Vacation time- Stockholm and cruise of the Baltic Sea

Tylor is at the stage where he loves to travel.


The whole experience is pure excitement, seeing the airplanes at the airport, getting on the bus to the airplane seen the airplane takeoff, he loves it all. This trip he really made the connection about what's happening when we get on an airplane. Now whenever he sees a plane he asks about people inside and the people going up in the sky. At bathtime we also pretend to look up at the planes and the people in the sky to rinse his hair. When we landed in Stockholm we got the extra benefit of getting on a train into the city.


He was so excited about the ride but was so tired from the trip that he slept for most of the 20 minute ride. We got the two exhausted boys to the hotel hoping to get in a quick nap, they got a boost of adrenaline from being in the new place and decided jumping on the bed was more fun than sleeping in them.


We headed out into the city to see what we could see.


The boys found some fun lion statues to kiss and ride.


We all enjoyed the nice cool weather, brisk breeze, and sun that stayed up till all hours of the night.


And enjoyed a nice dinner alfresco.


The next day grandma and grandpa Connor finally showed up after getting bumped from their flight, rerouted through Finland and then delayed by several hours.


We ventured through the old town and collected some souvenirs.





Met some of the locals.





Then we took a boat tour of the river which the boys loved but couldn't quite get into the guides explanation over the head phones.











(The boys also practiced not smiling at the camera at the same time...by the end of the trip they had this perfected!).


We found a park where the boys could run around in the green grass, chase pigeons, and climb trees.





The next day it was off to the boat, time to board the cruise of the Baltic Sea.


First priority after getting onboard was the swimming pool.


After dinner the boys took advantage of the grand and wide decks to runoff some extra energy while we watched the beautiful Swedish coastline float by.





We booked a two-room suite which ended up being perfect for us. Jaydon got his own room with a double bed and the walk-in closet was big enough for Tylors crib. The boys slept great on the ship, maybe it was from the gentle rocking and soothing white noise from the engines.

Another accident

So while I was in London I had my car in the shop getting a full service done including re-doing the brakes, replacing the battery, reworking the A/C etc. After 5000QR worth of work it was as good as new...just in time for karma to remind me that cars are never good as new in Doha. I had a meeting at different office on Thursday morning so rather then turning left at the last r/a on my way to work I went straight (fortunately this was after I had dropped the kids off already). The stop light was completely backed up so I stopped expecting that it might take 3-4 cycles to get through it. Well the lady behind me was completely caught off guard (and on her cell phone), and came flying through the r/a and had no idea that traffic was stopped. She slammed into me, broke the rear window and crunched the back of my car.


She hit me so hard that I was pushed into the little pick-up truck in front of me.


So the whole front was also damaged.


I was pretty shaken up afterwards, went to visit the company doctor but everything was fine. I took some Advil that night before bed and woke up the next morning with just a few tweaks in my neck and arm/shoulder where the seatbelt was. Now the fun begins of trying to get it repaired and drivable again. Fortunately one of our neighbors has and extra car on hand right now so transportation isn't an issue. After my mom, sister and brother heard about the accident they sent over a nice edible bouquet.


Tylor was excited about it as soon as the delivery van arrived.


He loved the neat fruit arrangement and gorged himself on it.


Jaydon ate all the grapes and more strawberries then I thought possible.


Tylor also discovered there is something better than strawberries - chocolate cover strawberries!


He did a great job posing with his cheese face covered in chocolate.


And was happy to repeat it again the next night for the weekly skype call with grandma.

Week in London and Disney on Ice

I had a week long business trip to London and it was confirmed the day after I had already bought tickets to the Disney on Ice show coming to Doha so I had to cut the trip short by one day to make it back in time. But while I was in London the boys seemed to make do just fine without me.


They did lots of fun things at school.


For some reason they started waking up between 5 and 5:30 every morning but it ended up suiting Steve just fine because that way he could drop them off as soon as the nursery opened and be at work early.


When I realized I'd be in London for the week I tried to get tickets to the Book of Mormon Broadway show, it was completely sold out and I couldn't even get a ticket from the American Express Concierge Service or the black market at 4 x the ticket price. Since the show is so popular they have a lottery every night for 20 tickets, 2 hours before showtime.


As it turned out my hotel ended up being a little over a 10 minute walk to the theatre so every evening, as soon as my meetings were done I'd rush up to my room, change out of my suit and run up to get in the lottery. 3 days in a row i tried with no luck. The good part about it though was once I was out of the hotel and ready to see a show it doesn't make much sense to head back just because I didn't win the lottery so I'd head over to the nearest discounted theatre ticket booth and find a different show to see.


The first night I saw Billy Elliot which was a wonderful show and the actor playing Billy was absolutely amazing. The next night I saw Thriller which was 2 hours of Michael Jackson music. It was a lot of fun and made me realize how spectacular it would've been to see him live...guess I'll have to scratch that off the bucket list. The 3rd night I was pretty exhausted and it was raining so I headed back to the hotel to pack up. The last day in London I went to the airport after the conference was done (it took over 2 hours because the main highway was closed from a bus fire), took the red-eye home, landed at 6am so that I could be back in time for Disney on Ice.


I had purchased tickets for us and 2 other families for the 3:00 show.


It was pretty early in the afternoon so we decided to shift the whole day up by about 2 hours, had lunch at 10:30, naps around 11:30 and up at 1:30 ready to head out for the show (I certainly needed that nap after getting about 3 hrs of sleep on the plane that night).


The boys were super excited.


Jaydon got a little scared at the beginning after they explained what to do in the event of an emergency. The show started and fog/smoke filled the stage so he was sure the fire alarm was going to go off. Then a fake zamboni come out and 'exploded' to produce the genie and Jaydon was on my lap in tears saying he wanted to go home.


By about the time that 1 genie had turned into 20 he was having a good time again.


Tylor loved the show and was wide eyed the whole time.


He watched adamantly the except for maybe 10-15 minutes in the 2nd act.


We also got him a huge snow cone that kept him completely entertained while we waited for the show to start - he loves eating ice and this ice was flavored and in flashing rainbow light glass.


All the kids did a really great job during the show and had a great time together.


The show was done really well and a great time was had by all (and I slept very well that night).

2 year olds

There's one certain thing about 2-year olds...


they can be super cutie pies. Tylor can go from adorable little angle to screaming, flailing, throwing a tantrum in about 2 seconds flat.


But when he is in his cute more he's irresistible.


He's big copy cat doing everything Jaydon does.


They both love music and have some great dance parties together.

 He's also learned about cameras and how to say 'cheese'.

A new thing that Steve and him have started is story time while eating dinner. Steve tells a story and Tylor repeats every last few words like a question back to Steve. They will do this for a whole story and it's so cute I can hardly keep from laughing out loud. I've tied several times to get it on video but as soon as Tylor sees the camera it's cheese time.

No matter, still makes for some cute videos.