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A Little Trip To Turkey

Gattina wants to know!

I just found out that Turkish Airways is starting direct flights from Washington National Airport to Istanbul in November. NOW I'm excited! Turkey is on my LIST of places I want to go! Istanbul is on my list of places to SEE in Turkey! And a direct flight makes the whole idea a LOT more enticing! Now all I have to do is save the pennies! *sigh* There's always that! BUT...

After church on Sunday, Luz and I headed down to DC for another festival! This week it was the TURKISH Festival! Last week Latino... this week Turkish. We are SO cultured!

Upon arriving, this is the view! A million white stalls!
Can't they color-code these things???

Luz & I heard music, and headed toward IT!

We found Sword Dancers...

And Folk Dancers...

And mOre Folk Dancers...

And a street dancer...

... who gathered some friends to dance with her!

Then we heard something about a children's art contest, and Luz wanted to participate in that except that we had to leave the music and HURRY because the contest would start being judged at 3:00 and she needed to have time to CREATE. But the only problem with that whole scheme was that they put THIS...

... right beside the Children's Tent...

Once Luz saw THAT all thoughts of art and creativity went out the window, across the stree, down the hill, under the bridge, and hopped on the cross-town bus! She was willing to wait 45 minutes for her turn, and that's what we did! By that time the art contest was being judged and she wanted to get her face painted. But the line for face painting was ANOTHER 45 minutes, so I convinced her we should maybe do some other things and come back for some face paint toward the end of the day when they MIGHT not be so crowded. Turned out THAT was a great plan! She decided she wanted ...

... ice cream.

Apparently Turkish Festivals are not real well known for ice cream. There was exactly ONE out of those million white stalls that offered any. There were approximately 147 that offered BAKLAVA though. (just in case you wanted to know...) I L-l-l-l-l-love baklava... oh I did have some before the day was out. But I said NO to a lot more of it than I said yes to! And the 2 pieces I brought home for Dennis got all the way to his tummy without interference from me too! And we decided that it is a DAMN good thing I don't know how to MAKE baklava! (and nO - I dOn't want your recipe! thank you!) We also decided that when I save my pennies to go to Turkey, that I should NOT take Luz as my travel partner as she would starve to death. Turkish food is very good - but much of it is a compilation of unrecognizable foodstuffs that Luz would not even consider tasting! I on the other hand would consider tasting ALL of it... but then settle for just tasting sOMe of it. Mainly because the lines for the food were twice as long as the lines for Luz's bungee ride - which right there tells you something about how good Turkish food IS. I did not take any pictures of it though... sorry.

So then we went looking through some of the million stalls and found such pleasantries as...

Pretty ceramic ware...
and Oh! The beautiful shoes in the bottom left corner!
I tried to talk Luz into a pair of them for dress up...
she didn't want them!
Can you imagine???

Also some beautiful textiles and tapestries...

We could have a camel pillow if we like...

She WOULD have liked to have this dagger!
(it was not for sale... thank goodness!)
But the reason she would have liked to have it was...

THIS!
It had this beautiful HORSE head for a handle!
Well, if I were ANY kind of a Nana I'd have at
least made an offer... No?
NO.

But we settled for 2 tiny items that I did not even take pictures of - but I should have. One was a precious little treasure box with a beautiful Turkish girl painted on the top. And the other was (as best as I can figure to spell it) a topatch... or a Turkish top! A spinning top. On a string. Luz loves it! Oh... and some darling little bracelets that matched her dress perfectly! 3 for $1!!! How could we pass them up?

Then we headed back for face painting...

She's happy... really.

But let me tell you about this (gorgeous) butterfly face... Ahem... Perhaps I should refer you back to ... oh never mind! Let's just say that this little face doesn't really LOOK like the picture Luz picked out for him to paint. Let's just SAY that the fella who painted this beautiful little face got in a weeeeeee little bit over his head when he volunteered to paint faces toward the end of the day for maybe the last hour... Let's just SAY that half way through painting her face he looked up at me and grimaced and said "how'm I doing?" I laughed and said "well... you're gettin' there!" So when he finished painting her face, he looked HOPEFULLY up at me and said "how's that?" ... and I said... "You don't do this for a LIVING do you?" ... and he LAUGHED and said NO! I said "then you did just fine!" And because you CAN'T see the picture of what it was suppOsed to look like - YOU think it's FINE too! And he showed Luz herself in the mirror - and SHE was happy as could be! And THAT is all that matters! :)

And then we went home!
(and that blurry little thing to the right
of Luz is her top ... on a pink string!)

I hope you ALL had a wonderful weekend too!

Labels: Grandbaby

Three Little Monkeys

Monkey See...

Monkey Do...

Makes a Monkey...

OUT OF YOU!!!

Hear no, See no, Speak no...
Nothin' evil about these little monkeys!

Labels: Grandbaby

Sidewalks...

