breakfast

Boring title I know, but as I'm writing this my lower back is in PAIN...  Which I will blame on the Buns of Steel step workout that I did yesterday. 

Don't let the boring title stop you from reading and making this Oatmeal; it's to die for.  This seriously is the best oatmeal I have EVER had.  My oatmeal usually is just boiled oats with brown sugar on top...boring!  I found this recipe in last months Parenting the Early Years magazine. I made it this morning and fell in love with it... Seth enjoyed it as well.  I did change a few things up on the recipe!  This was actually Seth's first non baby oatmeal.

Yummy Oatmeal
Serves 4 (1-cup servings)
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Combine oatmeal, milk, water and salt  bring to a simmer over medium heat four about 10 minutes, stirring often. Let sit for 5 minutes.  If you like your oatmeal runnier, stir in a splash more milk or water until you've got the consistency you're after.

Toppings. 1/4 cup  walnuts, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and  2 Tbsp of maple syrup or honey.  ( I did maple syrup simply because I have two gallons of homemade maple syrup from WISCONSIN!)   Serve oatmeal with 2 thinly sliced bananas, walnut topping, and maple syrup! YUM

Turkey part three! Bolu and beyond!

On the fourth day of our trip we finally headed to Bolu Turkey.  Where we spent the remainder of the time.  The Bolu province is north western Black Sea region.  No, we did not see the Black Sea.  The population of Bolu is 271,208.  We actually stayed at a friend's resort which was seven miles outside of Bolu. It was so nice to finally be out of the city for a while.  Even though we where outside the city we still got to hear the call to pray five times a day.  Turkey is 97% Muslim.

Views from where we stayed

kind of looks like Montana! The highest peck with snow on we drove up there.  It was beautiful.  But sadly my camera was broken :(

I loved all the fall colors in the mountains!

green pumpkins

Tree grafting is very big in Turkey.  This is actually the first time I saw a tree graft.

Seth loved playing in the grass here!

Seth and I hanging out in the cabin where we stayed.

We found out that to say Seth's name in Turkish sounds a lot like sh*t. pronounced sheet.  Which is kind of funny.
I wish we could have spent more time traveling in Turkey.  There is so much more to see; and not to mention beautiful.  It was a great vacation and I'm very happy to be back in my own bed! Seth agrees!

Seth's first

1. Seth actually took two steps (by himself without hanging on to anything)  in Bolu.  I'm predicting he will be walking within a couple of weeks!
2. Seth starting say "mama" .  Which is very sweet! LOVE IT.

Turkey part two! Ankara

Arriving into Ankara at three in the afternoon, completely jet jagged and tired!

Seth catching a few Z on the long flight

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the second largest city following Istanbul.  Population is 4.4 million!  We spent three days in Ankara touring the city.

We spent one afternoon touring around the open markets.

They had bunches of nut and dried fruit stands.

A meal that Jesse ate.  Every meal in Turkey had cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and bread... lots  and lots of bread.

Turkish men and women are completely in love with babies. At every restaurant we ate at the waitresses or waiters would come and hold Seth and carry him around showing him off to fellow works. Turks also believe in having your feet covered (mostly babies)... cold feet = sickness (they are very scared of getting sick).  I defiantly learned my lesson the first day and kept Seth's feet covered when out in public!  Seth also received a lot of free food and treats from the locals!

View of Ankara.  In the middle of the picture far left is the mosque that we went to.  The mosque is the building with the four pointy towers.  Due to camera breaking during trip I don't have any pictures! 

One meal that my friend and I had in Turkey was called Manti... pronounce manta.  I will be making a post on it later and including a recipe.  It's very good.

one evening we went to a Pastry shop and I saw these cute baby shower candy gifts!

aren't they cute?

Yum this is what I had!

More to come later!
Seth's first:

1. First long international flight.
2. Being in a different country.
3. Open markets.
4. Experiencing jet lag and 11 hour time difference. (this was a first for me too! boy was that hard and tiring!)
5. Taking a taxi in a foreign country. Which is VERY scary!  Travel books warn you about how aggressive Turk drivers are!

Turkey part one! Chicago

 Having survived long flights, 11 hour time difference and jet lag we are finally back from Turkey. Yay!  My family and I had a wonderful time!

When I was a kid I had a very hard time spelling Chicago.  At age 12 I looked at the word very hard and broke it down to... Chic A Go.  I'm still thinking up an easy way to remember Milwaukee...   Anyways the first leg of our trip we spent in Chicago.  We were there for about three days.

Posing in front of Lake Michigan.  We are waiting to get into the Chicago Aquarium

 Hubby decided to buy us "city passes" and with those we were able to go and see lots of neat stuff... the Aquarium, Field Museum, and go up Sears Tower ( renamed to Willis Tower)

Baby Seth in front of the Willis Tower. (aka Sears Tower)

The Lights of Chicago.  On top of the Willis Tower.  Which is 103 floors!

Willis Tower

After spending three days in the Big City we were defiantly ready to get on with  our trip.  On the 12th of October we board a plane for Munich German, which was a 9 hour, over night plane ride.  From Munich we caught a two and half hour plane ride to Ankara, Turkey where we spent three days before busing down to Bolu, Turkey.  We spent the majority of our trip in Bolu.

Seth's first

1. Riding on public transport all over Chicago. (or should I say Chic A Go)
2. Taking a long elevator ride up the Willis Tower.
3. Touring Chicago, museums, and seeing dinosaurs (at the museums of course.)
4. The picture of him playing in the grass is actually one of the first times he felt the grass with bare feet.  The grass around here is usually always wet.

Yes, we are new parents... what gave that away?!?!

You have to love playing in Picasa.!!!  This is a series of pictures I took when Seth was about four months old.  I can't believe he will be NINE months on the 18th!

I almost have us packed for Turkey; we leave tomorrow morning!



"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

recording moments

A picture records a moment in time....

Enjoying a cup of coffee when we were up at the middle Ridge cabin.  I love this picture.

Bear!

This picture I have found on a local's facebook. This black bear cub is running pass the hospital on Second street. One more street over is main street! This same bear was later reported to have ran down the road and climbed up on a neighbors front porch.

So far this fall there has been a few dozen reports on bears in town; mostly tipping over garbage cans. 

We personally have been spotting  bears in our back yard.  (next time I need to try and get a picture) Our neighbor down the road had a black bear on her front deck looking through the window at her.  She was very happy that her kids had shut the door this time after coming in from playing!

There was a lone wolf reported last week in a muskeg near the airport.