We finally have dates on getting back to the states. We should be there November 6th through December 6th! We are all SO excited. We can't wait to see our families again it just has been too long. The girls have been planning all the gifts that they want to bring everyone. Steven and I are planning to mail out a big box to my parents and his about a week before we leave so that we don't have to carry so much on the plane. I felt so bad for poor Steven when we moved here. I had all of the kiddos with me and he had to pretty much drag 5 large suitcases and 2 car seats around until we checked them for our flight. This time we are hoping to only check 1 suitcase and each of us, including Lilly and Sadie, carry a backpack with a set of clothes and things for the plane. Hopefully we get everything figured out soon.
Now that I have a gate pass and we have one for the car, we have been trying to get off base and explore a little of the area. Last weekend we had a power outage on base so we thought we would go to the Sunday market in Incirlik Village. It was mostly produce and some household things. We got some more bananas because Ruby is a banana monster! She seriously at 4 bananas by herself one day. As we were walking around a little Turkish boy started following Steven around. It made us really uncomfortable especially since the girls were with us. We are very protective of them so we figured we would leave since it was that big of a market and we wanted to get the girls away from them. As we were walking more boys joined in. Once we go to the car we put the girls in as fast as we could and Steven got the strollers in. Steven went to go get in the car and they wouldn't let him shut the door. They wanted money and kept saying they helped us, but they really didn't. Steven was getting really upset and the one boy say 1 lira (Lira is Turkish money, $1 is about 1.41TL). Steven asked if I had one so I pulled one out of my wallet and it got fumbled out of the car and into the street. He went for the money and walked away. We shut and locked the door and we aren't going back to that market again.
Steven wanted to explore so he followed a Ford Expedition because they were American and wanted to see where it went. Bad idea. They went a lot faster than us and we ended up on a highway not knowing how were going to get home. All the signs were in Turkish so I was panicking a little bit. We were finally able to turn around and retrace our path and made it home. Sadie and Ruby slept the whole time and I think Lilly was a little nervous too because we kept asking "Can we go home now?"
We made it back to base and ended up buying two more rugs for the house. Which brings our total up to 5 rugs, $430 in one month. Our whole house is tile and Ruby is now crawling, scooting, and pulling up/cruising around furniture. The rugs definitely were a necessity. The poor thing has fallen and hit her head enough. It's been interesting baby proofing this house. Ruby became completely mobile in less than a week, so we have not had enough time to think ahead. She really is a menace. She loves to play in the girls play area in the living room and especially loves to play with their blocks. Every time she goes back there she pulls the basket of blocks off the shelf even if the girls had just cleaned them up and put them away. Lilly is beyond frustrated with that. Ruby also likes to open the drawers in the kitchen and makes it really hard for me to clean.
Lilly is doing great at school and we are even going on a shopping trip with her teacher this weekend. We live in the city of Adana and she is going to take us into Old Adana to show us where to park and the stores there. We are really intimidated about being off base because of the language barrier. We have been trying to get learn a few words and I have downloaded some applications about the Turkish language. We hope to find some great things for our house and gifts to bring home. I can't even tell you how excited we are to bring things home for everyone. Everything is so colorful here compared to England.
This month seems to be flying by. We have so many things we are doing plus trying to everything squared away to go home. The only downside to the next couple of months flying by is that when we get home Ruby and Sadie will being having birthdays. I don't think I am ready for them to be 3 and 1. I am already having a hard time with Lilly being 4 and in school. Steven loves to point out that when we move Ruby will be the same age Sadie was when we left England. He can't wait for them to get bigger and I am dreading it. But we will be happy to celebrate their birthdays a little early with family. Next month is going to be great!
♥K
