Turkiye

So I think Troy was getting a little sick of my manic touring vacations that I plan, so this trip to Turkey was his baby. It was awesome!! I'm so glad he did it. It was an all inclusive vacation which is the only vacation that is a real vacation for a Mom. It was a dream to only wake up and have to keep my kids alive. No other responsibilities. All the other trips we do, we pack food and meals, and toys and baby gear. For this trip we just packed clothes and went. I've now decided that any trip that requires packing a can opener doesn't really count as a vacation.


This 4 hour plane trip was a breeze for the kids (and me) compared to the 8 - 9 hour one we've been doing back to the States.


William loved having me hold him so much - in the ocean, in the pool, pretty much all the time when I didn't have anything else going on. He was a bit of a nightmare when we got home and had to get back to normal life. A touch of separation anxiety when we were 2 feet or more apart. Picture giant crocodile tears with sobbing that morphs into rageful screaming when I don't pick him up immediately.


Kids playing in one of the pools at our resort.


The Turkish people LOVE kids. It's just a cultural thing, they just melt when they see kids, especially blond/blue eyed kids. They were really sweet to all the kids, but William was a superstar. When we were eating in the hotel restaurant, every worker in the place would have to come by and pinch a cheek or stroke his hair or just in general play with him. At first the kids were nervous about it, but the Turks are so nice, it didn't take long for the kids to warm up. This is a picture of the kids with our cleaning lady. I bet most of you have never had a relationship with a cleaning lady at all, much less one like this. She would clean our room and decorate our beds with our pajamas and flower peddles, which was a little weird cause Troy just sleeps in his boxers, but there they'd be all fluffed up and fanned out. The kids' blankies, jammies and teddy bears would also be set out nicely.


Ben wasn't a fan of the waves so he was just a sand monster when we went to the beach.


William wasn't a fan of the Mediterranean either, so I just left his clothes on and quit wasting swim diapers.


This is Troy getting called a "NO GOOD ENGLISH TOURIST!" by a street vendor because he bought his wares elsewhere. He thought we were British. Americans don't visit Turkey too much so they just assume you're British. He was pretty mad at us, but we found it pretty funny. At least we paid less money AND gave the English a bad name not Americans


So in Turkey you're supposed to haggle over the price of everything except for things at the pharmacy. They expect it. As it turns out though I don't have the stomach for it and I totally suck. They say 6 Lira and I say 4, then they say no 6 Lira. Then I start to sweat and think about just leaving. That's when Troy steps in to end my suffering. He's really good at this. He gets right down into the nitty gritty of it. Threatens to leave after 10 minutes of negotiations and then usually comes out of the deal pretty good. I actually had to buy something on my own once and paid full price - I found the same items later at a different store for about 30 Lira less than what I paid at the other place. Like I said I'm really terrible at haggling. This picture is with the first guy I ever haggled with. It was stressful and somewhere in the middle of it he kissed me on the cheek as part of the deal - something extra he was throwing in.?.? There was a language barrier.


Veronica on stage at the Mini Disco. Veronica went to a mini-club for kids a handful of the days we were in Turkey. It was a couple hours in the morning and another couple in the afternoon. She had a lot of fun. I was proud of her because the teachers didn't really speak English and most of the other tourist kids were German, Russian, Spanish or Dutch and also didn't speak English. How many grown ups would just throw themselves into that situation? She is a tough cookie.


William's hair looked like this most of the trip.


It's the perfect storm of chlorine, saltwater and errant sunscreen.


Ben really really loves his bad guy socks and if he wasn't in the water he was wearing them pulled up as high as he could stretch them. Fast forward 50 years and he'll be that guy wearing black knee high socks with his sandals on the beach.


The resort that we were staying at had lots of kiddie pools, which was wonderful so William could stand on his own two feet once in a while. All three kids really loved wearing sunglasses. Even William kept his on. The sun was bright and my kids act like vampires in full sunlight. Their eyes are sensitive from 2 plus years under the UK clouds.


This is the shop I was ripped off at.


I don't really know what to say about this, ask Troy.


This is the Apollo Temple in Side Turkey.


Apollo Temple.


Turkish Bazaar.


William just after waking up. What a cutie!


Another couple of cuties! It's nice to wake up knowing all you have to do for the day is go to the pool.


At the end of this trip Veronica was bonified swimmer. She was jumping in and swimming, at least short distances, without arm bands. Yeah!! It never felt right having 2 parents with 3 kids that couldn't swim. There should be at the most a 1 to 1 ratio.


William is mad that I left his 2 foot bubble to take this picture.


Unlimited juice and ice cream by the pool, Beer too. The kids AND Troy were happy.


This is how William napped on the days we spent the morning at the beach. I loved every minute of it! His heavy relaxed body, totally peaceful with the sound of the waves and the warm breeze. It took me back to the first 12 weeks of his newborn life when he wouldn't sleep any other way then right on me. Ahhhhhhhh


We went to Turkey pretty pale skinned, and we left that way too. I put so much sunscreen on myself and the kids that we barely got a tan. We looked a little freakish with white stuff all over us. But we were sun safe! It did help the sand stick to us pretty good though. Veronica and Troy made some pretty cool sandcastles.

Also as a side note, we were the most conservatively dressed family on the beach. Veronica and I were the only people in a one piece swimsuit. Everyone was in a bikini, even if they shouldn't have been and little girls up to 8/10 years old only wore bikini bottoms. Several women were topless, none of which were worth looking at. And little boys up to 6/7 years old went with nothing on. One little German boy about 6 years old walked around touching himself with visible effect. Also speedo swimsuits were the norm for the men.


This buffet restaurant served me and my family 3 meals a day for 7 days. I didn't have to plan meals, grocery shop, organize a pantry, slice and dice, prepare or clean up after any of these meals. It was heavenly!! The food was delicious too, absolutely delicious. I ate enough to get my money's worth too. I really pigged out.