Washington, DC

The last few weeks have been overwhelming and hectic. I was very sorry to leave my work since I have such amazing coworkers, but I was also trying to fit everything in before leaving: cleaning, packing, getting my roots touched up . . . finally.

Despite days of packing, travel, and turmoil, Turk has been an absolute gem. I seriously don't know how I got so lucky to be his mom.


He didn't even mind when his baba packed him in the suitcase (I have no idea why blogger insists on loading this photo sideways.)

I wish I had traveled as well as Turk, but the day we were supposed to leave was extremely stressful. We had family over the night before to say goodbye, and I had packed and cleaned and felt confident that we had everything (which I have since discovered is not true) and were leaving my parents' house in tip-top shape.

Then, of course, 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave, someone (who shall remain nameless) knocked a huge glass container on the ground. It shattered, leaving shards everywhere and cutting the nameless person's hand. So instead of driving to the airport, I found myself cleaning up millions (okay, a slight exaggeration) of pieces of glass. I was cursing and telling E we were going to miss our plane. He calmly put the suitcases and the baby in the car while I was anything but calm.

We made it to the airport in decent time. We skycapped all our luggage, and I left E and Turk to park (my sister was supposed to fly in two days later and take the car home). I found a parking spot okay and waited for the shuttle to the airport. And waited. And waited. Soon it became clear there was not going to be a shuttle, so I walked as fast as I could to the airport.

I arrived tired, flustered, and with not very many minutes to spare. Fortunately, security was practically empty. I discovered, however, that going through security with a baby, stroller, two laptops, and a PS3 is incredibly inconvenient and time consuming. By the time we got to our gate, our plane was almost finished boarding.

But we managed to get on. When we arrived in Chicago, though, we discovered that due to bad weather in the DC area, our flight was delayed. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And I realized that I should only book direct flights.

We finally arrived in DC around 2 am (it took as long to get there as it will to get to Istanbul). My parents were kind enough to wait up for us. In all the madness, though, Turk was a real trooper. And so was his dad, who did a great job of helping Turk sleep through all the craziness.


Since arriving, we've had a great time. Turk went swimming for the first time (and so did E), and he's even slept through the night. Twice! He must love DC and his grandparents, or maybe he just loves not sleeping with pets.

On Sunday, we took a walk around my parents' fancy apartment complex:


And on Monday, we went to the Mall. We hit most of the monuments and some of the museums. However, we discovered two important things: (1) it is Spring Break so DC is crazy with kids (2) Turk hates museums. We're not sure if Turk hates the crowds or how dark they are, but he made it clear that he much preferred being outside.



Today, we drove through the city and then went to a Colonial Farm, where everything looks as it did in 1771.


E said the 1771 houses look just like the houses in the village where he was born, including the fires for cooking.



Turk did really well, even if we struggled a bit with his sun hat (but it's way better than a sunburn). We're having a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa, and we're so grateful they were willing to have visitors while they are packing to move home.