We made the trip down to Southern Ontario last week to celebrate my nephew Desmond’s first birthday.  After a long, cold Ottawa winter, it was nice to head south and enjoy the balmy GTA weather for a couple of days.

Aside from the closure of the 401 on the way home, which caused a massive traffic jam and led to an unwelcome detour through the darkened back roads of Hastings county, it was a good visit.  Kyle and I got together on Saturday night – a rare brothers-night-out made even more special as it was also the 10th anniversary of our dad passing away.

Desmond’s birthday was a fun family get-together.  As the photos below show, he’s a really cute kid.  Like nearly every first birthday, there was a lot of talk about how quickly the year had gone by – looking at my boys, I still can’t believe they’ll be 8 and 6 in just a few weeks.

The cake was a perfect replica of the Man in the Yellow Hat’s yellow hat (banana cake, of course).

Desmond really liked hearing us sing “Happy Birthday”.

Nothing makes K happier than cupcakes and icing.

A is starting to look more like a teenager than a 7-year-old

Desmond making sure he doesn’t waste a crumb.

I think he likes it.