The best part of Disneyland...

Disneyland_018.jpg
Originally uploaded by colorcritical.

Air Hockey.

Lucas loved the Air Hockey game next to Space Mountain in Tommorowland and I will always remember this day in 06 where my 4 year old would rather play Air Hockey than get on Space Mountain. I really don't blame him. Air Hockey is one of the classics, but snubbing his nose at Space Mountain. But then again, he has never been on Space Mountain so he really doesn't know of it's amazing thrills. I tried to describe it to him but he was smitted over, well you know...

Disneyland was great and you can see more images here. Being there brings back so many memories and if you hit it right like we did, mid October / mid week, the experience is stress free. The weather was mild and the lines were short. We basically waited for a max of 20 minutes for any given ride. Autopia was closed, as well as the Monorail, and so was Big Thunder Mountain but that didn't stop us. I was also impressed with California Adventure, especially an attraction called Soaring Over California, a virtual flying experince unmatched anywhere. It's the closest feeling you will get to real flight.

Another piece of advice is to eat in Downtown Disney. You can get Hagen Daz Ice Cream and a smoothie from Jamba. It's a great diversion.

We will be back (we got the yearly pass) and if you are new to parenthood be prepared for your kids to go wild (in a good way)

Lucas at August's 5th Birthday Party

Lucas at August's 5th Birthday Party
Originally uploaded by colorcritical.

Here Lucas is 4, not 5, but his friend from school Auggie (short for August) just turned 5 and is getting ready to go to Kindergarten. Justine and I really love this image I shot this weekend. We had a great week due to pre-school being closed for the week to make way for the new students and the new school year.

We went to Legoland and to Auggie's Party where there was a Reptile Show. Lucas got to touch and feel real snakes, skinks, and millipeedes. He also got to bounce like a madman in the jumper. Each morning this week we started the day off right by playing a few games like Namitz, Baloon Lagoon, or Quiddler. The hightlight of the week though was our family day on Thursday at Legoland where we rode rollercoasters such as "Project X" and "The Dragon", and played "Hide and Seek" in the "Hideaways. There is so much to do at Legoland we got the yearly pass and hope to go again and again.

Self Portrait and Chabo!

Self Portrait and Chabo!
Originally uploaded by colorcritical.

Lucas and I had a wonderful Sunday. He woke up happy and wanted to make BlueBerry Muffins. I could not refuse. We went to Albertsons to get a few missing ingredients like eggs and milk. Lucas got a cooking kit from our friend Kim and he was so happy to put it to use. We added the flour and baking soda, salt and sugar to the blueberry and egg milk mixture. The oven was pre-heated to 400 and we were ready to bake. Once we ate our muffins over a few Little Bear episodes, Lucas wanted to take pictures with the G2. I gave him a quick lesson in Photography and he was energized to take pictures of everything he owns and loves. My advice to him was, "Take pictures of things you like in your life." He took some grand images and I couldn't be more proud. He shot everything from me to his treehouse and as of now is running around the house looking for things to shoot.

Lucas 1 day before turning 4.

Lucas 1 day before 4.
Originally uploaded by colorcritical.

We can't believe it but Lucas has turned 4 years old Augest 1st. It seems like yesterday when he was just three years old. And now he is 4! Ok. That was barely funny. You can see he is growing up fast. His party is comming up on the 12th. We decided to wait because of my travel schedule and Justine's work schedule. The party will be great fun since lots of his friends from pre-school are invited as well as relatives from both sides of the family. Justine made Lucas a great home made cake (chocolate and vanilla w/chocolate frosting, decorated with purple kitties and yellow dinosaurs..his request) and cup cakes for all his school mates and we ordered all sorts of cool toys from the Magic Cabin Company. He opened his gifts with extreme excitement and started playing right way with his Junior Sudoku and Alphabet Stamps. He also got a great game called Bug Blast from Innovative Kids as well as Alphabet ABC Dice and Namits : The Game of Think from namits.com. To top it off he also got a really great activity book called The Only Activity Book You'll Ever Need by Klutz and "There's a Moose in the House" a really funny and thoughtful card game by Gamewright. He got that from Mamor. So as always check out some of the latest photos at our flickr site of everything from my travels and work, to images of Justine at her new amazing job, and images of Lucas being well Lucas. Until next post...see ya!