Our Final Post :-(

Well, this posts brings an end to this blog. This is the last post that we will be doing from the Middle East as we are moving back to Sydney, Australia tomorrow morning. We will be arriving in Sydney on Sunday 6th September 2009 (Father's Day).

We have just spent one night in The Burj Al Arab for our wedding anniversary and had a wonderfully AMAZING time. It was a great way to spend the 2nd to last night in Dubai before we leave.

Dubai has been so good to us and as much as we are looking forward to going home, we are also sad to be leaving. We love the lifestyle, our friends and Dubai itself but it is time to return to reality and our families. We have had such wonderful opportunities in Dubai, the opportunity to travel, experience another culture, the opportunity of making new friends, living on The Palm Jumeirah and the best of all, the opportunity to have our precious baby boy whom we cannot imagine life without.

We will create another blog so the McKays adventures can still be followed :-) We hope you have all enjoyed our stories and thoughts over the past few years.

Take care and goodbye from,

The McKays in Dubai!!!

Our "Little Ray of Sunshine" turns 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our precious gorgeous boy - Patrick!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday and that you enjoyed your "Cheeky Monkey" birthday party on Saturday. You truly are the light of our lives and we are so blessed and thankful to be able to share each and every moment with you. You make us so proud with everything you do and all that you accomplish. We hope you continue to be happy and that we can help make all of your dreams come true. We love you SO very much little man!

LOADS of love, hugs and kisses
Forever & Always

Mum mum & Dad dad
oxoxoxox

The youngest in the family takes control :-)

I cannot believe that Mummy & Daddy have not updated this blog in almost 4 months! That's disgusting!!!! I know Daddy works and Mummy shops and plays with me but REALLY, that is NO excuse. I overheard Grandi telling Mummy off today for not updating the blog so I thought I had better do it myself, not that I really know where to begin.

Daddy has a new hobby - scuba diving. Mummy has said between the planes, the radio's and now diving - NO MORE HOBBIES! I agree, especially if it means he is out on the weekends. I don't like that at all. I can only handle so many days at home with just Mummy - hehehe, don't tell her I said that - I really am only just kidding :)

My poor Poppy got really really sick in May, so Daddy said to Mummy "Princess, you've gotta go home to see him!!!" So Mummy booked a flight to Sydney (and then one from Sydney to Adelaide) on Monday night and we were on the plane the next morning! I went to bed and the next morning my bag was packed and we were on our way to the airport. We arrived in Sydney VERY early on Wednesday (after me only sleeping 2.5 hours of the 14 hour direct flight) then we caught our next plane arriving in Adelaide Wednesday lunchtime. Grandi & Granddad picked us up from the airport and took us straight to the hospital to see my Poppy. I was a little scared when we got there - he didn't look himself in a hospital gown sitting up in bed. I didn't want to cuddle him at first so Granddad took me for a walk and I found some fish in a tank. Mummy didn't want to leave the hospital (or her Daddy) but I was so tired and Mummy must of been exhausted because after about 2 hours Poppy said "Go home and get some rest and get Patrick sorted". I don't know quite what he meant by that but I was happy to be leaving the hospital by that time - I even waved and gave Poppy a kiss and cuddle goodbye!

All of us were staying at Aunty Jodie's with her & Jasmine, as Grandi & Granddads house was a little small because I really need my own room (I sleep better this way.) Mummy slept in with Aunty Jodie which I thought was funny - lucky Daddy isn't the jealous type! Poppy was allowed out of hospital for a few days before his operation the next Tuesday. Grandi & Granddad went back to their place so that Poppy could stay at Aunty Jodie's with Mummy & I as the Doctors said he had to stay in Adelaide. We had a nice weekend :)

