This year's trip to Turkey was full of family and friends. We made special stops in Istanbul and Ankara to introduce Lev to his cousins, aunts, and uncles--a much anticipated event and a whirlwind of hugs, kisses, and birthday presents. Finally on to Bodrum where Lev made friends with everyone in sight. He woke daily with the name of the neighbor boy on his lips, shared sand toys with German, French, and British kids at the beach, and generally worked his charm on the entire Bodrum peninsula. A waiter from one of our favorite beach clubs even claimed to remember him from last year! Here are some highlights:
The first night in Istanbul we were all so exhausted that we slept fairly well through until the morning. The next night, however, one of us decided to party all night. We had a heck of a time keeping Lev calm in the paper-thin-walled hotel and got sharply reprimanded by the guards for wandering around in the garden at 1AM (apparently there are dogs). Finally close to 4AM, the exhaustion overtook all of us. Unfortunately Lev didn't actually make it into the bed.
By the time we got to Ankara, Lev was back to his normal self. He's going through a "helpful" phase, so we let him push Ba'anne's suitcase through the airport. He actually did a fantastic job. Pushing things (carts, stroller, suitcases) is his new obsession.
It was hard to tell who started this monkey business, since both cousin Ada (age 3.5) and Lev were egging each other on. Regardless, it was a fun 15 minutes and the adults thought it was cuter than it was dangerous and allowed it to happen.
Ada's grandpa, Erdal, has a fantastic sandbox in his front yard. Ada and Lev are making a construction zone. We stayed one night with Erdal and Gulay in Ankara.
There are three children living in the house behind Ba'anne's in Bodrum. Mohammet (age 3.5), Seher (approx 9) and Diyar (approx 10). They played together every day right up until bedtime, and started again at breakfast. They loved Lev's toys and taught him hide and seek-- hilariously interpreted by his 2-yr-old self.
Ba'anne bought Lev a motorized police motorcycle. By this I mean it has a key, an engine, a gas and break pedal, no seatbelt, and a horn with 10 different siren noises. We'll let Lev have the key 3 years from now, but in the meantime the kids LOVED sitting in the seat, sounding the horn.
Over the days, Lev got really brave in the water. Here he's riding his jet ski at Gumbet beach, a cove with warm water and no waves--his and my favorite. He kept entreating me to go deeper and deeper.
Lev made friends with a German-Turkish family, and spent a long time building castles with the boys and splashing around the shallows with the girl, Asli also age 2.
Many of the days we had breakfast at the beach, to maximize time in the waves. Here are two fellows, cold from the wind and hungry from the exercise.
Later we rewarded ourselves with famous Bitez ice cream.
Another breakfast, another beach. Gumusluk before the crepes came and changed my life (for the better!)
We celebrated Lev's 2nd birthday with a cake Nur made. Lev sang happy birthday to himself, and continued for the rest of the trip. He has an extensive repertoire and sings most of the day.
Devouring birthday cake!
Our long-time friends from Boston,Tansu and Kristina, had come over to see us with two of their three children. They've spent the last 4 years in London and are moving to NYC in two weeks. They were visiting Tansu's parents a few towns over. We had never met Kaya (age 1.5, below) and still haven't met Chloe (age 2 mo, not present). Layla is 3.5 and the last time we saw her she was a tiny little thing. Now she's a ballerina princess.
The vacation wasn't all about kids. Murat and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary at my favorite place in Bodrum, Cafe Limon. It is perched on a hill and is famous for its stunning sunset views and fabulous mojitos. The food is delicious too. I had the grilled octopus for the second year in a row.
No comments:
Post a Comment