The last day in Turkey was spent getting up and heading down to the restaurant buffet for breakfast. The kids had pancakes today, and as a special treat as it was the last breakfast of the holiday, the had it with some nutella looking chocolate paste that we hadn't even showed to them previously as it looked super sweet and unhealthy.
Linus has this week been having foods with milk in it, or so we can only assume, as pancakes, pastries and ice cream usually contain milk. The first few mornings he hardly ate any breakfast as the only thing he wanted to eat was cereal with milk. However, in turkey there is apparently no such thing as oat or soy milk, so after two days we decided to let him try to eat some of the things that contain milk. So far it has worked ok, no rash as of yet, however he has said that he has had a bit of tummy aches, and his stools hasn't been the greatest. But right now we're thinking we'll try with milk in cooked foods and see how he goes for another week or so.
After breakfast we were planning on swimming in the pool at the hotel, but then decided to head back down to the beach instead. The pool was really quite cold, and the only up it had on the beach was really the water slide, and that it was close to the restaurant of course. But since our hotel had all inclusive down at the beach as well, we never missed out on our already paid for lunches. So the last day was another one spent bobbing around in the big turquoise ocean. The kids loved it and had a blast. Dave however, decided to take a day off from the sun after developing a sun rash, so he took advantage of the full all inclusive buffet and bar at the hotel instead, while at the same time doing his homework.
After the beach we headed back up to the hotel where we arrived back in time for the last bit of the snack bar by the pool, the afternoon coffee and cake time, as well as one last chance to swim in the pool and do a few laps up and down the water slides before they closed for the day. When the kids finally had enough swimming we headed up to our room for a bath in the bath tub instead! The kids bathed while the adults started packing up all the gear. Departure from Turkey was scheduled at 5 am in the morning, but to get to the airport we first had to travel by bus for 2 hours, as well as check in 2 hours before departure. Taking all that into account the transfer bus was coming to pick us up at 00:15 am in the morning.
After packing we hit the showers before heading for our last dinner buffet, followed by one last dash out to the shops for some last minute spending. Dave and Ava soon aborted due to toileting requests and Linus and I tagged along with my sister and her gang. The cousins had been given their weekly allowance and wanted to find something to buy before going home. They ended up at a shop where Dave and I had been previously with the kids in the hunt for one pieces. There Samuel and Agnes chose what they wanted and Daniel and Anna did the bargaining. Linus on the other hand, who had been to that shop before and recognized all the guys working there, had no intentions of shopping. The guys in the shop recognized Linus as well as he charmed the socks off them the day before, and Linus and a teenage boy from the shop had a dance off inside the shop instead. When the deal was closed and it was time to go Linus held on tight and insisted on adopting the poor kid. He was nice enough to walk with Linus a bit down the road until he finally let go of the kid's hand and released him back to the wild.
One last spend of 4kr, 1TRL to buy the kids an icy pole before heading back to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep before the bus arrived to take us away.
When we were finally at the airport, gone through all the checks, boarded the plane and taken our seats, that was the final drop for Ava, she had been such a trooper the whole trip, but over a seating issue she wailed and cried. Linus, who was sitting in the window seat that she wanted, eventually said "mummy, Ava have my seat, we swap", "that is very generous of you sweetie, but you don't have to do that, it is your turn to sit at the window", "no we swap, Ava sit here, I am nice, Ava cry so much my ears hurt!" and so, the only meltdown during the holiday was solved by the 3year old.
A few minutes later, after take-off, I looked over at Ava who was looking up at me with tears welling up in her eyes. Asking her what was wrong she replied: "I didn't want to leave Turkey, I wanted to stay longer". So all in all we had a good holiday and Ava is already planning the next one. But apparently we are only allowed to either go back to Turkey or go to Australia.
