Fishing, Party, New Bed, and The Women's Market

So we have had a fun week. Saturday we went to the base family fishing day. Before they get the swimming pool ready for open swimming they fill it with fresh water, throw some trout in it, and hand out fishing poles with hooks baited with corn kernels (I guess Turkish trout like corn). CJ helped Maria and they ended up catching three fish in about 15 minutes. I think we had the best spot because no one else was catching a thing. Maria now thinks that this is the normal way to fish, I think that she is in for a surprise when we get to Wyoming and go fishing for real. Maria then went to her friends birthday party. They were all told to dress up as cheerleaders, luckily we had a High School Musical East High Wildcats dress up (thank you Aunt Carla). She looked great and had a great time. All this happened on Saturday and then on Monday she got a special surprise. We had a new bed and desk made for her and it was delivered on Monday. She was bouncing off the walls the rest of the day and also the following two days. She has stayed in it for three nights now so we are thinking that it's worth every penny. On Wednesday we went to Adana to the Women's market with some friends. It is a market where Turkish women sell their handmade items. We have been a few times before and enjoy it. This week has made me realize a few things that I will miss about Turkey. Our few experiences in one week can not be had anywhere else and we will miss this place and all that we have gotten to do here.

Myself, Jaywon, her son Max, and Maria at the Adana Women's Market.
Maria enjoying her new bed for the first time.
Timeyah, Berk and Maria at Timeyah's sixth birthday party.
Maria showing off her three fish that she caught at the base fishing day. She was a little traumatized when they cleaned them for her and the fish were still moving after their heads were cut off. She then asked how they were going to swim without heads. She was under the impression that she was taking these fish home, putting them in a tank, and keeping them as pets. Let me just say that she was not about to eat them once we got home and grilled them up.
CJ and Maria throwing their line into the swimming pool to catch some fish.

Happy Valentine's Day

Another week down and here I am blogging again. Two weeks in a row should not be that much of a record, but for me it is. We went on a little Valentines Trip. We went to a mountain about three hours from Adana and stayed the night and went skiing and sledding. I of course didn't do either, but Maria and CJ did and had a pretty good time. There are not many rules or safety precautions here in Turkey so they let them take the sled up the ski lift and sled down. That ended up being the funnest part and the scariest for me to watch. The place that we stayed at was very nice and had a special Valentine's Day dinner. The dining room was all decorated and looked beautiful. The food was very good also. It was a great time and I loved the people that I was with most of all.

CJ and Maria heading up with their sled.
CJ and Maria at the bottom of the hill. I couldn't get a picture of them coming down because they were moving to fast. Maria isn't going to know what to do back in the states when there are actually rules that you have to obey.
Skiing down the mountain.
Valentine's Dinner

In front of all the desserts. We let Maria try as many as she wanted and then she rated them. She ate a lot of dessert that night.
CJ and Maria making snow angels.
Our family snowball fight. Maria made the biggest snowball, but couldn't lift it so CJ wins for biggest snowball thrown.
Maria wanted to be buried in the snow like we bury her in the sand at the beach. I think that she decided that she likes both.

Ski Trip to Germany

So I haven't kept up on the blog like I should have, but I'll try now. I'm going to try to blog once a week. Wanted to post some pictures of a trip we took a few weeks ago. We went to Germany. We got to see some friends that have moved away from Turkey. We had a great time and Maria got to experience the cold snowy weather. It got her ready for our next assignment which is none other than Cheyenne, Wyoming. We are excited and a little disappointed at the same time. We will be leaving Turkey in June and getting to Cheyenne in July. We're excited to get there in the summertime.

Friends that we went to Germany with the McCammon's, the Gordon's and the Gregory's.
CJ on the mountain.
Maria taking a break from skiing and having some lunch. She had a great time and was quite the skier, or so I heard from CJ.
Maria on the slopes.
Sleeping Beauty's Castle that we went to see. Maria thought that she would see Sleeping Beauty and pouted the entire time we were there when she realized that we wouldn't be seeing her.

A hike that we took through a gorge. It was amazing, but very cold and icy.

One more of the gorge.