Summer...

It's been a long hot summer already. I think we're all starting to get a little cabin fever. Not much has been going on so here's just a few random photos. We bought Jaydon a new chalk board, the trick is getting him to understand that inside chalk is different than outside/sidewalk chalk. We have a few marks on the walls but he's been doing much better. He's also advanced from lines to actual scribbles and loves to play the game of figuring out what you've drawn for him (fish, duck, tractor, frog - you get the idea). I stuck this picture in so you could see my new hair color. I got sick of having the lines from re-growth and I had highlighted my hair so often that the ends were dry. nasty and always lighter than the rest of my hair. I went to the salon and said to go back to my natural color. Well I think she went a little overboard and I'm still washing brown color out of my hair.... Here's a couple fun clips of Jaydon listening to his new favorite song by Usher. He loves to dance and sing to it. We tried to get it on video for you to see too :)

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July. You know you've been living out of the states too long when the 4th roles around and it doesn't even occur to you to celebrate. Fortunately we have lots of recent American transplants who took the initiative to plan a BBQ. All the Dads put on their swimsuits and took the kids into the pool. Jaydon ate his first hot dog which he loved and completely gobbled down - and this was after he had already eaten an entire dinner. It was 95 degrees out but with the sun down and humidity low we all commented on how nice it was to be outside. The next day that changed with the humidity making a rude appearance and we haven't seen the heat ease up since.
I also included a short video of Steve and Jaydon having fun in the pool.

Random Pics

This is a selection of a few random pictures we took to finish up the disposable camera. Jaydon having fun with his doggy Athena, he's almost getting too big for this game. Jaydon, Semina, Clarissa, and Deloras out for their morning walk. Jaydon finally has his very own sand box. His nice rosy cheeks are a sign of just how hot it's been getting around here. Jaydon is one cool dude in his fancy sunglasses.

Seychelles pics

I finally got the disposable cameras developed that we had to buy since our camera decided to jam on the first day of the vacation. I don't know if all the fancy cameras make us worse photographers or if the disposable cameras are just that hard to use. Most of the pictures were blurry with bad lighting but we got a few good ones that I've added in below. My favorite is the one above of Jaydon and Steve in the sunset. Steve and Jaydon enjoying the ocean before dinner time. The island is full of gigantic fruit bats with wing spans wider than your arms. Jaydon got very good at spotting them and would spend most of the late afternoon with his eyes to the sky to spot the next one. The resort had golf carts to get from the beach to the restaurants to the villas perch up in the cliff. Jaydon loves tractors and to him the carts were a perfect replacement for the tractors he usually sees at home. He loved to ride in them and by then end of the week when all the drivers knew him he usually sat on their lap and helped drive. Here's a couple of good beach shots, it was only after I saw this one on the big computer screen when I realized why Steve might have been taking it :) Jaydon and Steve made a great team building and destroying sand castles. Jaydon loved the water and got pretty brave about going into it even with the waves crashing (it meant Steve and I had to be on high alert and ready to grab him before they swallowed him up). He had fun playing with the ice and ate about as much sand as he did ice. We also spent a lot of time in the pool. The ocean was a bit to rough too swim in with Jaydon and by the end of the week only the body surfers were venturing out into the waves. On the last day Steve decided that he had enough relaxing and needed to go out fishing. As I mentioned the ocean was getting very rough so he ended up feeding as many fish as he caught but he did catch some beautiful ones. His very first sailfish which ended up spearing the deck hand in the knee (that's why his spear is missing). He took the tuna home and had the chef at the restaurant cook it up for us. The rest of the fish he left with the captain to hand out to all his buddies.

swimming lessons

It's summer time which means all the schools are closing and they've opened up their pools for swimming lessons. Jaydon has always liked the water but lately he's getting more cautious about getting his head wet. Bath time is fun only until it's hair washing time - then it's a battle usually ending with tears. In addition to having something to do I was hoping swim lessons would help Jaydon get used to water on his head. He loves the fact that the pool is full of other kids - or be-be's as he says. When ever they sing activity songs he always signs and asks for more when they're finished. The time of morning is a little tough since its 8:30 am which is right when he usually goes for his morning nap. It usually means the ride home is a little tough but I think the fun he has a t the lessons makes up for it. He's also taking the lessons with 2 of his friends from the compound Jacob and Clarissa. They're much younger than Jaydon but seem to enjoy the swim lessons just as much.

Seychelles

We spent the week at the Seychelles relaxing in the beautiful 4-seasons resort. Steve hadn't been able to join us on any of the recent adventures so he was due for a little pampering and relaxing. We definitely went to the right place. The resort was beautiful. Each room it's own separate villa with a private infinity pool. The beach was gorgeous the sand was white and as fine as baby powder. The staff was excellent and were all Jaydon's buddies by the end of the trip. I did yoga every morning at the spa perched at the top of the cliff with an amazing view of the sea. The only problem is our camera broke within hours of arriving. It didn't even have time to get equilibrated with the temperature so the lens would stop fogging up before it jammed. This meant that we only have these few foggy pictures. We ended spending about 70 euros 2 disposable camera which now each have about 5 pictures remaining before I can get it processed the old fashioned way. We also have a short video so you can see the view from our pool. This will have to suffice until the pictures come back of Jaydon having fun in the sand and Steve catching his first sailfish.

It was bound to happen...

