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.


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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!

Random Stuff from October

This is going to be real quick since I'm up later than I planned to be. Just a reminder that Marilu and I will be gone from tomorrow until next Tuesday morning. We're going to Las Vegas for my 40th! So this will be the last update until next week...not that you would notice given my posting frequency as of late.

These are from a trip to Cosmic Adventure, a fantastic inside playground for kids. Please excuse the crappy quality. Once again, thank the Apple iPhone 3GS.





Dressing up in mid-October, in anticipation of Halloween. We thought this was going to be his costume, but he decided on Spider-Man at the last minute.


This gives you an idea of what we get to clean up on a daily basis. I don't even see the point of keeping it tidy, but Marilu keeps me at it.


Speaking of Spider-Man, here he is after getting face painted at daycare.


Going for the Alfalfa look in the bathtub.


Ok, that's it for now. Have a great weekend, and look for more pictures next week!

Blast from the past

Get ready to jump in the time machine since today's pictures come courtesy of October 2010. Man, did we even have cameras back then?

The first picture, with admittedly low quality since it was taken with my iPhone, was from a nature walk we did on a trail not too far from where we live. We actually got out a few times this year for hikes, and it's something I'd really like to do more in the future.


Next up is, well, uh, you figure it out.


I can't recall if I've ever posted a shot of Lucas using the sandbox I built this summer so here you go. It's kind of cloudy looking so you would be excused if you didn't recognize my mom there, up on one of her many trips. Incidentally, she will be here tomorrow morning!


Random cheese face after eating some gummy worms.


Speaking of faces, he's learned to make them. More on that in the next post, which should be a couple of videos.

Christmas 2010 in Newfoundland: Part 2

Although I was quite aware of it, my mom sent me an email this week reminding me of my shameful neglect of the blog. "Shameful neglect" are my words...my mom isn't that bad. :)

So without any further adieu, let's get to the rest of the pictures from the trip to Newfoundland. Not too far from Marilu's parents' place is a little inlet that connects to the ocean. The beach is pretty nifty as it is made up of nothing but smooth rocks. If you know Lucas, you know he likes throwing rocks so this place was a good fit. Marilu took quite a few pictures from that excursion, and here are some of the highlights.






That night, relatives came to visit, and I eventually took Lucas back to my room since he was getting antsy. As you can see, modern technology helped keep us occupied. I think he was watching Ice Age (or Finding Nemo), and I was watching The Tudors.


The next day, we went for lunch a little ways up the coast at the house of another of her relatives. You'll have to forgive me for not always remembering everyone. Sometimes, I feel I can count the number of relatives I have on one hand whereas Marilu's family tree looks like a national forest. Anyway, we only took a couple of pictures while we were there. Out of everyone Lucas played with on the trip, cousin Angela ranked second only to the Uncle Steven/Jen combo. I'm surprised we could get him to leave!


This isn't a great picture, but unfortunately, it's the only one we got with Lucas and his Poppy (Marilu's dad).


Finally, we have this one from New Year's Day of Lucas and Steven. As soon as I saw both the 3 year old and the 20 something on the couch, both using iPhones, I knew I had to get a picture. Technology is a crazy thing. God only knows what we'll be capable of doing when Lucas is 20.


And that's Newfoundland, folks! With any luck (and the gentle prodding from my mom), the next post should be up much quicker than this one was. Keep your fingers crossed!

Christmas 2010 in Newfoundland: Part 1

Hello again, everybody! We're all back safe and sound in Ottawa. Marilu and Lucas flew in early yesterday afternoon whereas I got in at 1:30 AM last night (Sun night/Mon morning). That would explain why I didn't post last night. I finally got to sleep at 3, and then Lucas decided he would make this morning one of his "early" mornings and got up around the same time as Marilu (5 something) so that made for a bleary-eyed morning for yours truly. I napped a bit later so all was not lost.

Anyway, we took a little over 60 photos during our week in Newfoundland, and I'm going to post the highlights over the next 2-3 blog entries. I'll warn you in advance that you are not going to see a lot of beautiful Newfoundland scenery (of which there is much). Unfortunately, the main theme of our trip was being sick--all 3 of us--so we didn't do a whole lot while we were there. It's too bad since the weather was unseasonably warm. Heck, there wasn't even any snow!

Onwards to the photos!

We had a stopover in Halifax on the way to St John's. Between the scheduled wait and delays, we were stuck there for well over 4 hours. We started to get a little stir crazy, especially since Lucas refused to be in any gear other than "high energy." That led to this photo, where we wanted to make sure Lucas met the requirements for carry on luggage.


Pretty much the first thing we did when we arrived at Marilu's parents' house was to let Lucas open all the presents they and other family members had bought for him. As you can see in the picture below, it was like Christmas all over again as he attacked wrapping paper like it was a mortal enemy.


Cute picture from breakfast the next morning with his Nanny. I should point out that Marilu took any photos from before 11 AM throughout the trip. Thanks to my cold, I slept in big time the first few days, and by the time I was getting over it, I had screwed up my sleep schedule so much that I wasn't able to get to sleep before 3-4 AM each night.


Playing around with one of his new presents, Plastic-Man and some bad guy.


The next day, Lucas was rooting around some of their older toys and he ran across this light gun from the old Nintendo game Duck Hunt. Although he has no idea what its original purpose is, he sure had a fun time running around the yard with it.


I think this was the first time I left the house since we had arrived 2 days before. A stuffed up head and sore throat will do that to you.


"Take that, you evil puddle of DOOM!"


Another old "toy" Lucas found was something called Crazy Bones. I have no idea what they were supposed to be--besides the purported insane bits of calcium--but they kept Lucas occupied for a long time in the days to follow.


Getting a good picture of Lucas with other people in the shot tends to be a very difficult task nowadays. That's why I was amazed at just how fantastic this picture with his Uncle Steve and his girlfriend Jen came out. Side note: I can't emphasize how much Lucas enjoyed their presence and playing with them. We asked him earlier tonight what his favorite part of the trip was and he responded with "Jen and Steve."


This group shot wasn't quite as good, but for a Lucas photo, it still turned out relatively well. Three generations...


That's all for now. I'll probably be able to wrap the trip up with one more entry, hopefully tomorrow. Until then, have a good one!