Another family member?

No, I am not pregnant.  This seems to have shocked many people that we have NOT had another baby yet.  It has almost been a year that we have not had a dog in our house.  When Joel and I  moved in together, Chili was 2 and Decaf was 7.  11 years later, Joel has decided it is time for another dog.  I will admit, the first few weeks were just plain depressing.  When Decaf passed, it was expected but still left an empty spot in our house.  Chili was a big surprise and left our house extremely quiet. Chili was our alarm system.  He barked at everything and I felt safe with his loud bark.  I think it took moving to not be emotional every time the doorbell rang and there was no bark.

But, I have grow used to it.  Living in an apartment, there are more sounds and people around.  So its nice not having to keep a dog quiet.  Chili would have a field day with the barking.  No middle of the night trips outside in the freezing weather.  Very little hair to vacuum.  The kids are finally messier than the animals!  So when Joel mentioned a dog for Christmas, I was not feeling ready.  Joel asked around about finding a dog and we found some breeders.  Dogs are really expensive here!  And you have to pay in Euro!  Also, with being gone for Christmas, put a hold on the dog thing.

I'm not really sure how it came up, but we started talking about maybe going the rescue route.  All of our pets have been rescues.  Chili and Romi came from the KY Humane Society and Decaf and Skinny just wandered into yards.  At home, I'm all for it.  But here in Istanbul is a different story.  Stray dogs roam the streets, dog fights are very big here, dogs aren't treated like they are in the US.  So finding a stray that I would feel safe enough to bring home to my kids,  was a huge concern.  But I was going to be open minded and we started our search.

Saturday, gymnastics was cancelled, so we decided to check out a shelter and a pet store.  We went to the pet store first.  It was in one of the malls we hadn't been too. Drivnen by it a bunch, but never had a reason to go.  It was your typical pet store. Some cute dogs (and cats) but I really didn't want to spend 3000 Euros.  I would go to a breeder!  At least they have a 10 year guaranteed and handled all the international paperwork!  Next we tried to find our local shelter.  OMG...was that fun.  There was quite a bit of snow on the roads and we up on a hill on these windy roads looking straight down at the Bosphorus.  I thought we were going over the cliff a few times.  But Joel rocked it.  We never found the place.  So after an hour we headed to grab lunch and then back home for our first Turkish lesson.

On Sunday, we got a babysitter to watch the kids. We had decided to go to the main (and largest) shelter in the city.  We didn't want to risk taking the kids or having to constantly watch them. We really didn't know what to expect.  We used out driver for the trip, so he could be our translator if needed.   When we finally found the place, I was in shock.  It was behind a bus graveyard, and there were just dogs wandering everywhere. I had read some really bad stuff about shelters around Istanbul, but that was years ago.  We parked and went in to talk.  The place was well kept and the workers petted the dogs every time they walked by them. It is an outdoor shelter but all the dogs had dog houses.  The sheer number of dogs was absolutely depressing.  It is probably one of the saddest things I have ever seen.  There were so many beautiful dogs!! I was so overwhelmed.  We only when thru the main section and got the tour.  I think I loved on at least 50 dogs!  We found out that it is mostly run on donations.  There are very few paid employees and the city provides the land and pays water and electricity.  I wished we had brought more!!

We weren't going to be able to adopt that day.  Because of something that happened a few years ago, they follow the same adoption process as if you were adopting a kid!!   We did see a few that we are interested in.  One was the sweetest girl.  I'm not a fan of female dogs, but she rocked.  She had the same coloring as Decaf and quite a few of his mannerisms.  She really took to Joel.    There were also quite a lot of German Shepherds.  I saw three that were absolutely gorgeous!  Good hips and all.

I should have taken some pictures, because I can not even start to explain the vast amount of dogs that need homes.  But it truly was an overwhelming experience.  We will definitely become regular donors and I'm looking forward to giving a dog a happy and loving home.  I wish we could take more.

