First Post From Turkey

Well Kids, it's official, we live in Ankara!

It is still sinking in, and will take some getting used to, but I think we are going to like it here.

So first of all let me start with our last days in Maryland.

Trum, was growing his hair all year and he wanted to keep it long so he could be Aragorn at a costume party the last day of school.

 

I think it worked out pretty well, next time though, we will give him a five o'clock shadow, to finish off the look. From the party we went immediately to get his haircut. It was definitely time, although, I am not sure I love his new cut. It was a compromise and I think it would look better if it was a bit shorter.

BEFORE

AFTER

We spent our last day hanging out with friends and relaxing. It was really nice. But oh, man! As soon as the door on the cab shut, the tears started! I had to pull it together because the cab driver kept looking at me and saying, "three years, three days." trying to make me feel better. It didn't really help.

Anyway our journey had begun.

We had a 6 hour layover in Munich so we decided to take the train into town, stretch our legs and have some lunch.

Jack thinks this picture is hilarious because of the guy behind us. I like how exhausted we look.

In Munich we went to Englischer Garten for some lunch and some brass band music at the beer garden. It was delicious and it was a beautiful day for a walk!

The brass band was in the pagoda tower, they played plenty of J.P. Souza to help us feel at home!

We also stopped in Marienplatz for a few minutes.

Then it was back to the airport for our last flight to Ankara.

 

We got into Ankara around 11, Jack's boss/our branch president, his wife and another guy from Jack's office where there to meet us and help us with all of our luggage (we had 9 checked in and 5 carry-on!). It was super nice of them & they really helped us out.

The next day Jack went in to work to start on our mountain of paper work and when he got home we ventured out to explore the neighborhood.

Trum's first time in a turkish grocery store. By the way the sign above his head is advertising Onions. See my Turkish is AWESOME! 

Totally Turkish

Wait a minute, Good Year??!

 First Dinner in Turkey: The King (ie Burger King)

Trum ordered this cone in Turkish!

 

 Our second dinner in Ankara we had actual Turkish food!

Seriously not sure about this hair cut. 

Mmm, Lamb. Delicious. 

We are in a temporary apartment while our permanent place is getting prepped for us. But here are some pictures of where we are living for now.

Temporary Hall Way/Entrance

Temporary Kitchen. Love the watermelon pink walls.

Trum's temporary room.

Temporary master bedroom closet & Bathroom. I wish this closet wasn't temporary, it's huge!

Temporary Bedroom

Temporary Laundry room & back balcony

Temporary Living Room

Temporary Street

Permanent Friends.

Spring is Sprung

I LOVE spring! Especially this year after such a long, cold, snowy winter! The only down side is that most of the plants all burst into bloom on the same day and they just as quickly lost their blooms in a wind storm. So we are having to be quick in our enjoyment of the season. 

Our Spring Break was last week and most of our activities were planned by my friend Holli (who is a good ole Southeast Idaho girl like me) and enjoyed with my friend Annie (not from Idaho, but Wyoming is close enough). We had a few adventures together and entertained our kids at the same time.

Spring Break Adventure #1

Marine Museum at Quantico

We heard this was really cool and have been wanting to visit it for a while. It is about an hour south and it is a great Saturday activity for anyone from the DC area (especially if you have boys in your family, big or small) A lot of the exhibits reminded me of the exhibits at the Imperial War Museum in London, very interactive. Of course there are a lot of guns and stuff, but also a lot of personal stuff. We really liked it. 

Spring Break Adventure #2

A Day in Baltimore

So we decided to head up to Baltimore to see Fort McHenry (Star Spangled Banner) and then hang out at the inner harbor for a while. Both of them were great! We haven't been to either in years, I think we went when we first moved here, but Trum was like 3 then so he doesn't exactly remember any of it. We went with Holli & Annie & various kids. The Fort was great! They have a fantastic presentation and at one point I got a little teary eyed. And of course we did the junior ranger program while we were there. We also ran into our friends the Bearmans which was a fun surprise!

Then we headed over to the harbor for some lunch and to walk around and see the sights. We ended up riding the carousel and going to a lighthouse where Annie & Holli re-enacted a scene from Pete's Dragon (Razzle Dazzle Day). It was a grand day!

Also during the week Trum took to wearing his Civil War Rebel hat around the house and one night I found him like this when I went to check on him. What a goof!

Spring Break Adventure #3 & #4

Luray Caverns and a hike in the Shenandoah

Holli's friend got a group together so that we could get group rate entrance fees to tour the caverns. It was great to be able to walk in past all of the people waiting in line. I felt SUPER special and cool. Plus some our friends the Clawsons ended up being a part of the group so we got to see them as well. The caverns are so awesome and we learned a lot!

This was my favorite part. It looks like a big cavern but it is really the ceiling reflected in a shallow pool of water.

 

After the tour of the caverns we let the kids do the ropes course. I was proud of Trum, he is scared of heights but he went for it and he did great!

We stayed at hotel that night and the kids swam like madmen in the pool and we had perhaps the slowest meal ever for dinner and enjoyed several episodes of Curb Appeal, then we packed up and headed out for our hike in the Shenandoah. The area was beautiful and we had great weather. We hiked until the youngest sat down in the trail and would go no further. It was a great time.

On our drive home we had one more mini adventure... we crossed the Potomac on the ferry. I thought it was cool anyway.

Fall Forward

Hello out there! I assume my parents/Jessica are still reading this blog once in a while, right??? So I will continue updating it. And come this summer I have promised to update it more often.

So Fall, fall, fall. What happened this fall?

Well Truman started 4th Grade.

 He has loved going to school at Stonegate and getting to hang out with friends from the neighborhood.

 

In November the Elder's Quorum was in charge of the Ward Chili Cook Off and the presidency decided to do a musical number. They had a good time "jamming' " in our basement while they rehearsed.





I got to travel to Idaho and spend some time with my sister and help her get ready to move. She is such a sweet person and my bestest of friends.

Plus I got to hang out with friends and old men who own old machines!

 

 Oh and we saw some wild life. That dark spot is a moose I swear!

 

 

Truman played soccer this year and it was fun. We were on a team with some friends, it was cheap and the league is pretty laid back. Just the way we like it.

Here he is getting his trophy at the end of season party. Nice Face.

Here he is in action but I feel that the next 2 pictures are more representative of his true sense of competition.

 

My parents came for a fun visit and then Jack's mom came out for Halloween. I took pictures but then promptly lost Jack's little camera that I had been using. Believe me when I say that he has been totally understanding and patient with me as I try to find it with no luck (insert sarcasm here).

 

But the big news here is that in October Jack applied for a job and assured me that there was NO way he would get it. Then he was given an interview and he again assured me that he was not even qualified for it so he wouldn't get it and was just doing the interview because it was good practice. Well guess what. He got it and we are moving to Ankara, Turkey sometime this summer. Wowzer! More on that later. In the meantime here is a picture of Ankara.