Turkey - Live Action

Finally, videos from Turkey!

Again, they're pretty long. Hope you like the new look of the blog!

This next one you might want to sit through as it gets better towards the end. I can reveal that someone (I'm not saying who) gets a real close look at the water.

Cats, Crayons, and Climbing

I feel it's time to give a little update on what Inara is doing nowadays:

- Walking everywhere, all the time, without stopping.

- Saying "där / there" while pointing (probably about 100 times a day).

- In addition to mamma and dada, she also occasionally says "hej", "titta / look", "bye", and "yeah." She once said grandma and the Swedish "jaha," but those were probably mostly accidental.

- Whenever you ask her something she shrugs and throws her hands up in the air.

- She laughs super loud while pushing her stomach out and throwing her arms back behind her.

- She absolutely loves cats, pointing them out in books and on the street.

- She enjoys drawing with crayons and climbing into closets and cupboards.

- When she doesn't want us to pick her up she lays down flat on the ground.

- She tries to distract us from her doing something she's not supposed to by pointing and saying "there" in opposite direction.

- She thinks stairs are the best toy ever.

- She is really good at putting stuff away. Where it doesn't go.

- She likes smelling flowers. Or rather to lean forward, put her nose on them and make a sniffling noise with her mouth.
-Whenever we praise her (or when she feels she deserves it) she gives herself a round of applause. 

She also went to the dentist for the first time today (all kids get called when they're one). I'd been joking that they'd have to discuss dentures, but they weren't surprised at all to see no teeth. 

Now some videos of her just doing her thing in the last couple of days. I still need to post the videos from Turkey, but seeing how it will get boring to watch so many videos at once, I will do that later. The one of us at my dad's house is pretty long so feel free to fast forward. She's still struggling to walk while wearing shoes, so there are a few small spills.

Many of you are asking us what our plans for the future are. At this point, we're just enjoying the time we're able to spend together and looking for jobs. As soon as one of us finds something, we'll go to wherever it may be (within reason) and the other will just have to follow. Inara is signed up to start daycare for atleast a few hours a week at the end of August, which I think she'll really enjoy.

The End(s)

Well, so many of you know that I recently finished my masters program.  So now I am a master of something, which is pretty neat.

My thesis was submitted on the 28th of May and on Monday the 4th of June I'd presented it, to roundly positive reviews.  On the 5th of June the class had a, more or less, farewell party.  However, on June 2nd one of our number, Paul, got hitched.  He was kind enough to invite the class to his wedding.  We'll start with the pictures from the wedding.

Here is Paul.

Here are Maria and Inara.  One of these two is WAY, WAY past their bedtime.

Betty (bride) and Paul getting ready to Greek/Turkish dance.

Jacopo, making an offer that cannot be refused.

And now moving on to the school stuff.

Here is most of the class the day we gave our presentations.  Missing from the picture are Merijon and Paul.  Paul was on his honeymoon and Merijon wandered off when the picture was to be taken.

Same crew more or less. The guy in the back middle (not the one holding Inara, that's Gorkem) is someone still trying to finish the program from last year.  I really have no idea who he is and had never met him before but he didn't seem to have a problem with being in a class photo for this year with other people he didn't know.  I probably would have liked him.

Enough class stuff.  Now I give you want you really want. Inara.  Let's start out light.

Yesterday was Sweden’s national day, and as luck would have it the king was here so we went to gawk at him.  He was not interesting.  But the weather was nice.  I waved Inara in his general direction.  Pretty sure she saw him...

I have a migraine in this picture.  That is how tough I am.  I felt like I was going to puke!  But Inara had to see her sovereign.

There is a hole under our counter that up until now has been used as a storage spot for Inara’s toys.  We have found a better use for it.

Toys pushed to the side.

Comfy spot.  Notice the vein in my forehead. 

Yep.  Super comfy.  I think this is our new spot.  We've added a blanket so its more stifling and sweat boxy like!

 And now...

Look at this face.  Those eyes.

No.  REALLY look.

What do you see?

Can you see what evil...rests behind these eyes.

These are the eyes of a pool pooper.

Inara was at her baby swim the other day.  Things seemed to be going well and everyone was happy.  People were cheerfully putting their mouths into the water and making bubbling noises.  No one suspected a thing.  It's possible that the faint brown trail in the water would have gone unnoticed...except they brought out the slide.

Inara was unable to resist the slide, even knowing it may reveal her dark, dark (actually more of a brownish red) secret.  Things went well.  Her mother happily plucked her up from the water after Inara had slide down, none the wiser.  Then she turned.  And she saw, the slide had been MARKED, and all could see the truth.

Needless to say, Inara has embarrassed the Barney side of the Nitz-Barney combo.  The Nitz's don't seem to mind though.

I have to say I get chills watching people put their mouths in the water now, but its probably better they don't know.

Andrew

Back Home

Finally I have some time to update the blog! We returned home last Wednesday and were welcomed by beautiful summer weather (which is now gone). The trip was good and Inara performed admirably, sleeping on almost all transfers. Here comes a ton of pictures of our little adventure:

Ready to roll!

The mosque closest to the hotel. We all grew quite fond of the call to prayer. I especially liked hearing it in the evening while the sun was setting. Despite not sharing the Muslim beliefs, there was something calming about it.

First encounter with the ocean. Not so great.

 

Tea is very important in Turkey. People seem to be drinking it non-stop out of these little beautiful glass cups.

At the beach.

Warming up to the ocean.

Inara at the "street of columns" (not sure why it's sideways, driving me nuts because she's posing so perfectly). Her column/chair is about 3000 years old and Roman.

Street of columns.

Spices at the bazaar.

Mostly knock-off brand name clothes though.

Inara loves pointing. She tends to keep atleast one "pointer" ready at all times and when she really likes something, she points with both fingers. There were a lot of things to point at at the bazaar.

What's left of Temple of Apollo. It sits right by the water and is incredibly beautiful even now, thousands of years later.

Exhausted little girl.

Visiting a larger mosque holding up to 4,000 people and an exact replica of the one in Instanbul that holds 20,000 (!).

Visiting a village in the mountains.

Village school.

Inara was absolutely loved up by these girls.

We had tea at this house.

The very friendly owner of the house.

The staff at the hotel loved Inara and she was particularly fond of this waiter. The Turks adore children and no matter where Inara went she could be sure to have her little cheeks pinched six ways from Sunday and her face smothered by kisses. She generally returned the favor by waiving and pretending to be shy. The last day she had stopped waiving and I suspect her fingers were wore out.

Fun at the pool.

A very common sight outside our room. Inara heading either for the playground or the stairs.

A statue used to stand here, so Andrew took it upon himself to replace it.

Having some traditional Turkish food.

This dish is cooked in a clay pot...

...and shattered at your table. Delicious!

Enjoying some sand.

Next time I'm planning on posting some videos of Inara in the water and Inara walking. Although she's been able to walk short distances for months, she really kicked it into high gear while we were gone. She's stopped crawling completely and is almost running! On that note, I can add that we went to visit her possible future daycare (if we stay on the island) today and I can't believe that she's getting so big. I have to admit to shedding several tears just thinking about spending a full day without her. Hopefully it'll feel a bit better when she starts three months from now.