Poppy's operation was scheduled for Tuesday and he was 2nd on the list. We got to the hospital at 7:15am and Poppy didn't go in for his surgery until 3:15pm - that's 8 hours of waiting at the hospital as Mummy REFUSED to leave him. There was an emergency with the lady before him which is why we waited soooooooooooo long. I was a big brave boy and stayed and played with Grandi & Granddad and Aunty Jodie, who had taken the day off work to come and support Mummy and help entertain me a bit. She bought me a really cool Bob the Builder pop up book which we read LOTS of times. Once Poppy went in for his operation Mummy said it was time to go home - she knew I needed some time to play and then dinner and bed. Poor Mummy - she was trying so hard to be strong so I didn't get upset but I did catch her crying on a few occasions........ After I had dinner and was in the bath (Jasmine usually bathed me - we had such fun splashing with the bubbles) Mummy said that she had spoken to the hospital and that Poppy was in recovery. I didn't know what that was but it must of been good because she was smiling for the first time the whole day. I was really tired cause I didn't sleep long while at the hospital so I went to bed a little earlier. The next day Mummy told me that she and Aunty Jodie and Grandi had gone to the hospital to see Poppy after he was back in the ward and she said he was doing really well - what a relief!

We went to see him first thing that morning - and he was walking around looking great as if nothing had happened apart from a huge white bandage on his neck..... He even helped me with a fruit sachet!!! Poppy got out of hospital on the Thursday afternoon and then went back to Port Augusta with Nanny on Saturday.

On Sunday I got to have a visit with Grandma & Poppy (Daddy's parents) which was fun. I think they were even happier to see me than I was to see them :) We spent the afternoon playing and watching the football - it was great. Sunday afternoons was my special time with them.

Mummy & I visited Great Grandma and Great Grandpa a few times - Grumpy is doing really well in the nursing home and is quite happy :-) He loved seeing me - I even sat on his lap and had a cuddle with him. Great Grandma is so cool, she let me ride on her walker - she goes a little slow but since she is 91, I can forgive that.

Mummy & I spent 5 days up in Port Augusta with Poppy & Nanny which was good as Nanny had to have an operation on her arm so Mummy helped out a little bit. I got to see Jorja & Annie and give them their birthday presents and I got to open mine early. It was a little people's speedway racer, although Mummy said we needed to leave it in Australia for when we get back. While we were in Port Augusta we found out that our dearest Aunty Betty passed away. It was so sudden and unexpected and such a huge shock but she didn't look like herself when we saw her a week or so earlier and I don't think she would of wanted to stay in that condition very long. Grandi & Mummy wrote a long letter to read at the funeral - Mummy said it was called a Eulogy.

Aunty Kalee and Uncle Ben also had some very bad news which made us sad, (Mummy cried then too) - so really, most of the month was sad, although there were some good bits too like seeing all my Grandparents and some of our friends.

On our way back to Dubai we had to stop off in Sydney so Karen, Mummy's friend and one of her bridesmaids in hers and Daddy's wedding, came to pick us up from the airport with her cute lil baby - Xander. We went to their house for a while to have a play, a bath and dinner before going back to the airpor to go on the HUGE A380 back to Dubai. It was such a cool plane - shame Daddy missed out - hehehe. I was a really really good boy on the plane, I slept about 8 hours, only stirring a few times to get comfortable. Mummy was pleased as she was tired too and needed a chance to relax a bit, not that she slept much because I was sleeping on her and she was uncomfortable trying to make sure I was comfortable! Once we got back into Dubai all I wanted was my Daddy. Mummy said we would see him as soon as we got our bags. This took aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages because they accidently sent my carseat and pram to the transit area so we had to wait almost an hour to get it back. FINALLY we got to get out of the airport and see my Daddy. He was waiting for me but was on the other side of a clear sheet of glass so I had to walk, actually run, for a long way till I could get to him - he ran alongside me until I could jump into his arms and that was in - I WASN'T LETTING GO!

We went home and had lots of family cuddles - we all missed each other so much and for Mummy and me, it was a very emotional month. Daddy filled us in on what he had been doing while we were away, such as work, diving and getting his UAE amateur radio license. His call sign is A65BO. I was so proud of him. He aced a really hard exam for work too which was awesome!

