October

Yeah, as in October 2010. Pathetic, I know.

This one is from Marilu's birthday on Oct 24.


It's kind of a mess, but here's the birthday cake Lucas and I made for Marilu. Believe it or not, this is the first cake I can recall making in my 40 years on planet Earth. When it's from a box, it's surprisingly easy. Well, other than spreading the frosting. That was a cluster-$%^&.


This picture kills me. I think I caught Lucas between his cheese smile and a look of "I don't want to do this at all."


This is the only good picture I got of Lucas cleaning out a pumpkin. I risk death though since that's Marilu's butt to the left. She ain't gonna like me when she sees this one.


This is from what I think was our first snowfall in 2010. This was taken on Oct 31, and there was enough snow that Marilu and Lucas were able to cobble together a snowman. The rest of the Halloween pictures were posted back in early November since I was cognizant enough of my blog posting laziness to know I need to upload topical posts sooner rather than later. Hey, at least I recognize my natural slothfulness!


And that's it for October. On to November and all points beyond!

Trip to the Farm

As always, I'm ridiculously behind on posting photos so once again, let us return to yesteryear. Looking back at pictures from mid-October, I could have sworn I posted the one's in today's installment, but when I checked the blog, there was no sign of them. So my apologies if you've seen these before.

This group of pictures was taken at Valleyview Animal Farm, a fun little place that we've brought Lucas to MANY times over the last few years. In the past, he has usually gravitated towards the animal displays, particularly the ones where you can feed them. On this day, however, he was all about the play area.

Not sure why, but every time we go there, Lucas likes to mount the monkey statue and show it who's boss.


I don't recall the background to this photo, but it's just too cute. Since this was taken in the area where you can feed and pet the animals, I'm guessing he started laughing when the goat ate out of his hand. Simple pleasures. :)


The next logical step, of course, is to challenge the goats to an old school dance off.


As I mentioned, we spent the majority of the trip in the playground area. It's remarkable how long Lucas can hang from a bar. Me, I'd rather sit in one.



This was, by far, his favorite thing in the playground. He must have returned to it at least 10 times, in between playing with/on other stuff. It's some kind of contraption that lets you pick up sand and move it. His manual dexterity wasn't ideal for it, but it didn't prevent him from absolutely LOVING it.


Some more random shots from the playground...




I don't think he quite gets how a seesaw is supposed to work.


This blog post is brought to you by the fine people at...


Probably my favorite picture of the day. We really had a fun time.


I think we've taken a picture of him on this bizarre animal statue every time we have been there. So you've probably seen a picture like that at some point or another, if you are a regular reader.


I know I have posted this picture once before, way back in October, when we actually went there, but it's nice enough to post again. At any rate, I'm sure my mom will like seeing it.


I can't exactly remember where we ate afterwards--I think this is probably Lone Star--but I love the expression on his face here. I should title this photo "Portrait of an Abducted Child."

Parting is such sweet sorrow

My mom and Kevin just left for the airport about 15 minutes ago. My mom was up here for over 2 weeks while Kevin came up for my 40th birthday weekend. In keeping with tradition, I'm posting a couple of photos of them with Lucas that will no doubt bring a (good) tear to my mom's eye when she next reads the blog. Aren't I a fantastic son? :)

We didn't get too many pictures on our camera--the vast majority over the last couple weeks being taken by my mom--but the following two really sum up Lucas's relationship with his Grammy and Grampy Kevin.



Mom, it probably goes without saying, but Marilu and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming up here and taking care of the rugrat while we were carousing around Las Vegas for a few days. You're welcome anytime!