Vegas, Baby!

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably realize our 10th wedding anniversary was at the end of June, and we went to Vegas to celebrate. I've finally overcome the procrastination and uploaded some of the pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Why am I starting off with a photo from Logan Airport (Boston), before we even left for Vegas? Because that was probably the last time we were happy that night. Our flight was delayed 2-3 hours, and since it was leaving at night, that put us into Vegas at around 1 AM, which was 4 AM our time. By the time, we got to our hotel (after a wildly overpriced cab ride) and grabbed something to eat at a crappy little cafe, it was already late for Vegas, let alone our internal clocks. Things did get better the next day, thankfully.

Because we were getting in so late our first night, we stayed at a cheaper hotel, the Golden Nugget in Old Vegas. Although the hotel itself isn't as impressive as the ones on the Strip, the pool area was very cool. It may be hard to see, but the waterslide goes through a shark tank.

After that, we headed over to the Strip and checked into Mandalay Bay, where we spent the rest of our trip. The first afternoon, we played some video poker and then we found the Burger Bar, a great pub/restaurant in the shopping area that has about a zillion types of beer. It ended up being a frequent destination of ours during the trip.

As it turned out, the newest Cirque du Soleil show was having its world premiere at Mandalay Bay our first night there. Just like a Hollywood premiere, they set up a red carpet area and had a bunch of celebrities. As we were heading out to the Hard Rock Hotel to see another show, Marilu took this picture, which may be the worst quality photo I've ever posted on the blog. It'll probably take a lot of squinting, but it happens to be Doogie Howser/Barney himself, Neil Patrick Harris.

Speaking of the Hard Rock Hotel, we decided to walk from Mandalay Bay since it didn't seem that far. Misjudging distances is a common error in Las Vegas, which we realized after we walked 2.8 miles, mostly outside to HRH. Oh, and did I mention it was 117 degrees that day? (47 for my Canadian fans) Somehow I survived, even though I couldn't have been less hydrated, having drank many high alcohol beers that afternoon at the Burger Bar.

Before the show, we went to the Hofbrauhaus Vegas. For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Hofbrauhaus is a famous beer hall in Munich, Germany. And for those of you unfamiliar with my past, I lived in the Munich area for almost 3 years while in the US Army, back in the early 1990s. So, since I'd been to the original many, many times, I just had to see the re-creation. I have to admit, from what I remember, they did a very good job with it. The beer was so-so, but that could be attributed to either the fact that my beer tastes have changed since drinking German lagers 2 decades ago, or it could be that I was about ready to pass out from heat exhaustion. One or the other. Whatever the case, here I am finishing off a liter of their dunkel.

The show we saw at the Hard Rock was the stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay. If you know anything about the Dice Man, you know he is one crude mother f*****. As such, when we ordered our tickets, we tried to make sure we weren't anywhere near the front row. When we got there, we discovered it was a fairly small theater, and guess which row we were in? Ugh. As it turned out, Dice did focus on us, and I got picked on for a good third of his act. I suppose it could have been a bad experience, but the way we see it, it made it all the more memorable.

After the show, Dice posed for pictures in the lobby. However, since he was charging $30 or $40 a pop, Marilu just snapped a picture of him with someone else. That said, we both agreed he should have taken a picture with us for free, just for the grief he gave me. :)

On our way back to the room (we took a cab back...no more 3 mile walks), we were getting on the elevator and Marilu whispered to me, "That's Alison Janney!" As it turns out, the former star of The West Wing was returning to her room after seeing the new Cirque show, and she graciously took a picture with us. So all in all, it was a pretty neat first full day in Vegas.

I'm going to stop there for now since there are still a lot of pictures to see and stories to be told, but it's 1:30 in the morning, and I don't want to be up until 4:00. I'll put up some more--hopefully the rest--tomorrow.

