Newfoundland - Part 1 of Many

Earlier this summer, Marilu and Lucas went to Newfoundland for a couple of weeks to visit family. While there, she took a LOT of pictures. Like 200+. Unfortunately, since I wasn't there, I don't know the story behind any of them. As a result, the next few entries are just going to be a glorified photo album of that trip. I'll pick out the best ones and let you "ooh" and "ahh" over our cute son as he mixes it up with a bunch of Newfies. :) I'll comment if needed (or if I know what is going on), but for the most part, I'll just sit back and let you enjoy. So without any further adieu, here we go...

This is the first picture we have of Lucas with his only first cousin (so far), Colby. You wouldn't believe how excited he was to meet Colby. It's about all he could talk about prior to the trip.

I get a kick out of the fact that he's trying to choke the life out of his Uncle Steve.

The look on Lucas's face here is priceless. "Ok, enough pictures already." You may have to click on it to see a bigger version.

This picture of Lucas isn't that great, given that he is taunting the camera, but I included it for the background. Way off in the distance, do you see that bit of white? That's an iceberg that floated into the harbor/bay. Trust me, when you are in Newfoundland, you are NORTH.

More to come tomorrow. And for anyone who has actually read this far, I wanted to let you know that Lucas's first week of school has been good. He's been almost entirely tear free this week, other than a minor episode while going into class one day. As far as we can tell, he is really enjoying it, but whenever we ask him specifically about his day, he always comes back with, "It's secret." I guess that's the toddler's version of the teen's "Nothing happened today."

First Day of School!

Today was the big day: Lucas's first day of school!

Last night, Marilu took a picture of Lucas's lunchbag and backpack. As you can see by the common theme, the kid has great taste in sci-fi movies.



I gotta admit I do miss the good ol' metal lunchboxes, but I guess it isn't practical. The way Lucas's school works--and I imagine others do as well--is that the kids don't have just one lunch break. Instead, there are two nutrition periods. So, his little Darth Vader bag has two separate zippered compartments, which makes it easier for him to figure out what to eat when. Though based on the fact quite a bit of his food was still there  when he got home today, I think it'll be a learning process. Either that or Marilu needs to stop feeding him so much!

These next two pictures were taken this morning by Andrea, his daycare provider, prior to getting on the school bus.

In case you are wondering, the yellow crown goes on all the kids in his class and helps their teacher, Ms. Laroche, find them when they get off the buses.

Knowing how bad Lucas can be when we leave him with someone else, like a babysitter, we felt that having him get on the bus from daycare was for the best. However, I'll admit I drove over and parked down the street, crouched down behind the steering wheel, to watch this morning's departure. He was doing pretty well until right after that second picture. At that point, he finally lost it and started crying. Andrea had to carry him on the bus and put him in a seat. According to the bus driver this afternoon, though, he stopped about 10 seconds later and was fine. He even wanted to sit in her lap!

Finally, here he is getting off the bus this afternoon. He was pretty excited since both Marilu and I were there to pick him up. On most days, he'll still spend another hour or so at daycare.

Prior to writing this blog, I downloaded all the pictures from the camera that we took during the last month and a half. This includes the Newfoundland and Massachusetts vacations. There are a whopping 539 pictures/videos so it may take a while to get through it. Just warning ya. And then one of these days, I'll go back and catch up on April of this year and later. One day.

New Student

Believe it or not, tomorrow morning (Friday) is the first day of school for Lucas. As cliche as it sounds, it seems like just yesterday he was a baby so it's almost impossible for me to believe we are at the next milestone of his life already.

We had a chance to meet with his teacher, Ms. Laroche, yesterday. She seems nice enough, and the classroom looks like a fun place for a kid with plenty of blocks, puzzles, games, etc. The class is a blend of both junior and senior kindergarten kids so there will be both 4 and 5 year olds.

