Visit to Turkey: Antalya Hotel All-You-Can-Eat

Through an online site, we found a great deal on hotel accommodations in Antalya. As much as we love our dear city, there are no real ruins to speak of. Knowing the Fish Sticks may not be back for awhile, we wanted to get them down south to see some ancient civilizations...well, the remains of them, anyway! 

We booked 4 rooms, put 2 adults and 2 kids in each room. There weren't really 8 adults. There were 6. We told the oldest 4 kids to behave like adults and put them in a room together! 

We noted that getting the hotel with the all-you-can-eat-all-day-long buffet came to about US$2-3 per person per meal. Can't beat that! We signed up. What the hotel doesn't know is how much my kids can eat. They didn't make a buck on us.

The favorite food of the cousins seemed to be chocolate spread and pomegranites. (Neither of these ever stained anyone's clothes, a-hem.) Big Ben wanted sliced grapefruit at every meal. Be my guest.

At the Christmas Eve dinner, we were graced with the carcasses of a sheep and a duck. I had to be a tourist and get a picture. I just kept thinking this gal on the right looked like Mother Goose. Poor little lamb on the left had mashed potato puffs all over his dead body.

And after sightseeing all day and filling up tummies multiple times a day, we were plumb tuckered out.

We were fairly laid-back at the buffets and just let the kids go. They all made fairly good choices, minus a meal or two of total carbs. We were definitely watched. 17 folks with blue eyes, many of them blonde-haired, gave plenty of people viewing enjoyment. It never ceases to amaze me how many good conversations we can have with folks just by having some cute kids with us. 

Visit to Turkey: Christmas on the 22nd

 On Saturday afternoon, I took the Fish Sticks down to Ulus, the old part of town. They got to see authentic Turkey down there.

In the evening, we had hang out time at home. Here is Papa challenging his nephew to a smurf dance contest on the wii. Nephew won.

 We opened gifts from each other. Simple gifts, but from the heart. Cousins used allowance money to buy each other things. I had gotten them all a stocking made of a Turkish rug and filled it with goodies like Turkish delight.

 It is perhaps one of my favorite memories of their trip. 17 folks all under one roof, enjoying the chance to be together.

Visit to Turkey: Dostlar Breakfast and First ER Scare

 So, what do you want to do when you've just gotten off a 24 hour airplane ride, aren't sleeping on schedule yet, and don't even know what day it is? Ride a bike! CC convinced my brother to ride in the forest with him early one morning. I do think they had fun!

Later, we took everyone out to eat for our traditional Saturday morning breakfast.

 In this restaurant, too many cooks don't spoil the broth, and they love us to just come right on in.

 I told you already...tour group. Everywhere we went. Lots of people. Lots of little people.

 This picture below was taken just before my Dad became very sick. He has Meniere's disease. Some combination of jetlag, not sleeping well the night before, maybe not drinking enough water, taking meds in different time zones, or all of the above triggered a reaction. He fainted, but at the moment it happened, none of us connected it with the Meniere's. The way it happened made us all think for awhile that something much more serious had happened. It was by far the worst moment of my life thus far, as we all assumed it was more serious. We took him to the ER. There we stood...my mom, my brother, and me all crying. Dad was cheerful, holding our hands, encouraging us. He was living out that peace that passes understanding. He alone had been granted that gift from God at that moment. We were able to access his medical records online for the cardiologist to read. After Dad quickly recited his 12 digit online password which followed no logical mnemonic device at all (I've always thought Dad should work for the FBI), I said, "Ok, well, you didn't have a stroke, that's for sure!" After tests to ensure he was ok, we were released. I think it took us a day or two to relax. I wonder if he liked all the babysitting; we hardly left him alone. He and my mom are the greatest people on earth, and I'm so thankful he was ok. 

Visit to Turkey: Arjantin

We knew that we had to take the family to Arjantin. We eat there almost every Sunday, have had wonderful conversations with the staff, and you just can't beat the price for this healthy, wonderful food. So, we eat there on our day of rest (Sunday). This little one above drew many stares. In fact, they could not keep their eyes off of her. A real live baby doll at their restaurant! I ordered the little kids pide to keep it simple.

I let the older ones choose. Firstborn convinced her cousin to try a lamb kebab.

