Some updates

I was planning to post pictures this week of Marilu and Lucas donating their hair last weekend for the children's hospital, but then I ended up getting really sick mid-week and kind of forgot about everything for a few days. I'm just now remembering on Sunday night, just as I am about to head to bed so the pictures will have to wait since they aren't on the computer yet.

What I will update you with is some sports news. Hockey sortouts wrapped up last week, and Lucas was assigned to a team on Thursday. The "bad" news is that he is still is House B (we thought he has a shot at House A), but the great news is he is back with our favorite coach. Craig was his coach 2 and 3 years ago, on the Coconuts and the Emojis. That news alone is enough to make us excited for the season. Thankfully, there is no sign whatsoever about Coach Dumbass from last year.

It's still going to be a couple of weeks until games start, but they did come up with a team name. In keeping with the wacky names, Lucas is now a member of the Cows.

In other sports news, Lucas had his sortouts for basketball today. Unlike hockey, everyone plays in the same division, but they do the sortouts to try and get balance on the teams. I think the basketball season will get underway in the next week or two.

I will do my best to have the hair donation pictures up tomorrow.

Junior High!

I know it's been a long while, but hot off the presses, here are this year's "first day of school" photos.

It seems hard to believe, but Lucas starts grade 7 at the high school today. Where has the time gone?

A big part of the delay in posting has been due to my photos folders being in a state of complete chaos. One of my goals for September is to get them cleaned up and orderly. Once they are manageable again, I will be posting more frequently. We are entering sports season--this year, field lacrosse, hockey, and basketball--so there will be plenty to see.

Ta-ta for now.

Lots of news!

I have to go to bed soon since I'm getting up WAY too early to bring my mom and Kevin to the airport, but so much happened today that I need to do some updating.

Before I get to today though, let's revisit Lucas's Sunday lacrosse playoff game. They were the #2 teams at the end of the season so in the first round of the playoffs, they faced the #3 team. Although they beat that team quite handily during the season by the score of 6-2, they got off to an ugly start, trailing 0-3 after the first period.

Thankfully, they found their groove, shored up their defense, and ended up winning the game 4-3, thanks to 4 straight goals by our top scorer and smallest kid on the team, Cooper. Here are some photos from that game. Lucas (#67) is easy to find since he wears his blue compression pants (or what I call man leggings) to every game.

The long break between second and third period.

#64 was our pint-sized big goal scorer.

Congratulating his goalie after the win.

Okay, back to the present. Today was Lucas's 6th grade leaving ceremony. Apparently, "graduating" from 6th grade is a thing. I kind of roll my eyes about it, but when in Rome. Whatever the case, it was actually a nice ceremony, and I'm still trying to figure out how the heck Lucas is old enough to be going to junior high next year!

Entering the ceremony...

Receiving his certificate.

And leaving.

On top of all that, the lacrosse peewee championship game was tonight. They were up against the only team that beat them this year. That team was coming in strong, having won their first playoff game 14-1. So how did it go? Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so here you go...

The champs!

It was a crazy game with his team taking an early 2-0 lead, but the other team kept finding a way to stay in the game. Lucas's team never fell behind though, and they ended up winning 8-6. Even better news is that Lucas scored his second goal of the season in the game (his first was in the last regular season game). He played very well tonight, and we were super proud of him.

So quite the day. Graduate sixth grade, spend most of the afternoon in a swimming pool at a graduation reception, and cap it all off with a lacrosse championship! Why can't they all be like that?

12th Birthday Party

Earlier today, Lucas had his 12th birthday party. It was his first actual party in a while since he had a sleepover last year and 2 years ago, we cancelled his party due to his behavior in the weeks leading up to his party. So it was good to get back to the basics.

This time around, we had it at a place called GlowSport Nerf Gun Battle. Just like it sounds, it's a facility that hosts Nerf gun battles in a neon and blacklight arena. I wasn't sure what to make of it when Marilu first made the reservation, but I'm glad we did since Lucas and the boys (9 of his closest friends) had an absolute blast.

I've included some highlights below.

Everyone met up at our place first, and then we drove in two separate cars to the facility.

The way the battle worked is that Lucas's team (team orange) played against another team. It turned out to be a perfect matchup as it was another 12-year-old's birthday party.

Once they entered the arena, they were issued Nerf guns from the Gun Store. There were 3 different levels of guns, with the kids earning higher levels as the game progressed. It's a really neat idea.

As the birthday boy, Lucas got to use a gun tier higher than the other kids.

Some shots of the kids strategizing.

The blacklight does wonders for Marilu and her false tooth. :)

After 90 minutes of battling, the boys sat down to some well-deserved fruit, chips, pizza, and cake.

Finally, we returned home and Lucas opened his gifts. At this age, the majority of them are money, which will probably go toward getting a new computer and monitor, something he has been saving for since last year.

Lucas's actual birth day is tomorrow, which is also Father's Day. We will be having dinner at The Keg, a steakhouse here in Ottawa. I will try to get some of the videos I took today up by the end of the weekend. Until then!

Houston, Part 4

Lucas's lacrosse team got back to their winning ways this week with a 6-2 win. For the record, it appears they have a revolving team name. Last week, they were the white watermelons (they have white jerseys). This week, they were apparently the Oompah Loompahs. I'll be sure to update with new team names as they happen.

The next day, Jon served up a delicious brisket that he had smoked all night. He was a little critical of it, but from a layman's perspective, it was one of the tastiest meals I've had in a while.I think I had three servings for lunch, which wasn't a great idea since shortly thereafter, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk, a popular Houston tourist attraction.

Here's Lucas posing with the gorgeous piece of meat.

We didn't get too photo crazy at the boardwalk so there isn't too much to see. Lucas and Marilu rode the ferris wheel while I wandered around. Their wait in line was around 45 minutes.

Picture of us out front. Ugh, I need to lose about 50 pounds.

This last pair of photos is kind of nifty. The first is from our most recent visit. The second is from when Marilu and I visited Houston for the first time back in 2004 (or maybe 2005?). We tried to stand in the same general area.Time has not been kind to yours truly!

This is a look at downtown Houston as we headed to the airport the next day.

And finally, this was the sight that welcomes us back to the frozen tundra of Ottawa, after a week of shorts and flip-flops.

Luckily, as I write this, it appears the cold weather is gone for until fall. But man, that was a crappy way to come back from vacation.

And thus, the Houston trip is over. I really need to organize my photos since they are a complete mess now, strewn across several folders and phones. Just the headache of figuring out where everything is has been the biggest obstacle to posting new stuff so bear with me as I try to make order of the chaos.

I think the next pictures I put up will be from our Easter trip down to Massachusetts since I think they are still on my phone so keep an eye out for those in the coming week. Until then, see ya!