Kidologist.com: Karl Bastian’s Personal Site and Blog
Archive for Luke
November 11, 2008 at 11:32 pm · Filed under Disney, Family, Luke
One of the highlights of our trip to California was getting to take our little boy to Disneyland for the first time. He has a Disneyland Sing-along DVD that his Aunt Meepa gave him, so he’s known where we were going as the days got closer. As I’m sure millions of other parents have experienced, the real joy of a Disney park is getting to watch a young child experience it.
The first “ride” was the shuttle from the parking garage and already Luke was all smiles and excited! His joy kept us going all day long.
Here we are at the first Photo-Op. I grew up close to Disneyland, so even though Walt Disney World is bigger and in some ways better, I still like Disneyland in California the best.
What fun to be showing my son around a place I came countless times as a child. Oh, the memories I have in this magical place, and its surprised me how much it looked exactly as I remembered it.
We had silly fun everywhere, even in the stores.
Of course, Mommy found the Tea Cups!
There are so many little things to explore. Walt sure knew kids.
One of our main goals was to meet Mickey Mouse. So when we found his house, Luke was beside himself with excitement!
Soon we were heading in to Mickey’s Mouse’s House!!
AND FINALLY, WE MET THE MAN! Er, THE MOUSE HIMSELF!!
But Mickey wouldn’t be so friendly if he found out that his dear Minnie had a thing for Luke! We got pictures with a bunch of the Disney characters, but I think the highlight for Luke was discovering Mickey’s car which he pointed out to me all by himself, “Mickey Mouse Car Daddy! Mickey Mouse Car!” as he ran over.
You can always count on Lukie McQueen to discover any cars!
Luke spent more time in Mickey’s car than he did with the Mouse himself!
Turns out there are lots of things to drive at Disneyland! Soon Luke was pointing out all the cars, and he went on Autopia over and over. (We had almost no lines the two days we went)
Finally, Luke got to be the driver and daddy the passenger. (Who helped a little)
This truly is the Happiest Place on Earth!
No where else can a two year old get to actually drive so many different types of vehicles. He was in heaven!
There’s just something about being behind the wheel for a boy of any age.
Luke was filled with gratitude and kisses all day long!
I’ve always enjoyed amusement parks but it’s such an incredible joy to experience Disneyland as a parent taking a child. I loved every second of it, even though my wallet and feet were sore by the end of the day, it was worth it. We’ll definitely be back in February! (When I go to CPC in San Diego)
November 3, 2008 at 5:25 pm · Filed under Family, Luke, Uncategorized
According to All-Things-Disney-Expert, Steve Tanner, while the movie Cars made nearly 500 million at the box office, by summer 2007 it had grossed over 2 billion in merchandise sales! (source) We certainly can relate! We have Cars toys, clothes, sippy cups, band-aids, towel, blanket, snacks, even an ice packet to help put ice on owwies.
And now, the Halloween costume!
Lightening McQueen? More like Lukie McQueen with his Pit Chief!
Lukie McQueen with Mommy.
Now that’s one good lookin’ kid! It was fun to go Trick or Treating… starting at Grandma and Grandpa’ and then going with cousins. Luke enjoyed the walking and seeing the lights and cars at various houses. The candy wasn’t that big a deal.
After thirty minutes he said he didn’t want any more candy. “Enough,” he says. We didn’t argue. So we headed over to a church outreach that had thousands of visitors. They had game rooms, live music, petting farm, food, pumpkin patch, a cake walk, and so much more. But Luke’s favorite (of course) was the cars on display!
A Sheriff Hummer! (your tax dollars at work)
Lukie McQueen always manages to find a cool car! No matter what we were doing, Luke kept saying, “Go see cars? Go see cars?” He absolutely loves cars.
A highlight (pun) was getting to see a spotlight up close!
I, of course, saw a chance for some photography.
I suggested they add a Bat Symbol! Got a bunch of cool shots, but figure most of you would rather not have to look at too many!
It was a great evening of candy and cars! After over fifteen years of organizing or planning Halloween outreaches, it was so nice to just attend one as a dad. It felt weird, but it was really nice to just be focused on one child… my own.
