I didn’t realize just how much our Istanbul apartment hummed with ambient street noise until we arrived at our new apartment and was surrounded by quiet. Similarly, I had forgotten just how lovely a foam mattress and great sheets can be.
Nicosia Municipal Gardens
A Two-Year-Old’s View of Our Istanbul Apartment
In the last month or so, Theo has started taking pictures with the iPad. This is a heavily curated selection of the hundreds of photos he took of our apartment in Istanbul.

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Istanbul – What We Enjoyed Most
Mad About Children
About 98.8% of the Turkish population seemed to be mad about children – or at the very least, our little blond, smiley one. While this meant that Theo was given far more chocolate than we would have chosen, it was also an amazing gateway into conversations with random people, who would chat with Theo, chat with us adults, and pull out their phones to proudly display pictures of their own children or grandchildren.
Nicosia
The green line that splits Cyprus into north and south also splits Nicosia, which was described to me by several residents as the “last divided capital in the world” now that Berlin is united. Even though the country is still split, it’s been relatively easy to cross between the two sections since 2003.
Creative Baking
Our current home is more a vacation home than a home home, and the cooking equipment is fairly limited. We’ve supplemented with some items from the local charity shop, but Brian and Theo still had to get creative and bake a chocolate cake in a pot meant for stovetop cooking.
Books I read about Croatia while in Croatia (and a computer game)
The Croatian War of Independence (1991 – 1995) is a very recent part of the country’s history, and most of the books that I read about Croatia included themes of war.
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Another sunny day in Cyprus… oh wait, that’s snow

Beaches
We woke up last Friday in our new home in Pissouri, gazed out at this lovely view…

…. and then promptly killed the electricity by turning on the hot water heater. Oops.
Poppy, Bella, and Theo
Theo eagerly awaits Poppy and Bella’s walk on the beach in the mornings. Bella is the only one who would look at the camera.
