Halloween Party

Happy Halloween! Since I was going to be out of town this year, we decided to forgo our annual Halloween party. Thankfully, Heidi decided to have one for the kids. Well, it's also for us adults since there is plenty of food and it's fun to see the kids dressed up. I'm running really late on time here so I'm just going to put up pictures of Lucas in his costume. However, I'll try and get some more up when I get back, including a video of all the kids and their costumes.

Playing on the bed

Lucas hasn't figured out how to jump yet, but here he is having fun on the bed anyway.

Videos from the pumpkin patch

I already posted several photos from our trip to the pumpkin path (aka Valley View Farm), but I wanted to show off a couple of videos of Lucas interacting with the animals. Check em out below...

Marilu's birthday and other things

My mom got here on Thursday, in order to help out with Lucas while I'm gone. That has nothing to do with these pictures, but I figured I'd mention it.

Lucas used to destroy and thing you would build with blocks. Now he's getting into the idea of trying to create.


Great picture of Marilu and Lucas as she blows out the candles on her birthday cake. Her big day was on Oct 24th.


Finally, a shot of me and Lucas, with me donning the Reese's shirt in anticipation of Halloween.

Bah!

Damn, I messed up with the future posting and posted next Thursday's planned post already. So, uh, guess you get that now.

Bon voyage!

First off, I just wanted to remind you that I'm heading off to London tonight and won't be back until Nov 3. In the meantime, however, there will still be updates similar to when I was gone for the cruise and Atlanta. I've also converted 5 new videos so there will be a little movement alongside the pictures as well.

I'm starting off with a video from early October of Lucas eating some berries. That kid LOVES fruit. Vegetables too. I often wonder about his genes since any kid who wolfs down all the greens on his plate before even looking at meat or starches can't possibly be mine. :) My favorite part of this video is at about the 52 second mark. The hand gesture is absolutely priceless.



I'm trying 2 different versions of this video since YouTube was giving me a headache earlier. The Blogspot one is above and the YouTube one is below. Let me know if you have any preferences. Not to bias you, but the Blogspot one is a lot easier to embed in the post.



Ok, gotta get going on the other ones since I'm running late. It's quarter to 5, I'm leaving at 8, and I haven't even started packing yet. Just another day in Justin's life. Anyone have any leads on a non-traveling job?

See ya in a little over a week.

Correction

I forgot to put the link to last year's pumpkin photos in the post below so I just added them. However, if you don't feel like going all the way back to 3 inches down the page you can also see them here.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Last year, arguably some of the best pictures we've taken of Lucas were the ones taken at a pumpkin patch. If you don't remember, check them out here. We actually had 3 of them framed and they are on our wall. I'm pretty sure they've found their way to the background on at least a couple of the computers of people reading this right now.

That said, a few weeks ago, we decided to bring Lucas to a nearby farm that has a pumpkin patch to get another batch of Halloween-themed photos. Unfortunately, none of the ones from this trip had quite the impact as last year's. A big part of that is due to the fact that Lucas is more mobile now. Last year, we sat him down and he just stayed there and smiled. Nowadays, unless you physically hold him down, he's going to want to wander. And trust me, if you DO hold him down, you're not going to want the picture that comes from that.

The place we went to is called Valley View Farm, and they have a variety of different things to see or do, which makes it great for little kids. There's an area where they can interact with animals like goats and sheep, a train ride, a big playground, and of course, lots of pumpkins. Up at the front, several pumpkins were displayed along with a statue that is presumably up there year round. Not really sure what the significance of the monkey was, but our little monkey liked it.


Here, Lucas tentatively touches the pumpkin. It ain't gonna bite!


At one point, in order to get a picture of him with pumpkins before he could wander off, we surrounded Lucas with them. You can probably tell by his face that he's thinking, "Nice try, but it's gonna take more than what you got to keep me in one spot."


Unfortunately, I didn't get any front shots of him petting or feeding the animals. This is probably the best of the bunch. However, there is a video of him feeding the goat that I'll try and post at some point in the future.


There's nothing in particular about this next photo. I just thought it was a nice shot of mom and son. It would be perfect if Lucas was looking at the camera, but you take what you can get with 1 year olds, right?


Valley View has this big "statue" that is basically a mash-up of several different animals. Lucas found it interesting as we walked by, so I gave him a better point of view. He seemed to enjoy this.


Oddly enough, he much preferred petting the panda to riding it. If you look at the web albums--once I post them--you'll see he wasn't quite as pleased in the follow-up to this photo where I sit him on the panda.


We wrap up with a couple more pictures of Lucas with pumpkins. The latter one is probably the closest in spirit to those great ones from last year. The biggest issue I have with the photo though, is that I cut off most of the actual pumpkins. Still, he's both looking toward the camera AND smiling, so I call it a success.




Hope you enjoyed! Just wait until you see him in the costume I bought him while in Atlanta. If we get him to actually keep it on, it's going to be just plain adorable.

Off the road

Back from Atlanta. More to come tomorrow since it's almost 12:30, and I'm beat.

On the road

If all is going well, this should post on noon on Monday. I'm halfway through the first day of training the customer, and I'm sure I can't wait to get the heck home on Tuesday. Traveling, even to places where I know people, isn't one of my favorite things.

