A Hobbit Hole in Cappadocia

Cappadocia

Watching cartoons with friends in Ankara

Asleep on the train

Off to Turkey

Turkey Bound

Image via Wikipedia

Tomorrow we are off to Turkey for two weeks with our good friends the Burns. We leave Raleigh-Durham in the morning and fly to New York where we will board a direct flight to Istanbul. We plan to update this blog and Kelly's blog that he started when he traveled to Turkey in '09. We'll see ....

This will be our first international trip as a family of four - well perhaps that's technically incorrect. I was 5 months pregnant with Elisabeth when we took 18 month old Jonah to Tunisia for two weeks. You can find a handful of posts from that trip in the archives from April 2006.

That trans-atlantic flight was exhausting. We're hoping for the best this time around. If you think of us tomorrow, pray that we have a peaceful, restful, fun flight and check back here for updates.

Bon voyage!

Related articles

• First Impressions - Istanbul, Turkey (travelpod.com)
• Off to Turkey (shannafern.com)

Kids Room: Part 3

I finished my little art project. Now for the furnishings.

Kids Room: Part 1

Kids Room: Part 2

Jonah's New Restaurant Creation

Chicken nuggets and French fries wrapped in a flour tortilla. Not exactly low carb, but I must admit I was pleased he got a bit adventurous and did something different with his food.

My Little Fishermen

Our new house is very near the Neuse River and a greenway that runs along it that includes this great boardwalk that you can fish from.

Note the SpongeBob fishing pole and Star Wars tackle box

Actually, their talented mother caught this fish. They say kids learn best from behaviors that are modeled for them. Since I'm a daughter of a fisherman, I should know.

BTW - there was only bread and cheese in that tackle box

Potty Training Milestone

I have been procrastinating with potty training Elisabeth. It took so long for Jonah to get potty trained (18 months) that I decided to wait until she was really ready before making the big push. I keep changing the deadline, but at this point, I'm committed and mentally preparing her that when she turns three "no more diapers." Wishful thinking perhaps, but that's my current plan. Nevertheless, I occasionally ask her if she wants to go potty and get her to sit on it to no avail.

Well, the last two days she has had a bout of diarrhea which resulted in a diaper rash. So today, I thought I'd let her run around bottomless to let things air out so the rash would heal. Also, we have a book about going to the potty where the little boy put's his potty in a tent and uses it. So today I sat up the Dora tent in the playroom and put the potty inside it just like in the book. She loved it and sat there for quite a while.

Eventually she moved the potty just outside the tent so that she could sit and watch TV at the same time. While I was upstairs packing for our upcoming trip, I hear, "Mom! Mom! I did it! I did it!" I was somewhat skeptical as she has cried wolf before. Regardless, I ran downstairs to investigate and sure enough she had pee'd in the potty! So Jonah and I congratulated her and jumped up and down and gave her lots of praise and then I rewarded her with her favorite snack. She was so proud of herself - she was so cute. "Did I do good mom?" "Yes, Baby, you did great!"

A few hours later, she was bottomless once again and I hear her say, "Mom I made a big one." So her dad and I go in the playroom to look in the potty - Nothing! Then we see her pointing to the rug where we find a little poopy terd. Thankfully it was fairly solid and cleaned up easily. "I'm sorry mommy."  "It's okay; lets just try to get it in the potty next time."

So another episode in a mother's quest to clean up poop. For previous installments, check out these posts!

To end on a positive note, Dad reported that she used the potty two more times while I was out this evening. Yay Elisabeth!

Elisabeth Style

Elisabeth picked out a purse today at OshGosh. I did steer her toward
a cheaper one but she still chose between the white and dark denim.

Easter Pictures

Mommy's girl

Wordless Wednesday

copyright Gina Carr

Wings Over Wayne 2011

A couple of weeks ago, we drove to Goldsboro and experienced Wings Over Wayne.  Last year we went to the Winston Salem Airshow. By comparison, Wings Over Wayne was bigger, cheaper, and a closer drive - though aspects of the air show were markedly different  (i.e. no Harrier Jet).  The weather was perfect for sitting in the sun and watching the show.

