Massachusetts 2012 - Part 1A

As promised the videos of us frolicking in the water.  The first one is blurry at first, but it clears up about halfway through. Check out who is driving the boat.



In this next one, I do my best to make the water around the dock kiver free.



Finally, some snorkeling fun with Lucas and me.

Massachusetts 2012 - Part 1 (Water, Water Everywhere!)

I'll come clean with you. I've been putting off posting about the Massachusetts vacation. When I first organized all the photos--from our camera, my mom's camera, and my iPhone--into one folder, there were a whopping 538 photos. Trying to comb through that and summarize the trip through 10-20 photos seemed a bit overwhelming. Earlier tonight, I went through and was able to delete just over 100 of those, the vast majority being ones Lucas took while manning the camera during a zoo visit. While he did take some decent photos, most were not so good.

So, we're down to 432 photos. Still a daunting task, but not quite as bad, and short of deleting all of them, I'd eventually have to get around to this. I expect there will be several entries devoted to Massachusetts, and I'm going to try to base each one around specific events and then maybe put the random ones in a final catch-all post. Whatever the case, expect to see lots of photos from the New England region over the next week or two. After this, I'll tackle the Newfoundland trip, which only has a paltry 280 photos to sift through.

Since one of the highlights of our trips to Massachusetts is staying at my mom's place on Webster Lake (or Lake Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaug to the locals), this first entry is devoted to our time in and around the water. The ability to spontaneously decide to jump in the water is one of the things I've missed most from that trip. There were at least a couple of days where I went down to the dock, intending to spend 15-20 minutes in the water, and then 3 hours later, I was finally toweling off. Good times.

For the first time since I started visiting, the boat my mom and Kevin own actually worked while I was there. We took it out a few times but didn't think to take many photos. Although the one below is a bit blurry, I kind of liked the look of it as we came back into the dock. For what it's worth, that thing was so much fun to drive. It's by Seadoo, and it's a cross between an actual boat and a jetski. Someone out there might know the name for this type of vehicle, but all I know is that I had a blast.

Our little Jacques Coustaeu prepares for his aquatic adventure.

Although all the photos you'll see here show Lucas wearing floaties, he did brave the water without them from time to time. He's made remarkable progress over the last few months, between swim lessons and this trip, and I expect he'll ditch the floaties long before next summer.

I love the fact that it looks as if I am trying to catch Lucas in this photo. In reality, I was hunting kivers (bluegill/sunfish). They are a very stupid fish, and I managed to catch 30-40 of them by net alone during the trip.

Kevin and Lucas having water wars. Lucas is winning.

Great shot of Lucas with his Grampy Kevin.

While selecting photos to use for this entry, I noticed several good videos from our time playing in the water. Since videos take forever and a day to upload, I'll post those in a follow-up to this entry, probably tomorrow. Hope you've enjoyed. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

In Memoriam

Before I get back to the business of posting photos, I want to take a moment to summarize what happened back in May that led to the hiatus. I think most of the people who read this blog know the whole story, but in case there are a couple of people still in the dark, I'm going to give you the Cliffs Notes version.

Basically, we found out from early tests that there was something wrong with our baby. When we came in for a follow-up ultrasound, the doctor confirmed that things were bad, and it was very unlikely our baby would survive until the pregnancy, let alone afterwards. As such, we made the choice--not that there was much of one, given that news--to terminate the pregnancy.

Unfortunately, because of how far along Marilu was, we had to go through what was essentially a full birth. I'm not going to go into it, but suffice to say, May 28 was the worst day and night of my life. I think Marilu would agree.

For what it's worth, we had a boy. Although there is no official documentation, we named him Rory Gerard Deal. Gerard was a nod to Marilu's dad, and we came up with Rory in much the same we settled on Lucas. It was a boy's name that neither of us hated!

So that's the story in a nutshell. It's a lot easier to talk about it now, almost 3 months later, but there will always be a special place in my heart for our little boy who was taken from us far too soon.

Rest in Peace, Rory. Your daddy, mommy, and big brother Lucas will never forget you.

New Beginning

We're back from Massachusetts and Newfoundland and all points in between. As you can see, I've finally renamed and restyled the blog. I think the new name is appropriate.

I have to transfer the Massachusetts pictures from the camera, but once I get that done, I'll start updating with new photos. Talk to you again soon!

Oh Captain, My Captain!

Lucas and I are in Massachusetts this week, with Marilu flying down next Thursday. Earlier tonight, he took a ride in the boat my mom and Kevin own. And by "take a ride," I mean he was actually driving it. You'll have to look closely in the following video, but that's him at the wheel.



I know I've been gone a while, in light of everything that happened back in May, but I'm going to try and get back on track while on vacation here in Massachusetts. Please bear with me!

Another Lucas Birthday

Believe it or not, Lucas turned 5 today!

