Now that we no longer have a boat (and most friends with boats have moved back) Steve hasn't been fishing much. For his birthday I arranged for him and his Dad to take a charter out for a half day.
The boat was able to hold 6 people but we didn't think Jaydon would put up with several hours on the boat so Steve invited some of co-workers and friends along.
Since it was right around the holidays only one ended up making it (Maurice) that morning but I think the boys had fun anyway. As you can see from the catch they brought back it was a very different fishing experience then what we are used too.
Apparently they just bottom fished and kept everything they caught. The guide didn't speak much English but was happy to take the fish and sell them since Steve and his Dad knew that we wouldn't be up for gutting and eating a bunch of little boned filled fish.
For Steve's actual birthday (the fishing happened a few days earlier while Steve's parents were still in town) we cashed in on the Six Senses Spa gift certificates my mom gave us for Christmas. Since we did it on Steve's actual birthday she also got him a massage to go along with his first ever mani and pedi. The relaxing experience was then followed by a nice quite dinner at the Seafood restaurant. Happy Birthday Steve!
Jaydon got to start his birthday fun a little early and opened up his gifts from the Forte's. 
With all the practice at Christmas he's getting much better at tearing open wrapping paper. His first gift from Grandma and Grandpa was a neat toy train that spells his name. 
The next gift was his favorite BOOKS and these books even read themselves. 
Jaydon's Aunt Sarah found these neat books where you can record yourself reading the story page by page. The book has a sensor so knows which page you're on and plays the correlating recording. Sarah got Uncle Mike, Cousin Ian and Great Aunt Bun to join the fun in recording the stories. Jaydon thought it was great and we got a video of him discovering the fun in the book. (For the longest time he thought there were buttons he had to push to get the voices started so you can see him trying to push the buttons on each page)
We realized that carrying him from the bathroom to the Bedroom after bath time just wasn't part of the routine anymore (especially since mommy is trying to get Jaydon to walk rather than being carried). 
To keep him from getting cold after the bath and while brushing his teeth Steve and Jaydon picked out a new bathrobe. Which he of course looks just adorable in.
For New Year's we (myself, Steve and his parents - Jaydon was home and asleep) decided to visit one of the new restaurants on the Pearl (Doha's equivalent of Dubia's Jumeria island - all reclaimed land built to attract the high end tourists and seasonal travelers). Since we had our fill of authentic Italian while in Rome we tried a Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, the night didn't go as well as planned. We forgot the camera (so no pics - sorry), most of the courses had shellfish of one type or another (problem for both Steve and his Dad) which we knew so I had asked them do an alternate menu ahead of time. Well their substitution choices were disappointing (e.g. chunks of tofu instead of scallops). They also had a bar next door to the restaurant that started playing techno music in and apparently thought it would add to the ambiance if they piped it directly in to where everyone was eating. I asked several times if they could turn it down and finally resolved to eating our dinner without conversation rather than try to yell over the music. So we were easily home by 11 and in bed long before New Year's arrived.
