A few of the things that have been happening in our lives the past month...
Sorry, lots of pictures.
Mallory on crazy hair day for her school. 21 pony tails!
Luke took third place in a poetry reading contest held at another school here in the area. He and several other students from his school represented AISB. He was the only one that placed.
Nash taking part in the MUN (Model United Nations) at the school.
The MUN team. Nash is on the left, second row.
Nash looking very serious here isn't he?
Aaaannnddd....not so serious here!
We took a trip to Istanbul for the spring break. Here we are standing in front of the Ayasofya.
We ate dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by our hotel. After the meal the waiter said to us, 'Would you like to come and look in our cave? ' Not something you usually hear after you eat. We went and found a bunch of underground Roman-era passageways -- VERY old...don't remember how old but just really old! The boys were joking about it being a trap: 'Come look in our cave!' and then they never let you out.
Nash's dream was to go to Istanbul to eat the ever famous Doner. He loves them aannndddd, I think he got his fill. Notice he has two: one in each hand.
Ayasofya at night.
Grant and the local street food - a sesame seed covered bagel/pretzel thing.
Inside the tombs of some of the Sultans next to the Ayasofya.
Luke walking on top of the piles of granite bricks the city was getting ready to place on the walk ways.
In front of the Blue Mosque.
Nash and Mallory on the terrace of the hotel -- Blue Mosque at sunset.
Our hotel
Mallory and Luke with a cat that parked itself right in front of the door of our hotel. Luke tried, unsuccessfully, to move it. Mallory kept track of all the cats she saw while on our trip. She counted over 30.
Listening to the tour guide talk about the history of the Rustem Pasha Mosque.
The beautiful tiles in the Mosque. Did you know the word 'turquoise' comes from the French word for Turkish?
Rustem Pasha Mosque.
Part of our tour included a great Bosphorus Cruise.
Luke, sipping his apple tea like a gentleman.
The old city fortress in the background.
On the cruise. Mallory has just discovered how 'funny' it is to give people bunny ears in photos.
Mallory with a beautiful mosque in the background.
Luke thought this tour company name was hilarious. She tours.
We also went on a cable car to overlook the Golden Horn.
Overlook.
We were completely in awe at the Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia)! It is an amazing building and completely unbelievable that it has been standing there on that spot since 537AD!
It is interesting to be in a building that has been used as both a Christian church and a Muslim mosque.
The mosaics on the ceiling of the Ayasofya.
We were all quite impressed and couldn't stop looking up at the ceilings and the mosaics.
Creed and Luke where they crowned the kings.
One of the best preserved mosaics. I remember studying this in college. It was really cool to see it in person.
The underground cisterns where the Romans kept water.
The sculpture of Medusa inside the cisterns.
A man that was standing outside the Blue Mosque. How could I resist taking a picture of this colorful character?
The Blue Mosque.
Inside the impressive Blue Mosque.
Notice all the beautiful blue and white tiles inside the Blue Mosque.
To end our tour, our guide took us to a good sweets shop specializing in Turkish Delight. We all sampled several kinds and chose several kinds to buy. We went again the day we left Istanbul to buy some to bring home. The kids loved it.
Different kinds of Turkish Delight. Lemon, Strawberry, Pistachio, Pomegranate, Pineapple.
I found Luke in the store looking at himself in the mirror messing around with his hair and pulling faces. Luke, always keeps us entertained.
Can you guess what Nash and Grant are eating?
Mallory and Grant enjoying Turkish Delight on the terrace of our hotel.
Yum!
Creed went out one night after the kids were in bed to see the city at night. He stumbled upon some "Native Americans" playing music and dancing as street performers. He found it funny that so many people were gathered around taking pictures and asking to have pictures taken of them with the "Native Americans". I guess that is normal to us, to see them but hey, I took a picture of that colorful character by the Blue Mosque now didn't I?
Inside the Grand Bazaar. It is a maze of everything from carpets 'Would you like to buy a carpet?' to antiques, to belly dancing costumes. As we were approached by the various sales persons, Luke would often say: "I am aware of your persuasive skills."
Near one of the fountains at the Grand Bazaar.
Grant looks thrilled to be shopping.
Nash inside the spice market.
Creed read of a place to get a really good fish sandwich so he and Nash set off to find it while I took the others for lunch somewhere else. Looks like they found it.
Nash and Grant in front of Topkapi Palace.
Inside part of the palace.
Since we were tourists, we did the touristy thing and went to a Whirling Dervish performance. We weren't sure how it would be but we all walked out of there completely impressed! How on earth do they spin that long? Here's a link to a video of the whirling dervishes.
Since we had taken an all day tour one of the days, we had seen almost all the sights we had on our list. So we found a great museum and spent our last day there. The kids seemed to really like it. Mallory and the boys worked on building this arch making sure the cornerstone was exactly in the right place. They were impressed with themselves when it stood!
Nash seeing what it would have been like using an Apple II computer circa 1980. HA HA!
There was quite a collection of cars in the museum. Here is a copy of the flying car from Harry Potter.
They obviously are having fun pretending like they are driving the cable cars.
Big bubble thing.
In front of a WWII plane that had been shot down in the ocean.
It was a great trip and a place we have wanted to go for awhile. The weather wasn't the best on some of the days, but overall, we had a great time.
