Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. This is a mask that Brett bought for me on his visit to Italy. I thought it would be appropriate to wear it today. Halloween here was actually postponed. There was a threat of rain so the commander has postponed Halloween until Thursday. Pretty smart since the kids have no school on Friday. The Howie kids have no school on Friday either because...WE GET OUR STUFF!!!!!!! I am actually amazed at the mixed feelings I am having about getting all of our things. I have lived a very simple life with very few things. Yes, there are some things that I do miss, like a good knife in my kitchen, or some warmer clothes. But, all in all, we have survived and survived nicely. I will try to let you all know on Saturday how I am feeling about the arrival of our things...that is, if I can find the computer under all of the boxes!!

Playing with Clay

It was the day that we were leaving Cappadocia. We stopped by a town just to look around. We went to a pottery shop to look around for gifts. The owner asked if we wanted to watch him make something on the pottery wheel. The answer to that was a definite yes. He took us downstairs to his work area. First, he made a vase. He made it look extremely easy. Then, mom made something. It looked like a lump of clay with a hole in the middle. The same happened with Max, me and Sophie. That's when I realized it's harder to make things out of clay than I thought. Although our clay never really looked like much, we had a great time. by Marin Howie

The Pool

This is the pool at the base. We used to go to it a lot. Now we can't because it is closing up next week. My favorite part of the pool is the big slide. It is very fun. I used to go on it slow but now I go on it really, really fast. To go on it fast, I push down my wrists and feet and lift up my body. The baby pool is very cold. The baby pool is shallow. Olivia likes the baby pool. You can dive off the diving board. NO TESTS! I have done this before. It is very fun. By Sophie Howie

Fun Snappies

These pictures were done in my bedroom one morning. Just some fun snappies. I think I had the camera out because I was taking pictures of Olivia. This was the first time I had braided her hair in two braids and I thought she looked really cute. Then, of course, the other kids come in and start posing for me. It was a fun morning.

Yumurtalik

The above pictures are from when we went to the town of Yumurtalik, southeast of Adana. It took just over 1 hour to get there by car. Friends of Brett's from work took us there after church one Sunday. We ate lunch at a restaurant that looked over the Meditteranean. Brett and I both had FRESH fish. It was delicious. We then rented a paddle boat for just about $5 for 1 hour. The kids loved it. We took turns paddling and steering. After the paddle boat, the kids just splashed in the water. We then drove around a little and headed home. And, yes, Livvy does have a nasty scratch on her nose. She had fallen earlier that week. I honestly don't remember it happening. She's a tough girl.

The many faces of our family...multifacited so to speak.

These are pictures of our house.

It seems that I can't wright any more than once a week. We had a banner week! We got our van on the road and we received our unaccompanied baggage which consisted of a little cookware, glassware, tableware, a lot of toys and bikes. The children have been riding bikes now for 24 hours...it's awesome.

I'm on my way to Italy on Monday morning. My flight leaves the airport at 5 a.m. ugggghhhh!!!!! K will have to be a single mom for a few days. To top it off the Fatma is not working on monday (it's a biiiiggg holiday here). That brings me to my next item. We did not get our camera wires so we'll have to have the pictures put on disk in the Alley. This won't be done for almost a week because of the holiday...oh well! I guess I should bring a camera with me to Italy.

Ciao for now!!!!

It's been a while since the last post. As usual we got busy, it might even be worse than in the states. Both of us can't wait until soccer is over (two nights a week). Church at night eats up a night, and bible study makes four nights a week that are spoken for. It's funny, we went through five nights last week where we ate out...Really. There's a Christian social every Saturday, a followers feast on Sunday, Monday we ate out, Tuesday was a monthly dinner at the club (free for members...And you really must be a member) and Wednesday was bible study (with dinner). To K's benefit, she did make cookies one night.

We went to Capadoccia for Columbus day weekend. I found out why you don't drive at night in Turkey...We went by an accident...It made me wide awake! The Inn was pleasant as always. I failed to give them much notice, so they had to rearrange rooms for the following night so we could have OUR rooms (connecting). I was chastised for that.

My wallet came back lighter, but my house actually has color in it now. We bought a carpet dowry bag, a carpet baby cradle, a carpet/sumac and two gigims. These are all nomadic items which are beautiful and one of a kind. I still don't have buyers remorse...I'm thrilled with them all. K's a good bargainer. She was working it hard...I guess she's had a lot of practice on me?

The kids did great on the 3 plus hours it took to get there! They ended up singing vacation bible school songs for the last hour...WOW!

Our vans here...And when I say here I mean just off base...But we can't have it. It took a week to get insurance, we registered it yesterday (368 TL plus $60 later) and all I have is a receipt. The tags should be done soon...Then we can get the van...And drive on base for a week or two...I love the Turkish bureaucracy (that's a joke)! Oh well, the rental van only costs $600/month...They know when they have you over a barrel.

Our shipments are in the neither world right now (they were in Germany...But now they're neither here nor there) nobody knows where they are...But no panic...Everyone goes through this. The kids have very few toys...But they're doing surprisingly well.

I'll be going to Italy in two weeks...Hopefully! No, it's not new teacher training, just sped training...New teacher training is not until January! I look forward to it, it should be fun...K doesn't agree...I don't know why?

Snake Castle

On Saturday we went to snake castle. It was very, very fun. We drove to Snake Castle. It’s only a half an hour away. We got out of the van and asked the only person there where to go. But first we had to pay 3 million to park (that’s only $2). He showed us where to go. There was a path that we climbed. It was steep but smooth. Then we came to a dirt and stone path. Then, at the end of the path, there was a big, steep, rock that we had to climb. We climbed that, then we climbed a little more, then we were at the snake castle door. We were having a lot of fun when my dad figured out we had to climb more. Dad, Marin, Max, and me all climbed up to the top of snake castle. Mommy and Olivia guarded the outer walls of the castle instead of venturing into the inner area. (The truth is, Mommy was too scared to climb up to the inner area!!) Then we came down. It was hard! It was hard because there was nothing to hold on to but my dad. Then we went down to the bottom and got into the van. We drove home. The End By Sophie Howie

By Daddy Howie
Snake castle is monstrousus castle on the top of a rocky, steep hill. Whoever built it knew where to put it.Wayay up high. K and my little mountain goats climbed like they had been doing it all of their lives. The climb was steep, but the mosdifficultlt thing was the smoothness of the rocks due to people climbing before us. Yes, we made it, and we had to be very cautious and stay on the well beaten paths on top. Legend has it that a snake-king lived in the castle, or the castle was abandoned because it became infested with snakes, who knows? That's how it is over here. They just don't know why castles were abandoned, just that they were.