Jonah saluting in front of a P-40 Warhawk from WWII

Side view of P-40 Warhawk

The P-40 is significant to us, because Kelly's grandfather, George Herbert Davis, flew one of these during WWII in the South Pacific theatre. Kelly has transcribed a journal of his grandfather's on another blog called Love Found Down Under, so named, because George met his future wife (Kelly's grandmother), Elisabeth Newton, while stationed in Australia during WWII.

Mother's Day Weekend

My mom arrived late Wednesday to spend Mother's Day weekend with us. After recovering from her delayed arrival, we went to the mall for lunch and shopping and then out to dinner at a local Mexican joint on Thursday.  I had forgotten that it was Cinco de Mayo so it was appropriate. We finished the evening on the back porch playing with the kids.

Friday, we went Strawberry picking with Gina and Samual at Porter Farms followed by a picnic at Lake Wheeler Park.  And in the evening we all sat in the living room and watched Tangled together - such a cute movie.



Saturday, Elisabeth, Mom and I met up with my mom's first cousin who lives in the area for a girls day out. We finished out the day watching Kelly do home improvement projects and watching the kids play in the yard. And Grammie finally got to paint Elisabeth's nails.

Sunday, Kelly made us all breakfast and then we headed to Brick Magic. We went last year on Mother's Day as well, and I was blown away by all the brick creations. This year it wasn't quite as astounding to me since I had been before, but I was elated that it didn't seem so crowded. I didn't take the nice camera this time so the pictures aren't as good. Grammie got into the spirit of things and purchased a female doctor mini-figure and patient.  Go Grammie!

All in all a great Mother's Day weekend!

We took Grammie to the airport this afternoon and thankfully she had no delays and made it safely to Orlando. Elisabeth kept saying, "I don't want her to go to airport!"  "I want to go to Florida."

Kids Room: Part 2

When I finally got to painting yesterday, things went much more smoothly, and I even began to enjoy myself despite the self imposed deadline. I actually put the entire first coat on with a brush and then for the second coat used the roller. For some reason, I prefer brush work but it is less practical on larger surfaces. I finished the second coat at 7 p.m. last night and left cleanup for today.  As you will see, one wall is incomplete as I have an idea for an accent that I want to be able to take my time on.  I did test out my colors to make sure I liked my chosen palette, and I DO.  I totally love, love, love the blue I chose - it makes me happy just looking at it.

So the room is of yet incomplete, but it will suffice as a guest room for Grammie this weekend.

Kids Room: Part 1

                                    Image via Wikipedia

As I mentioned in a previous post over a month ago, I am attempting to pull together a shared bedroom for my 4 year old boy and 2 year old girl. I chose a color palette and bought the paint a week or so ago. I managed to get the room emptied and spackled before we left for the weekend.  Then yesterday morning I sanded and wiped down the walls and put drop clothes down and taped up all the moulding. Then I went out in the afternoon and didn't get started actually putting primer on the walls until 7 p.m. I bought Killz having heard that it was a good primer, but at 9 p.m., after applying one coat,  I could still see lots of blue haze.  

This morning Elisabeth woke me up at 5:45 and after getting her back to bed I found that I couldn't go back to sleep. My right arm was aching from painting. So I got up, took some ibuprofen and started putting on a second coat of primer.  The kids woke up at 8:15 as I was finishing up. I can still see a bit of a blue haze, but I'm hoping it won't matter.  

I began feeling optimistic that I could get this room painted with the exception of the accent wall before my mom arrives tomorrow evening. But after last night and this morning, I'm dubious. (BTW, my husband left on a business trip yesterday morning and won't be getting back until after my mom arrives.) I used to be able to get things done by pure determination, but I haven't done hard work like this in quite awhile and my body is rebelling. Not only that, but I have only ever painted a room once before but not by myself and even then a friend came to our rescue. So, we'll see how far I get.....  and how this all turns out.....