Last Free Days of Summer

Thought I'd add a quick update tonight, since we're leaving for Yellowstone on Weds. We're really wrapping up our summer here, because when we return we only have a week before classes begin. It's been one crazy summer! Since we've come home from Turkey, we've been to several parties for Riley's friends, and had many outings to the zoo and Arboretum. We get to spend a lot of out time outside each day too. Our garden is producing cucumbers, and has managed to set itself up to produce tomatoes by the ton while we're away [of course]. Riley's taking swimming and music classes once a week, and going to school too. So we're all very busy!

Riley's new skills include having mastered all his colors and he's now working hard on his numbers. Also learning to catch, which is pretty funny.

Our exploits...
A trip to the zoo last week revealed that Riley is suddenly harboring a fear of goats. I blame daycare.


I splurged and got him these big trucks. Trucks are all the rage right now. This was moments before he decided to ride the green one, which tipped him headfirst into the pavement, with a sickening "squishy" noise. The bruise is fading finally...


Some brilliant person brought a bounce house to a BBQ we went to. It was fabulous! Riley's here with his friends Abi, Andrew, Graham, and Evan [upsidedown].


Here's our first cucumbers! Riley loves to pick the veggies and thinks it's pretty cool. Not that he'll eat any of them, of course.

I let Riley help me cut up the cucumbers and tomato for a nice salad using his special safety knife. Doesn't he look proud?

Impending Stardom...

Back from Turkey, and everyone has survived the trip even though Delta did their best to ruin the trip home. Riley did just fabulous on the last leg of the trip with Daddy while I worked. They hung out at a small village festival, and went to a nice park with a pretty lake.



Riley is still a little bit jetlagged, even though we've been home over a week. So we're getting a lot done around the house in the early mornings before work. He's been having a great time exploring all his old toys again.

This week, Riley has shown some beginning signs of interest in the entertainment industry. He has previously been singing along to songs with hand motions and maybe a few words here and there. But a few days ago, he sang Twinkle Twinkle all the way through, in Riley speak. We were at the dinner table, and it took us a minute to figure out what was going on. I caught one rendition on video- here it is - he skipped the "like a diamond" line in this version, but it's a work in progress.




This morning, he was running around doing his best Britney Spears impression...

That's a toy canteen around his neck and paper slippers from the Hotel Nena in Istanbul on his little feet. I have no idea what happened to his shirt.

Greetings From Istanbul!, Second Installment

We are all doing great here in Istanbul. We've more or less acclimated to both the weather and the time zone. Riley has proven to be a champ, letting us see most of the things that we wanted to see in the first few days here. We've been sure to include a lot of outside time in parks to let him stretch his legs a bit. He's not as fond of the backpack carrier as we had hoped he would be, but we've been managing ok all the same. We've seen the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Cistern, and Topkapi Palace and Gardens so far, with a good deal of walking about as well. The Topkapi Palace has been the only Museum like place that we've attempted with him, and it went...ok. Riley was more interested in running in a retrograde fashion, than in going into the next building where we wanted to go. So, we probably won't attempt any more museums this trip.

We've had a couple of nice culinary adventures as well. The food here is basically your typical Mediterranean style food. The real fun is in the deserts and sweets! Yesterday, we chanced upon a great find down a side street where there weren't any tourists. Riley made fast friends with a little girl who came over to our table to visit. They ran up and down the street together. I think he was glad for some littler person companionship!

We have 2 more days here in Istanbul. The main plan is to hit the Grand Bazaar, and perhaps wander a little farther afield into less touristy areas a bit. Then we head to Taskesti, for field work!

Here's our little guy passed out in the hotel shuttle on the way from the airport in Istanbul. He'd had about 4 hours of sleep on the trip over, and not continuous.

At the Blue Mosque, waiting in line to get in. Riley was having a fruit bite snack.

Yesterday afternoon, we hit the park to give Riley a break. Here he is in a tree, and you can just see the Hagia Sofia behind him [reddish building].

Enjoying his first taste of Turkish cuisine last evening, a tavuk kebap rolled in Turkish bread, which is like a crepe [he'd eaten only pasta and french fries up to this point].