So, if anyone reading this is in the market for a dog in Istanbul, GO to a shelter!

Snow Day!

Truthfully, I never thought I'd see a snow day living in Istanbul.  It has been pretty warm so far this winter. There was one day when Jocy was sick that it started snowing after lunch.  It came pretty fast and Elly didn't get home until 3 hours after school got out.

So when I was woken this morning by the phone, I was pretty annoyed.  Last night I seen a little bit of snow falling but nothing big.  I had thought a snow day would be great!  Haven't got to be all snuggling will all three of my kids during the week in awhile.  Sure enough it was Joel calling to say he got an email that school was closed.  I really thought that they were just being on the safe side.  There were a LOT of pissed parents about the last snow.  But I was very surprised by what I saw thru the windows of the playroom.  Just a couple inches of snow but it was the big fluffy kind. So pretty.  So I left the kids alone and snuck upstair for some quiet time and a cup of coffee.

When Elly woke up this morning, she was freaking out that she missed the bus and why wasn't she at school! LOL.  I told her to look outside.  Everyone was very excited for snow!  

After lunch, they finally convinced me to go outside and play.  So on went the snowsuits and snow boots and out the door they went .

Elly didn't make it too long.  Of all the snow stuff that we do have, gloves are not it.  I have one glove from Jocy's and one from Elly's pair.  Nate was the only one who had both gloves make it to Turkey!  LOL.

Nate and Jocy stayed outside for awhile longer.  They even made an attempt at a snowman.  

Finally, I convinced them to go inside for some Hot Chocolate and to watch Cars 2.  From the looks of the last weather report, we may have a few more of these days next week.  I love snow days!

Mass Confusion at the Carrefour

I have been comfortable grocery shopping at the local Carrefour for months now.  I didn’t like the layout of the store but I knew where everything was.  I could make a trip during the week and be in and out in under 30 minutes!  When you can’t read or speak the language, you really depend on stuff to be where it’s supposed to be!  There is an issue with them keeping up with expat stuff though.  One week its there, the next week it’s gone. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to be back in stock. But unlike the US, Turkey prefers local and not exports. I am highly impressed that they have been expanded their expat foods.  When we first moved here, we were told that Migros was the best place to find our kind of food, but it is EXPENSIVE!  I was surprised the first time we went we spent 500 TL and still had to spend another 150TL at the Carrefour to make up for what they didn’t have. Btw… that’s for a week worth of food!  Now that Carrefour is carrying the things that we bought from Migros, we are officially a Carrefour family!

With all that being said, after being away on holiday, THEY CHANGED THE WHOLE STORE!!!!  And it wasn’t just  we left and came back and the store was different.  No, it started small.  The alcohol moved…not once but THREE TIMES!  Walls started to appear.  Last weekend, when we did our grocery shopping, I was a dumbfounded lump of confusion.  I couldn’t function!  Doesn’t help that I was sick and the place was packed, but I couldn’t focus to find what I needed.  And its not like I can just ask anyone.

Since our shopping trip Saturday was a big fat FAIL, I went back today to pick up our missing stuff.  I went early so it would be me, Nate, and the old people.  I always loved going to Hyvee at home on Tuesday morning.  If you could get past the annoyance of the driving old people in the parking lot, it was a calm trip. And whatever kid was totally spoiled.  Today, I made the decision I was going to walk every aisle.  Truthfully, the new layout makes much more sense and is more what our grocery back home was like.  Before, it was like a maze!  I have some odds and ends that I’d like to find.  Like someone slammed the plug of the GPS charger in the center console, so I need one of those.  I needed to pick up dog food to donate to our locate shelter (which has 2000 dogs for adoption!!).  I need some new sponges to keep working on removing grout. Another story.  Just random stuff that I might miss other days.

So after my complete freak out, today I have found peace with the Carrefour. 