In Lucas news, his science camp is going well. He's having a great time, and Marilu and I are enjoying the house being quiet from 9-5. Also, Lucas had his first trip to a Subway restaurant yesterday, and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He ordered a foot long Italian BMT with cheddar cheese, untoasted. Surprisingly, he ordered the exact same topping as I do (lettuce, black olives, no sauces or oils), without any prompting from me. Like father, like son, I guess. In case you're wondering why we let him get a foot long, it's because he had half for dinner and the other half as his lunch today. We're not actively encouraging obesity, yo.

One last update before pictures!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been putting off any new updates since I couldn't figure out which pictures I wanted to post. I'm still not in the mood to do it, but rather than put it off for another week or two, I decided it's time to get off my ass and get the blog back in gear.

Before I get to that, a little news about what's been going on this summer. Marilu is still recovering from her broken collarbone. It still hurts quite a bit, but I think her range of motion is a little better. Unfortunately, I think it's going to take several more weeks before it's back to normal.

Lucas starts his very first summer camp tomorrow. We hadn't planned to put him in one since Marilu is a teacher and has the summers off, but last year, he complained that all his friends got to go so we decided to enroll him in one this year called Radical Science. As the name implies, it introduces science to kids via fun workshops. He's really looking forward to it so hopefully it will be a fun AND educational experience for him.

My dad and brother came to visit us last week. It was my dad's first visit to Ottawa since Lucas was about a year and my brother's first trip north of the border since we got married 10 years ago. We took a few pictures during their trip, and I hope to get those up shortly after the Vegas and Massachusetts ones.

Up next...Vegas!

Still here

I wanted to point out that I haven't forgotten about the blog. In fact, I'm thinking about it almost every day. The problem is, I have so many pictures from Vegas and our Massachusetts vacation that I have been putting off posting since I can't figure out which pictures I want to upload. I'll try and figure it out in the next day or two and have something up by Wednesday.

Good night from Lucas!

Picture says it all...

Injury Update

During her soccer game this evening, Marilu collided with an opposing player and hit the ground extremely hard. She couldn't get up due to severe pain in her shoulder/neck area so they had to call an ambulance for her. After a couple of hours at the emergency room, we found out she had a small crack on her collarbone. It will heal on its own over a 4-6 week period, but for now, Marilu has to wear a sling to keep her arm level. She's in quite a bit of pain still, but the doctor gave her a Percocet prescription and said the worst of the pain should go away after 2-3 days.

Many, many thanks go out to our friend Tracey for taking Lucas home with her from the soccer game and letting him stay over for the night. He took the whole ordeal like a champ and based on a photo Tracey sent us, he was having a blast. Come to think of it, this might be his first sleepover.

The kicker about this whole situation is that we came home from vacation yesterday so that Marilu could play the game tonight. So the moral of the story is that you should never come home from vacation. Or something like that. Speaking of which, vacation photos are forthcoming.

Beginnings and Endings

Two bits of Lucas-related news today.

First, Marilu signed him up for a skating camp later on this summer, and he will be starting hockey shortly thereafter. So he is finally a true Canadian boy.

Second, today is Lucas's last day of senior kindergarten. I didn't get any photos of him getting on the bus--not that there's a snowball's chance in hell he would have posed for one--but here's a little reminder of his first day in junior kindergarten from a couple of years ago.

As soon as Marilu and Lucas get home from school today, we're jumping in the car and heading down to Massachusetts. Then tomorrow, Marilu and I will get on a plane in Boston and spend the next 4 1/2 days in Las Vegas for our 10th wedding anniversary. I'm sure Lucas won't miss us too much as he'll be having fun playing at Grammy's house or swimming in the lake.

Massachusetts Trip (Greg's Memorial)

Since we'll be in Massachusetts in a matter of days. I figured I better get the pictures posted from our last trip to Massachusetts first. As you may recall, we went down at the end of May for my cousin Greg's funeral. As somber as that occasion one, as you'll see in these photos, we still managed to have a good time, which I'm sure is the way Greg would have wanted it.

No trip would be complete without a cute picture of Lucas and Grammy as she prepared hamburgers for a BBQ. One thing I can say about Massachusetts is that I never go to be hungry.

