The End of the Year Post

I think I'm neglecting this blog business a little bit. I got a little disappointed when I learned that Blogspot website is actually banned in Turkey! You'd think I'm from North Korea, or China.... It's crazy. Anyway, so I will add some photos/videos here, and talk about what has happened since the last blog on Dec 2nd. More photos will be available on my Facebook account for those who are in Turkey.

What's happened since the last blog?

First, and most importantly, DERIN EGE is now 3 MONTHS OLD! We celebrated that by going to the Turkish cafe/restaurant Gulluoglu on the upper east side. This was his first trip to a restaurant. He completely behaved :)

We also took him to see Santa, but no photos on his lap yet. Maybe next year. Maybe not. We'll see. But we took a few photos with the Xmas decorations in the mall. As usual, he didn't know what we were doing :)

We built a Xmas tree in our apartment, as my mother loves the Holidays. We bought it for her as a surprise, then enjoyed it all together. Celebrate Xmas or not...this is the 'most wonderful time of the year".

Yuksel's soccer team Galatasaray played their last match in the old, home stadium (they're building a bigger, better one outside of the city center). Dad and son dressed up in team gear in support of this last match. You'd hope for a great game, where GS wins, and the fans remember for ever. Not quite. They lost...to a club whose name I don't even remember. So sad. But, both of my guys looked great in Cimbom clothes.

I don't know what we were thinking, but we took Derin (actually, my mom) to NYC to see the Xmas tree and the store decorations on 5th ave and Madison ave, a week before Xmas, on a Saturday! On top of it, we took the stroller with us. It was impossible to walk, let alone steer the stroller. So, my mom and I left Derin Ege with his dad somewhere relatively quieter, and we went to the very near of the huge tree. My mom loved it. And I must say, so did I. Then we got together again, and watched the light show on the walls of Saks Fifth Ave. Marvelous.

Continuing with the holiday outings, I took my mom to see the decked out yards of the houses in our neighborhood. Some of them were pretty crazy. I love it when the folks in a neighborhood race each other for the best decorated house. I hope they spend at least that much money to help the needy. I'm sure they do (yes, seriously, I am sure).

Then, there are those few pics of Derin Ege, during our regular morning conversation (no, he doesn't talk, but he tells so many stories with his aahs and coos). He's just delightful in the morning. The last photo with the hand gesture....bonus for those who know what he means :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

More blogs to come in 2011.