CAT | Pictures
I’m sure Kyler still doesn’t fully get things like Halloween. To him it was just a day when the doorbell rang more often and mom & dad actually opened the door vs. avoiding solicitors.
The highlight for me was carving a pumpkin. There’s an old photo of my dad and I (couldn’t find a digital version of it – sorry) carving a pumpkin at the dinner table. I had been looking forward to duplicating those photos with Kyler. He really got a kick out of carving a pumpkin — how could he not? It was messy, gooey and we used a knife to destroy something making it into a silly face … pretty much describes: ‘best toy ever’ for any boy.
He clearly had a bit of an attachment to it. He often wanted to go outside and check on it. He was curious about how it lit up. He wanted to make sure it was still there if he forgot about it for more than 15 minutes. Although the next day – he could care less.
We didn’t get to visit any houses with him dressed up – which we weren’t expecting to… its Minnesota after all; we were thankful it didn’t snow. But he still had fun just the same.
In all, we had about 12-20 kids stop by. I was giving out handfuls of candy by the end of the night to try to get rid of it. The kid next door saw his bag go from empty to pretty full in one house, looked up at me and said “Woah!” – Glad I made his day.
Anyway… pictures from the whole thing:
We just got back from the South Dakota Convoy, an event that raises money for the Special Olympics. I’ve never been to this before and have heard lots of stories about it from Johna’s dad, who gets quite involved in running the event. Among other things, there were music performances, an auction and the biggest convoy of semi trucks in the U.S. – an impressive parade that runs through the heart of the city.
We’ve got lots of pictures and videos from the event, so here’s a starter set of a few from the event and our weekend there visiting with family…
More random photo updates from this summer. Check out the captions in the large version of each photo (click on the photo) to see what’s goin’ on in each. Enjoy.
Last weekend, we took Kyler out to the farmer’s market – where he loved checking out the flowers and other kids, and then to a local park – where he enjoyed the 3 mile walk (most of which was from the comfort of his favorite stroller) but he did take time to walk around and even try walking some of it backwards.
Kyler LOVES trains. (He loves cars and airplanes too, but that’s a different story.) Lately the only thing he wants to talk about is trains. We think this came about because the library and local bookstore both have Thomas the Train train set tables that he loves to play with.
The Disney Channel show “Choo Choo Soul” might have had something to do with it as well. He doesn’t really watch the show (or any TV for that matter) he just likes the theme song.
We decided he would get a kick out of Choo Choo Bob’s, a store in St. Paul specializing in all things train.
He. Loved. It.
We also couldn’t help but notice that most of the kids there were all boys about the same age (although with more hair) as Kyler. Incase you’re wondering – none of those kids had an easy time actually leaving the store. Its an easy store to go to, a hard one to get OUT of.
Last weekend, we took Kyler up to Maple Grove days – an event we attended for a whole 45 minutes, if that. But we got to see what Kyler was most interested in (diggers, trucks, etc.). The highlight of the trip was picking up a construction hat, which as you can see, Kyler took quite seriously the rest of the weekend.
Kyler loves Mickey Mouse (“mee mou” as he says). That statement shouldn’t surprise anyone considering his parents. During our last trip to Disneyland we made sure to introduce him to Mickey in person, which he loved. We learned that Kyler likes the characters that are shorter (Mickey, Dale, Chip) and loves it when they have big noses and let him kiss (or in one case, lick) their nose.
Hmmm… they clean those costumes regularly, right?
Anyway… we met Mickey at his house and, for the first time ever, used the Disney PhotoPass service where they take a picture of you and issue you a card where you can look at the photos on-line and then order them. One of the really cool things about Disney is that they will still take a picture with your camera if you want even though they staff a “professional” photographer for the purpose of trying to sell the photo.
I should have asked them for a photo on my camera. I didn’t because I figured their camera was nicer, it was a “pro” photographer and even the lighting in the room seemed to be rigged specifically. I figured that all this person has to do is take 700 photos each day with a pre-set camera in a room specifically designed to get great photos of your kids meeting Mickey.