Another thing we've done a lot the last couple of years is hang out by the fire pit. This is probably one of my favorite parts of the Massachusetts trips. I can sit there and watch the fire burn for hours...as the mosquitoes drain my body of blood. As you can see, Lucas is now old enough that we let him help out with the fire. I guess you can't learn fire safety too early!

At Greg's memorial reception, we weren't too focused on taking pictures, but I'm glad Marilu did get this one of me with my cousin John (Greg's brother), my uncle Mark, and Lucas.

As I said above, we're due to head out of town in a couple of days. We're driving down to Massachusetts on Thursday, dropping Lucas off with my mom, and then Marilu and I will be flying to Las Vegas on Friday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I can't promise anything, but I hope to put up one more picture update tomorrow since I noticed I'm starting to get behind on the pictures again. If not, I'll work on it in Massachusetts since we'll be there for another week after we get back from Vegas.

Lucas's 6th Birthday Party

Believe it or not, Lucas is less than 24 hours away from becoming six years old. I can't say it seems like just yesterday he was a baby, but it definitely doesn't feel like six years. Since tomorrow is also Father's Day, we decided to have his party today.

After throwing his party at Monkey Around last year, we decided that not doing it at home was the way to go. No set up, no clean up, and all the activities are taken care of for us? Yes, please! So this year we decided on having his party at the place he does his karata, Pro Style Martial Arts.

As luck would have it, they were having a big fundraiser in the morning and early afternoon so we had to do it in the late afternoon. The upside to the fundraiser is that they had an inflatable hockey rink set up and the kids were able to play around on that for about 15 minutes at the beginning of the party. (In case you are looking for Lucas, he's easy to find. He chose to wear a green Hawaiian shirt so look for the only kid in a Hawaiian shirt).



Did I mention that Lucas invited 13 kids? All boys? To get an idea of what kind of chaos they were capable of, check out this video of them shortly after they went inside. If you watch closely, you can see Lucas wipe out on a ball in the last few seconds of the video.



One of the first things the instructor had them do is learn the karate shout (ki-ya!). I'm not sure if they were expecting the collection of shrieks that followed.



Here are some of the punching and kicking activities the boys performed.







And what's a party without races?





Blowing out the birthday candles.



One of the cool features about having a birthday party at Pro Style is that the birthday boy gets to cut his cake with a real sword. This was definitely a highlight of the party for Lucas.



You may notice a complete lack of pictures. Two reasons. First, we didn't get that many good ones. Second, and more importantly, our friend Tracey was taking pictures and she always gets much better ones than us. See last year's birthday party for proof. So once I get copies of her pictures, I'll post the highlights here.

Here are a couple of ours that weren't completely awful. In case you are wondering about the cake, the theme of the party was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and that's Michelangelo. Great job by Marilu!

Brandishing his weapon.

Just relaxin' at the rink.

One of the RARE moments of order.

Not really getting the concept of the relay race. (Love the red shirt on the kid to the right of Lucas.)

Chowing down!

So that's it for now. Like I said before, once I get Tracey's photos, I'll post them here. I also expect to have a few pictures tomorrow when Lucas gets his big presents.

Growing Up

Back in spring of 2009, we bought a not-even-2-yet Lucas a kitchen playset. He had seen one at his cousin Megan's birthday party a couple of months before, and he really enjoyed playing with it. So when it came time to get him his next big gift, that was kind of no-brainer. You can see a video of the whole affair below or check out the original blog post here.



The reason I bring this up is that we sold the playset earlier today. Now that Lucas is getting older, we decided it's time to free up some space and sell the things he doesn't use anymore. We've been holding on to a lot of toys well past their "expiration date," so to speak, in case we had another kid, but between what happened with Rory last year and the fact that we've decided to stop trying for another one, now seemed as good a time as any to start the purge.

We've sold a bunch of stuff prior to this, and although I've had whiffs of nostalgia, it wasn't until today's sale that I felt real sadness. Although he hasn't played with the kitchen seriously in at least a year and a half, and it was just taking up space in the basement, it was such a big part of his life that it makes me ache a little inside knowing that it's gone. I'm a very nostalgic person at heart so I suppose I am more susceptible to these types of feelings than most.

