Happy 10th birthday, Charlie! (July 31)

It's funny how Charlie celebrated his 2nd birthday not too long after we moved to Abu Dhabi.  And now, we are celebrating his 10th birthday after moving to Illinois!  Here's Charlie at 23 months.  Look at that cheeky little face!

And here he is at 10 year old!

The birthday celebration actually started the night before - at an Italian restaurant not too far from the house:

Charlie loves his desserts!

Charlie gets to open one present the day before his birthday.  Who doesn't love remote control cars:

The next morning, what could be better than an ice-cream cake for breakfast from your favorite ice-cream store :-)

Charlie is one happy kid for sure!

We always buy books for the kids on their birthdays.  Somehow we have been sticking to these poem books.  Hopefully they will appreciate them one day??!

And who doesn't like a birthday card with money in it?  Thank you, Grandma and Pop-pop!

An impromptu gift from the same ice-cream shop :-D

Graham has some other ideas for the mug instead.  Ha!

Charlie already knows what's in this box as he had requested it:

Yup, more Legos! Thank you again Grandma and Pop-pop! :-D

We really didn't have anything planned for Charlie's birthday.  Somehow though, everything revolved around food.  Crepe and potato pancakes for breakfast:

And then, we went to get some boba.  Charlie has been craving for these boba drinks since we left California. The closest Boba store is at least 20 minutes away!

We decided it would be fun if we took the boys for Hibachi at a Japanese restaurant:

They definitely enjoyed the show - first one ever!

The chef is popping a piece of broccoli into Charlie's mouth:

Graham let his broccoli just fly over his head.  LOL!  Here's Mommy and Daddy's try:

Ya, fun but I have to say that semi-raw broccoli is not my favorite!

I wonder how much butter this restaurant uses every night??!

I love how Charlie drew up the summation of his night.  Too cute!!  And oh, don't mind my shopping list - it was the only piece of paper I had in hand at the time. LOL!

Wait, what...? More dessert!!

And the boys got to hit the birthday gong too:

As if all that food was not enough, Charlie had one more request before the end of the night - Mint chocolate chip ice cream!

I sure hope he brushes his teeth properly tonight.  Oh, one last gift...

Ha ha, ya... a salt rifle - to take care of all those bugs in and around the house. Charlie was obviously quite amused as he did mention about getting one back in CA.

A few weeks later, Charlie is finally done with his Vespa Lego.  It's so cute!

I was going through some things, obviously with all the unpacking and found one of his baby blankets.  Charlie has been putting this bear one over his head for the last few days. LOL!  It's never a dull moment with this kid.  He is so full of energy - just never know what he's going do next!  

Both boys met some really nice friends today around the neighborhood so I'm really excited about our new life here in IL :-)