VIVA LAS VEGAS!

We went to Vegas a few days before Christmas because Rick had to work through the holiday. We also decided that we should go at least one place different each year. Vegas was a good deal so we went for it. We stayed in the castle (Excalibur) for PJ and went to all the animal places we could find. We saw lots of pictures of semi-nude ladies, but thankfully she was more interested in the lights and M&M's world. It was also great because we met up with friends and they had two cute boys that PJ got along with.

This is Brandon and PJ sitting by a waterfall outside the Las Vegas temple. They were both trying their best to be goofy.

They found a little nativity set on the temple grounds and thought it was a great idea to ride the animals.

Watching the water show by Belaggio.

Of course, we had to get a picture with the nascar and Kyle Busche. At least that's who I think it is. Rick?

M&M's World and PJ getting sleepy.

Not interested at all and ready to go.

Caesar's Palace.

PJ putting up Christmas decorations and telling us Merry Christmas every few minutes. It kind of reminded me of Tiny Tim.
A vast improvement to how she would have reacted two months ago. I actually thought I had a different video on here with her dancing more, but I must have deleted it.

Cuddle Cake

Rick started out calling PJ his little cuddle cake, and she has warmed up quite well to it. Every night or whenever he is home she asks, "Dad, you wanna be my cuddle cake?" They are so cute together, and I love that PJ loves to snuggle with him even if she is a wiggly snuggler.

LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW!

This was our first big snowfall, which really isn't too much, but great for PJ and Scooter. They both loved playing in the snow. PJ kept trying to put on her soaking wet mittens to go out again. It really is her first snow experience. I hope we get the chance to use her snow pants and go sledding or skiing.
Junebug the snowbug.

Air Force vs. Army Football Game

The big game day finally came and this was our view. The seats were really good with a nice wall in front to place our drinks and food on.
They did a flyover with F-15s and B-1s before the game and that was pretty cool especially when they went into afterburn. Well, the F-15s anyways. The B-1s would have broken our eardrums and all the surrounding windows. There are reasons our house often shook at Ellsworth during all times of the day. It was great.
All of the cadets lined up on the field before the game started to present the flag and sing the national anthem. I love to watch all the uniformed marching and see how sharp they all look. It reminds me of watching Rick from Basic Training graduation (Boot Camp).
This was when all the people were arriving. It took forever to get to our seats. All the empty sections to the right were where all the AF cadets sat.
It was a fun day and the weather was great, the food good, and the atmosphere rewarding. I get all sentimental over this military stuff, but I think one of my favorite parts was watching older veterans being honored. Not much to do with football, but I think that the younger Airmen and soldiers should look up to them.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah Spooky Scary

Welcome Ben and Hanna to our blog. They went trick-o-treating with PJ, and were very quick candy picker uppers when PJ spilled all hers on the road. PJ loves them and talks about them all the time.
She was not very congenial with picture taking this evening, but at least she didn't talk to anybody that tried to talk to her. The only person who she said trick-o-treat was Rick, but oh well.
It was a good night, and nice for me because after about 5 or 6 houses she was ready to come home.

New Addition to the Family

We've been thinking about getting a new addition to the family, but it just came sooner than imagined. This is Scooter. She is such a good Corgi. Well, at least for the last 8 hours we've had her. I haven't heard her bark yet, and she is just so stinkin' cute. We thought we'd have to deal with PJ screaming for a good week before she would get down with a dog, but she has loved this dog since first sight. I think we got lucky not only because PJ has done so well with it, but this is a dog that Rick has wanted for a really long time. She is just so cute!

BACK IN THE USA

Ok, so my camera is still not downloading pictures to our computer. Such a bummer to not show what we have been doing. Instead you get photo booth pictures of us. Maybe by this weekend or next we'll have a new camera to post pictures.

We are in Colorado Springs chillin' like villains and trying to see all that we can. We've made it up Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods so far. Hit a few AF hockey games and football games and the last Rockies game of the season. The baseball game was freezing, but at least they won by a large margin.