Girls Day in Paris

It took me 33 years, but I was finally going to France.  I wish I had traveled more before we had kids.  We did the tropical thing but never thought to backpack thru Europe. Ok, Joel had already done it.  So when I knew I would have the opportunity to wander Paris, I started  planning.  I knew there would be 10 of us all together.  Our parents aren’t young anymore and I knew  between MIL knees and my mom’s (who broke her leg and arm visiting me in MO), we would never cover what I wanted to see.  Then throw in three kids 7 and under and I was screwed!
But a ray of light presented itself when my parents send their itineraries.  My parents weren’t coming in until the 27th, so someone had to go to Paris to pick them up.  Dad thought Joel and I should drive in for the night and pick them up the next day.  Joel’s been to Paris a few times and really had no interest of going back.  How can you top being in Paris for the World Cup and  France wins!  I thought this was the perfect opportunity!!!  Girls Day in Paris!!  Rachelle and I could drive in to CDG and pick up my parents.  Say hi and then have Joel drop us off in the city!  Spend the day and hop the train home.  Joel would just have to pick us up from the train station.  So excited, we had a plan!!  And the kids would get to hang out with grandma Jackie and grandpa Bruce.
So  the day finally arrives.  I make the mistake of picking the night before to try out all the new drink recipes I had found.  LOL.  I managed to pull myself out of bed at 5am.  Mom and Dad’s flight was early, so we headed out as soon as we were ready.  I felt like crap.  But by the time we made it to the outskirt of Paris, I was feel great.  Must have been the excitement.  After some direction issues, we finally found my parents.  We got them load into the car and headed into the city.  We didn’t really have a plan of where we wanted to be dropped off.  Joel forgot to grab the charger to the GPS when we left Istanbul. So we were relaying on his cell phone. Thankfully, it works all over Europe. Thank you Ford!  We decided to head to the Opera House.  Figured that was a good starting point.  At one point the traffic was so bad and we were kind of lost, that we gave up and jumped out of the van.  Joel told his sister to make sure I made it back.  LOL.
So a side note.  Once everything was booked for our holiday, My SIL, Rachelle, and I started making a list of what we wanted to see.  Since most people don’t try to see all of Paris in one day, we tried to find something she hadn’t done but still catch things I wanted.  I came across this blog called Kiss My Spatula where she had posted 10 Reason to visit Paris in the Winter.  I shared this with my SIL.  Definitely something to remember when planning.  In the end we added 5 of her reasons to our list!

When we started out, thankfully there was a Metro station across the street so we could figure out where the heck we were!  We had our little map from my MIL but it took a bit to get used to finding street signs.  It was a fairly chilly morning. In the 40s and overcast.  It was VERY fog the drive in.  We dressed appropriately and stayed pretty warm.  I had to borrow Jocy’s new backpack for the day.  I was a cross between a middle age mom and an 18 year old.   But I didn’t care…. I was in Paris!

We walked a LOT!  I think Rachelle said about 8 miles.  That’s not counting our trips on the Metro.  Our first goal was the Opera House.  But on the way there, we hit one of our goals!  We were still a little out of it, so I am very happy I saw the store.
Stop #1 -  The Best Macaroons in Paris. Per Kiss My Spatula.  I was not a fan of Macaroons. We had some at the Hilton here in Istanbul and they were HORRIBLE!  But Rachelle had talked me into it.  So our first stop ended up being Pierre Hermes.


Score! I wish I had gotten a picture of the beautiful colors of the Macaroon display case.  We bought an assortment to take back with us and then we picked out two big one just for me and Rachelle.  They were about the size of a Moon pie!

 
I love historic architecture, so walking around I was like a kid in a candy shop.  Oh, how jealous I was of people that got to live there.  I was so excited to find out that many of the big pretty doors where actually garage door!  How fabulous!  I want one!  And how even more excited when I got to peak in a few and see a whole another world inside!  Damn you Ford for not having a plant in Paris!  LOL


Check out all the fun we saw!

