"Up Up Up, Up in Balloon, Up so High I can touch the moon..."

I knew David  was super excited about this trip, and I thought it was all about the Paragliding. But this boy had more surprises every day!

One of them was a stop at this interesting place called Kapadokya (Cappadocia) What a strange place to visit. There is another post just on that town so I won't go into details here. I was told it looked like something from Star Wars, so the suspense was there!

But on our last morning there we took a super fun ride up in the air again.

Fire!

Did you know that you have get in the basket while it's tipped on its side.
So you are laying down and holding some handles.

Absolute beauty

Kapadokya after sunrise.
About 100 Balloons go up every morning.

At the end we helped take the air out of the balloon.

Balloon rides are super super cool!!
We had to get up so early but it was super worth it because the sunrise was amazing.
There were about 12 people in our balloon and at the end our basket landed in a truck that took the basket away.
We were welcomed with some juices and strawberries to celebrate our landing, we even got a certificate that says that we did it.
Funny, don't you think?
Thank you my dear it was magical :-)

Paragliding

At the beginning of last year, our friends told us they would like to take another trip, just the two of them and asked if we could watch their girls.
Right after we agreed, David started planning our getaway trip. Turkey was the place, and as time went by he got more and more excited.
 At one point he asked me if I would like to go Paragliding with him.
Now, you have to understand,  after I got pregnant with Elena I went into chicken mode. Everything and anything scared me. When, before I used to love amusement parks, now I couldn't even think about them without starting to sweat or the thought of going too fast in  a car, even watching scary movies scared me and I used to watch really scary ones!

Anyway, this year I decided I needed to change that and be a little more daring so, I said yes but I asked him not to tell me anything about it at all, I didn't want to think about it too much, so I wouldn't chicken out at the last minute.

He did his research and was pretty sure of the company we were going to use and the he even looked up things that could go wrong and what not. I was kept in the dark because I wanted it that way.

2000 meters high in Babadag mountain, Oludeniz

The morning came and I was excited and terrified. I expected to learn as much as possible that morning but the way it happened was.

We arrived at the shop, used the restroom, signed papers and loaded ourselves in a couple of mini vans.
I read most of the way, didn't want to see how high we were getting. As we approached the top, we could tell they were concern with some clouds and wanted us to jump right away.

View after take off.

But when we reached our stop, there were other people there and we just-apparently- couldn't wait.
So, we drove even higher, so high that there was a cliff on each side of the van.

David's view after take off.
The road we came up with in the van.

Then we park and they are in a hurry for all of us to get out of the van. This nice man (whom, I had seen in the car and wished he was my instructor) told me "put this on" ( a helmet) then other man said, "You fly with him!" then, next thing I know he put the harness on me, I got a picture and then he was yelling at me saying "let's go"

High Selfy!

That is when I panicked. I kept saying "but, wait, what do I have to do? how?" and he had the wings ready to fly and David was walking with me towards this man that was at the edge of a very inclined cliff.
I was told all I needed to do was walk. I was the first one and I was not ready, I wanted to go with David, hold his hand and be ok but that was not an option. Neither was waiting for me to get a grip, so David told me it was going to be ok and two other guys held my hands, one on each side, and told me "Walk"

My instructor and I

I wanted to point out to them that if we took three steps we would be jumping out of that HUGE mountain. I wanted to tell them I wasn't ready, but some clouds were coming and those dudes were more important and baby Belky.

I started crying (yes, I know, but what can I say) and saying I didn't want to do it. My instructor said, "just walk,please don't sit until we are out" Well, I took two steps (was pulled actually) and then I was sitting down, I am way shorted than this guy AND it was a slope so I was even shorter. At this point I am saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry my legs are too short"

My David, taking it all in.

Then, my tears began to turn into ice so I stopped crying right away!
It was cold, really really cold. I was shaking, shivering I was not liking the cold but it was AMAZING!
I thought I would hate the feeling of falling, but you don't get that feeling at all. It was the most amazing thing I've done. and I've gone skydiving and bungee jumping (way back when I was young and foolish)

I Photo bombed his selfy!!
Actually he did it on purpose

It also lasted for ever! but it was amazing, the view was breathtaking, I felt like I was floating slowly in the sky, as we went down everything would look different and it was an awe experience all over again.
The only thing I wish would be different, would be holding David's hand the whole time and kissing as we were going down the mountain.

Getting ready to land

I am so grateful David pushed me to do it and I am grateful for a smart instructor who knew it would be better if I went first. I am grateful for the experience, but mainly I am grateful to Heavenly Father for creating such an amazing world for us to enjoy.

Landing!

Thank you my David, I love you so much, thank you for believing in me and making my wishes come true.
I hope one day we can bring the girls and do it with them!

He looks like my uncle Victor
Tio Victor caraota!!!

Enjoy the video of David taking off, at the beginning you can see two other places, much lower, where people were getting ready to take off.

Indian Party!

 A dear nice friend from India was getting married and his fiancee was so sweet and sent Sari's for us, in the hopes that we attend the wedding and have the proper attire.

Sadly we knew we couldn't make it but that didn't stop up from celebrating! We wanted them to see us  wearing the Sari's, so a party was organized!!

