First Big Snow in Ankara

(Joni) Last night and today, we got our first big snowfall in Ankara. We've had some dustings before this, but nothing that accumulated much or stayed longer than a few hours. This was 3 or 4 inches, though, and it's COLD, so it's going to stay a while!

This was early in the morning. It kept snowing so we ended up with a bit more than what you see here.

Despite children everywhere clamoring for a snow day, the roads were good enough for Justin to have to go to school this morning, but Elias doesn't go to school on Tuesdays. So instead, we bundled up and decided to play in the snow for a few minutes in the parking lot next to our building. (I'm a wimp and don't like the cold, so we didn't stay out long.)

Elias' favorite things are "flopping" and "rolling" in the snow. He didn't inherit his mama's dislike of cold!

The snow was too powdery to pack into a snowman, but that didn't hamper Elias' enjoyment!

After we had been out for a little while and were about to head back in, one of the men from our building came out to clear the snow off the cars that were parked in the lot. The Turkish culture LOVES children, so he was pleased to see Elias out playing in the snow. He even showed Elias how to make a snowball, and the man told him to throw it at me! I chose not to translate that part of the Turkish for Elias... :) But what I did tell Elias was that he was NOT allowed to throw a snowball at the man! However, then the man said, "Come on, throw it at me!" So I told Elias the man wanted him to throw it at him, and Elias thought that was great! The man threw one back, and they exchanged a few snowballs... Elias' first snowball fight!

Then we were able to move on to my favorite part about playing in the snow... The hot cocoa to warm up with when you come inside!

Elias was so excited about having two big marshmallows floating in his!

So I'm not a fan of winter weather, but having a small child helps at least make it fun! Hopefully we'll get a mild winter this year and it won't last long.

Snow Videos

I have some videos of Elias playing in the snow, but it turns out there are some technical difficulties between YouTube and Turkey, so I couldn't get them uploaded earlier.  I'm using a different site to host videos now, though, so hopefully this should work!  Enjoy seeing our sweet boy play in the snow:

Fun in the Winter: Playing in the Snow

If you follow Justin or me on Twitter, you've seen us posting the past few days about our winter weather.  Apparently, Turkey is having an unseasonably harsh winter (as opposed to the unusually mild winter in the US this year), so we've seen a LOT of snow and really cold temperatures.  This has been a real challenge for us when combined with the adjustment to apartment living; in fact, I think I can say this has been the hardest part of moving here so far.  We know that Ankara has a LOT of beautiful playgrounds and plenty of open spaces, parks, and trails for outdoor activity.  However, with the harsh winter weather, we are unable to take advantage of any of that, and for the most part we're stuck in our apartment where noise is a factor to how rowdy our play can get!  However, we're finding ways to keep ourselves (and our extremely energetic 3-year-old!) entertained, so this is the first in a small series on how we're having fun in the city this winter.

The obvious answer to that is, of course, going out and playing in the snow!  We had a HUGE snowfall yesterday - my estimate is about 15 inches.  Definitely over a foot!  So today we bundled up and went out to play in it for a little while!

This is a small flat area next to our building.  I think it's a parking lot, but with all the snow, no cars could possibly get in or out of it.  So we play in it instead!

 

 

We were disappointed to discover that the snow was too powdery to pack, so we couldn't make a snowman.  We still had fun throwing it, and Elias loved flopping down in it!

(See the next post for some videos of Elias playing in the snow.)

Then when we came in, we pulled out the white Play-Doh and made snowmen.  There's more than one way to skin a cat!  :)

Please do not ask what is up with the face he is making.  I have no idea.  Also, please don't ask what is wrong with his hair.  For some reason, he wakes up looking like this. Every. Morning.  Could it be the down pillow?!

Then Elias gleefully enjoyed smooshing him flat.  Over and over and over.

Check back tomorrow for our next installment of Fun in the Winter!