I'll post more pictures from his special day later this week.

Tragedy

I think everyone who reads this blog has heard by now--whether it was via word of mouth or Facebook--but in case you haven't, I wanted to quickly update what has happened in the past week and a half. Basically, we found out that our baby had severe developmental issues, and we would need to terminate the pregnancy, which we did this past weekend. It's been an extremely hard time for all of us, but we have received a massive amount of support from friends and family so for that we are thankful.

At the moment, I don't really have the words to talk about the experience further. Maybe later I'll be able to do it justice, but for now, I just don't want to think about it. The blog will continue, but I just need some time before I'm ready to come back. Thanks for your understanding.

Baby Bump

By popular demand (i.e., my mom has asked a couple of times), I'm going to provide weekly updates of Marilu's profile so you can see our new addition as he/she grows. I've been pretty good at getting pictures of her once a week since the ultrasound with the only missing one being the weekend she went to Syracuse with the girls.

April 21, 2012: 13 Weeks Pregnant

April 30, 2012: 14 Weeks Pregnant

May 13, 2012: 16 Weeks Pregnant

My intention is to take a picture of Marilu's belly every Sunday night from here on out, and I'll post it by Monday. Feel free to chastise me if I slacken in my endeavors.

Ottawa Comiccon 2012

Earlier today, Lucas and I went to the Ottawa Comiccon, Ottawa's first comic and sci-fi convention ever...or at least since I've lived here. I figured he'd get a kick out of it since there would be plenty of people dressed up as characters from shows/movies he likes, and it definitely didn't disappoint.

Right after we got there, they had a Star Wars Kids Hour which was essentially an arts and crafts session with Star Wars characters. They broke the kids into four groups, and Lucas picked the most evil one, the Sith. As you can see in the pictures below, his "mentor" for the hour was the Sith Lord Darth Maul. (Considering Lucas was wearing a Sith hat, I guess this was kind of a given.)

Once that wrapped up, we walked around the convention. There were quite a few Star Wars-themed characters walking around so photo ops were pretty easy.

I thought this was a pretty good idea. Life size Star Wars action figure packaging. Not exactly sure which character Lucas is pretending to be since I don't recall the devil horns in any of the Star Wars movies.

Lucas had no idea what this car was, but for those of you older than 30, you'll likely recognize the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

Before we left, one more picture with a Stormtrooper for good measure.

Blast Ball

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Lucas had his first Blast Ball session last week. After locating his coach, we found out that he was on the dark blue team. That works out well since his favorite color is blue. The coaches let the kids name the team, and I think a couple of the older kids (it's 4-5) came up with the stunningly uncreative Blue Jays. Compare this to Lucas's daycare buddy who is on a team named the Green Goblins.

The way Blast Ball works is that during the first half of the session, the coaches work with their own team, teaching them basic fundamentals like batting, throwing, and fielding a ball. At this point, no gloves are involved though it's expected they'll start using them by the end of the season. In the second half of each session, two teams actually play a game of Blast Ball against one another.

The rules for BB are pretty simple. Each inning, every player on a team gets one at-bat. They hit the ball off the tee and then need to reach the base--located approximately where first base would be--before the other team gets them out. To get an out, the other team must pick up the hit ball and yell, "Blast ball!" Keep in mind that no score is actually kept so it's all for fun at this stage. Also, the base honks when you step on it so the kids get a kick out of that.

I got a few pictures and videos from Lucas's first day at Blast Ball. They aren't the greatest quality. but it's a long season--until the end of June--so hopefully I'll have a chance to get plenty more.

Before we started playing, Lucas wanted to test out the honking base. About 20 times.

Here he models his new hat and t-shirt.

This is the only shot I got of Lucas's team on defense. If you look closely, you can see a white blur on the left side of the photo. That's the ball, and Lucas is the leftmost player so I think he's the one who fielded it.

This was Lucas's third or fourth time up to bat.

I had the foresight to videotape Lucas's very first time at bat. So on the off-chance he's one day the starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he can look back and see where it all began. It wasn't the best start, but he finally did figure out the tee. Also, once he realized he needed to run, he *was* pretty quick, even if he completely blew off the coach trying to give him his hat back.



One other thing I'd like to point out is that Lucas exhibited almost no shyness whatsoever. He stood with all the other boys, did what he was told, and never came running over to me crying. His mind did wander, and he didn't always pay attention to the game at hand, but I can live with that!

Update

New pictures are coming very soon! I've been sick for the last week and a half (fever at first and then strep throat, which I'm still suffering through) so I haven't been terribly motivated. However, I'm on the mend and plan to have pictures from Lucas's first Blast Ball practice/game up within 24 hours so keep an eye out!

What's Happening?

I can't believe no one commented on that last post! I thought it was hilarious. Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I guess. You may notice that I fixed the column width issue so that video shouldn't cover the right side of the blog anymore. If you are still having problems viewing it, let me know.