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Was very excited when we stumbled upon the Champs Elysees Christmas Market!  We did a little “window” shopping.  I found Elly the cutest Hello Kitty earmuffs!  We kept seeing signs for Hot Wine.  Since we were drinking a bunch of wine anyways, it is France, we decided to give it a try.  We got a cup to share….. which turned out to be a good idea.  Hot wine is…… kind of gross.  Worth trying, but would definitely not buy it again! LOL 

Next we headed to Chez Janou . A suggestion from Kiss my Spatula.  Who doesn’t want  to eat the best Chocolate Mousse in Paris!!!!   It was a bit harder to find.  We didn’t realize it would be off the beaten path in a cute neighborhood.  Nothing touristy about this place.  We got there about 2:30pm and it was PACKED!  No one spoke English, which was fine, since Rachelle and I had enough French to get by.  I was tired at this point, so my brain was having translation issues.  My brain was going from English to Turkish and the back to English to try to remember French.  It has been 10 years since my last French class!!  LOL. They squeezed us into this little table next to two guys.  My backpack barely fit under the table.  But it was nice and cozy.  After much discussion if we want to have something more substantial to eat, we opted for Chocolate Mousse and a half bottle of wine.  Now when the bottle of wine arrived, it sure looked like a whole bottle.  The guys next to us were asking the usually basic you’re a tourist questions.  One of them spoke decent English.  He asked where we were from. Rachelle told him New York, and of course NYC.  Its been a bit since she left, but she just said yes.  I said I living in Istanbul.  He gave me a crazy look.  Either my accent was too thick (I was drinking on an empty stomach) or he really had no idea about anything outside of France.  We tried everything, but gave in as our dessert arrived and just said America.

Now I totally regret not getting a picture.  No where did it say on that blog, exactly what you were getting.  I bowl of Chocolate Mousse the size of two heads!  We were so shocked we started giggling.  Just utter shock at the size.  Even the guys next to us couldn’t get over it.  So we both managed two helping, because YES it was the best Chocolate Mousse I had ever had.  OMG.  If I lived anywhere near there I might be 400lbs.  What we discovered was it is all the Mousse you can eat.  And it was only 7 Euros!!!  Finally the rush left, and we were one of the few left.  We had a really enjoyable time getting a sugar high and getting drunk!  If you find yourself in Paris, this is a must go!
 
Afterward, we were numb and on a high, so we continued on our mission.  Next was E.DEHILLERIN.  It was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures, but I was like a kid in the candy store!  I loved all the cookware!  Rachelle got a pic, which I need to remind her to give me, but I could have emptied our bank account 4 times over in that store.  I was drooling over the beautiful copper pots.  Le sigh.  My MIL told us to pick up a whisk for my FIL.  He has a slight obsession with them.  We almost got him one as big as his head, but it didn’t have a price tag.  So we went with one as big as Nate’s head. LOL!  I picked up a meat thermometer in Celsius.  I’m still working on the whole converting thing.  And my SIL bought the kids a Eiffel Tower cookie cutter.  The staff was wonderfully helpful.  And the prices were pretty good.  If I ever find myself back in Paris, I AM buy a pot from them!!!

We had two more goals on our list, to hit up two resale shops and find Passion fruit Éclairs.  Unfortunately, I was just too tired to enjoy the shopping. Plus in Europe, they like to sweat you out of the store!  After wandering the city all day, I had been properly dressed, I had gotten used to the cold.  So walking into these stores with the heat on 80, was not shopping encouraging. We did managed to look for Rachelle a black jacket.  We found a few potentials but nothing truly fit right.  I found a few cute sweaters but they were still a little to pricy for me.  We never found the passion fruit Éclairs.  I guess we wrote down the address wrong.  And it was not of my Paris app.  Dumb me had left my Vodaphone card at home and was stuck with a Lock SIM card.  So I couldn’t do anything .  After our last attempt, we headed back toward the Louvre.  We had seen some shops earlier that had what we wanted.  Jocy really wanted a beret. 4 for 10 Euros worked for me!  LOL.  I wanted a sparkly Eiffel Tower but they had to be plugged in.  Which is fine for Turkey but not when we moved home.  In the end I didn’t get one.  I got myself a coffee mug and some beautiful prints.  The girls got berets, Nate a soccer jersey and  I found two gorgeous silk ties with fleur de lis on them!

