Christmas 2018

Scenes from Christmas morning 2018.

You may notice the matching pants in the previous photo. Those two--plus a pair of my own--were provided courtesy of Marilu's mom.

Our new professional Fortnite gamer. :)

Santa brought Marilu a portable herb garden. If times are tough, we'll rent our space to the local pot growers.

It wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't get a couple of board games. I'm also wearing the new LA Rams toque. I'm still a Falcons fan as well, but I gotta root for my old hometown.

Lucas tries out his new gaming gear.

And does a little dance as he prepares the eggs for breakfast. (This was supposed to be a video, but I can't get it to run so I'm just leaving the thumbnail for now.)

Hockey Team Photos

We just got back from Lucas's hockey game. It was their second straight loss and their second straight game with no goals. Suffice to say, his team ain't looking that great. On the plus side, Lucas is playing really well. I may sound biased, but he's easily the best defenseman on the team and so far this season, his +/- rating is overwhelmingly positive. Tonight was a rare -1 for him, but it's hard to go even or positive when the offense can't seem to find the net.

Here's a picture of the team from last week, posing with their jerseys. They got sponsored my a local restaurant so they are showing off the name tag for the restaurant.

And here's a team photo from a few weeks ago in their away jerseys. Unfortunately, we didn't get an official one done since, for lack of a better explanation, his coach screwed up. It's a long story, and I won't go into it here, but rest assured, I will pull Lucas from hockey before we play on this guy's team again.

Before we left for tonight's game, Lucas helped clean the ice off the car. I took a picture of him since he cut an "interesting" figure.

Halloween 2018

Some pictures from Halloween 2018. Here's Lucas killer clown costume. Both with mask...

...and without.

This was the crew of mischief makers en route. I figure this will probably be the last year I walk with him so I'm glad I got to experience it one last time.

Lucas carved a pumpkin on his own this year (after I removed the guts). Not bad for a first attempt though he forgot to do the teeth. Oh well, there's always next year.

Here was my entry for 2018. Not bad considering I finished it in about 15-20 minutes since I was running late to the gym that night.

Here's the final candy haul. This year was our longest trick or treating route and it shows.

Halloween Dance

It's been a while. Duly noted. I shall strive to be better.

This past Friday, Lucas went to his first-ever school dance for Halloween. I've asked him every year since 1st grade (maybe even kindergarten) whether he was interested, but he's always answered in the negative. I'm not sure what changed his mind this year, but he was actually excited about it this time. I know it had nothing to do with girls since when I asked him who he wanted to dance with, he looked at me like I was crazy and exclaimed, "I'm not going to dance!"

He was originally going to wear his Halloween costume, a killer clown, but his school has banned scary clown costumes, presumably because the world has turned into a bunch of wimps, but that's another argument for another time. The funniest part about it was that in the school newsletter, these were two of the sentences:

• "There will be prizes for costumes in the following categories- funniest, scariest, best homemade costume, most creative and best family costume."
• "No scary or inappropriate costumes are permitted."

Boggles the mind.

Anyway, Marilu helped Lucas create this last-minute costume:

 

Get it? If not, see the end of the post for what he's supposed to be. The only hint I'll give is that Marilu loves costumes based on wordplay or puns. 

Speaking of which, here are our "costumes." Probably the easiest things we ever put together.

Once again, another pun-related costume from the warped mind of Marilu. You'll groan out loud when you hear what it is. Just like Lucas's costume, I'll say what it is at the end of this post.

So it's been a while since I last posted, and I have plenty of news, mostly concerning Lucas's sports teams. I'll talk about that in the next post, which I hope to have up in a day or two. Once I upload a few more catch-up posts, I want to get into a schedule of updating once a week, likely on the weekend. That way, I can make a habit of it, and it's regular enough that I can keep up with current news.

Okay, so the costumes. Avert your eyes if you are still trying to figure them out.

Last chance....

Lucas is a cereal killer, and we are ceiling fans,

Yes, truly, truly awful. :)

6th Grade!

I may be horrible at updating lately, but I won't miss the first day of school picture. Unbelievably, it's Lucas's last year of elementary school! This also marks Marilu's first day of being a consultant versus a teacher so I included her in one of the pictures as well.

I'd say I feel bad for them for the end of their 2 month long vacation, but nope, I really don't. :)

B=1

Beatrix turned 1 today. Here are a couple of pictures we took of her with her birthday outfit.

