Matthew Blackett – Page 3 – Dunster Blackett: The Life of Carly, Matt & Fitzgerald

August 2016: Faces, Ottawa cousins, and more birthdays

ABOVE & BELOW: Sorauren Park right across from our house is an amazing asset. Whenever Fitzy gets a little antsy we can run across the street to burn off some energy. One of his newest “things” to do is make faces. Here is displays his Angry Face, Sad Face, and Happy Face.

ABOVE & BELOW: We spent the Simcoe Day weekend in Ottawa where Fitz got to catch up with his cousin Jack and meet his new cousin Maggie.

ABOVE & BELOW: It was also Lee’s birthday so frozen popsicles were in store.

ABOVE & BELOW: Another fire fighter costume has been added to Fitzy’s wardrobe.

ABOVE & BELOW: August is a big month of birthdays for Fitz’s friends. We spent a Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Beach Park in the east end celebrating Callum’s third birthday. Fitz was joined by Abigail and Wyatt from daycare.

ABOVE & BELOW: Next up on the birthday list was Abigail. Her party was hosted in Trinity-Bellwoods Park near the splash pad. Fitz attended with Callum and Leo from daycare.

ABOVE & BELOW: An exciting sidebar to Abigail’s birthday was a sighting of the fabled White Squirrel of T-B Park. The kids chased it around and around and around.

July 2016: Science Centre, Coach Randy, swimming, and shirtless eating

We decided to get a family pass to the Ontario Science Centre so that we can take Fitz somewhere fun and educational on those awful days (ie, rainstorms, heat waves, and blizzards).

BELOW: This is Coach Randy, Fitz’s soccer mentor. Fitz sometimes imitates Randy when we play in the park. And all the ladies seem to like Coach Randy. You should also note the sticker on Fitz’s hand: after each soccer class they receive a sticker and Fitz is adamant to keep his sticker on for as long as possible.

ABOVE & BELOW: Costumes have now become a part of Fitz’s wardrobe, the first being a fire fighter’s outfit.

ABOVE & BELOW: We took Fitzy out to Milton to hang with his cousin Avery at her grandparent’s place. The main draw was the pool (and probably a promise of ice cream). Fitz was reluctant to get into the pool but just as we were about to call it a day he jumped in and spent another hour jumping and splashing with Avery and Aunt Angela and Carly.

ABOVE & BELOW: July was a very hot month — when the boys (Leo, Eli and Fitz) finish splashing around in a turtle pool they can eat with the minimal amount of clothes on.

July 2016: Canada Day long weekend at Geneva Park

On the Canada Day long weekend we took Fitz to the YMCA Geneva Park with our friend Andria and her kid Emmett. It doesn’t look like they were having fun, does it?

June 2016: Spring fun and a trip to Ottawa

ABOVE & BELOW: It was a dream come true for Fitz — we walked out one morning to find a digger parked in front of our house. He is beaming.

BELOW: In mid-June we got away to Ottawa where Fitz had a chance to work on his sandboxing, basketball, and swimming skills.

ABOVE & BELOW: We got a chance to hangout with Mae and Jenny.

May 2016: A professional haircut and party host

We finally did it — a professional haircut. We were tired of dreadlocks tangled on the back of his head, not to mention that he sometimes looked like a hobo. A very cute hobo, to be sure. He looks more boyish by the day and the haircut only perpetuates that.

ABOVE & BELOW: We hosted a little get-together with Fitz’s daycare friends Leo, Eli, and Kallum. They ate a lot of chocolate and treats and had a sugar crash (Paw Patrol helped ease them into a lull, no doubt), which is how Matt got these photos of them sitting still.

ABOVE & BELOW: Fitz got to play along the Humber River Bridge, one of the city’s waterfront icons. His new love of throwing rocks into sewers reached new heights with this visit.

April 2016: Fitzy takes California!

In April, the family took a 10-day vacation to Los Angeles to visit friends and absorb some much needed sun.

ABOVE & BELOW: Before and after takeoff.

The first people we visited was Ken and Susan. Ken and Matt have known each other since they were 4 years old. They played hockey and soccer together throughout their youth and went to the same middle and high schools.

Ken and Susan have two kids — their youngest is Kallum who is 3.5 and about 9 months older than Fitz. They obviously hit it off together. Above, they are all smiles because their bellies are full of ice cream. And below, you’ll see that Kallum has a deep love for Star Wars. Obsessive love.