There was a HUGE box waiting for me at home from Grandi & Granddad - my Chistmas presents which were accidently sent by seamail over 6 months earlier! We thought they were lost so it was a nice suprise cause I LOVE opening presents. I was so tired that Daddy put me to bed for a little while. He promised me that he would be there when I woke up - and he was.

The next big thing that happened was Mummy and Daddy started sorting through all our things, throwing things out, putting things in piles and then all these crazy people started showing up to take away our furniture! Daddy explained to me that we were moving house and leaving Dubai to go back to live in Australia. I didn't care what we were doing - I just wanted our stuff back and my house back to normal! Once the stove had gone Daddy suggested to Mummy that we leave and live somewhere else as it was too hard to live their without it. I wouldn't be able to have my pasta or eggy toast which for me would be the end of the world! Mummy and I found a new place to live - it is only a one bedroom but it is really nice. We all had to adjust to sharing one room again but we have and it is good.

Our beautiful apartment is now completely packed up, the boxes gone and Daddy handed the keys back today :( It is sad but I cannot wait to move into our own house in Sydney - Mummy and Daddy have promised me a backyard!!!

Oh, one more quick thing before I go - I AM TWO IN 12 DAYS TIME!!! Mummy is planning a Cheeky Monkey party for me with a party planner. They are stuck on a venue at the moment but I know they will get it sorted and it will be awesome fun. I'll tell Mummy to post some photos when she downloads them.

Don't forget to check out the new facebook album links too - Mummy has done more albums :-)

Love, squeezy hugs and smoochy kisses to you all
From Patrick
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Granny & Great Grandma,
We hope you enjoy a wonderful 91st birthday. You are in our thoughts even though we are unable to be there to share your day with you. Behave yourself you party girl!!! Millions of hugs and kisses & our love always,
Kathryn, Cameron & Patrick xxxxx

Lebanon, March 19th - 22nd 2009

We arrived in Beirut mid afternoon and after a small disaster with the taxi (one taxi van for 6 adults and a baby but NO space for luggage..... we ended up needing 2 taxi's in the end) we arrived at our accomodation "Seaside furnished apartments" right at the Corniche near the Hard Rock Cafe. We quickly unloaded the luggage, set up the porta cot and met the others for a wander along the Corniche all the way to Pidgeon Rock, about a 40 minute walk. We ate dinner at a lovely cafe right next to Pidgeon Rock as the sun set over the water. We then wandered back (as it was getting late by this stage) and got settled for the night. Patrick went to sleep okay, but within 90 minutes was awake and crying (we think he was cold) and as soon as I picked him up for a cuddle (as he was in cot next to our bed) he settled so he ended up sleeping in with us for THE FIRST TIME EVER!!! We all woke a few times during the night but woke bright and early the next morning ready to explore.

We ordered 2 taxis to take us into the city centre to try and buy Paul & Cameron jackets (as it was cold and they didn't have a jacket) but everything was closed. We had breakfast at Costa Coffee before walking to the bus station to catch the bus to Byblos. It was raining once we got off the bus at Byblos and none of us knew where to go, so we ended up walking along the side of the highway for about 15 minutes in the cold and rain (Patrick was warm and dry in his pram as we had the plastic cover) only to discover we needed to go back to where we started from! We ended up catching 2 taxi's to where we wanted to be and Cameron & Paul found some jackets. We had lunch before wandering through the Souk and then taking a guided tour through the Crusader Castle (ruins). We then caught 2 taxis to Jounieh and wandered around there for a while (the others all had a beer) before getting taxis back to the apartments. Patrick went to bed, I read books while Cameron, Paul, Jason & Jude went out for dinner and drinks and Tiff went to bed! Patrick slept all night in his own cot however woke VERY early (Beirut were 2 hours behind Dubai time) but happily played and watched TV till a more reasonable hour.

