Flowers Everywhere

It is definitely Springtime. You may have seen the rose bush (taken April 1st) in one of the earlier blogs. Here they are now.

Ricky's 1st T-Ball Game

Ricky played his first T-ball game of the season yesterday. His team is the Braves.

Swing batter batter swing! Check out that concentration. I think he made a home run with that one!!! Okay, not really.

Family Trip to Adana

We finally got our van on Wednesday, so now we can get out as a family and explore some. We decided to go into Adana and eat at McDonald's, hang out at the park, and check out the Grand Mosque. Danielle opted to stay at home and sleep.

This McDonald's was very nice. It's a two-story building with play areas outside and upstairs. It was a little awkward ordering...as the employees didn't speak English. The Quarter Pounder w/ cheese was pretty good, but Kim and the kids didn't care for the Chicken McNuggets.

On our way through the park to the mosque. I don't know the name of the park, but it was very beautiful. It is well manicured and had tons of bright, beautiful flowers.

Savannah, Kylie, and their new friend Morgan on the teeter todder.

The restrooms were inside this hill covered in flowers. You pay approx. 25 cents (not sure what the name of 25 cents is in Turkish currency) to use the restroom.I was amazed at how bright these flowers were. The other neat thing about these flowers is there were tons of bees on them, but you couldn't really tell unless you stopped and looked really close. Can you spot any bees in this picture? Me either, but I'm positive there were a couple in there.

Getting closer to the mosque.



The Turkish people are fascinated w/ Americans...especially children. The kids were running around and playing in the park and every time Kylie ran past this couple, they would reach out and try to grab her. It sounds scary, but their culture has different boundaries (if any). When they got ahold of her, they were touching her hair and kissing her cheeks. We've been warned about this, but this was our first time seeing it. Savannah said "as soon as they saw her, they started kissing her...it was soooo weird." They were very nice and I asked them to take a picture with Kylie. Check out their kung-fu grips on her arms.
On our way back through the park. It was getting really hot out and the water felt nice on the feet.


Check out this cool close-up. What a neat flower.Rick and Ricky.

Drive to Adana

Danielle and I went to downtown Adana for her first orthodontist visit today. It was a pleasant experience...especially since Danielle heard that she'd only have her braces on for approx. 4 more months. Here are a couple shots I took on the way.

On the road.

Grand Mosque. I believe this is the 2nd largest mosque in the Middle East. I've seen many pictures, but you just can't beat seeing it in person.

Old Roman Bridge.

Kids at Breakfast

The kids ate pancakes this morning. Yummy!!

KYLIE

RICKY

SAVANNAH

Ricky & T-Ball

Today is Kim and my 8th wedding anniversary. Good thing Grandma Prahar sent us a card or we would have forgotten it. When Kim opened it, she thought for a minute "Who's anniversary is it?" Savannah, Ricky, and Kylie made us an outdoor collage of rocks and leaves...and then Ricky demolished it a minute later. That kid :) Here's our first rose bush to bloom in our front yard.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

________________________________

We signed Ricky up for T-Ball. He had his first practice yesterday. That's him with the red shirt and blue shorts.

Check out Ricky's awesome swing (and the cool guy behind him).
Here's the view of off-base from the ball field.

Testing The Webcam

I uploaded some music to Savannah's MP3 Player this evening. When I finished, the kids and I decided to try and figure out the new webcam. Here are our first test pics. Kim and Danielle aren't in the picture because one of them is resting and the other one refused to participate. Can you guess which action/inaction belonged to which one? Here are the first 7 pics.

"The Alley"

The Alley is the area just outside the base. We usually park our car at the gate and walk off base into the Alley. Essentially its just the street that runs along the perimeter of the base. This is where you'll find all sorts of stores and restaurants. It is no more than a mile long. You can find anything from machine and handmade carpet, jewelry, sunglasses, watches, tailor made suits, and custom made furniture...all for reasonable prices. You can also find clubs and bars that sell Tuborg, my favorite 'unregulated' Turkish beer.

First stop today... a picture in front of a handmade carpet store. The gentleman inside said some of these handmade rugs take anywhere from 8 months to 4 years to make. After hearing that, it's not surprising that they cost much more than the machine made ones. Some of the prices we were quoted today were $800, $1,600, and $2,000. These rugs easily last over a century.

This is an interesting one. After waiting for the train to pass...we found this guy in the shirt and tie cranking the railroad arms back to the raised position. It is his job to hand-crank the wheel that lowers and raises the arm. When no train is in sight, he relaxes in the blue booth you see behind him.

The railroad from the other side. Do you recognize that octagonal sign? You guessed it. "DUR" means "STOP". I still laugh inside whenever I see that. Some things never get old. The Turkish flag in the background is actually a big billboard that has a bunch of small sequins. It's very pretty and we'd take a closer picture, but the flag on the base and that's about as close as we can get without getting busted.

One of our goals on this trip was to get some food. We stopped at Mujdat's Restaurant. Here I am with my Tuborg.

Here's Kylie with her Tuborg...oh wait, I mean her Sprite.

Here I am eating Mujdats Special. It had chicken, muchrooms, peppers, sauce, tomatoes, and melted cheese on top. It was served with a plate of white rice. Very good. Me like Mujdat's.

Kim is not a very adventurous eater. She has found the Shish Kebab and has now tried it in every restaurant we've gone to. Mujdat's is her favorite so far.


This is the Cheesy Bread that Savannah wrote about to her class in Tucson. She hasn't had it at this restaurant, but I'm sure she'd love it just the same. It is served as an appetizer in most Turkish restaurants. This one was served with a plate of honey and some butter. We've had it served with jam and also garlic sauce. It is very good.

At the end of our meal, they brought out a complimentary plate of fruit for us. Mujdat's is our favorite restaurant so far. The total cost for this meal, including appetizer and beer was $20. Not bad.