Cleared for launch!

Just a quick one

We are soon going to visit family but I came across this shot I grabbed while experimenting with lenses for my new camera and I just thought it was so awesome I had to share it. Loads of updates will be on the way after the Halloween weekend.

Hot Wheels update

Jack slept with his new Hot Wheels car -- it came with the shark set -- last night. He awoke at 5:30 or so when Genevieve was leaving for work and she was soothing him back to sleep. With his little eyes scrunched up he grumpily dug in his bedclothes for a bit until his hands emerged clutching his Hot Wheels car. Grasping it to his chest, he laid back on his pillow and went right back to sleep.

Jack woke this morning and came toddling into my office as usual, rubbing his eyes and clutching his car. He climbed into my lap for the traditional wake-up hugs and then sat up and told me his car had a new name, "Flamefire." And apparently its engine can pop up and has guns that shot flames and it can transform and stand up and so on and so on. "Awesome!" I said.

"Breakfast time!" I said. He held up his five fingers. "OK. I'm going to play with my Hot Wheels shark for this many minutes."

"OK, buddy." And so he did.

Hot Wheels

Jack filled up his Transformers sticker chart today!
Which means he gets a trip to the toy store to get a big toy. The chart is huge so this only comes around a couple of times a year. Jack has wanted the Hot Wheels Shark Bite Bay set forever. Every trip to the toy store there has been a stop at the Hot Wheels aisle to press its little button and hear the rude taunts of the shark whose pointy teeth await all Hot Wheels foolish enough to venture near.

Well he finally got it today and apart from a brief PB&J break he has been playing with it ever since. That was 11:30. It is past 7 now.

Jack's Hot Wheels mania is very familiar to me. As a kid in the 1960's Hot Wheels were an absolute obsession. We did not have talking sharks and some of the other crazy stuff they have today, but they still make all the classic stuff I remember well. I am looking forward to years of Hot Wheels fun with Jack.

Nothing says Deutschland . . .

. . . Like the great taste of churros!

At the Montrose Oktoberfest

Jack on the giant slide

This is just a test post from my iPhone. But so as not to disappoint, here is a picture of Jack. Went to the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature tonight, along with Ryan and Uly. Super fun!

Right in the kisser . . .

Since I am removing my Facebook presence more or less, I am experimenting with different ways to put my pictures of Jack on the web. Looks like Picasa is it, with the ability to stream a slidehow of an entire album onto a blog. This is an album from way back in January, waiting for the shuttle to the Rose Parade Floats on New Year's Day. Jack went crazy giving Mommy a zillion kisses. I used on of these for a special print I had framed for Genevieve for Mother's Day.

Little Elton

Biker Boy

Jack busted out the wheels today, well under his own steam (and a little of Dad's) on the street for the first time. Genevieve got some great pictures, which you can click here to see.

Ansel Adams, eat your heart out

I just got done uploading a bunch of pictures from Jack's kid camera, complete with his comments on them. Click here and enjoy!

Happy 4th of July!

Had an awesome family trip to San Diego for the holiday weekend. We don't get away much -- at all -- on little fun family trips. That's changing this summer for sure! Click here to see all the photos.

Father's Day 2009

Had a totally awesome Disneyland Father's Day with my wife and my boy yesterday. Click here to go to a small album of photos of the day and enjoy the video below in which Jack creates a new genre -- the Father's Day carol, much to the delight of passersby at Disneyland who clapped and danced as we walked past.

Transform and Roll Out!

Jack and I went to the Botcon in Pasadena last weekend and what an awesome time we had! Botcon is Hasbro's convention for fans and collectors of Transformers toys. We were there for hours and had a wonderful time. A bunch of pictures are on Facebook here.

Indiana Jack is Back!

Over on Facebook, there's a bunch of photos of a certain intrepid archaeologist who made an appearance in our yard following a long absence.

Click here to check them out.

Welcome back, Indy. It's been too long.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

So even though most of the updating these days goes on over on Facebook, I'd be extremely remiss to not post something on this, the occasion of Jack's 4th birthday.

To think back to when Genevieve and I loaded up a Budget rental truck and her Beetle with all our stuff and set off for California is to think of a time when we never expected, for lots of reasons, some of them medical, to have a little guy like Jack running around less than a year later. Here we are now, five years on, and life is better because he is here with us.

I will always remember the unforgettable moment when Jack was born. Right up until that second, regardless of whatever I thought or how earnestly I believed otherwise, I was at the center of my little universe. When he appeared the sensation was one I can only describe as every point of reference I ever had for anything suddenly shifting and dizzyingly centering on this tiny little baby drawing his first breath.

I don't need to repeat the details of the first few days of Jack being here -- the joys, the worries, all the common stuff first-time parents experience -- because it's all well-documented, almost minute-by -minute, right here. All I can say is, I never imagined myself being a Daddy and yet here I am, assembling and reassembling Transformers for a little person who is immensely clever, witty and self-possessed for a 4-year old, for whom I have nothing but a kind of loving feeling I never knew I was capable of before he arrived. Not that I don't love my wife, my mom, and so on, but parents know what I am talking about. It's like suddenly a little switch turns on and you have the ability to have a new and really intense emotion. It's rather something to come across this in your forties, to find that there's a whole set of feelings waiting for you. It's like popping your head up through a drop-ceiling tile and finding, instead of a ceiling, an entire beautiful universe up there. And it's been up there the entire time, waiting for you to come and see it, and you didn't even know.

Now, at nights, when I stop by to check on Jack and I look at this sweet, silly, smart little boy sleeping so peacefully, I find that if anything, these feelings are richer, deeper, becoming more burnished and resonant with the passage of time. Jack, I never expected you, and how you've made me a better person. Your mommy and I love you so, so much, sweetie. Happy Birthday.

Lots more birthday photos here and here.

Happy St Patrick's Day

By request

Made a print of this and had it framed for Genevieve for Valentine's Day.

More fun with Megan

Jack is a lucky duck! Hs new best buddy Megan had her plane to Chicago get cancelled due to the heavy weather, so her departure was delayed. And that meant more big fun in the Batcave!

And plenty more fun with Megan's iPhone which she bravely shared with Jack. He especially enjoyed the lightsaber.

It's saying a lot for Apple's interface design, to say that my 3 3/4 year old had a good handle on how to use it within an hour of picking it up.

Jack and Aunt Megan

From Aunt Megan and Jack

Genevieve's wonderful sister Megan is visiting and for Jack that means just one thing: a playmate! They were out playing in Jack's sand-table today so I grabbed a few cute shots.