I’ll let you judge the quality of those photos based on the thumbnails below. I’d try PhotoPass again, but now I’m not going to hesitate to ask them to use my camera as a “backup plan.” — Regardless, it was SOOOO cool to introduce Kyler to Mickey. He loved it and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Even if the pictures didn’t come out great, the memory did!
I have also posted some more pictures from the trip on Facebook and will post some here as well whenever I find time.
Johna did her annual girls’ weekend leaving Kyler and I to fend for ourselves (read: do whatever WE wanted to do). Kyler wasn’t about to let me off the hook and he let me know it right away Saturday morning with a 6:30am wake up call. I ignored the first request.
6:40: “Daddy. Daddy.”
6:45: “Daddy! All done.”
6:47: “Daddy!! All done! Daddy. Up!”
By 6:48am we were both up. I thought he might go for sleeping in mom and dad’s bed for a bit. He did. For two minutes. Then it was all business.
“Daddy. All done. Up. Shower!”
I figured I was going to loose this battle so I got up, made some coffee (incorrectly) and got him some milk. He insisted that I get the day started.
“Daddy. Shower!”
Kyler’s a man of few words and doesn’t waste time getting to the point.
I got ready and decided Kyler and I should have breakfast together, preferably cooked by someone else. We went straight to “THE Original Pancake House” (that’s how its written on their sign, which suggests that there is a Pancake House, an Original Pancake House and then THE Orig… eh, you get the idea…).
A few things hit me during breakfast. First, at some point, I became completely comfortable wearing (not carrying, but WEARING) the floral Vera Bradley diaper bag / backpack that we carry Kyler’s stuff in. Second, I no longer forget stuff like milk or diapers when leaving the house. Third, I’ve really become comfortable taking Kyler out on my own – it wasn’t until we were at the restaurant that I realized there would be a number of single-parent-for-the-weekend logistical challenges … like keeping him entertained.
But the two of us did fantastic! We read a book while waiting for the table. Colored a bit when seated and then fought over pancakes. I assumed he and I could share an order along with a small fruit cup, however it became clear quickly that it would be a race to see who could eat more. He won.
We then went shopping. Kyler helped pick out clothes that mommy later vetoed. (The guy at the store said I needed to wear it with “swagger” to get by … judging by the fact that I didn’t know “swagger” was required for the clothing I picked, I promptly returned them.) We also went out to the airport to look at planes. Kyler decided to sleep right before we got there.
Misc. errands, lunch at Noodles, some puppy kisses from Charlotte, the dog of a woman I didn’t know who was out shopping and thought Kyler was as cute as Kyler thought her puppy was, and some playtime outside later, we called it a day, wrapping up with dinner with my brother.
The next morning, Kyler hit “repeat.”
6:30: “Daddy. Daddy!”
6:35: “Daddy. All done. Daddy. Up! Daddy!”
I figured I’d just skip the dance and get to the point. I got up, got him some milk and headed for the shower when he stopped me…
“Daddy. Paka.”
What?
“Daddy. Paka! Paka!”
Pancakes?
(nods) “Aga. Paka.” (“aga” means “again”)
Hey… if Kyler wants pancakes, then Kyler’s gonna get pancakes. We got ready and returned to restaurant a day later and a bit smarter. Or so I thought. Kyler managed to plow through the entire berry cup, the kids 5x 1 dollar pancakes and as much of my pancakes as he could fit into his mouth while still saying “mo, pleees.”
While I didn’t take nearly enough pictures of the weekend, the two of us had a great time. I enjoyed absolutely every moment of it. While I missed Johna during her trip, I think there’s something important about Kyler and I bonding like this over these weekends. He and mom get to bond all throughout the day every week, I only get to spend time with him when I’m not working … so some one-on-one time does a lot of good.
The pictures below were from a walk we took before having lunch. Kyler loved the “wa-wa” and seemed to be just as pensive looking at the water as the pictures below suggest he was.
I had the opportunity to go to a truly historic place in my last trip to Chicago. Wrigley is a cool place – so cool that no one is allowed to start the wave (really – I saw people yelling at a group of college kids trying to do so).
Here are a few pictures from my trip. These are taken from the bleechers, which is a GREAT place to watch the game from. Next time I want to do a rooftop party instead. That looked like a blast!
Just a quick post to share some pictures from the weekend.