My dear friend Jayamika was so kind to help me get the Sari on.
I'm glad she did it, it is work!
She also lend me some of her pretty jewelry, I felt like Cinderella, Indian's style :-)

Luly, getting ready to party

The whole family!!
The girls had this great dresses that our friend's Mom gifted to them a couple of years ago.
And we got David a long shirt from our friend Madhu.

 It was a great night, full of Indian food, amazing company and fun music. Comgratulations Ramesh, we wish you the best  in your marriage.

Around the house in March

My little girls surprise me all the time by their imagination, their creativity and their love for life.

Toti built a sail boat. She definitely misses Grandpa.

Elena wanted a Rainbow Loom, sadly you can't find them here.
No worries, Daddy and Elena made two!

Little Lulu!
Laura came to help me make this beautiful dress :-)

Great accomplishments call for awesome celebrations with Amazing friends.
And sushi :-)

Reading time at the Library.
Luisa loves it, as much as she loves her cape :-)

David and Dave went exploring the desert, and they found water!!

We found different ways to peel a hard boil egg. This one is the coolest one!

Parade of Nations 2014

Every year the school holds the "International Week"
The kids get to share things about their heritage. They can share food, stories, dances, clothing and at the end, they invite the whole community and we all march holding our flags, and representing our countries.
It is amazing to see how many different countries are represented in such a small community.
This year we walked with another family that has ties from both Peru and Venezuela.

They are always Venezuelan for this event :-)

Doha!

Early in the year, David had a conference in Doha and he said I could come with him :-)!!!

It was a very quick trip, for just the two of us. Doha was a very nice place to visit, it makes me think of the middle point between Saudi and Dubai ( culturally)

Call me, Maybe ;-)

One of the many delicious things we ate.

Love him!

Weekly supply :-)!!!!!

Waterfront, so nice and cool.

Cool buildings!
This was just right out of our hotel, and that building on the left was really cool at night.
The whole thing turns orange and with the stick on the top it makes it look like a corndog :-)

At the mall, now that is a mean tire.

Tim Tams!!!!!

Year supply?!
I know Nutella is good for you because it is with the milk ;-)

Thanks to our wonderful friends who kept the girls so happy in their home so we could have our little get away.

#Fallinginloveallthetime

Hydrophobic Sand.

Hydrophobic Sand = Sand that has a fear of water.

This year for the WEP the girls and David decided to participate in the Science fair. They made waterproof sand!!
It was fun for them to do it with their daddy and to learn about things having fears as well.

Science girl

Their experiment was so great that they won third place!!! They got vouchers to the IT store and got themselves each an iPod shuffle.

Needless to say they really want to do it again :-)

Shisha is 2!!!

Our little Luisa has turned 2 years old!!

I don't know where to start with this one. My little Luisa is just my little baby, she has no hopes of growing up at all!

Our little Lulu is the high light of the home on an everyday basis, she is loved by every single member of the house.

Luisa has a gift to make us all laugh whenever she wants to.
She has the power to get her sisters to do whatever she wants.
Luly is an excellent huger, and we all beg for those little arms.

She is mischievous! she likes to do things she is not supposed to, but she still is good at listening to us. (I am going by how she was when she turned two, now days is a different story)
She loves her sisters, she loves to do just what they do.
She loves her daddy, she knows he will do anything she wants, she knows how to get his attention and she just lights up when he is around.

No guilt at ALL!

She is happy, just content with her little life and it makes us all super happy all the time.
Little Luisa, couldn't say "Luisa" when she started talking, the sound that came out of her mouth was "Shisha" and that is what we call her now. Funny enough that means Tobacco here ;-)

Luly Luly, you and I have a bond that is crazy! mainly you decided to be the clingy baby. I love the trust you have in me, and I love how dependent you are of me. I know that later on this will be a problem, but for now I'm enjoying it :-)

Oh little Shisha, I hope you know how much we love you, how life is so full because you are in it. I hope you know that you have made us all better since you arrived. I hope you know we are all trying to be the best examples for you.
I hope you know that we expect the best of you. We love you!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUISA!!

The last of the best :-)

For some strange reason that I still don't get, our wonderful friends were leaving us for good :-(

These pictures and video are such  a treasure to us.
We miss you guys!!!

New years!!!

After all the birthdays, we took some time to look around and spend some wonderful quality time.

Should I be worried?

Christmas tree!!!

The most amazing trio!

Mom, we thought about bring you this Nativity set :-)

It is never too cold for Gelato in Italy.

The David on the left.
I told the girls we were going to see a statue of "David"
Boy, Elena was looking down the  whole time!!

Now, this is what I call a Museum ;-)

The popular style!

Their little "upstairs"

Our fabulous table setting.
New years eve dinner was the best I've ever had in my life.

Ready to start an 8 course Tuscany dinner.
I can still taste it.

Here is the star of the night.
That is wild boar and it was hand picked with love.

Right at midnight!!
Elena was the only one of the girls that made it :-)
Here is to a wonderful 2014

Hot chocolate!
This is like hot cocoa and chocolate pudding mixed together, AMAZING!

The time spent in Italy was magical. Between seeing family and spending time just the 5 of us it was as perfect as it could be.
We enjoyed the food in a way that is inexplicable :-) We enjoyed the sites to the point of falling in love.
We enjoyed ourselves and edified ourselves, we cried together and we learned to love and appreciate each other even more.
 Ciao Italy, we will come back ;-)