The boys underground in the Basilica Cistern, which dates from the 6th century. I love his little face sticking around the side of Daddy.

Greetings From Istanbul!

Merhaba! Well, this is our first vacation where we have the opportunity to update the blogosphere in semi-realtime...so here we go!

We arrived in Istanbul yesterday after a grueling trip to get here, and learned a few important things about traveling abroad with a toddler:
1] Never ever leave your stroller behind, even if you know it will be useless where you're going. It turns out airports are big, and kids are heavy.
2] KLM has in flight Baby Einstein videos. Nuf said.
3] If you have multi flights, like for example Amsterdam and then Istanbul, it might just be worth overnighting at the first stop.

All in all, our journey went really well, and Riley held up like a true champ. He is definitely a veteran traveler! He thought it was all just a big game.

So we are in our second hotel room now. There was a slight difficulty with our first, but nothing that couldn't be easily resolved. Let's say there is a happy-to-please hospitality industry here in Istanbul! We had a marvelous dinner last night here, with my student Erin along. The adults tried all kinds of wonderful foods, but Riley was just too tired to put up with anything novel. He fell asleep in record time last night. In fact, we all went to bed around 9pm, which was a good thing, because Riley decided 2:30 was the perfect time to get up for the day. It was a long wait until the restaurant opened for breakfast!

We're hanging out now in our new hotel room while the little guy has a nap, and then maybe we'll go see the Hagia Sofia or something this afternoon.

The Hagia Sofia at dawn this morning, right after the call for morning prayer. Totally breathtaking and like nothing we've ever laid eyes on!

Here we are all bushy-tailed and not so bright-eyed in front of the Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sofia [which is to the left of the picture], up on the rooftop restaurant of our hotel from last night.

Here is the Blue Mosque from the roof top restaurant at our new hotel today. Impressive!

And here is the lovely indoor atrium garden at our new hotel [the Hotel Nena]. Boy would I love to have one of these in my house!

Riley's First Camping Trip!

As the title implies, we went camping yesterday! This was Riley's first time in a tent [outside of me, that is]. It was a raging success. We went to White Pines State Park here in IL, and just stayed one night but met several of Riley's friends [and their assorted parents] there. Yesterday, we went on a short hike with the kids, which involved fording several small streams. The kiddos loved that part! Riley slept like a champ too. Too bad Mom and Dad were kept up late by the morons blasting the Blackhawks game all over the campground.

Ok, so this one's not from camping- it's at the Arboretum tadpole pond. I just love the disgruntled look on his face.

Camping! Best part: there was a doggie at our campsite.

Braving the rapids. Riley thought this was fantastic.

By this time, we were all quite wet. It was a hot day at least. Not long after this, Riley turned and said "up?". Of course.

Yay tents!

We must've worn him out. He fell asleep on our hike this morning. This is the new backpack that we intend to tote him around Istanbul in...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day Moms and GrandMoms!
A few pix from this morning below, and more in the picture folder at the right of the page....

We're all good here. We're finally done with the semester [well almost, I have to grade 6 term papers still], and gearing up for a very busy summer. We are going to my sister Cailin's college graduation this week, and will get to see Uncle Dane for the first time in a long time! Our next big trip will be Riley's first overseas trip. Originally, we had thought we would make that seminal trip easy on ourselves by going somewhere like England, or maybe Italy. Well, we're going to Turkey. We're already packing a bit, just to try and wrap our minds around the challenge. Any suggestions for good travel [small, lightweight, challenging enough to not get boring fast] activities, toys, or puzzles that can keep a little dude occupied for a while are welcome. We will have very limited space in the car we're renting that must hold 5 butts and science gear.

Still waiting for warm weather here to stay for a while. This Thurs, the high was about 45F. Yesterday was cold and rainy. Today is better, with at least some nice sunshine. I have some great little veggies started, that are beggin to go into the ground, but there was even a frost advisory last night! Sheeesh. We're enjoying our yard and garden anyway, and all of the things we planted last fall made it through the winter!

Ok, enough jibberjabber. Here are those pix [don't forget to check those at right too...].


Floppy hat we bought yesterday at Old Navy for the Turkey trip. Something to cover the back of his little neck in the sun.

Easter

...and some other spring fun. Just a few pix for now.