October 18, 2008 at 10:02 pm · Filed under Adventures, Family, Life, Luke, Photography
The annual pass to Brookfield Zoo has turned out to be a good investment. Free parking. Free admission. Free soda. (good on the wallet, not so much on the waist!) Free shuttle ride. Free shows. Too bad it takes about $20 in gasoline for us to get there and back!
Of course, we saw all kinds of animals! (Took the ones above from the tram!) I enjoy taking pictures of the animals - I do not enjoy smelling them!
However, it is not the animals that Luke enjoys the most. Oh, sure, he likes them. He’ll look at them when we point, and can even identify several by name. But there are other “creatures” on display at the Zoo that he will run to! And he’ll spend more time with each of these “animals” studying them, than he will on anything with fur or wings or hooves. Yup, you guessed it, the Cars on display from various dealerships.
Oh, yes. The cars. When we said we are going to the Zoo today, Luke’s answer is, “See Cars?” But our favorite thing about the Zoo is not the animals or the cars… it is being in a safe place where Luke can run around and enjoy a rare form of freedom to lead us around for a change, and for me, it is a wonderful opportunity for my hobby - “Luke Photo Journalism.” Here are some of my favorites from today. (Thanks for indulging me!)
Luke enjoying the playground. It’s a tunnel!
Luke behind bars… “I’m innocent!”
Luke, the fashion model.
Luke, the old fashioned greeting card.
Eager to get on the carousel.
Around and around with Dad.
Proof that I take pictures of my wife too!
It was a great day hanging out with the family. One of my good friends, Alan Root, said recently at Kid U, “Every day God gives us a gift - he gives us today. That is why it is called the Present.” It was a good reminder to live in the moment and enjoy TODAY. As Jesus said, “Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Today was a present.
October 13, 2008 at 9:34 pm · Filed under Family, Luke
Today was the third awesome day in a row. After Touch a Truck on Saturday, the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, and a birthday outing for my little sister today - tomorrow is looking to be quite drab when I get back to normal work life. But a good three days it was, and a great way to start my week.
It was a day of thrills for little Luke today!
We went to the Richardson Family Farm which boasts the World’s Largest Corn Maze!
An Aerial View, though it wasn’t so green today!
They have an observation tower so you can see the maze from quite high!
Luke climbed and counted all ninty stairs by himself. (climbed that is, I counted for him)
He enjoyed looking down as we got up high.
Once at the top, the view was pretty awesome!
Here is Luke with cousin Tricia. Mom didn’t want to risk her life in tall wooden structure, though she sent her husband and son just fine!
While the view wasn’t a high as when Luke did the Ludington Lighthouse, it was pretty high up there. I had fun spotting people far away with my telephoto lense and yelling to those below us, “You’re going the wrong way!”
Then it was time to head into the maze ourselves!
They provide you with a map that shows 24 places you are supposed to find.
Luke actually caught on and would say, “There another sign, Daddy!”
Mommy and Luke taking an illegal short cut! (Well, they were following Daddy)
Luke with the Birthday Girl!
They had a few bridges where you could get your head above the corn.
Eventually we got out! Luke surprised me when we went down the 50 foot giant tube slide by saying “AGAIN!” at the end. Usually he is content to do things like that once.
We went several times. At the end of the day, he asked to go one more time, and this time at the top he said, “Go alone.” I about fell over. So I let him go alone with me right behind. I know it will be all too soon that he beats me to the top of the hill and is down before I’ve climbed the stairs.
Luke was a good sport as Mom and Dad posed him around the place at various “photo ops”
He’s becoming quite the little poser with his scrunched up silly smile. We even took some pictures in the maze for our Christmas Letter with a tripod and timer, but you’ll have to wait to see those.
It was a great day with the family enjoying what’s left of warm fall weather. it’s gonna be hard tomorrow to get into a normal work day mode. But it was a fantastic weekend. It’s been awhile since I blogged three family events in three days! Thanks for letting me share them with you.
October 11, 2008 at 1:32 pm · Filed under Family, Luke
Today we got to take Luke to a local event that was the perfect event for a little boy, it was called simply, “Touch a Truck” which is exactly what our little car lover dreams about at night!