It was time to head back to catch the train. 

Unfortunately, the ticket machines did not like my credit cards.  If going to France, make sure you get cards that have the security chip in them.  It makes your life much easier!  So I had to go wait in line to buy them.  Because of the LONG line, we missed the train.  Boo.  But we finally got tickets for the next train in 45 minutes.  We grabbed dinner from the food stand and froze our butts off in the train station.  We were exhausted from being up since 5am but as SpongeBob say, “BEST DAY EVER!”. LOL.   I am so glad that I got to hang with my fav SIL in Paris for a day.  As she has since mentioned, I think this needs to happen in ever foreign city we go to! 

We made it back to Caen after 10.  Joel was waiting at the train station to take us home.

Day in Caen, France

The day after Christmas, my parents started their journey to Paris.  We decided it was a good day to doing a little sightseeing.  The weather was gorgeous!  Sunny and in the 50s. Not a bad day for winter in France. My father-in-law had seen a church in his France book that he thought looked interesting. The way he made it to sound was that it was some little church off the beaten path.   But I was ready to get out of the house, so we piled into our rented Mercedes Vito.

Turns out we were heading to Caen.  Joel and I had been the day before to pick up Rachelle at the train station.  Very nice town from what I had seen of it.  There had been a beautiful bridge that I wish I had gotten a pic of.  It was fairly easy to find the church.  Once my father-in-law told us where we were going. LOL.  Abbaye aux Hommes or church for Men was very well signed.  I was highly amused once he told us what church it was…. it was on all our lists of places to see.  Finding parking with the bus was a little annoying.  But we ended up with a prime spot behind the Church.  Unfortunately, we could never figure out the pay to park machine

Thankfully, no ticket or getting towed!  After that experience, we quickly got some change!   The town itself was worth the visit.  I loved all the beautiful architecture.  Since it was the day after Christmas, most of the shops were closed.  I had hoped to find a nice place for lunch.

Caen VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We headed toward the church and found signs directing us to the Welcome Center.  The kids love running around the large gardens in front of the Hotel. 

The guided tour had too many stairs for my MIL and we didn’t think the kids could handle the 40 minute wait.  So we opted for the self guided tour.  Which was just fine with us.  Elly and Nate do really well but it takes a lot of effort to keep them that way and I end up missing everything. 

 

Since Christmas was the day before, it was still decorated .

 

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I was surprised how much Jocy said she enjoyed it.  But she did get two years of Catholic School.

The kiddos hanging with William the Conqueror

 

Elly lit a candle and said a prayer to Mary.  It was very sweet.  She thanked God for moving us to Turkey and for sending us to France.  And wished Jesus a Happy Birthday. She asked if she need to sing too.

 

We headed back to the van and went in search of the Château.  After driving in circles and crazy one way roads, we finally found it.  The kids were excited to see a real Moat.  But Elly was concerned because there was no alligator or water. LOL.  Inside were a few museums.  But the kids were pretty tired, so we let them run around on the playground.  When they were well worn out, we decided to walk the walls.  It was a little nerve wrecking since there was NO railings.  Thankfully, that was only the first section or we would have had to leave!

		On the playground VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

 

The view from the walls was amazing!!

Since there’s not much to say….. it will be a bunch of pics! Enjoy!

Chateau VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We were all very exhausted when we got home, but I highly recommend Caen.  It is a well kept clean city.  It’s hard to tell the new from the old.  There was so much more to see, but we only had an afternoon.  My parents were arriving the next day and Rachelle and I wee spending a day in Paris.  Just the two of us.  NO kids!

