Massachusetts 2011: Part 4

The next day of our Massachusetts vacation was a mostly lazy one. We brought Lucas miniature golfing for the first time, and then we headed back to the lake and pretty much swam, ate, and drank the rest of the day. Oh, and there was a boat ride at dusk. All in all, my kind of day.

As with most things he is exposed to lately, Lucas liked mini golf at first but then quickly got bored with it and started misbehaving. As such, my mom took him to play on his own since he was starting to get on our nerves.

Relaxing with Grampy Kevin.

Nothing says avid fishermen like using a Spider-Man brand fishing pole.

Getting ready for another evening BBQ. We had a lot of BBQ during that trip. Not that I'm complaining.

Posing with Grammy on the boat ride.

I have a feeling I may have posted this before, but oh well, it can't hurt to do it again.

This was my favorite of the day. Great expressions by everyone.

Your future cruise ship captain.

We don't get nearly enough family shots.

I think this expression sums up Lucas's day.

Massachusetts 2011: Part 3

Time to get back to the Massachusetts vacation pics. It'll be nice to see some photos taken in warm weather since according to my handy-dandy iPhone weather app, it's currently -7 C (19 F, for those of you south of the border).

This first picture cracks me up. Jared plays the Gameboy while Lucas makes a face at the camera. Classic.

Next up, we have our trip to Southwick Zoo. We've been a couple of times before, and it's always been a good time. Yes, Lucas always gets tired by the end of it and wants us to carry him, but up until that point, it's a joy.

I wish this first picture was a little bit closer, but it's still a pretty good one of three generations of Deal men.

Lucas poses with some of his friends.

More posing...

Finally, Marilu makes some friends in the petting zoo.

Movember - Day 20

I just wanted to send a huge thanks out to my mom and dad for their very generous donations. If anyone else wants to sponsor my mustache, in the name of prostate cancer research, please go here and click the donate button. Every little bit helps!

Here's how things were looking yesterday, on day 20.

As an early Christmas gift, I am going to spend quite a bit of time over the next couple of days ensuring that there will be photo updates every single day until the end of the year. That should start no later than tomorrow. So enjoy, everyone!

Movember

At the beginning of November, I decided to participate in a fundraiser called Movember, which raises money for men's health issues. In Canada, the specific issue is prostate cancer research. Instead of running, as the breast cancer fundraisers always make you do, Movember involves the growing out of one's mustache. You shave clean on Nov 1, and let it grow throughout the month. At that point, I guess you can decide what you want to do with it--or in my case, Marilu will no doubt tell me to shave off the godforsaken thing.

So, all that said, I'm looking for donations! As with any fundraiser, no amount is too small. If you'd like to donate, please visit my "Mo Space" at http://mobro.co/justdeal. There should be an icon you can click that says "Donate to Me." Just follow the instructions, and voila, you've just helped out a worthwhile cause!

I've taken three pictures so far, and I will continue to post new ones at roughly 5 day intervals until the end of the month. As you'll see, my mustache isn't exactly wowing anyone yet. It's not that the hair isn't coming in; instead, it's the fact that my hair is so light that it's hard to see. I'm not really sure how I have dark brown/gray hair on my head and blonde hair on my lip, but there it is.

Enjoy....

Day 3 (since I forgot to take a picture on Nov 1).

Day 10

Day 15

More to follow.

Halloween 2011

Before my mom starts yelling at me, let me get the pictures of Lucas up from Halloween. Thanks to the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean game for the Wii, Lucas developed a fondness for pirates this past summer, and it was a natural progression that he would decide to go as Captain Jack Sparrow.

This year, we started trick or treating a couple of streets over, at the home of Sam, one of Lucas's friends from daycare. Prior to going out, we got a picture with all the kids that were going out.

Lucas then posed for a couple shots for Marilu.

I tried to get some photos of Lucas and Sam during the actual trick or treating, but they were so hyped up that this was the only one they stood still for.

Continuing a trend from the last two years, Lucas got tired of trick or treating fairly quickly. We weren't even halfway through our crescent when he started complaining and wanted to go home. Interestingly, it was right after I let him dump the contents of his bag into my bigger bag. I'm pretty sure that's about the same time he stopped last year. I guess he doesn't really understand the concept of cause and effect. The more houses he goes to, the more candy he gets. Not that I should be complaining!

As some of you may know, I like to carve pumpkins each year. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of this year's jack o' lanterns until about a week after I carved them so they were starting to fall apart. But here's a couple of pictures, just so you have an idea. The second one is a pirate ship, in case it's not clear from the photo. I also neglected to take a picture of them in the dark, where they would be easier to see. Maybe next year I'll think ahead.

Irony

Before I get to the rest of the Massachusetts pictures, I wanted to show you my Halloween costume from last night's party. Surprisingly, no lightning hit anywhere near the house, and there was a distinct lack of locust swarms.

Massachusetts 2011: Part 2

Before I get into the meat of this post, let me warn you that I just popped a couple of Percocet so if this post starts to ramble--moreso than usual--you can blame the painkillers. I pulled something in my back this weekend and have been in agony the last couple of days, especially at bedtime, so the doctor was kind enough to give me some happy pills.

Let's return to Massachusetts in mid-August and take a look at what we were doing. Our second day there, we drove over to Swansea to visit my high school friend Jeremy and his family. As luck would have it, they own a pool so we took full advantage of it.

And the trampoline...

And the sparklers! As you can probably tell, we had a great time. Lucas was very shy at first, but he warmed up to Connor and Emily within a half hour or so. On a side note, school has really helped his shyness. I'll talk about it more in a future post when I don't feel like I'm going to fall off my chair (the Percocet is kicking in). :)

Marilu poses with the kids.

Isn't technology wonderful?

We're definitely looking forward to seeing them all again next time we're in Massachusetts. Now I have to go before I completely pass out. See you later!

Massachusetts 2011: The Intro

Barring any major events in the next week or so, the next several updates will be focused on our trip to Massachusetts in August. As many pictures as Marilu took in Newfoundland, we took even more while in the States so this may take a while. I hope you enjoy.

I'm going to start off slow and just post a few pictures from our first night there. It was one of the many cookouts we had, and as you can see below, Lucas really got into it.

Quite a start, eh? Lest I forget, all of the pictures from Marilu and Lucas's trip "out east," as they say, are now in a photo album, which you can find here. I uploaded pretty much everything so there are some curious additions, such as when Lucas got a hold of the camera and took a bunch of random photos, but it's worth a look. According to the folder stats, there are 256 photos so that should keep you entertained for a while.

Newfoundland 2011: The End

For your viewing pleasure, the remainder of the Newfoundland trip photos.

As I mentioned a few posts back, there were hundreds of photos taken on this trip so what you've seen here are just the highlights. I'll be placing all of them in an online photo album soon so once that is done, you'll be able to overdose on Newfoundland photos.

You say tomato, I say to-mah-to

A conversation with Lucas from this morning.

Me: "Can you whistle?"
Lucas shrieks at the top of his lungs.
Me: "That's not how you whistle."
Lucas: "That's how *I* whistle."