Summer!!!

"Parkkkkkk"

If you have talked to Lucca in the past month, somewhere in the conversation she probably told you she wants to go to the PARKKKKKKKKKKKK. She wakes up and says "park(kkkkk)", she gets dressed and says "parkk", lunch and then parkkk...you get the idea. I really need to get a video of the way she emphasizes the "K" sound in this word. She would make our German and Russian ancestors very proud. I've started to drive out of the neighborhood a different way than usual, so we avoid seeing the park when we aren't headed there. She knows her park. And loves her park.

We spend many moments here. It's nothing fancy, but it's a sweet old neighborhood park with wooden climbing structures and metal slides. It's Lucca's park and she knows the entire thing, inside and out. She knows where she can play, where she can't play, how to climb the baby slide, how to ask for help to climb the big slide. We count the fish, she points to all the different colored fish, she points to the pelican that sits above the swings and says "tweet-tweet". We play basketball and soccer, dig in the sand and count rocks. We roll down the hills, stopping to pick flowers and toss blades of grass. These days are SWEET.

The best ball ever

Future athlete

Where's Lucca?

Collecting leaves

A little one-on-one basketball

The fish

Lucca's new favorite spot

Lucca's Backyard

Father's Day 2010

Dear Lucca,

You have one of the best daddy's on the planet. If he loved you any more, his heart would explode out of his chest. He is probably your favorite person, and I can see why. He's mine too. I think you knew it was Father's Day, because you treated your daddy even more special than you usually do, and gave him lots of sweet baby kisses all day long...

Saw this, read this, loved this...

Stealing this little gem from Dad-isms blog ...

Pretend you went shopping for a new car one day and found the model you liked, no loved, but decided not to go into debt for it and instead, pretend you saved for nine months.

At the start of the tenth month, pretend you went and bought it - your dream car!

Now pretend twelve weeks later, I (a stranger you hadn’t even ate lunch with) asked if I could drive your new car for a few hours every day, promising to take good care of it and returning it to you before you got off of work. Would you let me do it or would you think I was crazy for asking?

Now pretend that car is your child.

…………………………………………………………………..

Your children would rather have your time than your second income

Thanks for the perspective, Dad-ism. I'd have to agree.