Tonight is Lucas's first game of Blast Ball. From the description I read as well as a couple of YouTube videos I found, it's sort of like T-ball. As with most sports at this age, it looks like it is fairly non-competitive, but it is intended to teach kids the basics of baseball so that they are prepared to play that in a year or two. Although I am not a fan of baseball--hate it, actually--it's such a quintessential game that you play in your childhood that I felt I would be doing Lucas a disservice if I didn't let him try it out. If he wants to keep playing after this season, great. If not, that's his decision. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures and videos in the coming weeks of Lucas's  Blast Ball adventures so keep an eye out for that.

One other thing I wanted to mention before I post a few pictures from the archives is at Marilu's request. Last night, about a half hour before Lucas's bedtime, all three of us went upstairs and sat on our bed and played some games. We started with rock, paper, scissors, which eventually morphed into webs, bombs, shield since Lucas wanted flashier hand gestures, I guess.

After that, Lucas wanted to pretend we were in a restaurant so one of us would be the waiter and the other two would be the customers. Once the customers ordered, the waiter would go make the meals and then serve them. It may sound simplistic, but what really stood out to both of us was how creative Lucas has become. It used to be that if you asked him to name something, he would name it almost literally (case in point, Fishy Fishy) or just name it Lucas. But now, you can see the wheels turning when he is asked a question. Sometimes, he'll even be the one to prompt his own creativity. For instance, for a couple of items I ordered, he informed me they were out of it or that they didn't carry it ("there's no beer at McDonald's!"). If the restaurant was out of a selection, he would then tell us what they did have. I know this probably doesn't translate well, and I wish we could have recorded it, but I gotta say, we were really impressed and proud of him last night.

Now that you've read through that wall of text, here's the last of the pictures from October. I can't recall why  Lucas was dressed up in these first two pictures since that was a week before Halloween. My best guess is that it was a daycare craft.

Sometimes, the only qualification for a photo to get posted is the cuteness factor. I think this one manages that quite well.

This is one of Marilu's favorite photos from around Halloween. While we were decorating the house for our party, Lucas decided to do his impression of the skeleton.

I think he actually came up with this on his own, which is pretty impressive. It's damned funny looking to boot!

I'm Sexy and I Know It

To understand the video I'm posting of Lucas today, it probably helps if you watch the first one below. For those of you who don't know who the band LMFAO is, their music is probably best categorized in the dance genre. What makes them stand out is that their videos are extremely goofy. Recently, Lucas has become enamored of two of their songs, "Party Rock Anthem" and "I'm Sexy and I Know It." The latter video is included, followed by Lucas doing his own rendition. Enjoy!

Request

I really appreciate receiving comments on the blog, but if you do leave one, could you please also include your name? I've had a few comments recently that defaulted to "Anonymous" so I have no idea who left them. Thanks, and if you haven't commented before, don't be shy!

What's in a name?

Before I forget, I wanted to relate a quick anecdote from March, before Lucas knew Marilu was pregnant. We were lying on the couch, talking about baby names, and Marilu said, "Lucas, if you had a baby brother, what you want to name him?"

Without skipping a beat, Lucas responds, "Asshole."

I'm not sure what I felt stronger at that moment: shock or the need to laugh uncontrollably. A month later, I'm still perplexed as to where it came from since "asshole" is not in my normal repertoire of curse words. If anything, I would have expected "f'n moron" since I do let that slip out from time to time when driving with him in the car (ALL the time when driving by myself).

Currently, my favorite boy's name is Anakin while Lucas wants Hawkeye. Unsurprisingly, both of those have been nixed by Marilu. Though if I get enough support for Anakin from you, my loyal readers, who knows, maybe she will change her mind.

Mom's Camera

It turns out I had a few more pictures from October than I thought. I had forgotten that my mom was here during October until I found a folder with a bunch of photos from her camera on it. So let's take a look at the highlights.

I have no idea what the backstory here is, but it's cute.

During my mom's trip, she, Marilu, and Lucas went to see a musical based on the children's show Toopy and Binoo. From the sounds of it, Lucas wasn't all that impressed. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised given the fact he doesn't watch the show much.

After the show, we all went to the Canal Ritz restaurant, located right on the Rideau Canal.

Another place we went during my mom's visit was Saunders Farm (3rd time in 2011?). I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the jumping pillows are a blast. It's about as close to feeling like a kid as you're gonna get as an adult. We've got a season pass this year so I'm sure we'll be there quite a bit.

Big surprise...we went to Cheshire Cat at some point.

Oktoberfest 2011

Now that the big news is out of the way (not that any of you commented on it), let's get back to catching up. I'm kind of embarrassed that this post will be covering our trip to Oktoberfest last fall, seeing as we're halfway through April, but whatcha gonna do?