I'll take a look at our camera and see if I can find some new pictures to post in the next update. I don't think we took many photos during our trip to Massachusetts, but there's bound to be a couple of good ones on there. Until next time...

Superstar!

I thought this note Lucas brought home from school yesterday was worth posting. Good job, big guy!

Justin and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

What a week and a half. As if Greg's passing wasn't bad enough, Marilu's brother and his wife went through hell this weekend when Kyle, their 9-day-old newborn, had extremely serious health issues with his heart. After several days in the hospital, things are looking up and the best words to describe the current situation are "cautiously optimistic."

On top of all that, today is the 1st anniversary of the worst day of our lives. This time last year was the day we said both hello and goodbye to Rory. I don't really want to talk about it since it hurts too much when I concentrate on what happened, but I did want to acknowledge that we remember her (or him, as Lucas still thinks), and we never plan to forget.

In light of all that--and I know this sounds cliche--take some time to let those close to you know you love them. I really wish I had that one more conversation with Greg or the chance to see Lucas play with his little sister, but I can't, and in a word, that sucks. However, I hope my family and friends who are still here with me realize how much I appreciate them being in my life. I also hope I'll get a chance to see many of you this weekend at Greg's memorial.

Take care.

My Cousin Greg

Earlier this week, my cousin Greg passed away. Greg had been dealing with serious health issues for the last few years, including a coma at one point, so the news didn't come out of the blue. Having said that though, it was well before his time, and I think I speak for everyone in my family when I say we'll truly miss him. Marilu, Lucas, and I have a trip to Massachusetts planned for July, and one of the main things that went through my mind after I heard the news is that I wish I would have been able to have one last conversation with him. I'm also sad that Lucas will never get a chance to know him better. During our last couple of visits, you could tell that Greg was always delighted to see Lucas, and Lucas really liked seeing him. It probably didn't hurt that Greg always showed up with creative and thoughtful gifts for the little guy!

I spent some time this afternoon going through all of my photos from our past vacations to Massachusetts and found some great shots of Greg that I'd like to share. I hope you enjoy seeing a side of Greg that not many people got to experience.

Back in October 2007, just a few months after Lucas was born, my mom threw a party for Lucas at The Lodge in Webster. This is the first picture we ever took of Lucas and Greg.

A couple of months later, we returned to spend Christmas with my mom and Kevin. During a family photo, Greg showed off his goofy side.

During our annual summer trip to Massachusetts in 2010, Lucas got his first fishing pole, and Greg showed him how to catch kivers off the dock.

Here's some more from that trip. I think it's plain to see how much Lucas loved "Cousin Greg."

Jumping ahead to our summer trip in 2011, Greg brought Lucas a whole bag of gifts. Suffice to say the rugrat was overjoyed with that!

For what it's worth, Lucas was playing that Scooby-Doo game this past weekend with a friend so it has definitely stood the test of time.

My favorite picture from that summer has to be this one. I don't think Lucas really understands what happened yet, but when he does, I know he's really going to miss Greg.

Unfortunately, we only took two photos with Greg during our last visit in 2012, but I'm so thankful one of them was a good one of just the two of us. As you can see in the photo with Lucas, Greg bestowed upon him another gift, this time a computerized telescope that will last Lucas for many years to come.

One of the things going through my mind right now is the gifts Greg bought for Lucas. I alluded to it at the beginning of this blog post, but I wanted to reiterate that Greg put a lot of thought into the gifts he bought Lucas. I'm as guilty as anyone of just grabbing the first action figure I see when I want to surprise Lucas, but Greg would ask questions of Marilu and I as to Lucas's interests, and even after Lucas opened them, Greg would worriedly wonder, "Is that good? Will he like that?" As much as Greg could be a gruff personality at times, below that was a very caring individual who absolutely lit up while watching Lucas fish, swim, or just play at his feet.

It's no secret that I'm not a religious person, and I have no idea what happens when a person dies. However, what I do know is that I am going to miss my cousin Greg. There's a permanent hole somewhere inside of me--as well as for many of you reading, I suspect--now that he is gone.

