Tylor is 1!

Boy does time fly!  Tylor is already one year old.  And he loved everything about being 1.  He loves opening presents - most of the presents he doesn't care much for once they're opened (especially the clothes) but loves taking things out of the gift bags then putting it back in again. 

He did get a very special gift from his great Aunt Patricia which grandma was able to bring over for him in her suitcase. 

It's a cute little lamb and now he sleeps with it every night because it's so soft and cuddly. 

Tylor had lots of fun playing with his grandma even thought she did keep trying to put on all kinds of new clothes on him. 

We of course threw Tylor a big 1st birthday bash. 

When I was in the states last I splurged and bought a special cake pan that can make all the numbers.  I thought the 1 turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. 

We had lots of Tylor's (and Jaydon's) friends over for the big party. 

Tylor was very excited to see Clarissa - those 2 are very cute together and Tylor was so curious about her necklace. 

Grandma was also very happy to be able to plan her trip such that she could be there for the big day. 

After everyone had fun playing until it was time for the best part - the cake. 

Tylor was very patient while he got his picture taken.  Finally it was the fun part of being sung too, blowing out the candle and eating the cake. 

He dug right in. 

We saved the rest of the fun like opening up all the other presents until the next morning.  Tylor had become an expert present opener by then and knew just what to do.  The Fenn's also stopped to pick up the sunglasses they'd left behind but not before getting a picture with the coolest 1 year old birthday boy around.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLOR!

Weekend in Oman

With grandma in town we decided to use the opportunity to show her one of our favorite countries in the region, Oman. 

As always, the boys were excited to be getting on an airplane - Tylor loved the bus ride and sitting by himself like a big boy.  We stayed at the Shangri-la which is a great place for kids. 

They had ponies and camels to sit on.  Jaydon loved the pony and thought the camel was a little smelly. 

Tylor hated the camel and started crying whenever he saw it so I had to take him back to the top of the beach while Jaydon enjoyed the animals. 

We also spent a lot of time at the water park they have just for kiddos. 

Tylor loved scooting around all the water features, getting to splash around and get soaked. 

Jaydon still doesn't like getting his face wet so it took him awhile to warm up to it the fun but he definitely liked playing in water without a life jacket or floating ring. 

We also spent sometime at the beach. 

Tylor was fearless in the waves (luckily they were small) and Jaydon found all kinds of neat creatures to catch - mainly hermit crabs. 

At dinner Tylor enjoyed eating big people food and showed off his 4 teeth.  We rented a 4 wheel drive one day and ventured out into the country. 

Oman has some beautiful landscape, very rugged and dramatic. 

 

We stopped at an old fort and explored the local souqs. 

We have a similar picture of Jaydon ridding on a canon in Austria so couldn't resist getting this shot. 

It was very hot in Oman so we were happy to venture up into the mountains for the cooler temperatures.  Jabal Shams is one of the must sees of Oman and we had yet to make it there on our previous trips to Oman so wanted to be sure to see it this time.  It was a much longer drive then we expected, fortunately we planned ahead and packed a lunch. 

During our lunch break we met some of the local lizards and gave Tylor a chance to get used to the backpack. 

Jabal Shams is called the Grand Canyon of the middle east. 

It is a spectacular view and made me realize that I'm afraid of heights - especially when my boys are within steps of an amazing sheer drop onto rocks down below. 

The last stop on our adventure was to the grand mosque. 

Then we loaded back up on the plane to head home. 

 

Grandma's Visit

Every year, when our nanny goes on her annual home leave trip to the Philippines, my mom takes the opportunity to come spend some quality time with the boys, being the nanny for a few weeks.  It works out really well for all and definitely makes the 24+ hours of travel more justifiable when you can stay for awhile. 

With grandma here we tried to do a few things that we don't normally do like get all dressed up on a Friday and head out to brunch. 

We went to a new restaurant that opened in the Aspire tower called 360. 

It's a spinning restaurant and Jaydon just loved it. 

The lunch took over 3 hours but both boys were amazingly well behaved the whole time. 

Even now, every time we see the Aspire tower as we leave home in the morning Jaydons says "Look mommy, there's my spinning tower".  It's also how we can judge how much dust is in the air since it's only a few kilometers from our house.  If we can't see it then it's a dusty day. 

And we continue with letting Tylor eat for himself. 

Nothing like a little spaghetti to make a real mess.  But he loves it and eats well so I guess we can't complain (though it sure makes us miss having a dog around...)

Carousel

We ventured out one evening for a dinner out and came across a carousel that had been put up at the pearl. 

Jaydon has just recently gone back to loving them (he went through a phase of thinking they were too scary) and Tylor has never been on one before. 

The boys had a great time riding their beautiful horses. 

And since carousels go in circles they are on the daddy list of duties (mommy doesn't do spinning). 

The next night we tried to get Tylor a bit more interested in eating by letting him go at it by himself.  Well he has a talent for making amazing messes. 

This one was so bad we had to wash him before taking him upstairs to the tub, then had to spray him down before actually plugging the bath to fill it with water. 

I think here he was showing us that he still had one spot left without any food on it.