Keep Calm…..

Most of you know how long I had to wait for internet.  It was a painful time for me.  I missed my friends and my TV shows.  I was so out of the loop at school.  But finally the day came!  Two lovely men showed up and installed my phone and wireless.  They even made sure that I had a signal downstairs.  I could get online EVERYWHERE! 

Then we left for our Christmas holiday.  When we returned, it was gone.  Well, since I am blogging, we have it, sometimes.  In the morning and at night it usually works.  But mostly it won’t connect or just drops out.  So I am blaming out new neighbors.  There is a new network that wasn’t here when we left.  So I’m am being cranky and not being neighborly, because they screwed up my internet that I had to wait forever on.  I may be wrong but it works for me.  Now I just have to wait until someone figures out how to get those two guys out here and fix it!  It better NOT be the standard two weeks.

 

*Deep breathe*  I have so many pics to post from our trip but nothing will upload.  Boo. Well I guess I will be spending today taking down the Christmas tree and working on my New Years resolution.  At least get my desk organized. 

Mont-St-Michel

I  am still trying to get caught up on posting all the fun of our Christmas Holiday.  One of the places that was on my list of places to visit was Mont-St-Michel.  I was so excited to learn we were only about an hour away!  So we decided to go on the 28th.  Which was the day after Rachelle and I did our 10 miles around Paris!  Let me tell you how much my body hurt!  LOL, but I wasn’t going to miss this~

We piled all 10 of us into the Vito and made the hour drive.  Once we got off the highway, it was such a beautiful country drive.  I don’t think I could ever get sick of admiring all the gorgeous stone buildings.

 

Our First sighting of Mont-St-Michel

                         
  Rachelle happy to get out of the van

Jocy in the van

  
  Finally arrived



It was FREEZING that day.  It wasn’t too bad when we left the house but being on the water, the wind made it miserable.  It was so strong I was afraid Elly would blow away!


It was a little after lunch time when we arrived, so we decided to find a place to eat.  I was pretty surprised how busy it was.  I can’t imagine how it would be on a perfect day in the summer!  We found a place that could fit all 10 of us.  Everyone, except Joel and the kids, order a 3 course meal.  Joel had Mussels and Frites and the kids had pizza.  And of course everyone had to order wine!!  The first course was salad.  From the menu, it seemed pretty simple, but it was oh to good!  It had coleslaw in it.  YUM!  I got a chicken with some kind of sauce.  I can’t remember.  But was very disappointed it had mushrooms on it. I am allergic to them. It was SO good, I didn’t want to not eat it.  I decided to take a chance and just pick them off.  Glad I did.  And it came with frites!  I don’t think I will ever like a French fry again.  I could eat Frites ALL.DAY.LONG.  We had a really wonderful meal.  Dessert was some kind of Normandy specialty.  Just as wonderful as the rest of the meal!  
Aunt Rachelle and the girls at dinner
 
   Poor Nate was cold and tired!
After a wonderful lunch, we started up.  My in-laws opted to not make the journey. Some how we convinced my parents to go.  I even think in the end they greatly enjoyed themselves!
The next part is going to be a TONS of pictures.  It was just such a beautiful place.

The girls ready to climb the stairs

Nate got a free ride!

Mom and Dad ready for the hike

Gorgeous views!

Love the way the sun reflected off the church

Loved the floors

Jocy had a thing for doors. LOL

My mom taking a break

Elly being goofy!

That is one big fireplace

Aunt Rachelle

Loved the random red door

I had the most amazing time!  It was like getting lost in another time.  I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in France!  They are doing some work and soon you won't be able to drive onto the island.  There will be a visitors center that you will catch a bus to ride over.  I would highly recommend going off season or first thing in the morning.  It was FREEZING cold and December, but the town area was packed.  I can't imagine how bad it would be on a warm summer day.  Especially, since I have personal space issues and Europe doesn't seem to have them!