So I have over eighty images from the last few weeks. Even though they didn’t officially take place on July 13 and 20, I will be splitting them across those weeks to make sure I preserve our holiday memories. These are very image-heavy posts so feel free to skip. With that, here’s part1 (part 2 here.):

Before our big trip to Bodrum, we went to Los Angeles for two days. The plan was that Jake would drive us all down, we’d spend two days there and then fly to Turkey just the three of us and he’d go back home. He would then come back down to pick us up so we wouldn’t have to change planes on the way back to San Fran. I think it was flawed in some ways and a good plan in other ways. Either way, it meant we had a two-day full-family vacation before our big vacation.

they couldn’t see anything since we didn’t put coins in. Not that it stopped them from having fun.

we went browsing at Santa Monica pier.

the boys were fascinated but most things.

but loved the video games the most.

oh and getting to pet this super-cool lizard.

we stayed in Santa Monica and we walked to have breakfast each morning. I snapped shots of the boys.

and really enjoyed being there.

the boys spent a ton of time in the hotel pool.

and we even got to visit our friend Jess and her wonderful family.

all in all, LA was great and I was not nearly as nervous as I was when I got on the plane with the boys though I was really sad to say goodbye to Jake. Our trip was mostly uneventful. After hours and hours on the first plane, we finally landed in Istanbul and then went through the visa line and then the customs line. Then we walked to domestic flights and went through another security check. And finally we could rest. My sister and her family were supposed to meet us there to take the same flight down to Bodrum with us, but we had a 4-hour layover and didn’t expect them until it got closer to the actual flight time. We rested a bit, Nathaniel ate a bite and then we found our gate (which was down a bunch of stairs which we had to go up and down several times cause of no bathrooms and I had to carry our carryons up and down and up and down and I was really wiped at this point.) then the time came for our flight and my sister was still nowhere to be seen. We got worried but figured maybe there was a change of plans and no one told us since we had no mobile reception in Turkey. So we got on the plane (some more stairs up for that.) and took off.

When we got to Bodrum, my mom and dad said that my sister, Yona, had been delirious worried about me and that they were actually at the later flight out of Istanbul and thought we were too so she was panicked when she didn’t see us there. All this meant that we had to wait yet another 1.5 hours for their flight to land and it was around 1am local-time by this point.

All this made for a relatively long day(s) to get there but also quite uneventful and painless in the grand scheme of things.

As I’d promised my sister, I brought my camera along and hers was the first photo I took. Isn’t she so beautiful?

and then my beautiful mom.

the boys were super-happy and got lots of ipad time.

and snuggle-up time.

they spent a lot of time playing with Yona’s kids.

David loved the pirate costume Yona brought him.

Nathaniel loved all the attention he got.

here’s my mom again.

she is much loved.

i love this shot of Yona’s son Jeff with Nathaniel.

and here he is smirking mischievously.

Jeff again.

i am much loved, too.

my sister’s other boy, Aksel, took this one and I love it.

this one, too.

here he is with Nathaniel.

David playing cards with Jeff.

and my sister and I. I love her so so much.

I love David so much, too.

my dad, who’s the reason we all went there. His wonderful birthday. So grateful for him.

Yona and the boys. I love this photo.

and this one too.

you can’t hear all the laughter when you look but I can still remember the moment I snapped the photo. That’s what I love about taking pictures. Getting to really relive the moments.

It was important that we take some of the four boys.

and i love these.

i just kept snapping.

and then my parents joined in too.

there was kissing

and laughing (and funny faces)

and tickle time, of course.

and then a few of us when we got back.

laughter here, too.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

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Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.