I'm still trying to figure out the recess situation. When I was in elementary school, the kindergarteners had their own area, separate from the 1-6 graders. From what I've seen, it's all one open area so I'm not sure if they all mix or what. My guess is that they stagger the times they are out there since it seems like the little ones would never be able to get on the playground equipment otherwise. Well, once the school gets playground equipment. It's a brand new school so I think that is going to be the first thing they fundraise for.

Marilu took pictures of Lucas's lunch box and backpack, and I'll take more of him tomorrow once he is dressed. Also, his daycare provider, Andrea, will take pics of him getting on and off the bus so I should have some of those for you by tomorrow night.

And at some point, yes, you will get vacation photos.

Unhappy

Vacation pictures are coming soon! In the meantime, take a look at this picture we got of Lucas today from when he was in the soccer program earlier this summer. I laughed out loud when I first saw it. That is the face of a kid that wants nothing to do with having his picture taken. :)

Home Again

We're back in Ottawa! This week (and probably next), I'll be posting photos from both of this summer's vacations.

AWOL

I forgot to mention it, but we're down in Massachusetts on vacation. I'll be back in Ottawa on Sunday and Marilu and Lucas are coming back up next Thursday. Hence the complete lack of updates.

In the meantime, here's this.

Headbanger

Here's the video I promised in my last entry. Words can't really do it justice so just enjoy.

March and April

Catch up time! Here are some random photos from late March/early April.

I'm not quite sure why I took this one of him eating. I believe I might have started taking photos because he was eating with a "big person" fork, but by the time I took this one, he was back to his Spiderman fork.


When Marilu's mom (Nanny, to Lucas) visited, he took some good photos...


and some not so good ones.


Feeding mom.


I really like this one. In fact, I liked it so much, it was my profile picture on Facebook for the last 3 months.


Here, he poses in a Spiderman robe thingamajig.


And then he decided to put his own toga twist on it.


Next post should contain a pretty amusing video. More dancing, but different than that hotel one I posted a few weeks back.

Long time coming!

As most of you probably know, Marilu and Lucas have been gone for the past week. They are taking their annual summer trip to Newfoundland and will be back this coming Tuesday. Then on Thursday, all three of us are heading down to Massachusetts for THAT annual trip. I'll be down at least a week, and they'll be there for about two weeks. My stay is dependent on my work. If it looks like there is a lot going on with my clients, I'll come back early; otherwise, I might stay the whole time as well.

The weekend before they left for Newfoundland, Marilu brought Lucas to get his hair cut. I don't know exactly how long it has been since his last hair cut, but 8 months to a year would probably be in the ballpark. It was mostly just a trim so he still has his curls. I made sure to take a few pictures the day before they left to show off the new 'do.



By comparison, this is what our little rocker looked like a day or two before.

Dancing Fool

It's been a while since I posted a video of our little troublemaker so let me remedy that situation with this one I took during out trip to Syracuse in March. Lucas found that the music on the radio in our hotel room was to his satisfaction and decided to express himself creatively. Enjoy!

Snow, Anyone?

Seeing as it currently "feels like" 33 C/91 F, it seems as good a time as any to revisit our past winter. As we do almost every year, Marilu, Lucas, and I once again made the trip down to Winterlude. I think this is the 3rd time we went as a family and the 4th time in total. For us, that's pretty much tradition. For those of you who don't know what Winterlude is, let Wikipedia be your friend here.

Lucas tried his hand (foot?) at skating on the canal for the second straight year. This year, he wore real skates for the first time whereas last year, he was on double-bladed training skates. I don't think he's going to be the next Olympic skater, but he did okay, considering how little we bring him to skate. Actually, if I recall correctly, this was the only time he used them this year. What can I say? I was born in California; I have better things to do than slide around on a sheet of ice and fall on my butt.



Of course, what is Winterlude without the ice sculptures, and there were plenty of those.



We wrap this post up with a picture of Mr. Rosy Cheeks.

Yes, I'm Alive

New pictures tomorrow! I promise!