Luke was a little intimidated by the size of the vehicles. It actually took a little encouragement to get him to sit in the drivers seat. He was a little overwhelmed. I don’t think he’d see trucks this big up close before.
But he liked any time he saw levers or switches… fortunately they didn’t actually DO anything!
The Police car was a highlight, of course, and he even got to sit in the back seat, somewhere I explained he doesn’t want to get a ride in the future! I also was happy to learn that a laptop mount in the front is not illegal. Hmmmmm…
I think I even enjoyed getting to see a city snow plow up close and personal.
The fact that I could climb inside the plow tells you it is BIG!
And how often do you get to climb into the front containers of a garbage truck? Yes, they were very clean! (also pretty rare!)
Fire trucks are always a treat… though the sirens made him a little nervous. But I suppose that’s a good thing, they are supposed to alert people to danger.
Finally, Luke found one his size. And this isn’t a prop, it has a functioning engine, and in fact, was driven on the road to the event. (Granted a few blocks with police escort.)
I think the construction vehicles were Luke’s favorites. All boys wish they could operate one of these. (Big boys too!)
It was a perfect way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning. MANY THANKS TO MOM WHO TOOK THE PICTURES!
September 20, 2008 at 8:29 pm · Filed under Family, Luke
Today was the day we finally gave Luke another haircut. We love his curly hair, but when it starts getting in his eyes we know we have to cut it again. It’s a bummer because he always seems to age three months with a hair cut. We know, “It’ll grow back” - but he’s so stinkin’ cute with those curls! Too bad, today was hair cutting day! And for the past two years Sara has been cutting both boys hair to save money. (haircut prices have gotten ridiculous if you ask me!)
Here he is, all smiles and read to go under the knife,
er, scissors anyway.
That’s one curly head!
Our personal hair stylist at work!
Bye, Bye Bangs!
(my wife would like to ask you not look at the
messy counters in the background)
Oops, was that an ear lobe?
Elmo helps the time go by as mommy sculpts the head.
It’s a brand new boy!
Is this the same boy!?!? Amazing how different he looks.
But either way, the shirt is still true!
September 20, 2008 at 8:05 pm · Filed under Family, Luke
First off, I have to say, my sister is the ultimate party planner. She puts together the most amazing themed parties for her kids (sample). Today was no exception. It was an overnight camping Indiana Jones theme where they went geo-caching for treasure and every kid got an archeologist bag, brown fedora and a whip! Due to having a two year old, we came for the morning fun. It was a beautiful forest preserve I’ll be returning to for hiking! Luke took to the trails immediately…
It is right along the Fox River in Cary, so there were many water views on the hike.
One funny sight (that I couldn’t take a picture of) was three guys fishing with beer bottles. A poor man’s technique perhaps. They tied fishing line to the neck of their beer, threw the line out, drank while waiting, and when then got a bite, wound the line around the beer bottle to reel it in. Yes, we saw them catch one!
One of the kids caught a craw fish. Going with the theme, we just pretended it was a scorpion!
I showed my son how to intimidate a small creature by returning its taunts right back at it!
While he wasn’t given one, due to his age, Luke found a whip and quickly was giving the bigger kids an amazing demonstration on how to do it!
Which is how he earned the title, “Illinois Luke.” Yup, that’s my boy!
September 15, 2008 at 7:29 am · Filed under Devotional, Family, Life, Luke, Parenting, Spiritual Growth
For the first time in his little life my son woke up crying because of a nightmare. We awoke to his tears and like a good father I ran upstairs to see what my little boy needed. Did he climb out of the climb and fall? Did he get an arm or leg stuck through the railings? Did he drop a toy or binkey that he can’t sleep without?
Nope. He saw a cow. (don’t laugh)
I came in the room, “Daddy’s here, everything’s O.K.” to see his fear filled eyes looking to me for salvation. He reached out to me like someone drowning reaching for the life guard. I scooped him up, and seeing that nothing was physically wrong, asked, “What’s the matter, Lukie?”