Jason decided, after the night before, to stay in the apartment on Saturday while we all got a bus to Baalbeck. He had been there before and decided not to go again, but the rest of us set off to breakfast at McDonalds, then taxis to the bus station (a different one to yesterday) and then the bus to Baalbeck. All was fine until we started winding through the roads, up hills and stuff and Paul, feeling quite ill, was sick in the back of the bus (Patrick & I were sitting next to him, fortunately Patrick was sleeping) so we had a stop for Paul to get out and get some fresh air. Another 15 minutes down the road he was sick - again - twice!!! (Alcohol the night before or something dodgy he ate, who knows!) We swapped buses at some point and then the bus ran out of petrol, fortunately we were close to petrol station and a few guys were able to push the bus back to get fuel. We continued on to Ballbeck and were all relieved when we arrived. We wandered around the ruins before going to get a drink and getting the bus back to Beirut. Once back in Beirut we made plans to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, however once we arrived there Patrick was grisling so we took him home to bed. No dinner for us!

We woke Sunday keen and eager to go back to Jounieh to get the cable car 600m up the mountain to where Harissa - The Lady Of Lebanon stood at the top of the mountain with her arms outstretched. Plenty of photos later we wnt back down the mountain and grabbed some lunch before getting the taxi (we hired one for the entire day big enough to fit us all) to Jeita caves. Patrick had only slept 10 minutes all day and was extremely tired and cranky and fell asleep on me in the car so I said to the others to go and see the caves but I was staying in the taxi with Patrick. Cameron said he would stay so I could go so I handed Patrick to him and off I went. Another cable car to the Upper Grotto where we had to put all our belongings in a locker. I was devastated as the caves were beautiful and would loved to have taken photos. We walked down to the Lower Grotto (again locking our belongings away) and had a nice suprise - this cave had water in it and we all got in the little boat and sailed along seeing the cave. We finished in the caves and walked back to the taxi where Patrick had not long woken up. The taxi driver drove us back to the apartments and left. We had a little time to kill so split up - Jude and Tiff went one way and Cameron, Patrick, Paul, Jason & I went down to the corniche for a wander. I went to the Hard Rock Cafe to grab a few souveniers and then we got some fresh juices before wandering back to the apartment (seeing a monkey on a leash on the way) to get our bags and get to the airport. A relatively uneventful trip home, landing in Dubai about 11:15pm. We got our luggage, picked the car up from the short term parking lot, dropped Paul home and went home to bed!

A great weekend away but good to be home :)

Beirut, Lebanon

Just a short entry to let you know that our Beirut photos are now on facebook. Links on the right hand side. Over the next few days I will write about all the nitty gritty bits and pieces from the weekend :-)

Stay Tuned!

Barney!

These are the professional photos of Patrick, Barney & I from when we went to Global Village in January :-) Patrick LOVES Barney - he was so happy to meet him, he struggled to look at the camera as he is absolutely besotted with him. Barney is his favourite TV show and we watch at least one episode a day!!!

I have added album 17 to facebook now, link is on the right hand side of the page!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Dear Dad, Trevor & Poppy

We hope you have had a wonderful birthday :-) Sorry we could not share it with you but were there in spirit.

Loads of Love
Kathryn, Cameron & "Your Little Man", Patrick
xxxx

Patrick "writing" in Poppy's Birthday Card

The cake we made for Poppy this morning - we will eat it for him :)

Our Beautiful Boy

These photos will make it to facebook, but I could not resist posting them here too. These were taken on Tuesday, the day Patrick was exactly 18 months old!!!

The first photo is of Patrick wearing my headband :) He puts it on himself and parades around with it - hehehe.

Patrick LOVES the bath and always has such fun splashing with his toys in the bubbles.

Out in the desert

Cameron went out for a fly on Friday afternoon, so Patrick & I decided to join him. Unfortunately, as we arrived a sand storm began to roll in and after only 1 fly the fuel pump gave out, leaving us no choice but to pack up and go home. On the way I took this picture.

New Years update from Patrick

Hello Everyone,

I am doing so many new things now that I thought I would give you a little update as it has been quite awhile since I have done so, but my life is VERY busy, as you know and sometimes it is just hard to find the time.

Gosh, there are so many things, where do I start.......

