October - Halloween! (Part 4 of 4)

We arrived home from Grand Cayman just in time to prepare the house (and Henry) for Halloween! Typically Halloween would mean setting a pumpkin or two on your front porch, preparing a few treats for the neighbourhood kiddies and waiting for the ghosts and goblins to shout "Trick or Treat" at your door. Not so on our street. Halloween "Joseph Duggan" style is a production, in every sense of the word. A custom-built haunted house is erected, an elaborate dinner party is prepared for all to share, spooky sponsors line the sidewalks with hot coco, snacks and photo booths and the local TV reporters are vying for the best camera angles early on. Drawn in by the special effects screaming from the haunted house, an estimated 1200 people walked through our street on Halloween night. Last year Henry was only 6 months old and barely crawling, therefore he could not partake in the extravaganza. This year....it's a whole new ball game! Dressed up as his favourite character, ELMO, Henry ran up and down the street for nearly 3 hours. Passers-by would say "Hi Elmo!" and he would wave and reply "Hi!" To our surprise he was not frightened by the zombies and skeletons, instead he seemed intrigued and would often point at them with a curious "Ohhh!" Click here to watch.

More fun Halloween videos:

Video of Henry as Elmo.

Video of Frankenstein's lab rat in haunted house.

Video of people on our street and parts of the haunted house.

G & G with Elmo.

More photos of the Halloween production here.

Just for kicks, here is Henry's 2010 Halloween picture....

...our baby is now a little boy.

October - Vacation! (Part 3 of 4)

With the two week tour in the USA complete we made our way back to Toronto exhausted and in need of a vacation. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long. Grandpa and Grandma Kaasa arrived in town just a couple of days after we did and were admitted to Henry's Boot Camp. It only took 24 hours for them to become immersed in everything Henry. From diced avocado and cubed tofu to a snotty nose and a stinky diaper, they jumped right in and took over. After 4 days of Boot Camp they had mastered everything and were ready for the solo run. Mark and I left them with a condensed instruction manual (yes, I'm a tad compulsive about his schedule....just spend one day with him off-routine and you'll see why) and a GPS loaded with Henry friendly places around town and we jumped on a plane for Grand Cayman. Here are a few pictures from Henry's time with "Gaga" (no, not as in Lady, but as in Grandma OR Grandpa Kaasa...it's interchangeable).

Showing off his cutlery skills.

This means I'm done eating....

Grandma and Grandpa took Henry out to eat at Rainforest Cafe, one of his favourite places to dine.

They also went to the Ontario Science Centre which has a fantastic play area for children. Henry played in the mini-market and fell in love with a deer.

As for our trip to Grand Cayman, we'll share just a couple of photos....

.....that pretty much sums up the week! We snorkeled, swam with stingrays, relaxed a ton and had an amazing week, more photos if you click here. BIG BIG Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for taking such great care of Henry and Jake!

October (Part 2 of 4)

After our wonderful trip to Atlanta it was time to say our goodbye's and head back to Michigan. Mark celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct 10) alone as he rode the train from Windsor to Toronto; Henry and I rounded up Jake and settled in for a week in The Great Lake state. We drove out to St. Joseph (3 hours West) and stayed with the Hurdle's for a couple of days. Thanks to Auntie Aimee for a super-fun visit complete with warm chocolate chip cookies, homemade pizzas and our favourite...egg salad! Henry and Courtney played nonstop and danced their little behinds off(watch the video)while the big boys were at school.

Back in Detroit we made a quick trip to the market and Henry had his first ride in a grocery 'car', which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We had celebrating to do as Auntie Kristin's wedding was on the horizon. Henry had a great time at the rehearsal dinner playing with all of the kids and running around in the wooded backyard.

Another jam-packed week in Michigan was capped off with Kristin & Kevin's wedding AND a very important MSU victory over UofM!

We're home! (Part 1 of 4)

This post is WAY over-due so let me start by apologizing to all of Henry's fans who have been needing a "fix" for the past 6 weeks. October was a whirlwind of travel meaning lots of pictures and stories to share. We'll start with the first week of October and catch up from there... The 4 of us drove to Michigan in early October and checked Jake into 'Hotel Nana' for the week. The very next morning, sans our trusty body guard, we flew South to Atlanta, GA for the week. Grandma and Grandpa treated Henry like the little king that he is moving around furniture, installing special black-out curtains, and equipping his nursery with all of the comforts of home. Every morning Grandpa took Henry for a walk through their beautiful backyard (something in our home in Toronto lacks) and they chattted about acorns, golden leaves and that pesky woodpecker. Mark spent most of the week in meetings which left Henry and I to take in the city with Grandma Kaasa. First stop....Atlanta Botanical Gardens! Although I lived in Atlanta for two years prior to moving to Toronto I had never visited the gardens so it was a special treat for me too. Grandma found out there was a special Scarecrow Exhibit on display which Henry loved.

Next on the list of top attractions was the Georgia Aquarium, the largest in the world. Henry was mesmerized the moment we set foot in the door. Grandpa and Henry really enjoyed the massive Ocean Voyager saltwater tank which is home to four giant manta rays, four whale sharks and thousands of other fish. If you ever have the opportunity, it's definitely worth visiting.

The aquarium tuckered Henry out, he needed a little snack and a cuddle from Dada to make it through.

The Taylor's (Mark's sister, Kathy, her husband, Bill, and their four children...Zach, John, Owen and Caitlin) visited and we had time for a crazy family photo shoot. Mark and I made it to a Georgia Tech football game, caught up with friends and had a couple of very nice evenings out on the town. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for taking such great care of Henry (and US!) during our visit. We had a wonderful week!

Jake had his own fun hanging out with Max at Uncle Nate's pad.