Birthday Party #4

Lucas's 4th birthday party was held on Saturday, June 18th, a couple of days after his actual birthday. We held it at our house for possibly the last time since he may want to start having it at other locations after this year, but for now, we're happy with the convenience. Wow, that just made me realize this was his last birthday party before he is in school. Time flies...

The party started off with a craft. Since the party's theme was Batman, Marilu used her Cricut scrapbooking machine to make little Batman badges that the kids could glue together.


I love this shirt.


Afterwards, some of the kids played around the house with Lucas's vast collection of toys. Honestly, he has enough toys to fill a couple of daycare centers. Other kids played in the backyard as evidenced by this picture of Lucas and his friend Ryan. Lucas knows Ryan from daycare, and I would say he's as close to a best friend as Lucas has. Luckily, they will be in the same class this fall.


Next up was lunch. Of course, Lucas had to ham it up for the camera.



Here's the cake Marilu made. What a great job!


Blowing out the candles...


....and then eating as messily as possible.



There weren't any fantastic present opening pictures, but since it's a birthday party, I feel obligated to put at least one in so here you go.


All in all, it was a good party, and I think everyone had a fun time. Many, many thanks to my mom for taking these pictures since Marilu and I were too busy hosting to focus on camera duties.

FYI, today is Lucas's last day of full day daycare. His daycare provider does a teacher's schedule, and since Marilu's last day of school is today, Lucas will be home until fall. Then, when daycare starts back up, he'll only be there in the morning and afternoon since he'll be in junior kindergarten. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, where the heck has the time gone? Next thing we know, he'll be going to prom and heading to university.

I'll be posting all the birthday pictures to my Picasa online photo albums shortly so I'll post a link to that in the next entry.

In case I don't post this weekend, Happy Canada Day and Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Lucas Turns 4!

My mom left yesterday, but before she went, I was able to download over 100 pictures from her visit to my computer. There are lots of good pictures from his birthday and the subsequent party so the next 2-3 posts will likely be devoted to that.

Before I get to that, I wanted to relate a funny little story from earlier today. For some reason this morning, Lucas used the word "ass." I can't imagine where he learned THAT word. Anyway, I told him that "ass" was a bad word and that he shouldn't be using it. However, I then corrected myself and said that using "ass" when talking about people was bad, but if you used it instead of the word "donkey," it was ok. So this afternoon, when Marilu got home, I asked Lucas to tell her what he learned about words today. He thought about it for a moment and then said, "Ass with people is bad but ass with donkey is good." Ah, the apple of my eye.

This first batch of photos is from Lucas's actual birthday, June 16. In the first shot, he's about to check out a Harry Potter sticker book. He doesn't have any idea who HP is, but it's stickers, so that's all good in his world.


I'm not sure how well you can see his face here (click the photo for a bigger version), but that is nothing short of "ecstatic" written on his face. In his defense, the present was in a pretty big bag.


In case you are wondering, this is what the present was. Marilu and I bought him a big Playmobil pirate ship. He's become a huge fan of Playmobil toys, and his birthday definitely added to his collection. Besides this pirate ship, he got a ghost pirate ship and a large dragon.


Afterwards, we had dinner at Lone Star, which was his choice of restaurant. He took the time out of his busy schedule to pose with all of us.




Up next: the birthday party!

Birthday Photos (well, sort of)

It appears I misspoke in my last entry. I can't post any pictures from Lucas's 4th birthday since, quite simply, we didn't take any. We didn't have anything official for him since his party is on Saturday so I guess it never occurred to us to take pictures. I do believe my mom got some on her camera, but I haven't used her camera before so downloading those pictures will have to wait until I can figure it out.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from June 14th, when Lucas got his birthday present from his godfather Jason in the mail. So technically, it's birthday related. Enjoy!

Four!

Yesterday, June 16, was Lucas's 4th birthday. I planned to post some pictures of the event, but it turned out to be a busy day so I didn't get a chance. I'll try to get something up before the end of today. Also, his actual birthday party is on Saturday so there should be many more photos after that.

Seems like just yesterday he was born, huh?