Noah's First Birthday

We had a fun, family birthday party for the little munchkin on January 8th. We really can't believe he's been with us for a whole year. People always told us it would fly by, and fly by it did. It seemed like there would be weeks at a time during the year when he would change and grow in so many ways.

This happened again while my parents were here for 3 weeks. We think he must have been in a growing stage because the kid ate everything we gave him, slept a ton and I promise he even changed his look from the time they came to when they left. He also started walking more, learned to do a fist pump with Grandpa, and began to love to be chased! So far it's been really fun having a one-year-old.

Birthday breakfast - oatmeal pancakes with a few chocolate chips.

Noah showing his grandma a picture in his book of what he wanted for his birthday.

Bday pics!

Not too sure about the cake - letting dad taste it first to make sure it's good.

Getting a good bite - and getting as much in as possible!

Bday Pictures!

Noah getting in to his bag of 100 balls. He was a happy boy!

On a Skype call with family in the states.

More Cairo

We tried to do as much as possible in Cairo for the few days we were there with an almost one year old who loves his naps. We made sure to cover our top 3 places to see on our list, one of those being the Egyptian Museum. This amazing place held tons of original items from King Tut's tomb. The actual mummy is still in Luxor, a city a few hours south of Cairo. We saw and learned that the Egyptians invented a lot of things back in the day, including sandals and folding chairs. Who knew? If you asked our tour guide, though, she would have told you that Egyptians invented almost everything worth anything today.

Laura's parents in front of a statue outside the museum - no pics allowed inside.

OK, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we spent most of our evenings while there at the huge City Stars Mall. It was close to our hotel, we could get there and back early enough for Noah to go to sleep, AND....they happened to have an On the Border, a Macaroni Grill and a Wagamama's (Asian Noodle Bar from London). I felt sorry for my parents who can eat this stuff any time, but we were giddy about the good Mexican and Italian food that we never get where we live. To make up for our American food-chain eating - we all walked downtown to get the local national dish, Koushri, one night at a very 'local' eatery. It was good, but it was no Macaroni Grill.

Outside the museum.

Egypt

Cairo was a really interesting city, and if you ignored the smog that hung in the air and coated most of the buildings, it was really beautiful, too. It looked less like a Middle Eastern city, and reminded me more of the Bronx in the 50's (at least what I've seen from movies). I loved the architecture and walking around the downtown area. It is so different to what we see here everyday - white square buildings.

We took a felucca boat ride down the Nile River after lunch on one of the many barges sitting on the river. Our taxi driver for the afternoon had a family felucca business so he took us to his father's boat. I don't know if most tourists have to make the climb like we did down these scary stairs to our boat. Thankfully, they had a big cooler for us to step onto from the stairs. Yikes.

Ever wanted to work out at a Gold's Gym on the Nile River?

Hotels and more hotels along the river.

Pyramids!

After Christmas the 5 of us headed out on a hour 1/2 flight to Cairo, Egypt for a few days. Our first day there we drove out through the enormous city, past the Nile River, to Giza to see the ancient pyramids. It was a cloudy, cool day and a perfect time to go as the crowds were surely smaller than in the summer. We started out at the biggest pyramid and drove around to two more, walking down into the smallest one - that was an experience - they were definitely a sight to see.

Happy Noah with his Papa.

Noah and mom at the Sphinx.

Christmas!

We had a great time celebrating our THIRD Christmas in the Middle East this year. A few things have changed since our first Christmas here. First, we have Noah. He was a little young to really know what was happening, but he enjoyed the craziness and he LOVED having so much attention with his grandparents here for 3 whole weeks. Here are a few shots from our Christmas morning.

Noah's new Razorback outfit especially for the big bowl game.

Noah loves anything musical. He dances as soon as he hears a tune.

Noah with Laura's parents.

Our little family in front of our very non-traditional tree!