Enough about me...on to Lucas!

It may not be much, but the remote control is making him happy. So he can have it as long as he wants.


This picture is so-so, but I wanted to put it up in lieu of the video from the same time, which I hope to put up when I have more time. As a joke, I gave Lucas a banana without cutting it up for him. He took it and proceeded to eat the whole thing. Trust me, the video is cuter.


With this last picture, I'm not sure what the best part is: the priceless expression, the shoes on his hands, or the shirt soaked with (presumably) drool and water. I'll let you decide.


I should be back on Tuesday night and I'll update on Wednesday with a big post of several photos we took at the pumpkin patch during the Thanksgiving weekend (Columbus Day weekend for those of you south of the border).

Before I go

I almost forgot to get a new post (or 2) up before I leave for Atlanta. So now it's 1:15 in the morning on Friday night, and here I type frantically to get a couple posts on the site so that you can get your Lucas fix over the next 3-4 days. I'll get back into town really late on Tuesday night--more like Wednesday morning--and then I'll update during the day on Wednesday since I'll have the day off since it's technically my travel day.

So without any further adieu, let's get to the pictures since that's what you came to see, not my blather.

We're finally in October! Although Lucas hasn't gotten any neater while eating, he's a lot more expressive now.


I think this next picture is probably one of the best photo I've taken of Lucas and Marilu. The stars were truly aligned in order to get them both looking at the camera and smiling nicely at the exact same time. Well, Lucas isn't exactly smiling, but it's still nice.


This is from the same series, but is decidedly less serious.


Lucas got his first chance to eat cake batter off the mixer thingamajigs (it's late, the exact name eludes me at the moment). Suffice to say the kid is happy.


The aftermath.


More to come on Monday!

September in review, Part 3 (last part!)

After this weekend, I'll be gone for most of the rest of the month as I have 2 business trips coming up: this Saturday until Tuesday in Atlanta, and then the entire following week in the London, UK, area. As a result, I need to get my butt in gear on catching up. Like the cruise, I may create a few entries that post while I am gone.

Despite what you may have heard, babies are not immune to looking pretty rough upon first waking up.


The next three pictures are from a series Marilu took of Lucas and I on the couch. I think the first one came out well, and the second two are just me and the boy being silly with one another.




If there's one thing Lucas excels at (besides crapping and eating), it's climbing. He climbs on freakin' everything. Here's an example of one of his less daring climbs, on the top of the laundry basket. I should note that I have no idea how he ended up with a soother since we only give it to him when he goes to bed.


Toward the end of September, we bought a new vacuum at Costco to replace my old one. I think I had that one since my college days (1993-1998) so it was about due to be scrapped. Anyway, the most interesting thing to Lucas was, of course, the box. Though to be fair, he was pushing the vacuum around earlier tonight.


Thought this one was cute and that was good enough for me to include.


And we wrap up September with this photo I call, "Caught!" Not sure if he was up to anything nefarious, but he sure has that "hand in the cookie jar" look. Once again, no idea where the soother is coming from since they are usually kept in his room upstairs.


Wacky fun fact for all the American readers. Today was an election in Canada comparable to the upcoming one in November. Didn't realize it? Well, don't feel bad. There's actually been more coverage of the US election up here than the Canadian one. What a crazy place. :)

September in review, Part 2

More highlights from September...

I'm not sure if we just weren't doing a great job of putting his diaper on or what, but one of those days in September, Lucas got a really bad case of plumber's crack. It was hard to get a picture of it since he's always moving plus I had to wait until he bent over to pick something up, but this next picture should give you an idea of the amusing sight.


Not every picture is a winner.


And here he is, hanging out. This picture also gives you an idea of just how much hair the little wild man has.


I don't think I've taken a picture of him in his new carseat in the Torrent so here you go.


And to wrap up, part 2, here we see Lucas sitting in his Bumbo. As a sign he's growing up, he now sits himself down sometimes. Not always, mind you, but it is pretty cool to see him plant himself on the Bumbo or in one of his other chairs.

September in review, Part 1

After a month where we didn't take many pictures of Lucas due to the busy, back-to-work schedules, we've taken a lot of good ones in the past few days. Before we get to those, I want to quickly review the month of September in photos. So, in this and the next few posts, I'm going to pick out the best (and where amusing, the worst) of that month. Hope you enjoy!

Just like most boys, when I was a kid, I used to love getting a sheet, covering some chairs with it, and making a fort. As you can see here, I'm getting Lucas started on that early.


Lucas figured out how to open drawers in the kitchen months ago. Now, he isn't content unless he's also sitting in said drawer...


...or hiding in one of the cabinets.


He doesn't make his cheese face quite as much as he used to, so when he does, I try to catch it for posterity.


I call this picture "On the warpath!" Just look at the intensity on that face!


And finally, for today's post, Lucas gazes into the cold, dark night.

All grown up

For the record, the monster of this past weekend is now gone. Lucas appears to be back to normal though he still has his whiny and clingy moments. I suppose it is to be expected at this age.

This next picture, taken near the beginning of September, is just great. It almost feels like a preview 16 or 17 years from now when Lucas borrows the keys to the car (no doubt the 2025 Pontiac Fiero 2 when the car world re-embraces the coolest car of all time) on a Friday night.