Welp, maybe next time we can entertain you with something a little more interesting.

Few and Far Between

Well, since I left the camera on the back of the car and it fell off we haven't had many pictures. I turned the camera on and it wasn't working, so I tried new batteries. That helped and I thought all was good until I went to download our pictures onto the computer. Not so good. It's decided it doesn't want to connect at all. The memory card is good because the neighbor who found the camera looked at it to see whose camera it was. Good thing we erased all the dirty photos the day before;). Now you get to hear about what we have been doing without pictures.

We are packing out our house! We sent the car last week, and the other stuff will go on Wednesday. So for the next two months we will have loaner furniture which isn't too bad here, and is much better here than what we would get in the states-a cot. Here we get loaner beds, couch, table and chairs, and stuff to cook with. We also have great neighbors, so we won't be without anything.

So, other than the fact that our camera had been dropped too many times before the big drop we won't have our own computer. The library will become our best friend again.

Turkey has been good to us, and we will miss so many things. We would have loved to stay another year, or try somewhere new overseas, but at least we got an awesome place in the states to go to. Colorado. We'll be back to snow and PJ keeps telling us whenever she hears the name Colorado that she wants to make a snowman at Christmas time. This will be her first real snow experience. The first time she saw snow she thought it was rain, and we didn't play in it. Now, thanks to the wonderful invention of books and the always truthful TV she understand a little better what it is and what you can do in it.

Now that you know our life story, I will let you go and let you long for the next time you get to venture into our blog and read/view our semi-interesting lives.

Mama Mia!

I asked PJ what we should call this blog and naturally she said, "MAMA MIA!" I love this picture.  She is wearing Rick's glasses that he uses when he wears his gas mask. There was a good week where she wore any glasses she could find. She's been walking a little funny since that week. Not really, but seriously.

TO LIVE OR NOT LIVE THE LIFE O'REILY

It was quite a lovely trip to Mersin this weekend.  Our friend Necip and his wife invited us to their parents summer house by the beach.  We are very glad we took up the offer because it was relaxing and enjoyable.  Their apartment is right by the beach, and had a great view.  The water was a little cool yet, but we swam anyways. PJ wasn't too keen on the water, but thought the sand was great. She made snowmen in the sand- she's been on a Christmas kick the past few days.

This is Necip and his wife Layla. They will be having a baby in August.  They were excellent hosts along with her parents.  Her mom made some amazing food, and we were in heaven. 

Rick especially. She was amazed at how much Rick could eat, but she also kept piling it on his plate. It was really good.

This is by Silifke up in the mountains. It is one of Zues' temples. I guess we didn't actually get the full picture of the temple in it, but you can look it up for more information. It's called Uzuncaburc.

Well, we decided we would wake Rick from the dead before we left. Unfortunately, he is still in Zombie form.

Gallivanting in Gaziantep

This place is known for its copper work. Those guys are chiseling designs into the copper. You should have see some of the other stuff. It was amazing and suprisingly affordable. We ended up buying a handmade copper pitcher and a turkish teapot.  We would love to go back and get more.

Gaziantep is also known for its lamacun(??). I don't like it too much, but Rick and PJ do. It is also know for pistachio (antep), which is how Gazi(antep) gets its name.  And, since they have great pistachios, the baklava is supposedly the best there too. I will have to agree because I can't wait to get more baklava from there. Mmmmm.....

They don't get too many American tourist there.  We had many stares, but everyone was very nice.  They even have a zoo there which was really good. We had a good time.

A little trivia: Gaziantep is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Mersin/Kizkalesi Trip

We ate at the fish restaurant behind us. It was delicious and we picked out the fish we wanted from a cooler full of fresh sea fish. You should have seen the tongue fish! We did not eat that one. It was a little creepy looking.