Next week, I'll be traveling down to Massachusetts for his memorial service, and while I think there will be plenty of tears shed, I'm sure there will be a lot of laughter as well since that's the way Greg would want it. It won't be too hard to imagine him, maybe a little younger, maybe a little slimmer, kicking back in one of the chairs with a cigarette in one hand and an adult beverage of some variety in the other, wondering just what the hell we're getting so worked up about. As far as I'm concerned, there are a lot worse ways to be remembered.

Rest in Peace, Greg. We'll always miss you.

Eatin' by the fire

Lucas chows down on S'mores. We are out in Carleton Place at the surprise 60th birthday party for the father of our friend Christine. Don't say I never posted something current. :)

Ottawa Comiccon 2013

(Before I kick this entry off, I wanted to mention that the last photo in this blog contains the F word. I'm not sure if anyone who reads this blog is that easily offended, but consider yourself warned!)

On Friday, Lucas and I attended the Ottawa Comiccon for the second straight year. If you're feeling nostalgic, you can find the blog entry for last year's visit here. I hadn't planned on going, but earlier this week, I realized Friday tickets were fairly inexpensive, and Lucas's would only be $5 so I said what the hell and ordered a couple.

The event itself was very similar to last year, but because we went on a Friday, as opposed to a Saturday in 2012, it was not nearly as crowded. Unfortunately, another thing that was similar to last year is that Lucas didn't want to pose for the camera much. It's a shame since there was some amazing costumes, but alas, that's the way it goes. Nonetheless, I did manage to get a few good pictures of him so that's what you'll see here.

Just to give you an idea of how popular these conventions are, check out the line we were in. Although its length puts a Disney line to shame, it moved a heck of a lot faster. I'd estimate it took us about 20 minutes to reach the entrance, which wasn't too bad. It also helped that it was cool this afternoon, as opposed to the brutal heat last year.

Believe it or not, Lucas was great in line. He was very patient and didn't complain at all. It probably didn't hurt that there were lots of people in costumes around so that kept him entertained. You'll notice he dressed as Boba Fett for the occasion. That lasted about an hour before it got too hot for him. As close as I got to a costume was wearing an Avengers t-shirt.

Here's the one picture Lucas allowed me to take of him with another person. Quality over quantity is definitely in effect as this picture is just too darn cute. Big Boba Fett and mini Boba. It was taken just after we entered the main hall. Boba Fett was taking a picture with someone else, and as soon as he saw Lucas in costume, he came over and gave him a high five. You can't see it under the mask, but Lucas was grinning ear to ear. (Coincidentally, while looking at last year's blog post, I noticed I took almost the exact same picture...though with a different Boba Fett and a non-costumed Lucas.)

At these conventions, there are a lot of different vendors, selling everything from comics to action figures to clothing to real swords. Surprisingly, a vendor that caught Lucas's eye was one that sold costume accessories. In particular, he liked the spiked bracelets. He originally wanted one with metal spikes, but I "convinced" him that maybe the rubber ones would be a better idea. Here, he shows off his new purchase. It really complements the Boba Fett outfit, right?

For those of you familiar with the British sci-fi show Doctor Who, there were several Daleks in attendance at the Con. They were fully functional and could move and talk. I believe they were actually manned from the inside. The reason I mention this is that shortly after the picture below was taken--a showdown between Boba Fett and a Dalek--the Dalek noticed Lucas and chased him around for at least a minute. He was running all over the place, trying to escape, but it just kept coming. He finally bolted off into another room, shrieking happily all the way. No photo or video of that, unfortunately, but I'm sure you can picture it.

There was a board game area at Comiccon that allowed you to check out and play games. Not only did it give us a break from walking around, but I got to try out two games with Lucas to see if he was old enough to play them. That's a lot better than blindly spending $30-40 and hoping he takes to it! In this photo, we were playing Get Bit, a card game that uses a plastic shark and robot swimmers to keep score. Lucas liked playing with the robots, but he still has a year or two to go before understanding the game.

Here are some of the sights from Comiccon: a massive Dalek, Luke's landspeeder from Star Wars, and the one and only Batmobile!

