Birthday Parties part 2 - Aiden, Will, and Patrick

It must be spring time because the weekends are full of birthday parties. Aiden turned 1 and had a green themed party. Everyone was supposed to dress in green and they set up their camera like a photo both so we could all (try) to take some green family photos. We had fun with the props provided but the timer on the camera was just a little too long to get Jaydon to keep any of his on. The next day was Will's 2 yr birthday party and is brother Patrick's 0 yr party. Will's party was supposed to be a week earlier but his brother Patrick decided to arrive a little ahead of schedule and delayed the festivities. They had a bouncy castle that all the kids had fun on and brought out Jaydon's favorite toy of Will's - the water table. Jaydon spent the entire party playing in the water, fortunately it was a nice warm day (like always) so having a soggy baby was just part of the fun. Jaydon did take a break from the water to go and meet Patrick and welcome him to the Al-Malki family.

And in case you're wondering Will and Patrick now have the exact same day for birthday's...what are the odds.

Just like Dad

Hmmm... who does he look like?? Lately Jaydon has gotten into trying to steal and wear glasses, he's also so thrilled when daddy puts his on him. It's also getting into swimming season again so a few fun pool shots too.

Birthday parties part 1 - Abby

It must be spring time because Jaydon's social calendar is full of birthday parties. Almost one every weekend and one weekend with 2 parties. Jaydon's starting to think that cupcakes, balloons and seeing all his friends is just part of the normal weekend plans. First party was for Abby, she's turning 2. The theme was doggies which was right up Jaydon's alley - his favorite word is doggie. The big hit for this party was the ball pit. Actually it was a blow-up swimming pool full of balls and he loved it. He hung out with his girlfirend Ella. And got to know one of the new girls on the block Clarissa. Ella's moving soon so Jaydon's has to find girlfriend #2. Then Aiden and Jaydon had some fun hanging out and doing what ever it is that 1 year olds do. The newest addition to the Al-Malki family is a goat, her name is Darla. She was purchased as a joke on our neighboor (we had nothing to do with it), he came home from a trip to the US with a goat in his kitchen...she has now turned into the big attraction for all the kids in the neighboorhood. The begining of our own petting zoo.

Walking

Jaydon went from taking a few hesistant steps to full on walking within about a day so I guess we have officially entered toddlerhood.

Watch out world - here comes Jaydon!!

Hong Kong for Chinese New Year

Steve had a business trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong so Jaydon and I got on a plane to meet him in Hong Kong. We spent a little over a week, and it was perfectly timed to be during Chinese New Years. Since we missed New Years this year due to major jet lag and a stomach bug we decided to celebrate the year of the Tiger in style. When we showed up it was a beautiful sunny day but after getting on a plane at 2:00 am and Jaydon having slept maybe 2 hours during the 8 hr night flight we promptly headed to bed. When we woke up the next morning the sun was gone and it was replaced be rainy cold dreary weather for the rest of the week. We weren't exactly prepared for such weather so instead just took it easy and stuck to Jaydon's schedule. This meant lots of sleeping and naps with a little playing and eating in between. Our big learning experience from this trip was be sure you get a hotel room that you're happy spending lots of time in. We stayed in the Royal Pacific Hotel and got a suite room overlooking the harbour. It was perfect because it had a little breakfast nook where we put Jaydon's crib and Steve and I caught up on sleep and watched the harbour. Part of the tradition of Chinese New Years is doing lots of various things to increase your luck in the New Year. Kumquat or mandarin trees are considered lucky so people have them everywhere sometimes decorated with lucky coins. Jaydon developed a taste for these (skin and all) and if we weren't careful would snag them off the trees as we walked by. The first night at dinner the nice waiter gave Jaydon his first lucky Chinese coin. Jaydon was so proud he walked around the whole restaurant showing everyone his prize. The next day we walked around the outdoor shops which were mostly closed due to the holiday. Jaydon loved the waterfall wall and he made us go back to it every time we got within hearing distance. We found a lucky cat Buddha outside of a restaurant and decided to enjoy a little sushi there. Jaydon was very helpful in picking out the sake. After dinner the boys had some fun. The next night was the big Chinese New Year parade. We headed out early to get a good spot on the side walk to see all the fun. They handed out tiger paw toys to all the kids and strangely Jaydon knew just what to do with it. He also bopped a few of the people standing around us who all took it in good fun (which was good given the language barrier). The family in front of us had a little boy especially dressed up the occasion in a traditional costume. They didn't know much English but Jaydon and him had a little bopping duel and became friends. Jaydon enjoyed all the floats and people dressed up in costumes. They even had a dragon that did a little crowd surfing and got right up close to us. But Jaydon's favorite part was the bands....
can you tell that his Grandpa and Uncle Mike are drummers? The next night was the big fireworks show so we went out a little early to enjoy the city decorated in lights. Our hotel also got into into the festivities, our room was in the building on the right and the pom-pom of the characters' hat was on our bathroom window. We joined a bunch of other people on the hotel pier to watch the show. It wasn't the best place to see the fireworks but we weren't sure if the noise would scare Jaydon so we decided to play it safe just in case we had to watch from our hotel window. At about this time Jaydon started to realize that the red light on the camera meant he was about to be blinded by the flash. All the pictures we took at night from this time on had a squinty eyed baby in it. After the show we were happy about staying close to hotel. This was the mob of people heading home towards the subway. The next day we ventured onto the subway and went across the harbour to Hong Kong city (our hotel was in Kowloon). We forgot our guide book back in Doha so just used the hotel map to try and see some sights. The first place we visited was this temple. Apparently after Chinese New Year it's tradition to visit your local temple with your whole family. The line to get in was over 2 blocks long, we decided seeing the outside was just fine with us. Next stop was lunch. We ordered Jaydon his own meal for the very first time and he LOVED it. Ate the whole bowl, and this was after eating a big jar of baby food too. Most everything was still closed so we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the nearby park. Jaydon liked the flamingos and had fun walking around the park enjoying the outdoors and the rain. Besides the birds the other big highlight for Jaydon in Hong Kong was the noodles. We took to ordering udon or ramen noodles everywhere we could. He even mastered the technique of slurping the long ones up. After all the food, fun, and rain it was time to head back home