Merhaba from the Culveys - July 2008
Hello!
We left you last time recovering from my 40th celebrations and preparing for Les, Zoe, and Kasey’s arrival. Well against all odds, Les made it through customs so we were entertained by the antics of Kasey, India and Kai for while!
They got on really well and had a great time, Tanya even took on the role of tour guide to give them a flavour of Izmir, so they’ve seen all the dodgy bars!!
Hot on their heels was Nanny & Grumpy, they spent a week with us and helped us celebrate our Kaibo’s Birthday number 2! Kai’s party was a pretty exclusive affair (mainly due to the fact that most of our friends were out of town!), the guests of honour were Siobhan and Kai’s best mate John Patrick (along with Nanny and Grumpy of course!)!!
As you would expect it was a very car focused affair, with car gifts, car cake, etc, etc. Needless to say Kai seemed to enjoy is day, especially the cars!!
Soon it was time to say bye to Nanny & Grumpy as they headed off to Northern Cyprus for their latest adventure, and we got ourselves ready for our holiday.
It was a long journey to Florida, Lyra got a head start a few days earlier to the UK on some ruse that she had business to do, I think it was just to avoid the boy Kai and his craziness on flights! They were good though and we met up with Ly and spent the night in a hotel near Gatwick and made sure we were at the airport in good time (no repeat of Disneyland Paris needed!). The flight was long but the kids behaved so it passed with ease and there we were in Florida!!
Our hotel was really lovely, the Cypress Harbour Marriott Resort, which according to India has the best pool in America! After our long journey, we spent day one just chillin by the pool, along with a family of baby ducks that were stuck in the pool and couldn’t get out! Luckily the pool guy was a resourceful chap and gave them a helping hand.
So having recovered from the journey, it was time to hit a park... Seaworld was our first adventure and what a great start, the kids just loved all the fish, and turtles, and Kai discovered his love for sharks (“shark, shark. shark” was his favourite saying!), we had fun too ending the day with a very wet log flume ride, much to the amusement of Indi and Tan.
Next on the list was Animal Kingdom, our guys love of animals meant this was a real treat and they spent the day spotting tigers, and elephants, stroking sheep and goats, and getting soaked again! This time on the white water ride! We ended the day in one of the Disney restaurants where Kai amused everyone balancing cups on his head! He is becoming quite the little entertainer these days.
As a way of relaxing we joined my Boss (yes we even go on holiday to the same place, at the same time, just so we can keep up with events!) at his lovely house in Orlando. We had a great BBQ and spent the afternoon in the pool, where Kai decided it was fun to just jump in with a care as to how far under water he went! He also left his mark with his explosive backside all over the yard resulting in a good hosing down! Both the deck and his butt!
The day of rest was behind us so it was back to the parks...this time Disney Studio’s, we danced to High School Musical, we saw June and Quincey from India’s favourite ‘The Little Einstiens’, partied with the guys from Monsters Inc, and then scored VIP tickets to the Fantasia show! Surprisingly, the fireworks and explosions didn’t worry either of the kids and they loved the show, although Indi was a bit worried about Mickey while he was being chased by the wicked witch!
Lyra’s Birthday was upon us, so I had to negotiate some time in a mall (on her birthday) to ensure I could come up trumps on the Birthday pressies front, thankfully we were in shopping heaven so a morning in the Florida Mall ensured Mrs C was a happy bunny!! And I got to pay homage to the Mac God in the very wonderful Apple store!!
Lyra and I managed to sneek out for the evening on our own for her birthday and had cocktails and a nice (big) meal at Caribbean place (sorry, can’t remember the name!) . Happy Birthday Ly, still young!! Compared to me!
The following day it was back to Mickey’s place and a day at the Magic Kingdom, this really is a kiddies wonderland, we arrived by boat, and strolled the streets surrounded by Disney’s favourites that completely failed to impress our Princess, no matter how many times we tried to get Indi to meet the characters, she would just say “no thanks, they aren’t real Daddy!”
Still today was going to be a late one as the firework show at the magic kingdom is not to be missed (see the photo above!). As the afternoon drew to a close we grabbed a top spot in front of the castle and chilled out, first came the parade of lights, all the floats are lit with thousands of coloured lights and you can only describe it as ‘magical’. That wasn’t it though as the highlight of the evening was the firework display, the kids were doing well as it was about 10pm before it started, but it was worth the wait, absolutely amazing! Complete with a Tinkerbell flying across the sky, but still not fooling our ever so grounded Daughter as she pointed out that she was flying on a wire!
Needing a break from Disney, Indi and Tan had a girlie day by the pool and Mum, Kaibo and I headed for Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre! It was fantastic!! Kai and I had a ball, those rockets and Shuttles are truly out of this world, you can’t begin to describe the sheer size of them! I think even Ly enjoyed this distinctly boys day out!!
The final park was EPCOT, Ly and I were looking forward to this one as we had visited about 9 years previous and left a legacy plaque, we soon found it and had a good giggle at the very dodgy looking fella pictured with Ly (yes it was me!). We had a pretty chilled day strolling around and then settled down in ‘Mexico’ for another evening of fireworks, once again they were brilliant!
The last few days were spent chilling and shopping, we had to ensure we could not squeeze another sock in our luggage before we were satisfied we’d made the most of the trip!
The return was again pretty smooth, other than another close shave catching the flight, we must of ran about a mile to get to the plane, last on again!!
Once back in England we said bye to Ly as she headed off to her marathon of self development courses and we headed back to Izmir.
While Ly was away things were pretty quiet, but as soon as she was back, we found a new family member to turn our lives upside down again... Sansli (pronounced Shansler, and means lucky in Turkish). This little bundle of fur, claws and teeth, was given to us after he was allegedly rescued from a dogs jaws, but any way he ended up at our house and has been terrorising us all including the dog ever since.
As the summer really kicked into gear and temperatures were hitting 40C we joined the International Ladies of Izmir on a charity team event to raise money for a local kids hospital. It was a lot of fun, and we raised loads of cash for the hospital (about $16,000 I think), we didn’t win, but to be honest it was too blooming hot to try too hard!!
That pretty much brings things reasonably up to date, this summer has been a quite one with Lyra engrossed in her courses and pulling her new venture Be Loyal together it hasn’t left much time to go places.....but there was one other thing.... oh yes, there was a surprise wedding!!
Tan and Gunay tied the knot! Don’t be disappointed about missing it as the the big do is still on 23rd August, but for practical reasons (getting a visa for Gunay) they had to get on with it so they could begin the complex and difficult process of getting Gunay his British visa. We had all of two days notice and it was held in Bornova, Izmir, close to Gunay’s parents place. It was true Turkish style, in other words complete chaos!! The registry office was completely mobbed, it was like getting into a concert and the place itself was so noisy. Despite all that we found our section and all watched as Tan and Gunay made their vows, swapped rings, and brought tears to our eyes. It was a unique day, truly unforgettable, and involved a trip to Kipa, a convoy through town, and we still managed to watch Spain beat the Germans in Euro 08!!! Viva Espana!!
So Tanya Peck has become Mrs Tanya Dogrusoz! We welcome Gunay into the family and look forward to the big party and the arrival of the little bundle of joy growing (and I mean really growing!) in Tan’s tum!
The kids. Ly and Tan are all in the UK at the moment and I will join them tomorrow then it’s off to the West Country to celebrate Grannie reaching the incredible age of 90!! What an achievement, should be a great day, of course we’ll let you know real soon!
Bye bye for now!
Lots of love,
Dan, Ly, Indi, Kaibo, Tan, Gunay. and their bump!!