ABOVE: Using the Force on Matt.

ABOVE: Trying to use the Force on Fitz to no avail.

ABOVE & BELOW: Kallum trying to convince Fitz to look for Luke Skywalker.

ABOVE & BELOW: After a first day of settling into the LA lifestyle, we took the kids to Travel Town, a train-themed park for kids in Griffith Park.

ABOVE: The garage has been converted into a guest house and the boys loved running in and out of it and hiding from Matt.

ABOVE & BELOW: Fitz took a shine to Lilah, Kallum’s sister, but got upset when he realized we were about to leave for Gen and Jesse’s place.

ABOVE: One of the first things Fitz did when he arrived in LA was take a few layers of skin off of both knees.

ABOVE & BELOW: Once we arrived in Irvine to stay with Gen and Jesse, we had to find the nearest parks. Luckily, their neighbourhood is full of them, including one that had an old-style tram that Fitzy declared as his own (below).

BELOW: This little park proved that Fitz has very good directional skills. He had been here earlier int he day with Carly and Gen and wanted to return to it with Matt. But Matt had no idea it existed and let Fitz direct him to it. It was about 5 blocks away from where they started and it blew Matt’s mind that Fitz could point them in the right direction having only visited the park once before. Also, don’t be concerned about the how Fitz has morphed into some four legged creature.

ABOVE & BELOW: We visited Newport Beach/Balboa Island, the setting of Arrested Development, one of Matt’s all-time favourite TV shows.

ABOVE & BELOW: We spent a morning on the pier in San Clemente. No sight of Richard Nixon.

ABOVE & BELOW: We spent a lot of time on the balcony of Gen and Jesse’s place.

ABOVE & BELOW: We visited Venice Beach and it’s canals one afternoon. Some amazing places. We also discovered some cool public art on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice (see pic of Gen below)

ABOVE & BELOW: On our last day, we visited the beach at Corona Del Mar. Fitz insisted on aking sure his hat didn’t fly off so we had to pull up the hoodie. He looked like one of those people freaked out about getting any sun on their skin. But we also saw some amazing outcrops of rocks and insanely huge homes.

ABOVE & BELOW: We went to a student art show for Jesse’s students and got to see a very cool waffle architecture building on campus. At sunset on our last night — we went back to Balboa Island for ice cream.

ABOVE: Of course, Fitz fell asleep on the flight home 5 minutes before the plane landed.

March 2016: Easter hunt in Ottawa

We spent the Easter long-weekend in Ottawa where we tried to teach Fitz about the morning egg hunt, which he kinda liked but seemed confused about. Instead of chocolate in the eggs there were toys.

ABOVE & BELOW: We took Fitz for an afternoon walk along the path beside Hogg’s Back Falls.

March 2016: Toys, streetcars, and Allan Gardens

ABOVE & BELOW: Fitz’s new favourite book is “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go” by Richard Scary. He reads it at night before bed with Carly and even on his own during the day. He also plays a lot with his little people toys (shown here are Bob and Sheila) as well as his vast collection of cars and trucks and things that go.

ABOVE & BELOW: On a cold March day we took Fitz and Emmett to Allan Gardens where they got to run around the sprawling greenhouses. But first we took the streetcar across town to get there.

ABOVE: Notice something different? Carly has bangs!

February 2016: Sharks and trains

We took Fitzy and Emmett to the Ripley’s Aquarium so they could see sharks and stingrays and jellyfish. They were not disappointed.

ABOVE: This has to be one of the ugliest fish ever.

ABOVE & BELOW: The jellyfish tank was pretty cool with it’s purple glow. It mesmerized the boys.

ABOVE & BELOW: Just around the corner from the aquarium is the train museum at the Roundhouse. They got to climb on some real trains for the first time.

January 2016: Leo, Emmett, and the doctor

January was a slow month when it came to photos. Just a few of Fitz at soccer with his friends Emmett and Leo.

ABOVE: That’s just chocolate on Emmett’s face.

ABOVE: Fitz and Leo with Arun, one of the coaches at Little Kickers.

ABOVE: It’s been unseasonably mild in January — playing in the park has been one of the benefits.

ABOVE & BELOW: In the middle of January, we took Fitz to the allergist to re-evaluate his egg allergy. We had to give him a bit of egg every 15 minutes so we had a lot of time to kill in between. He liked the doctor’s office a lot. And he’s no longer allergic to eggs!