When you live in the country, there is something infinitely appealing about a walk through a neighborhood ... on sidewalks! I have missed them for years... and this photo just speaks to me of the JOY they bring! If you LIVE in the city, I BET you take them for granted...

I am away at the Women Of Faith Conference today and tomorrow. I am taking nothing for granted and enjoying every minute of my time in the city, my time in fellowship with these women, and my time with the Lord. I'll see ya on Monday! :) God bless...

Labels: Grandbaby

Pennsylvania Surprises!

Part I -- THE Buggy

The Crayola Factory has a McDonald's in house.
Naturally, we had lunch there.
On our way out Luz looked out the window
and saw this...

NANA!!! LOOOOOOOK!!!
(the Crayon Factory suddenly lost it's allure...)
It seemed like a good time for a "break"...

So out we went...
Little One about a mile ahead of me!

Nana, meet Jack!
Isn't he beautiful?
Can I keep him?

No Baby Girl... But you may RIDE!
(she would have gladly ridden all day - that was
the shortest 30 minutes of her life!)

Part II -- THE Store

While on the buggy ride, we passed THE Store.
*GASP!* Nana! Soooooo pretttttttty!
So after we left the factory for the day, we took
a walk around the neighborhood.

I made sure we went past THE Store.

So... what exactly caught her eye?
If you knew MY granddaughter, you wouldn't have to ask!

It was THE Shoe, of course!
Had those shoes NOT cost $159 I probably
would have bought them JUST for her to
play dress up in!

(just as well... she would have broken a leg!)

She got a lovely glittery bracelet instead.
And a hair clip!
(I'm a SUCKER, okaaaaaay?)

Part III -- The Neighborhood

This is a BIKE RACK Nana?
Are you SURE?

Right foot in New Jersey...
Left foot in Pennsylvania!
This rates as being one of the Top 10
"cool moments" of her life!
(well, that was as of last week!)

A really FUN alley!

And a piece of art that just reminded me of US!

You know... I don't think I could have PLANNED a better trip for us!
I was blown away by all the little surprises God had in store for us!
Simply AMAZING it was!

Labels: Grandbaby

Six... Six... Six...

Look who's six!

We had her birthday party on Saturday - but TODAY is really her birthday! AND her first day of school! First grade! Yes indeed! Mommy will be taking cupcakes up to school ON THE FIRST DAY - and Luz will be the coolest kid in the class! LOL! She's sooooo excited!
We will be going over this evening to do presents and I would imagine some cake! Aunti Krysti made the above cupcakes for her Hello Kitty party on Saturday - they were quite the hit! Krysti loves watching all those cake decorating shows... but I'll tell ya - we've both decided that "fondant" icing is grrrrrooooooossssss! The kids didn't seem to notice though. But the price they get for those cakes on the shows... I wouldn't pay it! I don't care how CUTE or PRETTY the cakes are -- if they taste like crap - forget it! LOL! DON'T MESS WITH MY CAKE!!! Hehehehe...

Anyway - they had TONS of fun -- she had 9 friends at her party -- and they played games, made a craft, broke a pinata, had a scavenger hunt! And they all got their faces painted AND their hair spray painted! It was all good! And did NOT involve a $500 rented moon bounce or even a PONY! Imagine! I'm very proud of Amanda & Hector for not caving to what "all the other parents" do. It was a GREAT party! A PERFECT party for a six year old, I would say! :) SHE would say so too!

Labels: Grandbaby

The COLORFUL Life...

The Crayola Crayon Factory!

YAY!

We have FINALLY reached our destination!!! I have been wanting to take Luz to the Crayola Factory since LAST year. I've been meaning to take her all summer but life just kept getting in the way! Hers ... and mine! So time was running out -- school starts next Tuesday -- and we just decided to make it a quick trip and JUST DO IT! I knew we needed ALL DAY in the factory, so it was absolutely necessary that we drive up the day before and spend the night... thus yesterday's little side adventure! Sooooo...

HERE WE ARE! Let's go have FUN Nana!

First Stop...

The Model Magic Station

Model Magic has GOT to be one of the greatest inventions Crayola has EVER come up with! It is super soft, super pliable dough - and it only comes in WHITE. If you want to make it a color, you use crayola washable markers and color it, and then work the color into the dough. It's FABULOUS! Luz and I LOVED this stuff -- and we brought a package of it home to the Mommy - and she loved it too! Basically it's just like playdough only it doesn't smell gross and it FEELS nicer. It's not as sticky and gooey. But you can shape it and roll it and cut it with cookie cutters... AND you can just color it too if you want to! Neat stuff! The pictures above show Luz coloring the dough for our blue cupcake, working the dough, and then of course - our cupcakes! We also made some cookie cut outs.

Painting with wax.

