Former Vice President boards mothership and bids pitiful Earth farewell

After finally hearing back from the folks at the Bethesda Dairy Queen that he wasn't quite what they were looking for in an afternoon assistant manager, Dick Cheney nodded gently and slumped his shoulders and shook. If he were programmed with feelings this is where tears would have been shed. 

After a lifetime of avoiding introspection and reflection Mr. Cheney bid a fond "your welcome" to the American people as  he and Elliot went to the secret spot in the woods with their See N' Say to call the ship that would take him home.

On his way out of town he made a brief stop to throw what remained of his melting box of Dilly Bars at huddled masses yearning to breathe free. 

Coincidentally, neither Senator Patrick Leahy or The New York Times Adam Clymer commented on his departure.

Maverick rock star with middle name sworn in

Somewhere joe the plumber is rolling in his grave. Oh, wait he's not dead yet? Well.....somewhere Sara Palin is Mavericking in her gravy. 

My happy thirteen year old girl self

Saturday we went to the theater that shows movies in English to see some impossibly beautiful killing machines. Instead, we saw Twilight. A movie about a shiny vampire boy too lame to suck! (see what I did there?) On a side note, I have not been able to stop listening to The Smiths since leaving the movie.

I have seen what brooding melancholy looks like dipped in pancake batter. It is the Cullen family. I could picture the director off camera instructing the guy playing Edward "melt her with your dreamy eyes, melt us all!!" and "more sullen gazes, all of you Cullens. I want GAZING! Chaste gazing!" Somewhere, Bela Lugosi was rolling his dead eyes and thinking 'this is what passes as a vampire movie?' 

I have not and will not be reading the books. Guess what? I am put off by their size. It is the same reason I have not read Harry Potter, Stephen King and waited so long to find out what was going on in middle Earth. Plus-I don't care. 

I think this is all I need to write about a movie about a book you'd buy at your kid's school book fair. 

Parenting Skills

The End of Istanbul

Our runaway. We tried to help her pack her bags with a lunch, but then she decided to stay with us instead of getting lost/kidnapped in 15 million people.
It was very rainy this day. We are at Topkapi palace, and since she is very independent she had to walk on her own with her own umbrella.  She is so cute and irritating at the same time.

This is the Marmara Sea behind us. Since it is rainy, it's hard to see how cool it is, and the gigantic city in the distance. This is also at the Topkapi Palace. We didn't pull out the camera too often for more pictures because it was wet and cold.

Our last day (the only nice weather day). The Blue Mosque is behind us. We asked an Asian person to take our picture because we knew they would speak english. That was nice, and also spotting the Americans from a mile away, and then asking them to take our picture. 

It's always nice to be flying back home.

Happy Birthday PJ on Dec 28

PJ is great at blowing, but the direction is up not forward so she got a little help blowing out her candles. These are two of her friends that she really likes Hayden and Emily. They had a great time playing together. 

It was a great birthday. She loves everything she got. Even the socks that she insisted on wearing two days straight. Hello stinky feet! In case you are wondering she is dancing with her ballerina barbie here. She could dance all day if you let her, but we a break from being her partner. She also think she needs to be wearing a skirt at all times now so she can be a dancer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PJ. WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

Istanbul Part two

PJ and dad hanging out in the hotel. PJ is wearing her cute turkish shoes.
This is the Hagia Sophia. It was built during Justinian times for Christians kind of like a cathedral, but bigger. When muslims took over they turned it into a mosque, and today they charge a whole lot of money for you to walk in for a few minutes. It was pretty though.
This is the head of Medusa upside down in one of the underground cisterns. She is upside down as a symbol to drown out that belief- I think. When the muslims took over, they tore down all of the Roman columns and used them for this cistern. I can't remember the exact number in this one, but it was close to 140.
The picture is blurry, but this is what it looks like.  There is still a little water and in some places people fish under their homes.  The fish are huge! When this was functioning the water fill all the space and it was pumped through a filtering system and then up to a well. It's amazing some of the things they could do!

Istanbul Part One

This was the first night we were there. It was freezing compared to Adana. The pictures are at the Blue Mosque.  We could look out our hotel window and see the mosque and lots of history about a block away. We were so close to everything. 

PJ thought the mosque was cool for echo reasons. She obviously didn't read the sign that said you need to be quiet and respectful and wear a scarf.  I guess the woo, wooing loudly was more fun.

We will reveal more when we're not going to bed.