850-Year Old Tree in Turkey

Turkey is a very beautiful country with lots of museums and ruins to explore. Yet with very young kids, we try to explore the country with them wherein they can learn some great values they could later on apply in day-to-day living. One of them is  caring for the environment and saving planet earth.

What better way to teach them to save a tree by showing them how trees grow old to be 850-year-old? And what an amazing sight and experience it has been with the enormous tree close to Akcay where we stayed the summer 2011.

The kids had fun attempting to embrace the tree. Kylie even wished for people not to cut trees anymore so there will be more trees reaching the age of dinosaurs. Ha! We can wish and we can work for it, we noted.

After having fun with the tree, we had a great picnic close to the tree.

have you ever  been close to a very old tree?

850-year-old tree, 30 meters tall and 860 cm wide = awesome!

THE THREE HAVING FUN WITH THE TREE!

This reminds me to put up a picture tree at home with this tree to consistently remind the children about the importance of tree. Maybe someday, when they are older, we can get back and see if there are other observations they can come up with relative to their ages.



Keep exploring!

Turkish Laban (Ayran)

Ayran is a probably the healthiest Turkish drink. If you love yogurt, you will definitely love Ayran. If you don't like yogurt at all (like me!) there is ab bug probability that you will love Ayran.


Here is a very simple recipe of how Ayran or Turkish Laban is made:


Mix the following proportions - 1:1 = Yogurt: Water
Add 1 tsp salt to the mixture.
Mix and blend.
Enjoy!

It really taste great with kebab or any grilled meat. And definitely way better than soft drinks.

This reminds me to teach the kids how to prepare Ayran.

When in Turkey, don't forget to drink Ayran!

bubbly Ayran!

Afiyet Olsun!
 

Kids Salon in Villagio Mall - Haircut for Cute Kids

It's our little boy's 4th haircut and we decided to "indulge.".  He's 2.5 years old and we wanted that boy-next-door-summer-look.

To be quite frank, we heard so much bad reviews about the Kids Salon in Villagio Mall that we were a bit hesitant to give them a go. However, when we saw that the price is almost similar, not to mention cheaper,  compared with the barber shop we went to during his 3rd haircut, we tried the Kids Salon anyways.

The staff were fantastic with kids and we loved every minute of the visit. Kerim was quite all the time watching TV (go figure!) but Kylie was even enjoying hanging out in the area during Kerim's haircut.
The service is all good value for money. Most importantly, we loved the result of the haircut. We got the look we wanted at a cheap price. Superb!

Kids Salon in Villagio Mall

getting ready for haircut 

BEFORE look

DURING THE HAIRCUT

ALMOST DONE!

THE AFTER LOOK

WEARING THE NEW HAIRCUT! 

Keep exploring!
 

Dining Out in Doha: Thai Snack

This has to be the most famous Thai food in Doha. If you are in Doha, and you don't know Thai Snack Restaurant, helloooooo! Come out of that Doha rock and dine out in Thai Snack.  Our favorite Thai Snack branch is the one close to Doha Clinic. We have been going in this restaurant and ordering the same food periodically (at least every month!) since me and husband met. This is also my favorite place to hang out every time we are pregnant. Ha ha - yeah, and that's all the time.


We admire how efficient their service is, not to mention that the staff are always friendly despite the way too many customers piling up. If there is one thing in Doha that do not disappoint us - it's this restaurant. Well, except when they are close for a couple of days which happens once every year.

real mean wear and drink pink! 

devouring the spring roll 

lunch is served: thai fried rice and sweet and sour fish

Thai fried rice up close

our favorite sweet and sour fish at Thai Snack 

Keep exploring!

Turkey Central Restaurant (Al Saad)

TURKEY CENTRAL RESTAURANT IN AL SAAD maybe the most popular Turkish restaurant in Doha. Honestly, we don't like dining there much - to use my Turkish husband's rant: "It's not Turkish!" Well then, he knows.

But we do love their Shawarma. Can't get enough of it sometimes. Might be the best Turkish Shawarma in Doha,

Turkey Central Take Out - yeah!

loving the Shawarma 

examining what's inside... 

Quick meal in Doha - Shawarma. Awesome!


Keep exploring!

Magnum Ice Cream in Doha

Another post about Magnum Ice Cream in Doha. We received lots of inquiries about where we bought the ice cream so here's the answer - MATAR KADEEM SHOPRITE. 

ENJOY! 

Here's how we devoured the last batch of Magnum Ice Cream in Shoprite - hopefully by now, new batch of ice cream have been delivered. 

Ruffles can also be found in Shoprite - a rare find in Doha as well

Magnum Almond

Magnum Double Caramel - just look at that smile by Tita!

YUMM

finished it to the last drop of ice cream haha

 

Keep exploring!

Gelato i(Villagio Mall Doha)

We have raved recently about PINKBERRY FROZEN YOGURT. Since Landmark Mall is really far off from where we live, there's an alternative in Villagio - GELATO.

GELATO at Villagio Mall

Kids getting ready and getting impatient!

GELATO CUPS READY

choose yogurt flavor 

and swirl away!

The kids had great fun swirling their own yogurt selection and then after that choosing their own dried and fresh fruit toppings.   

The frozen yogurt is not cheap - QR10 at 100 grams but it was worth the try. The kids had a great time after all. 

Exploring Istanbul: Hayvanatbahcesi (Animal Garden or Zoo)

It's always fun and educational to visit  zoo or as they refer it in Istanbul - "Animal Garden." The kids had a great time compared to visiting museums and ruins. So when in Istanbul, we are sure to visit the zoo which is in the Asian Continent. They have superb animal collection and it looked like that the animals are very well taken cared off.

I would not compare this to Doha Zoo as it would be unfair for both. Both have their own unique obstacles in zoo management. Our main objective is to entertain the kids while learning a little biology in the process.

We really had a great time bonding with their grandfather who acted as our tour guide. The kids learned also not to mention that it's another fun and effective means to teach the kids the concern on environment protection and saving the planet Earth. There were some challenging conversation with our 5-year old. I could only imagine when the three kids ask questions and their parents are not clever enough to answer them. Everything is a learning process for all family members.

let's learn about the marine life - fish!

there are different types of fish - long, short, big, small. 

amazed at these different type of fish!

the OOHS and AAHS - fun!

and sometimes the sarcasms at our answers - still fun uugghhh

HAPPY FEET GALORE

PENGUIN

LAMA

WE LO-LOVE LAMA 

there's no elephant in Istanbul Zoo but there are these fake elephants 

fun running after the bunny and other animals

brave little girl - animal lover 

DONKEY ME, DONKEY THEY

BY THE ENTRANCE

APPLAUD PLEASE - I TREK THE ZOO IN MY HIGH HEELS AND TWO KIDS! GREAT FUN!

When we get back to Istanbul, we'll visit this armed with our English/ Turkish Dictionary as there was no English labels for animals. And I'll definitely be wearing my more comfortable shoes.



Keep exploring!