One of the bigger craft breweries in Eastern Ontario is Beau's, located about 45 minutes east of Ottawa. For the third straight year, they held an Oktoberfest in the fairgrounds near their brewery. This was our second time attending as we had a great time during our first visit in 2010. What I remember of it, that is. I got pretty loaded and passed out in the back of the car while Marilu drove home.

It was still fun this year, but I think Beau's misjudged how popular they have become over the last year. There were a LOT of people there, and it made getting beer a pain in the ass by the afternoon. It was even worse when you wanted to get rid of your beer (i.e., port-a-potties). As such, we'll probably skip the 2012 version. Of course, with Marilu being 8 months pregnant by then, I don't think she'll need her arm twisted. There is a closer Oktoberfest, hosted by local brewer Kichesippi, that is about 20 minutes away so we may check that out. But that's a decision to made at a later time. Let's get to the pictures!

As much fun as I had drinking beer, it paled in comparison to the sheer joy Lucas experienced jumping in mud puddles. If splashing for the sake of splashing wasn't enough, a lot of nearby (inebriated) adults got a kick out of it and were cheering him on, which he absolutely loved.

One of the great things about Beau's Oktoberfest is that it is family friendly. There is a whole area dedicated to kids. Here, Lucas works on a craft with some other kids.

This girl was sitting near us at one of the tables, and she fell in love with Lucas. She played with him and basically babysat him for at least half an hour. I think she's a college student in Ottawa, and if I had thought about it, I should have asked her if she wanted to babysit him for real in the future. Oh well, lost opportunities...

For the second straight year, we met up with our friends Jamie and Kristy along with their daughter Grace. As you can tell, Lucas likes hanging out with Grace. Whether the feeling is mutual is questionable.

In case you want to see how much they have grown, click here to see pictures from our trip to Beau's Oktoberfest in 2010. I couldn't help but notice I posted that on Dec 23, 2010, less than 3 months after the event. I shall endeavor to catch up, my fine readers. The good news is that we didn't take many more pictures in October or November so I may wrap up 2011 within the next week.

Until next time...

And baby makes two!

Thanks to Marilu's (as well as unnamed family members) inability to keep a secret , I don't think this will come as a surprise to too many people. However, for those of you who don't know...

That's from earlier today, and as you may be able to read at the top, the baby/fetus/thingamajig is 12 weeks and 1 day old. As such, the due date is October 28, four days after Marilu's. If nothing else, it will make remembering their birthdays easy for me.

You may notice the website revamp. I'm not completely sold on it yet since there is only so much you can do with Blogger's templates. However, it'll do for now. If you have any problems viewing it, let me know.

Many more updates to come!

Carp Fair 2011

So, back to September it is. Only for one post though. I realized that I had covered most of September just before we left for vacation. However, I left out our visit to the Carp Fair so I wanted to post pictures from that. For those of you outside of Ottawa, Carp is a town on the far west side of Ottawa, about 10 minutes from our home here in Kanata. Throughout the warmer months, they have a farmer's market on the Carp fairgrounds every weekend, and then toward the end of the season, they have their annual Carp Fair. It's pretty much what you think of whenever you think of a county fair in the States: a midway with rides, livestock, tons of food, etc. Everything is overpriced, but it tends to be a fun way to spend the afternoon.

To make things easier on ourselves, this year we brought one of Lucas's friends, Zach, with us. The idea was that if he had a friend with him, he wouldn't get bored, and they could keep each other entertained. It was a pretty good idea for the first hour or so, until they started getting hyper, and that's when they would either run off on us (either together or separate), or start fighting each other over random things. Based on past playdates Lucas has had with Zach and other kids, this is pretty much par for the course. Other kids are fun for a while, but after a while, it starts to devolve. I assume this is probably natural behavior.

In any case, I've talked enough for now. Here are some of the highlights from our visit to Carp Fair 2011.

Lucas provides an example of how not to travel down the massive inflatable slide.

I may have been a little too exuberant on the ride in this next picture. It's one of those ones that has a wheel in it that the passengers can manually turn to increase the speed of the strawberry's spin. I realized I needed to tone it down when both Lucas and Zach went flying. That said, they loved it and were laughing up a storm while narrowly avoiding concussions.

Marilu had to go down the burlap sack slide with Lucas while Zach went solo. Honestly, Lucas can be a bit of a pansy when it comes to rides.

If I recall correctly, this picture was taken just after they started to get hyper. We had the two of them sit on this bench in order to calm down a bit. Didn't help at all, but at least we got a decent picture out of it.

Admit it, this looks fun.

You can't go to an agricultural fair and not take at least one picture of pigs.

Last picture of the day and arguably the best.

Woohoo, September 2011 is in the books! Onward to October! Eventually. For now, I'm going to post this and then watch an episode of Breaking Bad. Night all!