The next thing we did was to paint with melted crayons. I was really excited to DO this and I ~~practically~~ had to talk Luz into it! She was worried that it was going to be too hot and she would get burnt. But once she was in there and she DID it, she LOVED it! She thought it was ultra cool! They did WARN though that if you try it at home, you have to melt those crayons on a very low temperature and keep them from smoking as the fumes can be toxic if it's not done properly. Darn! I would REALLY like to do this at home!

Sand Art Station
... eh... it is what it is... Sand art has never really thrilled me - but the kids like it!

Chalk Fun...

Our chalk fun was still INSIDE the factory! LOL! First we got to make our own chalk... and then they had this whole little area set up to look like an outdoor sidewalk with buildings and stop signs and a mailbox and all... it was real cute. But the best part was this sidewalk was ERASABLE! A good thing since about a million kids a day go through there and they all want to color with chalk! (the million is a SLIGHT exaggeration... I think the guy said they do get a couple of thousand people a day through there though!) It was very BUSY! It wasn't uncomfortably jam-packed -- and I was very thankful! We did get there pretty early and that was nice -- it is definitely MORE crowded in the afternoon, but by then Luz and I had done a LOT and we were perfectly happy to wait our turn for the rest. Mostly I was able to wait our turn while she was entertained with something else around us! This is an AWESOMELY child friendly place to be!!!

I was only mildly disappointed to find out that we didn't get to see the BIG factory. I LOVE touring factories and really do enjoy seeing the real live production of certain products. Touring the Harley Davidson factory was probably one of my favorites of all time -- you are right there ON THE FLOOR walking through the various stations -- but that was a different blog! At any rate, this little "mini factory" that they have set up is still pretty cool. It definitely shows the process of how everything is done... but it's just not FULL SCALE production. We saw a box of FOUR crayons get packed. We did not see a box of 64 crayons get packed! However, Luz got a red crayon AND a Macaroni & Cheese crayon HOT OFF THE PRESS! So that was pretty cool.

Making Doggy Masks

SOME of the items to be made do cost extra. (the chalk, the sand art, the spin art, and coloring t-shirts) I didn't mind that. The cost of entry into the factory is very reasonable, and for people on a tight budget there is still SO many things for the kids to do - it is WELL worth the trip, even if you have to say no to some of the more enticing items. (and ... they very kindly keep ALL of those items to one small area in the back, so if you know you don't want your child to do those things, just don't go to the very back of the Model Magic room and it won't even become an issue. Virtually EVERYTHING else is included in the cost of admission! Including these adorable little Doggy Masks Luz and I made. (by the way - the projects change, I believe monthly... so I'm not giving away any big secrets!)

This area was rather cool. Just beyond the sidewalk chalk area we came to this darkened hallway that had these amazingly cool white boards on them. You can see in the picture up top that it's just a plain white board! That's how it looks because I used a FLASH in that picture! Well... THAT didn't work - because what's really going on is the kids are drawing with a laser pen! You can see it in the photo below where I turned the flash off.

It disappears pretty quickly, so you have to draw FAST!
But it was super cool and all the kids loved it!

Spin Art... This month was frizbees!
I don't know if that is always what they make...

And even when we were leaving we found art!

This was the 3rd floor of the parking garage. And for SOME reason it is the only floor that had this -- but people leave their visitor stickers on this number 3 right by the elevator. Luz and I made a point of checking out the 2nd floor 2 and the first floor 1 -- neither of them had stickers. And the ground floor doesn't have a number. So only the 3rd floor - and we just happened to be lucky enough to park there - and so of course Luz left our stickers there on the way out!

This was an AWESOME day!!!
I HIGHLY recommend it to ANYone
with a kid or a grandkid!
(and if they don't want to go - make 'em! So YOU can play!)

Labels: Grandbaby

Dorney Park

Create your own picture slideshow

On Day 1 we arrived in Bethlehem, PA and found our hotel. We had NO plans for this day - but Dorney Park was verrrry nearby and so after some fun in the hotel pool (and hot tub)... and then the jacuzzi in our room, we decided to spend the evening with Snoopy and his friends! The park wasn't closing until 10:00 PM so we had about 4.5 hours there -- and that was plenty! Luz got to ride everything she wanted to - and some things twice! Her favorite ride was the MONSTER -

and you can see her BIG laughs on it in the slide show! She is at such a perfect age for amusement parks because while she would LOVE LOVE LOVE to ride the big roller coasters, she is not quite tall enough yet - but she could ride all the other "adult" rides with me, and she still enjoys the little kiddie rides too! It was just a GREAT time! And imagine... THIS was just a whim! Not EVEN the reason we went to Pennsylvania! We'll share THAT tomorrow!

Dinner... Part II
(Part I was a giant soft pretzel!)
LOL!

Labels: Grandbaby

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Monday, October 04, 2010

A Little Trip To Turkey

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Three Little Monkeys

Friday, August 27, 2010

Sidewalks...

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Pennsylvania Surprises!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Six... Six... Six...

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The COLORFUL Life...

Friday, August 20, 2010

Dorney Park