We went with our friends Sumru and Chuck.  From where we sat at the restaurant you could look over the railing and down into the water. PJ thought it was pretty cool. We could have gone down another level, but then our feet would be wet from the water washing up. It was a very beautiful cove.
PJ liked this flower because she thought it was like Sophi on Mama Mia. She called herself, "Honey, Honey".
This place was cool. The romans built it. I know part of this area was a school, but I'm not sure which area.

Rick standing at the bottom of the amphitheater. More ruins of Kizkalesi are behind him. We don't have it in the picture, but if you were to look further right the castle that sits in the sea would be there. You can check old posts to see what it looks like. 

Remember that one day.....?

My Turkish friend called her "some Russian tennis player" he had no clue who she was. 

Pictures for Los Abuelos

Sometimes she does make good food choices instead of chips or chocolate. If we let her, she would eat a whole package of strawberries by the end of the day. LOVES them!
She was being chased by a monster. Doesn't look too scared, though.
Something gross found in her playhouse that she picked up with a stick. I think it was a mixture of spider webs and tiny pine cones. I don't want to know what else was in there.

First things first. For those who don't know we will be moving to Colorado Springs around September time.  We are very excited. It will be nice to be closer to family and snow. Not to mention mexican food, hockey, baseball, and other things. We are going to miss Turkey!

This was on the way home from our trip to Tarsus. I guess somewhere up there is where Daniel was buried, that could be wrong though because I think there was suppose to be some mosque or something close by. There was a huge thunderstorm right after we left. We even saw a few places get hit by lightning. 

June bug's stash.

PJ is clever. 

We had bribed her to use the toilet by giving her chocolate. That is her price. It is easy. That is, it WAS easy until Easter ruined it for us. 

We (Becky) gave her chocolate in a basket and she went about hiding it. I know she hid it because we didn't give her any, yet her gob was overflowing with Milky Way yesterday.

 I began my interrogation and found she should get a job with the mob (or government) for her skills in keeping quiet. Granted, I am no pro at prying out answers, but she would not give up her trove. I respect that, but, it is taking the wind out of the sails of our bribes. 

Sound the alarm. And protect your treats.

This donkey is only doing this until he can save enough to move to Tijuana. He's got a cousin there that is going to get him a good job.

PJ and Dad's Obssession-OK, PJ's

That's just nasty! It made its way onto Ricks sandal and then moved to his leg.
Rick is so good to take time with PJ and go look for snails every day.  On the weekends they go on excursions to gather up snails. This weekend they also decorated the snails with stickers. It's become a good tracking device. Within 3 hours they were able to tell how far some of the snails traveled and where they made their new home. They've also noted the lazy snails or dead ones that have stayed in the same location as manually planted.
Here's Rick helping to apply the first ladybug sticker onto the snail. Needless to say Rick and PJ were entertained all morning.

Anavarza-Old Roman/Byzantine Castle

This is a wall up on top of the mountain. If you can see the tiny slit in the side, PJ and I were in there while Rick explored up above and took the picture. There was a really good view overlooking the old Roman city that was destroyed by an earthquake, rebuilt, earthquake, taken over, rebuilt...

We honored the tradition of dying eggs, and PJ did quite swimmingly not spilling too much or cracking the eggs when she dropped them into the cups to color.
On Friday at school she got her face painted like a bunny. She kept looking in the mirror and saying, "I'm a bunny".
By the time this hunt actually started she was tired, and just wanted to go home. Especially after we made her sit by the Easter Bunny screaming. Sorry PJ, but you still did a great job gathering up those eggs.

She doesn't look excited in this picture, but she was. She would look at her coloring book and turn to the door, "Thanks Easter Bunny", then pick up her chocolate bunny, "Wow, thanks, Easter  Bunny". It was a successful day in the material Easter world.

Spring has Sprung

We have been spending more time outside, and just keep the back door open so PJ can run in and out. Now that hopefully the rains are mostly gone, we can get more sunshiny days like this hanging out in the backyard.
Rick cooked a chicken on the grill, and it was delicious. We have gotten good use out of our cheap grill/smoker that is rusting through. We will be purchasing something better when we get back to the states.