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!

Update

Greetings, all! I just wanted to send out a quick update to let you know that despite what I said in my last entry, there will be no picture updates until we get back to Ottawa. Although Marilu's parents do have internet access, they don't have a wireless router so I can't easily get my laptop connected to upload pictures. That said, we are taking plenty of pictures so once we return (Jan 2), I will do my best to get all of them online as soon as possible.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and here's wishing you a happy New Year!

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas, for those of you reading this in the hour we have left before the 26th. For the rest of you, hope you had a great Christmas. I'm going to make this quick since I took some night time cold medicine not too long ago and may be slipping toward unconsciousness soon.

The day Lucas has been waiting in excited anticipation for finally arrived, and he was raring to go as soon as he woke up at 7 something this morning. Considering the number of adult beverages I enjoyed at last night's Christmas Eve party, I would preferred a later wake-up call, but such is the price of being a parent.

It was a Herculean task getting him to pose as he opened up presents since he wanted to keep the unwrapping going strong, but I did manage a few good ones, as evidenced below.






We saved the best for last: the coveted Batman Cave. He has been wanting this for months, and as Christmas approached, it was a perfect tool for blackmail. "If you don't do , Santa will know and might not bring you the Batman Cave!" Ah, blackmail, a necessary tool of parenting. Here he is with his prize.


Playing with the Cave. Surprisingly, he played with just about every gift he got today. However, this took up the vast majority of his time, with the bucket of Play-Doh being a distant second.


Christmas dinner with Marilu and Lucas. If you look closely, you can see a scratch on Marilu's face where Lucas "accidentally" scratched her last night.


This is what I get nowadays when I ask for a cheese. In its own way, it's more amusing than the cheeseface.


We finish up with the bathtub. One of his new gifts was a Spiderman shaving kit with a plastic razor and real shaving cream. As you can see here, he doesn't totally understand the concept (unless he is metrosexual), but he sure had fun with it.


Just a reminder that we will be flying to St John's, Newfoundland, tomorrow morning. I'll be taking my laptop so I should be able to continue updating. We'll be there for a week, getting back next Sunday. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday week. Take care!

Oktoberfest

October started off well. We went to an Oktoberfest celebration, hosted by Beau's Brewery, about an hour east of Ottawa. I haven't been to any form of Oktoberfest since my first year in Atlanta (1998) so this was a welcome outing. There was a large selection of beers (for a fest), and I ended up passed out in the car on the drive home, so I would call the day a success!

Showing off the spiffy hats that came with the admission fee.


Lucas posing with Gracie, the daughter of the people we went with. Well, I'm not so sure it was posing as yelling at the camera, but six of one, half dozen of another...


Playing around in the children's area.


You can't really see it well (other than the stem), but I think he was trying to show off the painted pumpkin he made in the children's area.

Temptation

We put up our Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago, but we've been hesitant to put any presents under the tree since we weren't sure how Lucas was going to react. About a week ago, we received a wrapped present in the mail (from cousin Elise), and Marilu and I decided to put it under the tree after he went to bed that night to see what he would do the next day.

As with most weekday mornings, I'm the one that gets up with Lucas since Marilu is usually off to work at some unearthly hour. The two of us came downstairs, and I believe it took him a grand total of about 10 seconds to notice the new present. He immediately rushed over to it and asked questions ranging from "where did this come from?" to "can I open it?" The latter outnumbered the former about 20 to 1.

I found the whole thing really amusing since the temptation of Lucas to just tear the wrapping paper off in a frenzy, despite my warnings not to, was thick in the air. In the end, he did manage to control himself, but I got these pictures of him to record the proceedings.

From Let's Make a Deal!

Pride of Ownership

Last night, Lucas came into bed with us since he wasn't feeling well. He lay down, and we were about a foot apart, face-to-face. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing somewhat heavily. I lay there looking at him for several minutes when suddenly, he opened his eyes. He saw me watching him and immediately a huge smile appeared on his face. A couple of moments passed and then he leaned forward and gave me a kiss.

At that moment, all the trials and tribulations of being a parent flew out the window. At that moment, I was just so happy to be his dad.

The Hair: Before and After

If you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention to Lucas's more recent pictures, you've probably noticed that his hair was getting, well, big. Depending on how you view curly hair, genetics has either cursed or blessed him with my hair type. I try to keep mine on the short side since once it grows out a bit, it gets crazy. The same goes for Lucas.

We already realized it, but it wasn't until I took this picture of him as he woke up one morning last week that it really kicked in that he needed a haircut.


As a result, we finally made an appointment for a haircut, which lucky us, was yesterday morning in the freezing rain and hail. Marilu was kind enough to take a "before" picture (notwithstanding the stellar photo above).


And I took one of him as we had a post-haircut KFC lunch. Still a little wacky but under much more control.


Now we're good for another 6 months. :)