Visit to Hattusa

We finally made it out to Hattusa, the ancient capital of the Hittite empire. The capital is around five thousand years old, so you have to use your imagination to get the full effect, but the site was really well laid out. They had a huge wall around the city, 7 km, and there is still a working tunnel (70meters long) through the wall in one section. That's good architecture. The kids loved it, but maybe because there was snow to play in.

5K4Refugees

Today was Team Ankara's 5K4Refugees event. It was a gorgeous day and fun was had by all! Leila scootered the whole distance, I ran pushing Athena in the stroller as she waved like a princess to the spectators, and Jason was the photographer (his pictures coming).

Giving Tuesday

Today is Giving Tuesday, and our family tradition continues of each picking an animal from Heifer International as a donation. Athena chose pigs:

After spending a great deal of time carefully looking through all of the options on their website, Leila eventually decided that instead of an animal, she wanted to send a girl to school. We couldn't think of a better donation!

Our final donation of the day is to the International Red Cross through the 5k4Refugees (www.5K4Refugees.com) that was started by some friends in Ankara. Now in its third year, 5K4Refugees has raised tens of thousands of dollars for organizations supporting refugees. Please consider joining our efforts by signing up to walk or run a 5k (anytime, anywhere) and/or donate if you are able. We will be participating in the Ankara community 5K event this Saturday. Like last year, we will 'sponsor' Leila by contributing money for her donation for each lap she completes. Last year she scootered the whole thing, and I'm sure she will rock it again this year.

Day trip to Hattusa

We took a day trip to the ancient Hittite ruins of Hattusa yesterday, about 2.5 hours from Ankara. Most of the pictures are on Jason's camera, but here is a sample of the site. The kids had fun climbing on the 4,000 year old castle and temple ruins, but loved playing in the little patches of snow even more. We loved having time to take pictures and read the info signs while the kids were playing with the snow. All in all, a hit for everyone!

Cupcake delivery

Dear Ankara, one more reason to love you. A dozen gorgeous mini cupcakes delivered to your door in less than 1/2 an hour and for less than $10. Tomorrow's party desserts? Check!

Zombie Apocalypse Club

Apparently the kids were characters in a zombie movie today. They look the part!

Before and after

Leila had a sleepover on Saturday and we asked them to clean up the room. I went in and it was not clean (See photo #1). They couldn't understand why I didn't think it was picked up since they had picked up their blankets. After 10 minutes, with some adult supervision, it was better. I told Leila these 2 pictures are like one of those 'Spot the differences' games... also, #2 is her example of what CLEAN should look like.

Roasting marshmallows

After the longest brunch in history (the food took forever, came out one at a time, with the kids food arriving at least 40 minutes after the first adult's food), the reward was roasting marshmallows over their fire pit.

The little things

Some new friends dropped off this very thoughtful gift today. When you live so far from family, friends are everything!

Leila & friends

Leila with her friends Elena, Mackenzie, and Evie.

First snowfall

It snowed! Not much, and turns out mostly just in our area (down near the embassy nothing stuck), but it's a sign that winter is coming.

Eureka!

Today you can call me Eureka Hanim (Ms Eureka). I guess I should start discovering things!

Post-Marathon wrap up

The Istanbul Marathon was not an easy one for us. As Jason's first road marathon, I think it left him appreciating how tough a marathon is! The course took us across the Bospherus Bridge, which is only open to foot traffic for this one event per year. It was so cool! After that, the route went through some neighborhoods, past the turn to our hotel and across the Galata Bridge. From there (about the 10km mark until the 40km mark), it was a long, dull out and back on a highway leading to the airport. Luckily, the road was closed to traffic, but even running along the Bospherus didn't quite make up for running along a freeway for 18 miles. There were plenty of water stops and the course wasn't too crowded. Jason's knee and hips started hurting so we ran/walked our way to the finish line and didn't come close to our time goal. Oh well, it was a cool experience to do together anyway, not to mention spending the weekend kid-free in Istanbul with some friends from Ouaga (Brian also ran while April drank coffee all day long waiting for us!) we . That babysitter in Ankara was worth every penny!!

Istanbul Marathon expo

The marathon expo was interesting. Besides the usual booths selling running gear and advertising other races, they also had a ping pong tournament, mini golf, axe throwing, aerobics, arm wrestling with (super strong) women in wheelchairs, and remote control cars.

Istanbul Marathon

We ran the Istanbul Marathon on Sunday. It was raining as we boarded the bus to the start but mostly stopped and left us with some wind, but nice cloudy skies. Here are some pictures from the starting line.

Life from Athena’s perspective

Athena got ahold of my phone yesterday morning and snapped pictures. Of the almost 200 pictures taken in 10 minutes, these are what her morning looks like to her! Getting her hair brushed, the view from her self-made breakfast corner, the hopscotch rug, the girls new carpet in their room, pictures found on her floor, and putting on her socks.