:26 

Miss Lauren graduated from Kindergarten! Good Job Lauren!!

July

Independence Day 2011

Lauren got this cool paint on her face for the 4th of July

Sesame Street came live to Incirlik. This is Mr. Owen shaking Abby's hand 

August

Fatih and Sabihat, our kids' adopted grandparents here in Turkey

At Fatih's beach house in Mersin. 

Turkish food is so amazing! I am going to miss it so much!

At Ebru's (our nanny) for an authentic Turkish spread

One last visit to Yumertalik Beach

Lauren's 6th Birthday

Mom went the easy route this year with her cake! But, she loved it!

These were Lauren's birthday balloons that flew away minutes after we brought them. She was in tears, but I promised her she would laugh about it later! She seemed disgusted with the thought!

She's just too beautiful! Lauren please don't grow up anymore!

Germany

Paris

We took an unexpected trip to Paris over the summer. We were just driving in the general direction and just decided to keep driving once we got to France. Because of this we were only able to take pictures of these places. We didn't even go inside the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. It was definitely a quick trip, but it was soooo worth it! We are so excited to go back!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Arc de Triomphe

The infamous Eiffel Tower

September

A group of friends got together for a mystery dinner.

The theme was "Murder on the Mound"

  Happy 2nd Birthday Owie

I spent all day on this cake...can you tell! Good thing he loved it anyways!

These are all my old co-workers. This was taken on my last day of work. I really did enjoy working, but am so happy to be back home with my kiddos.

Joe had a pretty bad injury at work. This picture doesn't show it very well, but there are about 35 stitches on his forehead. He is very lucky the piece of glass did not hit his eye. Everything is healing nicely, but there is definitely a huge battle scar there now! We're just happy he is okay.

Joe and I made Manti, one of my favorite Turkish meals. This is one meal I am so glad I learned how to make because it is so wonderful! We (Joe and I...not the kids!) are going to miss Turkish food so much. 

Christmas 2011

This picture was taken right after we put up our Christmas tree.  Each of our outfits looks hilarious, but let's face the facts, this is what we look like on a typical day at home!

Waking up early, baking all day, icing sugar cookies with my kiddos as we listen and dance to Christmas music, opening an early Christmas present from Joe, delivering Christmas goodies to friends, picking up one last lucky delivery from the post office (had a huge chunk of the kids’ gifts in it), rushing home to cook Christmas Eve dinner (veggie pizza and bbq meatballs), watching Charlie Brown Christmas with the family, staying up until 2am wrapping gifts, waking up a few hours later to Nolan so excited bringing up one of Joe’s unwrapped gifts, rushing downstairs to see what the damage was…about 4 gifts opened (none of them Nolan’s!), taking turns opening gifts from each other, seeing smiles on everyone’s face…especially Joe’s when tricked him by hiding the one gift he really wanted!, being surprised by a large bonus gift from Joe (a hand carved Turkish hope chest!), Most importantly, enjoying a wonderful sacrament meeting at church as we celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. These are a few of my favorite things about Christmas 2011! 

Merry Christmas 

and 

Happy Birthday to our Savior 

Jesus Christ. 

Castles of Turkey

 Kozan Castle

The Kozan Castle was built by the Assyrians according to the Adana brochure. Of strategic importance, it was later taken by Abbasids in the 9th century. In the 11th century the Seljuk took over, next came the crusaders and the Armenians. This castle was smaller and less in tact in comparison to others we have seen in the area. It's still amazing to see how in tact these historic ruins are after thousands of years.

 We went with our church group and had a really good time

This is enough to give any mom an instant heart attack! 

Kizkalesi
"Castle by the Sea"

The castle by the sea was originally built by the Romans as a sea gate. Various additions were made during the Byzantine era.The fortress is rectangular, and is made up of an outer and inner wall.

Just like most of the castles in Turkey, Kiz Kalesi has an interesting tale.One day a fortune teller told the king of Korykos ( the former name of Kiz Kalesi) that his sole and much-beloved daughter would be killed by a snake bite. In order to prevent that, the king built the castle in the sea and made his daughter live there. But even a king cannot change destiny. A snake brought onto the island in a basket of fruit bit his daughter, and she died. 

Lauren took this the first time we visited Kizkalesi

On the beach outside the castle

Walking on the south side of the castle gave us some breathtaking views

Lauren and Joe doing a rubbing of ancient carvings

This was my favorite view

Snake Castle
 The kids' favorite

These are some facts I found in wikipedia: Snake Castle (Yilankale) is a large medieval crusader castle located east of Adana in modern Turkey, built on a rocky hill overlooking the east bank of the Ceyhan river. Its medieval name is unknown - the "Castle of the Snakes" name is due to a Turkish legend in which it belongs to the king of the snakes (Youngs 1965).

The castle and its impressive towers are visible from the highway E5 from Adana to Iskenderun (about 133km away). Yılankale is one of many castles in the Adana area. It was built in the 11th or the 12th century, and was used by the Crusaders of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. 

The view from behind the castle where you climb up

Over spring break Joe let Lauren and Nolan choose a place to go and this is what they wanted to do.
Climb Snake Castle!

Just behind Lauren was a huge drop off....very scary for a parent!

Joe reached the top! Good job!

This was taken over a year ago...Owen rock climbing!

Inside a much needed shady portion of the castle

Anavarza 
Formerly known as "Anavarzba"

This was a passage I found online about this particular picture at Anavarza:

"The Moslems of the region consider this as the crack cut by Hz. Ali and tell a legend about how the son-in-law of the Prophet pulled out his sword and made a crack in the rocks for himself and his horse when he was being pursued by the enemy. Leaving this legend aside, the fissure seems to be opened to allow for the road which went from Anazarbus to Flaviopolis (Kadirli) and Hieropolis (Kastabala during the Byzantine Period). The passage is 250 metres long and its width changes between 4-15 metres."

There were tombs all over that had been destroyed by numerous earthquakes including a severe earthquake recorded in 1945. Locals emptied valuables from tombs and used them for personal gain.
I just had to lie in one of those tombs...it was too tempting and I caved! I love how Lauren is smiling down at me! No remorse at all! 

This kid brought me flowers (probably wanting money for them) and tried to sell us these fake coins. We were warned that many locals will try to sell tourists fake antiques....and as you see...they tried! He carried them in an old cigarette box too...nice!

There were 3 gates to the castle grounds. This is the west gate.