CC and my brother split a mixed grill plate. It was as good as it looks.

It's funny. I am just now realizing that every child of mine must have talked her cousin buddy into getting her personal favorite. Twinkle Toes gets beyti kebab a lot. How to describe it in American terms? It's a tortilla (sort of) with spiced meat inside, with a tomato-based sauce on top, served with a big dollup of Turkish yogurt (which is like sour cream.)

Here's my mom and me. I like this picture. I like my mom.

And we all ended the meal with Turkish tea. Of course.

Later that evening, I got to take them to our church to see a Turkish Christmas service. I wanted them to have a little taste of what that is like.

Visit to Turkey: First Mornin'

I was overwhelmed at the generosity of my family. They really stocked me up on American food and goods. Mom made me homemade Chex Mix (my favorite). Do you now my first year away from home in 1997, she mailed me some all the way to Singapore? Coffee, creamers, candy, bacon bits, cake mixes were all there. We will be enjoying these for months to come! I had to reorganize my pantry/cabinets just to get it all in there. It was like a mini wal-mart brought to my doorstep.

The first morning, we all gathered, and I served Turkish breakfast to them. Fresh stuffed buns (called pogaci), a cheese plate, fruit, honey butter, helva, a tray of jellies, boiled eggs, and of course, olives!

Did I forget to tell you that I served chocolate spread, too? How could I forget that?

Here's my big brother. I like him.

We took the adults to the hamam and had a good ol' Turkish scrub down. Cassie and I had a ball and talked about it non-stop. When the guys emerged, they were strangely silent. I'm sure they loved the exfoliation so much, it was hard to know what to say.

Later in the day, we took them on a tour of our beloved school. My folks have met Serdar Bey before. He is one of our dearest Turkish friends and has worked with us for many years now. Here are all the grandkids in age order. In case you are wondering, yes, we were pretty much like a tour group.

Visit to Turkey: Delays and Arrival

A few days after school ended for the Christmas holiday, it was time to go pick up the cousins and grandparents from the airport. CC agreed to get a big enough bus to take us to the airport so all the Campbell Clanskids could go along. We weren't sure where they would come off the plane...domestic? international? Would we see them descend and walk behind the glass? It was all so exciting. One too many times someone said, "I think I see them!" and was wrong. The rule was quickly stated by siblings...don't say it unless you know for sure!

We went from spot to spot, hoping to figure out where we would see them first.

But all too soon we realized that there was a reason we had not found them. All flights out of Istanbul were delayed due to snow. The kids were hungry and disappointed. Settling in for another hour or two, we all went to Burger King and split 3 meals between 7 people. (Airport prices!)

Later, as I manned the domestic terminal, I got a call from CC. "I see a white-haired guy in a parka jacket." "Is it DAD?!" "Not sure, but I'd suggest you come!" It was him!

Jetlagged? Hungry? Past bedtime? Nothing mattered, they had arrived!

Here we are on the bus, riding to our house to show them for the very first time. As you can see, jetlag is easily tolerated by youth.

This picture turned out green. I am not sure what setting I had it on, but it occurred to me as I blogged, that this is perhaps how they felt at this point!

New Year's Eve Thoughts

Well, after 10 days of being spoiled rotten by having my entire family here, it was time to say goodbye. We washed clothes, we packed, we reminded each other how wonderful it was to be together this year. But at 1:30AM, the end came. We all came down to hug goodbye. Picture 7 of us EACH hugging 10 of them. It was a lot of hugging. Sometimes we giggled, like when Big Ben only had the stamina to hug his same-age cousin buddy and grandparents, at that late hour, then bounded back up to his snug bed. And when a cousin-buddy hugged the other one so hard she nearly fell over one of the 10 suitcases! But when it came my turn to hug my big brother, and my sister-in-law (who is in actuality a sister to me), and mom, and dad...the tears came. As they flew away, I reflected a little. I suppose it is a little easier than 16 years ago. When I used to say goodbye then, I cried with a little panic in my heart. Could I make it without them, so far away? But after so many years of God's faithfulness, I don't panic anymore. I'm just sad. I suppose I always will be. It's by far the worst part of living overseas. There are too many good things to count, but that is the hard one. Now that I have that all out, I'll turn this blog over to the fun memories of our visit. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year's Eve...stay safe!