Cappadocia

The next morning started out with a delicious Turkish breakfast at the hotel, with Turkish cheese, olives, sun-dried apricots, cranberries and raisins and nuts, apple tea.

We then headed over to Goreme open-air museum, a cluster of rock-cut churches, chapels and monasteries originally a Byzantine monastic settlement. Sounds boring for kids? No way! They loved it.

Jonas really loved the skeletons. He kept on asking me when they would be alive again...

The boys found this awesome sledding hill.

Who needs a sled anyway?

The boys gathered a little crowd of spectators during their sledding antics, particularly Asian tourists who loved snapping their pictures. Jonas was particularly excited about two new friends he made, a couple of Asian girls probably about 20 years old.

We then went up to Love Valley to admire some of the fairy chimneys.

Then up to Avanos to learn about (and purchase...) some pottery from the region.

After that we caught the end of the sunset at the fairy chimneys in Pasabagi Valley

More sledding

I love the random, contrived camel.

After that we had one of the best meals of the entire trip at a family-owned restaurant. The whole family spent the entire meal talking to us and playing with the kids.

Jonas practicing his diving skills

En route to Turkey

K

Keeping up our tradition of spending Christmas in Muslim countries (okay, so I am not sure after one two years it constitutes a tradition..yet), we bought tickets to Turkey. The flights were a lot cheaper out of Basel, so we drove up there and hit the Christmas market before moving on. Daniel was especially excited about this 1/2 metre brat he found.

Evaëlle chilling in a little chalet

Warming up by the fire

The next day was a major travel day for us. We woke up at 5h30 in the morning and checked out of the hotel. Then we headed to the Basel airport and flew to Istanbul in the morning. We arrived around noon and had just enough time to get through the passport check and grab a quick bite to eat before we hopped on another flight to Kayseri, in the middle of the country. From there we picked up our rental car and drove Cappadocia. It was supposed to be a 1h30 drive, but we couldn't see a thing due to the super thick fog, so that slowed us down a bit. Anyway, we were thrilled when we finally got checked into our hotel that night, Gedik cave hotel. They boys were super excited to be sleeping in a cave, and Daniel and I were excited about how nice it was, and Evaëlle was excited about the squeegie/broom, so everyone was happy.

Christmas season 2013

Christmas season in Switzerland/France is so much fun. From mid-November until we packed up and headed out we have Christmas activities every weekend planned. It was especially fun with Evaëlle getting bigger and seeing her fascination with everything. We visited the Hameau de Père Noël, which seems to have become an annual tradition for us. We usually go around mid-November. Afterwards we generally feel all Christmasy, so we come home and put up our Christmas tree and decorations.

Daniel took the kids sledding following the first snowfall of the year. Evaëlle didn't actually do all that much sledding, but somehow the only pictures that were taken were of her-our little camera magnet.

The kids enjoying frozen maple syrup on a stick from the Canadian hut at the Annecy Christmas market

My sister gave us the Elf on the Shelf for Christmas this year. The kids loved waking up every morning to find "Adrien" doing something silly. Particularly Jonas who continues to include him in his prayers...

The boys participating in a candle-making atelier at the Christmas market in Montreux

A wood chopping contest

Traditionally roasted chestnuts

On the ferris wheel

Just one evening where I found the three of them quietly reading books in the room. I love how Evaëlle thinks that she is one of the big ones. Usually I love it;)

Dressing herself