“Cow!” he whispered in my ear as he pointed up toward the ceiling. “Cow up in the sky.” I put his head on my shoulder so he wouldn’t see the smile I couldn’t resist. My voice remained deeply concerned but my face couldn’t hide the silent laughter at such a cute fear. I was so happy the scariest thing in his little world is a cow in the sky! He clung to me as I tried to gather more info through simple questions. I learned that the cow was in the sky, that he had a white nose and was black. That’s about all he could tell me with his limited language skills. What seemed cute and silly to me was terrifying to him.
I’m not sure where the evil cow image came from. We haven’t watched any slasher cow movies lately and I’m not sure we have even exposed him to the cow that jumped over the moon. (I was just glad he didn’t say Darth Vader or I’d have been in big trouble!)
I held him for awhile and then put him back to bed but 30 minutes later the scary cow returned as did the tears. So I spent the night in the guest room holding my boy close so he could finally sleep assured that no cows were going to get him as long as he was snuggled up to daddy. Daddy slept fine. He knew there was no danger from cows in the sky, but to my boy the threat was real until he was in his daddy’s arms.
It makes me wonder…
How silly do my fears look to God? What things do I worry about that God has to hide his smile, how silly and cute they are from His perspective? But how loving and patient and caring my Abba Father, my Daddy is, who will come to me at any time, running even, when He hears my cries, and he will hold me. And listen to me, and wrap His loving arms around me and say, “It’s O.K. I’m here.” And if I need it, He’ll even spend the night with me. He has nothing to fear, and when He is close, neither do I.
Have you hugged your God today?
August 3, 2008 at 8:31 pm · Filed under Life, Luke
As I was reflecting today (a combination of praying, panicking and planning) God gave me a message that I just needed to post, mostly for myself - though if it encourages you, then so be it.
I’ve just completed Day #2 of “Operation Mr. Mom” - nine days solo with my boy. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t mind ONE BIT, in fact today was a perfect day filled with church, a special meal out, lots of love and cuddles and playful fun and even a a boat ride for dinner courtesy of a friend who loaned me their pontoon boat for the evening. I’m not complaining, but I am thinking about how I’m going to do this week. I’ll do less work, for sure, by design as well as necessity, and I refuse to farm the boy out (though I’ve had many offers!) but it’s tough enough on the boy having mom gone so long, I want to be around as much as possible; after all, he’s used to having mom when I’m out of town.
Anyway, I was thinking through everything on my plate, current projects, the usual constant communication load, and then not only keeping up with the boys constant needs (can’t I just change his diaper once a day?) but also the house, I’m not going to let it all go until the wife gets home, I’d like to grow in my appreciate of her by doing what she normally does while caring for him - yes, I want to keep up with it all, and yet I am acutely aware of my own limitations! So I was “reflecting” (as defined above) when God gave me a simply message. Ready? Here it is:
“Start and end each day right, and you’ll be able to handle whatever happens in between.”
That may not seem earth shattering to you - but for me it was rather profound. Because I am too quick to allow my day to start rushed from sleeping in to the last possible minute, and allowing work and tasks to keep me up too late. (those two bad habits, of course, feed each other.)
So instead of making a list of tasks to do this week, I’m instead making two list: 1) What it means to start my day right and 2) What it means to end my day right.
I won’t share those lists with you - but let me encourage you to make them yourself. Already, I have a peace about my week as I have determined how I will start and end each day. Somehow the in between isn’t so daunting now. And part of ending well means going to bed, so…
GOOD NIGHT!
July 27, 2008 at 5:59 pm · Filed under Family, Life, Luke, Parenting, Post via iPhone
There’s just something about a boy and his watermelon. I love how everything Luke does he does with so much joy. There is nothing mundane or normal to him. What is routine for us is pure excitement for him. Whether it be simply getting dressed, taking a bath, picking up toys or eating a watermelon - he approaches everything with such a sense of adventure and joy that I wonder sometimes why we lose the pure satisfaction from the simple things in life. Why do we need vacations or thrill parks or something “new” or risk to excite us?
What if we could find deep joy and satisfaction in something as ordinary as a watermelon?
My boy has taught me that. My joy comes from sharing in his.
The next time you have to do something ordinary or mundane… smile.
Your Heavenly Father is watching and delighting in your life too.
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