Tomorrow, we're heading down to Saratoga Springs in New York to meet up with my mom, Kevin, and Lucas. Yep, his great Massachusetts adventure comes to an end this weekend, and he is returning with us.

We'll be spending a couple of days in that area, going to the horse races on Saturday (a first for me), and then we'll spend Sunday and Monday in Syracuse at Destiny USA. It's a public holiday in Ontario on Monday so I have the day off.

It should be a fun time, and I'll be sure to post any pictures I take sometime before 2020. :)

Random Spring Photos

This will be quick as I'm writing this moments after the last post, and it's 11:50 PM on Friday night. We'll be up bright and early to drive to Massachusetts, and even though Marilu is driving (keeps her from getting carsick), I'd rather not be completely exhausted.

So I'm just going to post some random photos from the last few months, and if needed, I'll caption them. Sound good? Ok, let's go!

Back in the spring, Marilu had a reunion of her page program (she was a page in Parliament many moons ago), and we got a chance to sit in their main room. House of Commons? I'm sure some Canadian can correct me if I'm wrong. Whatever it's called, it was a very unique experience.

On Mother's Day, we went to Ottawa Comic Con. Believe it or not, it was Marilu's requested present. She was hoping to see one of her favorite actors, Jason Momoa, but as luck would have it, we didn't find out until we got there that he was only scheduled to be there on Saturday. Oh well, it was fun anyway. Below, a photo of them (with Zach) prior to watching a real sword fight.

It didn't take Lucas long to find a computer that he could play Fortnite on. Ever since, he has preferred playing on our laptop to the PS4.

Before school, showing off his new Nepean Knights lacrosse hat that he got for being player of the game. It was his first of two this season!

Beatrix just letting it all hang out.

And finally, making faces at the monster truck rally with his friend Parker.

Marilu and I should be back in Ottawa on Sunday, at which point I may have some photos from the vacation to post. (after I stop crying about having to go back to work) Lucas will be staying there for a couple more weeks, and then we'll go down and get him on the long weekend in August.

Talk to you soon!

Coconuts Year End Party

It seems forever ago, especially since Lucas has played a whole season of lacrosse since then, but Lucas's end of the year party for hockey was just about 3 months ago. I didn't take many pictures since it was more of a relaxing time, but here's what I did get.

First off, the trophies! In addition to the cup they received for being the champions of House A, each of the kids got their own trophy. If you look closely, you can also see their mascot on the left.

What I'm sure was the highlight of the party for the boys was the Games To Go truck, which was basically a mobile arcade. The boys had a blast playing each other in virtual hockey, as well as several other games.

I have two pictures of the team photo since Lucas is smiling in the first one but a little boisterous in the second one. You can also see the new Coconuts hoodies that they are all sporting.

Finally, probably my favorite part of these parties is when the coach hands out the trophies and says a little something about how each kid did that season. Here's Lucas's video.

Unless something goes wrong in the next couple of minutes as I set this up, there should be one more post on the 21st, and then I'll be back posting live, See you then!

Killer B

This post will be a little different. Typically, the focus on this blog is on Lucas, but in sticking with the technical name of the blog, Baby Deal, let's take a look at the current baby Deal: Beatrix!

All of these were taken while Lucas and Marilu were in Newfoundland, hence the lack of other family members, other than my appendages.

Here she plays a game of tug with one of her newest toys.

Staring out the window, one of her favorite things to do.

Funny story here. She chased a chipmunk under the fence but then kept sniffing around this drainage tube. I took a picture to show Marilu, laughing because B was convinced it was still in there and kept at it for about 10 minutes. Finally, I went outside and picked the thing up to show her there was nothing in it and the chipmunk goes flying through the air. After another chase, it escaped into the drain attached to the house. That kept B crazy for the next couple of hours as she tried and tried, to no avail, to get the chipmunk.

Our camouflage dog.

I like this photo since I got her in the middle of a shake.

Posing on the deck while my friend John (partially obscured in the background) enjoy some summertime beers.

Arr, I'm a pirate!

Just being lazy on her hamburger pillow.

Just like a human, sometimes she likes to sprawl in bed.

Lazy dog.

And finally, looking out the window again. I told Marilu that Beatrix was watching for her and Lucas, but honestly, she's just nosy about the neighborhood goings-on.