Well, I am walking, no, let me correct that, RUNNING everywhere now. I decided on the 3rd November that crawling was for tiny babies and not for me anymore so I decided to walk and not look back. I know I took quite a few steps at a time when I was back in Australia on holidays but I was just testing the waters then. I now have 15 teeth and my 16th will be through soon - I can feel it in my bones. Mummy reckons another week at the most and she is usually right (but don't tell Daddy that!!!) I LOVE pressing buttons, putting lids on things and taking them off and I LOVE TO DRAW. Chalk, crayons, anything that leaves a mark. Mummy bought me a big scrapbook of paper to draw on but she doesn't understand that there are so many other things that my crayons can scribble on, like the tiles. She gets upset at me when I draw on the tiles, but I explained to her that it comes off with some spray and wipe and a scourer..........if only she puts a little elbow grease in to it, it would be off in no time!

I had a fantastic Christmas and got lots and lots of exciting new things. I cannot list them all (cause I forget some of them) but they included a kitchen, a toolbench (Black and Decker are THE BEST), some puzzles and books, some art/craft things, some magnet activities and a magnet board (cause mean Mummy won't let me in the kitchen - she says it is dangerous) and a HUGE ball pit from Mummy & Daddy that has over 600 balls in it! Pretty impressive hey :)

OH!!! Did I tell you Mummy and Daddy took me to Germany??? Well, they did and it was SO MUCH FUN! It was jolly freezing - I have never felt cold like it and I have never been so rugged up IN MY LIFE but we all had so much fun together, just the 3 of us, as a family that I cannot wait to go other places with Mummy & Daddy soon. Ooops, Mummy just reminded me that we are going to Beirut, Lebanon in March, with friends, so I am really going to look forward to that.

Mummy & I had a talk on New Years Eve and decided that since I am growing up to be such a big boy that I was no longer going to have a breastfeed from Mummy before I went to bed. I was a little reluctant about that (no more feeds from Mummy) but thought "Oh well, new year, new routine" and decided to give it a go. Mummy was quite upset by it - even though it was her idea (I don't get these adults sometimes) so I made it easy for her and went straight to sleep after my story and slept 12 and a half hours without waking. That is normal for me now by the way. I go to bed at 7pm and wake up between 7 and 7:30am. It gives me a great start for the day having such a big sleep. I always have a sleep after lunch (only 1 sleep a day now) and sleep between 1 and 2 hours which allows me a happy and fun afternoon.

I am starting to help Mummy and Daddy around the house now too. Daddy taught me the other day to put the clean washing into the laundry basket and Mummy showed me how to put all the dirty clothes into the washing machine. I know how to wash my face and hands with a facewasher and I can take my own top off if someone helps me get my head out. I try really hard to put my shoes on but it is still a little hard so for now I will just keep practicing. I also like to wipe the table on my highchair all clean.

I say quite a few words, Mumma, Dadda, there, duck, ball, more, no.........just to say a few. I know lots of things and am very good at following directions when Mummy askes me to get something, do something or put something away. If I want or need something, I grab Mummy or Daddy's finger and drag them to where I want to go to show them what I want or need - this certainly keeps them on their toes! I can drink through a straw and I eat with a metal spoon, not a baby spoon. I am strating to try and feed myself, with my fingrs and a spoon, and yesterday I ate some of Mummy's Thai red chicken curry and rice! I like things that are a bit spicy :)

My favourite things to do at the moment are to play outside, either at the park, beach or on my balcony and my favourite things to do are playing with my ring stacker, my tea set (which I got in a goody bag from my friends birthday party, drawing on my etch a sketch, reading stories or putting the shapes in my new wooden shape sorter. I LOVE cars and trucks too - Mummy says I am SUCH a boy - hehehe.

I enjoy watching Barney, The Wiggles, Pingu and Kipper. I got a new playschool DVD from Karen, Phil & Xander for Christmas so I am just getting into that too. It has lots of nursery rhymes on it.

Well, Mummy has just said that I can go outside and play now that it has warmed up a bit so I am off - Happy New Year to everyone :)

Love Patrick

xxx

P.S. I'll leave you with one of my favourite photos at the moment of Mummy and Daddy. I know it is one of Mummy's favourite's too.