...we've lived in Doha for over four years now and it has one of the highest auto accident rate per capita of any country in the world. I think a few other middle east countries beat it in the rankings. The day before we left on vacation Steve got hit by a Qatari entering a frontage road by going the wrong way on an off ramp. Fortunately Steve saw him coming and accelerated so he hit the passenger door rather than the driver door. Nobody was hurt, the guy who hit Steve had his wife with their kid on her lap in the front passenger seat with him. Overall everyone was very lucky - except for Steve's car. Now we get to figure out how to be a one car family for awhile while we navigate through the bureaucracy of getting a car fixed by insurance. We're hoping it will only take 2 weeks but who knows...

1 year old ninja

So I finally got around to downloading all the videos of our video camera (it still had Christmas videos on it) and found a couple of cute ones I thought you might enjoy. Jaydon can now tell anyone who asks how old he is and him and daddy are always finding amusing ways to keep themselves entertained.

Bubbles and Circles

I'm sure it's no surprise to you to find out that Jaydon loves bubbles. It's one of his many words and it a great way to get him to cooperate when washing his hands or in the tub. We've also learned that it's well worth investing in the premium bubble solutions that is much thicker and much more satisfying to blow bubbles from. We can fill the whole kitchen with them (just be sure to cover up your wine). (You also get a great shot of one of Jaydon's worst haircuts so far. It was completely crooked and he was called a little girl until we went and got it fixed...)

Jaydon is also getting much more stable on his feet. He likes to practice keeping his balance while turning in circles.

Night at the Opera

Placido Domingo - a world famous tenor opera singer came to Doha for the grand opening of one of the restaurants he owns. They set up a gigantic tent out in the Pearl (which is Doha's equivalent of Dubai's Jumeria Palm island) and had him perform a night of opera. The show was a lot of fun with great dancing, singing, and costumes. The venue didn't quite have the proper acoustics for such a show but Placido is a great performer and did 4 different encores to the cheers of the audience. It was a fun night out.

Birthdays - part 4, Tristian, Santiago, and Nicholas

There always seems to be someone in the compound having a birthday. Jaydon's good friend Nicholas turned 2. At the party we pulled out the inflatable pool and filled it with balls. It was a big hit with the kids (and the parents). Our next door neighbors Tristain and Santiago also had their birthday party. Tristian turned 3 and Santiago 1. They had lots of great game set-up and grandma even got into the fun of musical chairs. She didn't last very long though.

Jerash, Jordan

On our last day in Jordan, Jaydon and I took it easy and caught up on some much needed sleep and Grandma headed out to see more of the sites. Jerash is one of the most complete roman city ruins discovered which means the entire city has been recovered, not just a few buildings or a single church. I saw it last time we were in Jordan and highly recommend the visit. It's an easy hour drive from Amman and well worth the trip. Grandma saw the sights and made friends with some of the local Jordain school boys practicing their English.

Petra, Jordan

The highlight of the trip to Jordan was definitely Petra. This is one of those places that every one must see - and no the Indiana Jones movie doesn't count. We strapped Jaydon into his backpack and headed out for a day in the desert, rocks, and ruins of Petra. The first attraction for Jaydon was all the horses and donkeys. Since donkeys sound so much like doggies he was content to call everything a doggy. The weather ended up being perfect with just a little chill to make long sleeves comfortable to help protect tender skin from the intense sun. It's a fairly short and easy walk to the first ruin known as the treasury. You see all kinds of interesting people on this part of the walk from the back packers (like us) ready for a full day of hiking to the leisure tourists who just jumped out of their car and thought a quick hike in flip flops and sun dresses (and usually no water) was a good idea. This is the ruin used in the Indiana Jones movie. Every time I see it I expect big stone balls to come rolling out or big knives to come jutting out of the walls. I think Jaydon was impressed all same. From the Treasury the valley opens up and you can see ruins of an entire city that used to thrive here in the rocks. These are small houses carved into the rock. They even carved out an amphitheatre (it was later 'remodeled' by the Romans). The further you walk down the valley the more interesting ruins you see. All of them are perched up in the cliffs so the residents must have appreciated a good view. And with the beautiful patterns that the sandstone makes in the area they didn't even have to decorate the walls. It was about a 2 hour walk to the place where we had lunch. After getting refueled and rested we started the big climb up to the monastery. My goal for this trip was to make it to that ruin since the last time I went to Petra I was 7 months pregnant and was not able to make the climb. The hike was very interesting and a little tricky at times. Jaydon had spent all morning in the back pack without an issue and was content to watch the world go by from his perch. The climb was intense and I was happy it wasn't a step further then it was. When we reached the top we were rewarded with the magnificent ruin. It was well worth the climb! After all that hiking it was time for a break. Jaydon happily played with the rocks and sand for a good hour while we regained our strength for the hike back down. We also got a show from one of the local boys who had climbed the facade of the monastery and was standing on top of the main steeple (yep, that's a person up there). He was doing tricks and flipping off of it to the gasps of the tourists and cheers of his buddies down on the ground. Since we had accomplished our goal of hiking to the Monastery on the way back down we were a bit more relaxed and took the time to chat with a few of the locals. We met Ahmed, who was just a few months younger than Jaydon, and his mother and grandmother. We sat and had tea and let the little boys play. One of Ahmed's cousins came by on his donkey and gave Jaydon a ride. He wanted to trade me the donkey for Jaydon but I didn't think the donkey would fit in the plane very well. On the way back down we got to see all of the neat ruins again and enjoy them in the cool afternoon light. The camels were getting ready to call it a day and Jaydon had finally seen everything he could manage and fell fast asleep. Napping in a backpack is pretty tough, his poor head was flopping everywhere but he got in a good 20 minutes and was ready for more sight-seeing. We got one more good look at the Treasury and called it a day. Said good-bye to the doggies and hiked back to the hotel for a well deserved rest.