Finally, here's the picture I warned you about at the beginning. Now, to understand its meaning, you have to realize that many diehard fans of the original Star Wars trilogy hate the newer movies and blame George Lucas for everything that is wrong with them. This guy was just letting the world know what he thought of George Lucas via his t-shirt. I thought it was absolutely hilarious--obviously for a completely different reason--and asked the guy if I could take a picture. As much as I would love to get this shirt as a joke, Marilu did point out that there is almost nowhere I could wear it. Plus, Lucas recognizes his name on it, and the last thing I need is for him to concentrate his reading on understanding what the first word means! :)

So that was this year's Comiccon. We had a great time and are already looking forward to next year. Maybe I'll convince Marilu to come next time, and we can get a lot more pictures.

Blast Ball 2013

Yesterday, Lucas started his second season of Blast Ball. If you recall from last year, Blast Ball is basically t-ball with a first base that honks when the kids step on it. There's not much of a competitive aspect to it as the main purpose is to teach kids the basics of baseball, such as hitting and fielding.

This year, a friend of ours, Dave, volunteered to coach one of the teams, and I offered to be his assistant coach. This made Lucas more excited than he normally is when he starts something new since he knew I would be out there with him.

The first session went well. All the kids were reasonably well-behaved, and I think everybody had fun. Here are some pictures that Marilu took.

Probably the kids' favorite part: snack time!

Before we left for practice, I asked Lucas if he had any ideas for a team name, and he immediately offered the suggestion, "Super Blast Ball Army Dragons with Guns!" Eventually, that got whittled down to Army Dragons, and Dave compromised and suggested Yellow Dragons, which the team thought was a pretty good idea.

As the season progresses, I'm sure we'll have plenty more Blast Ball pictures so keep an eye out for that.

Boys' Weekend

This past weekend, Marilu went on her annual shopping trip to Syracuse with some friends of hers. So it was just Lucas and me from Friday until Sunday afternoon. I'd planned to do a bunch of outside stuff with him since the weather has finally taken a turn for the better, but unfortunately, Lucas developed a fever on Friday, and it stuck with him until Sunday morning. Things worked out in the end since we got to sit on the couch playing video games and watching TV all of Saturday, and that's what a boys' weekend is all about, right?

Not long before the weekend, Marilu's dad sent Lucas $20 with the instructions that he was supposed to spend it on snacks for himself. Well, what better time to do that than on our weekend together? Below is a picture I took of Lucas with his haul after we got back from the store. Fever or not, the kid ate a lot of sugar that weekend.

Karate Video

As promised, here's the video of Lucas doing his thing at last Saturday's Little Dragons competition.

Karate Kid

Earlier today, Lucas had his first competition at his martial arts studio. Since he's in Little Dragons for another month or two, the rules were fairly simple. Each of the kids had to do a few different exercises--jumping jacks, push-ups, and crunches--followed by three types of kicks--front, side, and roundhouse--and wrap it up by showing off their flexibility by doing the splits. Afterwards, three of the black belts judged their technique, and then all the kids got trophies, with the top 3 getting slightly larger ones.

Lucas did a decent job though we would have liked if he had been a little more vocal. He was supposed to count out the exercises, but he whispered them. He also didn't yell out "ki-yah!" at the end of each kick set like they were supposed to, instead sort of mumbling it. Despite that, he did end up tied for 3rd out of the 10 or 11 kids that competed. The tiebreaker, with a girl from his kindergarten class, involved getting into one of the stances they learn and not moving. As you can imagine, at age 5, getting a boy to stay still for more than a couple of seconds in a challenge. We were impressed that he lasted almost a minute, but in the end he moved, followed by him raising his hands and letting out a resounding "yes!" Kind of ironic now that I think about it, since that shout was louder than anything he did during his presentation. Whatever the case, he still ended up with a nice trophy.

Below, I've included a picture from before the competition as well as one afterwards as Lucas poses with his new trophy. Marilu recorded his entire performance on the camera, but I haven't uploaded that yet. Once I do, I'll be sure to get it on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy these pics!